The U.S. Sentencing Commission is scheduled to vote on Tuesday to consider reducing the discrepancy between crack and powder guidelines. As they currently stand, the guidelines prescribe a “mandatory minimum five-year prison sentence for trafficking in 5 grams of crack cocaine or 100 times as much cocaine powder.” Though they’re essentially the same drug, crack is more common among African Americans, and the guidelines are widely viewed as discriminatory against minorities.
The Court vote was split 7-2; Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas both dissented. Shocking, right? Alito wrote in the dissenting opinion that as a result of the Court's vote, "Sentencing disparities will gradually increase." Leave it to those two to call a reduction an increase and prop up a discriminatory, worn-out remnant of the 1980s' exaggerated crack baby hysteria.
In other words, by merely describing the unitary executive chocolate without disclosing his view of the inherent power peanut butter, and what he believed the two could become if united, Alito got away with never telling the senators what they really wanted to know.
With Samuel Alito replacing Sandra Day O'Connor last year, the Supreme Court's right wing is a solid four person block, and this term Justice Kennedy has lined up with them in most of the key cases. It's bad news, including today for equality and opportunity in education.
Thanks again to all the students who stood with us to speak out against the nominations of the smiling, All-American ideologue John Roberts and the most right wing federal judge in America, Samuel Alito.
About the only campaign promise that President Bush kept was to appoint Justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, and a range of conservatives who now have split with Bush on other issues continue to praise the Roberts and Alito confirmations as a key accomplishment by the administration.
Progressives, and other supporters of a reasonable interpretation of the Constitution and laws of the United States, have a lot of work to do. They need to persuade elites about the bankruptcy of the right wing vision of the law. They also need to persuade the public on the controversial hot-button issues that underlie critical Supreme Court decisions -- issues like free speech, government surveillance, detention of alleged terrorists, criminal justice, tort lawsuits, and discrimination/ affirmative action. Until the public sees that a right wing Supreme Court is undermining their values and interests in the day to day world, voters won't see Supreme Court appointments as an election issue, nomination battles will continue to favor the conservatives, and the right wing extremist block may grow even bigger.
--In case you are planning to stay in DC for a few more days after the Campus Progress conference, you should come and check out the Starvin' for Justice 2007 in front of the SCOTUS.
The 14th Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the U.S. Supreme Court June 29th - July 2nd, 2007 A four day vigil maintaining a presence at SCOTUS, the Supreme Court Of The United States. Some of the participants fast during this time, but fasting is not required. We encounter thousands of visitors to the Court and share our message that no matter how you slice it, the death penalty is BAD PUBLIC POLICY. Much of the time is spent talking to individuals and creating visibilty. Several larger events are held at key times during the event to highlight specific concerns, with a series of speakers each evening to educate, enlighten and entertain… Click Here to see pictures and more info on what goes on during the Fast & Vigil!
If college kids are going to talk about one Supreme Court decision today, it will most likely be the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case. But the justices issued another important decision on a case involving free speech, practically striking down an essential part of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.
The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on pay discrimination is disastrous. Employees must file complaints within 180 days of a salary being set, which is simply outside the bounds of common sense. We all know how much secrecy surrounds pay, even in otherwise congenial workplaces. But the Court has decreed that even when there is a pattern of lower raises for women or minority groups that develops over months or years, an individual employee has no legal recourse after 180 days.
The plaintiff in the suit, Lilly Ledbetter , worked for a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama, where she was the only woman out of 17 managers at her level. Although Ledbetter's starting salary was equal to that of her male colleagues, she was given smaller raises and eventually made less than even the lowest-paid man at her level, who started after her.In a characteristically withering dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg invited Congress to overturn the ruling. According to Congressional Quarterly, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and George Miller immediately signified their intent to do so.
The Irish government is preventing a four-month pregnant 17-year old from traveling to Britain to have an abortion, even though her fetus is missing parts of its brain and skull and will be unable to live outside her womb for more than four days.
In Ireland, abortion is legal only if the mother's life is in danger. This is the same logic the Supreme Court majority embraced in the Carhart decision, which for the first time since Roe, did not contain broad protection for "women's health." How many of us really want to live in a country where a Court has to give you permission to abort a fetus that can't live outside the womb? It's almost unthinkable.
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