I really like the questions Judge Vaughn Walker gave both sides of the Perry v. Schwarzenegger (is it okay if I call it P-Schwarz?) trial yesterday. Because they are pointed, prescient, and so easy an eight-year-old could answer them. Well, with the help of FindLaw.
The mini quiz came yesterday as each side prepares for next week’s closing arguments in the trial that will decide, uh, who appeals the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some nine pages of Qs came that Walker wants addressed, and dammit, they’re good ones.
The San Francisco Chronicle outlines a few, like these for Prop 8’s supporters:
What evidence at the trial, he asked, showed that same-sex nuptials are “a drastic or far-reaching change to the institution of marriage?” Do California laws allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt and raise children undermine the argument that banning same-sex marriage would promote children’s welfare?
And if many voters were simply expressing their moral and religious preferences, Walker asked, “why is legislating based on moral disapproval of homosexuality not tantamount to discrimination?”
But my favorite is the one he posed to opponents of Prop 8: How can marriage between gay or lesbian couples be a fundamental right in a nation that denied all legal protection to their relationships until very recently?
How about we take this to the next level?
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And the non-lawyer in me wants to point to slavery, bans on interracial marriage, and women’s suffrage, and just go, “Because this great country sometimes makes terrible mistakes that last for hundreds of years. But it’s never too late to fix them.”
Get Equal R @ Least Doing Something (John from England)
Of course he’s bright!
Mike
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Points to the INDIVISIBLE, ONE NATION and JUSTICE FOR ALL bits.
xerxes
Queerty, the correct word is “simple”, in this case, not simplistic. Look it up, simpletons!
Mike
and before anyone mentions the UNDER GOD bit .. that only got added in 1954 after a Baptist Christian socialist Minster decided to interfere with it.
Flex
I like the last question he asked the proponents. “How will an injunction against proposition 8 harm it’s supporters?” I can’t wait to hear what the imbeciles will say.
Peter
Simplistic: Naive, over-simplified to the point of missing important matters. Queerty, you goofed on the word you wanted.
mike
@Mike: The Pledge is not part of anything legally binding; in particular, the “under god” bit directly contravenes the First Amendment.
(obviously, I’m not the same mike as the other one).