The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the federal judge, Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker, who will decide the challenge to Proposition 8. is gay.
According to the newspaper, the judge, who was appointed by George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never hidden nor called attention to his orientation.
Will this influence Judge Walker's decision? One only has to study Walker's decision years ago when he ruled against organizers of the Gay Games to call the event The Gay Olympics. (God forbid the word gay should tarnish the Olympic brand.)
Some folks are calling for him to step down from the case, citing a conflict of interest. If that's the case, the five Catholic judges should step down from the US Supreme Court on any ruling regarding same-sex marriage or abortion, since their religious leader, The Pope, insists that both are contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine.
Gee, that would leave four judges to decide these cases. The point is, heterosexual, wealthy, white males have decided the lion's share (and then some) of the Supreme Court cases throughout history. Why wasn't attention paid when the biases they brought to the court might have influenced their decisions?
According to the newspaper, the judge, who was appointed by George H.W. Bush in 1989, has never hidden nor called attention to his orientation.
Will this influence Judge Walker's decision? One only has to study Walker's decision years ago when he ruled against organizers of the Gay Games to call the event The Gay Olympics. (God forbid the word gay should tarnish the Olympic brand.)
Some folks are calling for him to step down from the case, citing a conflict of interest. If that's the case, the five Catholic judges should step down from the US Supreme Court on any ruling regarding same-sex marriage or abortion, since their religious leader, The Pope, insists that both are contrary to Roman Catholic doctrine.Gee, that would leave four judges to decide these cases. The point is, heterosexual, wealthy, white males have decided the lion's share (and then some) of the Supreme Court cases throughout history. Why wasn't attention paid when the biases they brought to the court might have influenced their decisions?
And if an African American judge were ruling on a racial equality case, I hope no one would ask him - or her - to recuse him or herself. For that matter, are female judges ineligible for abortion rights cases?
ReplyDeleteI know. It's pretty crazy. And remember when Scalia refused to recuse himself from a case involving Dick Cheney's corporation even though they were friends and had gone fishing together?
ReplyDeleteThomas and Scalia refused to recuse themselves from Bush V Gore, even though Bush's father had appointed both and Thomas's wife was active in Bush's campagne.
ReplyDeleteSomeday I'll learn to spell check before posting. Anyway, the notion that judges ought not rule on cases impacting the civil rights of groups to which they happen to belong is silly. People are afraid to say such things about religious and racial minorities these days, but gay people are still fair game...
ReplyDelete