Wednesday, October 5: Supremes Back At It Again
Our least-respected bathrobe-wearing judicial officials return for another session
The nine members of the supreme court (lowercase to indicate disrespect) returned to work this week after taking some time off to club baby seals or burn down precious rainforests or shoot some endangered animals, whatever it is that these dorks do in their free time. Now that they’re back at work, they can continue ruining lives and steadily bringing society to a darker and less welcoming place.
This session, the justices will make rulings on a number of major legislative disputes, from affirmative action to free speech, voting rights to freedom of religion, it appears many of the freedoms we took for granted are now under further review. And you’d better believe the court’s conservative justices are prepared to dominate the new term just as they did the previous one.
The affirmative action decision will challenge race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and UNC Chapel Hill (gang). Many republicans believe the affirmative action process gives an unfair advantage to people of color, which even typing that out feels ridiculous given the mountain of garbage that people of color deal with in this country on a daily basis. Way back in 2016, a lifetime ago for six year olds, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, “I don’t expect that we’re going to see another affirmative action case, at least in education.” Good call there Ruth.
In the case of redistricting and voting rights, yesterday the supremes heard Merrill v. Milligan, No. 21-1086, a challenge to Alabama’s electoral map as it’s currently drawn. A lower court determined that the gerrymandered map diluted the power of Black voters, but the highest court in the land is hesitant to agree. Based on yesterday’s hearing, it looks like gerrymandered maps may be here to stay.
“Under the state’s approach, nothing would stop Alabama and many other states from dismantling their existing majority-minority districts, leaving Black voters and entire swaths of the country with no ability to elect their preferred representatives.”
-Elizabeth Prelogar, US solicitor general, whatever that means
Side Items
Looks like Elon Musk will proceed with his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. Personally, I downloaded the app for free, but I guess this is a healthy alternative. You’d think having nine (9) kids and more money than you can spend in a lifetime would be entertainment enough, but not for the emotionally-damaged, self-proclaimed smartest man in the room
The death toll from Hurricane Ian has climbed over 100, as rescue and recovery efforts continue
“News That Nobody Asked For”: Grey’s Anatomy, the preferred tearjerking show of adult children in the early 2000’s, is entering its 19th season. I’m not sure how residents and interns are still showing up to work at this hospital where freak accidents occur on a daily basis
America’s gross national debt exceeded $31 trillion for the first time yesterday. Not sure who’s hoping to get paid back, but I hope they’re not holding their breath