And behind door three!

If you are reading this you must be somewhat like me or you wouldn’t have found your way here. That being the case, likely you’ve spent some time these last few days pondering what happened Friday, June 19, 2015. When the Supreme court of the United States upheld the Affordable Care Act, established GBLT marriage as our National law and held up as lawful litigation over discrimination in jobs and housing…. and if that weren’t enough just today upheld Arizona’s ‘voted in’ civilian redistricting, to the consternation of the republicans in government who had gerrymandered Arizona so nicely for themselves for so many years.  

You may be like me at this point dope slapping yourself in confusion and saying something like  ‘Is this the same Supreme court that made corporate interests into US citizens, establishing that they were ‘persons’, regardless of how completely foolish that sounds on the face of it. Not to mention multi-national citizenships and affiliations corporations represent, just for starters. The same court that took away voting rights established during the civil rights movement which allowed for equal representations under the law; with a finding that discrimination in voting was no longer an issue in the USA? This court, essentially the same court that Coronated our first Un-elected President, George W. Bush? 

Well, not sure what you’d say but I’d say ‘no’! Except I’m a pragmatist for the most part and the faces of the judges, well they're the same, no stand-ins. So I’m at a loss understanding why this happened, albeit I admit a fantastic chain of events to be pondering. But such incongruity raises questions about what is actually happening here.

There are new Justices added to the court since the Coronation Crew crowned George & Dick, true, but they all have been drawn from the same section of sidewalk along the liberal conservative road as their predecessors, so that seems less of a reason then one might hope. That leaves a few other options hovering between, ‘evolution in the minds of (some) sitting judges. That they woke up and started processing some of the new information they seem to have ignored in the past, to it’s an anomaly that will never be understood.  

I like thinking there was some growth in understanding from sitting Judges who seem to have changed color for this day, but I can’t honestly go there. I know better. It seems to me that there must be varied priorities at play among the conservatives on the bench. Not unlike those with main line republicans and tea party and Christian religious bible thumping republicans. 

What June 19th 2015 has made apparently clear is that there are smart and reasoning individuals within the right wing of the Supreme Court. That as much as it might seem like they're all bozos on the bus all the time, there is an underlying current of intelligence and understanding of the bigger picture for at least a couple of them. 

Given the number of people who would be cut off of medical care if these couple justices voted their bias, which is their practice for the most part, the possibility of full on riots was very real. Given the number of states who have legalized gay marriage and the US military’s acceptance of GBLT folks, well that’s just too many enemies to light fires under in an election year.  And with the issues of immigration and fair housing in communities of color growing, in the end it was just foolish to play the privileged cards.  They know who is going to win in any court challenge between a poor family and a landlord with resources. So might as well not burn ones hands on that potato either. It is an election season, so balances need to be struck, trust nudged along. 

Some might call this view cynical, even disrespectful of the justices. What I have to say to that is simple. Remember, remember, remember. As much as I would love to think a zebra can change it’s stripes or a fish can breath milk, I know better. Now I would love to be proven wrong here and truly hope I am ,however the most recent decision to allow environmental standards for power production and mining, most notably those for Mercury and other heavy metals, to get struck down indicates I’m not. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m overjoyed with these good decisions. Celebrate them and cheer them on.  But I also know what complacency can cost. I’ll keep one eye open on all this until it becomes apparent that this is actually a change of heart. Because in the end that is what it has to be. It’s all about our hearts and how we care, and I don’t see that in these justices— yet. But I am willing to keep looking and hoping it becomes a matter of the heart for them. In the end it has to be if we are to survive.