At risk: Roe, rights and religion

[realFedUp]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-schragger21jul21,0,587875.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

At risk: Roe, rights and religion

By Richard Schragger

Richard Schragger is an associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.

July 21, 2005

Democrats knew that whoever was chosen to fill Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the Supreme Court was going to be conservative and that he would have the opportunity to change the balance of the court in three monumental areas: abortion, civil and political rights, and separation of church and state. What they might have thought was that they'd have a choice about which area of law they would have to sacrifice. But, with John G. Roberts Jr., it looks like they will lose on all three "Rs": Roe, rights and religion.

First, Roe. Though the "right to choose" appears to have a 6-3 majority on the court, that majority is thin and deceptive. The court will have to decide the constitutionality of bans on so-called partial-birth abortion, and it may have to address revived state spousal-notification laws and restrictions on abortion providers, such as zoning laws or government filing requirements.

snip

Second, rights. O'Connor was skeptical of executive power and joined the other moderates in rejecting the Bush administration's expansive interpretation of its powers to detain "enemy combatants" in its "war" on terrorism. Roberts is serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he recently gave a free pass to the administration, holding that the Geneva Convention could not be enforced by the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and reinstating the show trials there. Other decisions by Roberts while he has been on the appeals court indicate that he has embraced a narrow interpretation of the 4th Amendment's ban on unreasonable search and seizures (including his decision to uphold the arrest of a 12-year-old girl handcuffed by police on the Washington subway for eating a single French fry).

Third, religion. Though O'Connor voted with the conservatives to allow school vouchers to fund religious schools, she joined the moderates in enforcing the separation of church and state in other areas. Roberts wrote briefs for the George H.W. Bush administration urging a less rigid separation between church and state and argued in favor of permitting prayer at high school graduation ceremonies, a position the Supreme Court later rejected.

continued

[HockeyMom]

1. Religion -That should go over big around here

I live on Long Island. We had some parents sue the school district over this about 15 years ago. They had a minister lead a prayer with, "Let us pray. Dear Jesus,...". The two valedictorians were on the stage with him: Jewish boy and Hindu girl. They walked off the stage when he started praying. When the boy and girl turned their backs to him, the ENTIRE GRADUATING CLASS did the same - approximately 300 kids. MAJOR uproar. Both families sued the school district and the overwhelming majority of the district's parents supported them. The school district stopped any kind of praying at graduation after that.

I guess some people just don't get it. Ah, yes our "christian" nation. Let them pray to themselves if they want to.

[realFedUp]

2. get the word out

If people don't know what this guy stands for...
they will think he's just another rightwing Bush
shill.