Dump day at the SCOTUS! End of session, schools out, schools out, teacher let the monkeys out! This is always a day to look forward too, and today was no exception. Some BIG ones came down the pike, lets jump right in.PLANO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT v.
SOME NUT JOB PARENT.
This one is a real head scratcher for me, I am guessing it is a TEXAS thing, but here are the facts, through the k+b filter. In the great state of Texas, kiddies in elementary school can pass out religious material to other students ONLY " before and after school, at recess, and at three school parties or at a designated tables ( middle school and secondary students could add lunchtime or between classes ) "
Re-read that , I'll wait.
So, during math class, little Susie , has the Texas given right to pass out religious tracks to little Hadassah, telling her she is going to hell ?? The Supreme Court today, said no.. that JUST " before or after school, at recess, and at three parties or at a designated table".... They did not even take this case , pretty easy to see why.
JOHN DOE v. THE VATICAN
This one is very straight forward, lets pass the ball to Reuters : " The nation's highest court, asked to rule on a U.S. appeals court decision that cleared the way for the lawsuit to proceed, rejected the Vatican's immunity appeal with our comment. The lawsuit, filed by a plaintiff identified only as John Doe, claimed that he was sexually abused on several occasions in the mid-1960's when he was 15 or 16 by a Roman Catholic priest named Father Andrew Ronan " the rest.
This one is cracking open a door that the Holy See was working SO hard to keep shut. We are talking deposing Pope Benedict himself. No one is above the law...
CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY v.MARTINEZ
Ok, this is the gays, we had , God and God, this one is the gays, well, the gays AND God. The University of California's Hastings Law School has a rule that all recognized clubs/organizations etc, have to be open to everyone. The all rich white guys club or the he man woman haters club, CAN exist, they just can not get funding or recognition with in the college. Sounds easy. Public tax dollars funding the groups, public ought to be let in.
Cue the Christians! We are here, you are queer, give me my check. Not so fast there fish boy. From the AP : "An ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Monday that a law school can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that won't let gays join, with one justice saying that the First Amendment does not require a public university to validate or support the group's "discriminatory practices."
But Hastings, which is in San Francisco, said no recognized campus groups may exclude people due to religious belief or sexual orientation.
The court on a 5-4 judgment upheld the lower court rulings saying the Christian group's First Amendment rights of association, free speech and free exercise were not violated by the college's nondiscrimination policy. ( THE REST )
I think this one is a big one, but I am all hopped up on caffeine and the Kagan trials so I could just be reading too much into it. Does this mean, that NO Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist group can be , in anyway discriminatory , AND get any college funding or recognition ??
Or .. well, any group at all, that is not fully inclusive ? Wow...
These will be the same Court that will be hearing the Olson/Boies prop 8 case. Wow....
McDONALD v. CHICAGO
NRA RULES! No city can ban guns, anywhere anytime. All guns, all the time, go go. go! From the NYT : "The Second Amendment’s guarantee of an individual right to bear arms applies to state and local gun control laws, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a 5-to-4 decision.The ruling came almost exactly two years after the court first ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns in District of Columbia v. Heller, another 5-to-4 decision." ( THE REST) Same old, same old.... blah, blah, blah. Money talks.....
In a related story, 29 people were shot in Chicago over this past weekend. Three died.
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