The Supremes handed both the left and right smashing wins this week, overturning provisions of the Voting Rights Act predicated on eliminating patterns of discrimination that existed in 1974, as well as the Defense of Marriage Act, dedicated to defending marriage from people who want to get married.
I try to be dubious about the Court substituting its opinion for that of the Congress, but here I can’t get too excited about the matter. Overturning section four of the Voting Rights Act strikes me as largely a gift from the conservatives on the Court to the South in recognition of their stalwart support of the Republican Party, Scalia in particular showing a sentimental fondness for the Stars and Bars. Yet Congress’ decision to rely on 30-year-old criteria for selecting states and districts whose voting practices would be subject to automatic scrutiny by the Justice Department—because developing new criteria would have been massively controversial—was just a little too lazy.
As for DOMA, this could better be called “The Get Bill Clinton Re-elected Act.” And, since Bill did get re-elected, we really don’t need it any more.
Afterwords
Ideally, we shouldn’t let politicians off the hook. They should be forced to make the tough decisions. And Supreme Court Justices shouldn’t be encouraged to assume the role of all-wise and all-powerful law givers, a role that they are all too ready to assume and all too reluctant to abandon. But, sometimes, if you don’t get it quick and dirty, you don’t get it at all.
