Ashley Wagner decries Russian anti-gay law

Tonichelle · Jan 20, 2014

The Supreme Court decides federal case law... part of the checks and balances system we have in our government. What they've said at the federal level becomes "the law" as far as courts are concerned. You can change all the judges you want, but once precedent is set, it's there for the ages.

Bluebonnet · Jan 20, 2014

Tonichelle said:
The Supreme Court decides federal case law... part of the checks and balances system we have in our government. What they've said at the federal level becomes "the law" as far as courts are concerned. You can change all the judges you want, but once precedent is set, it's there for the ages.

I didn't mean that a new judge in the same court could easily alter the old judge's order. I meant that the court order is very much depended on who is the judge, who is in that particular position, and what is his view on the matter. Different judge could produce totally different order.

Tonichelle · Jan 20, 2014

supreme courts, though, are more than one judge - especially at the federal level.

dorispulaski · Jan 21, 2014

Furthermore, the successful arguments are based primarily on Equal Protection-which is why courts pretty uniformly have struck down anti gay marriage laws and sodomy laws. AFAIR, some politicians in Virginia considered making both heterosexual and homosexual sodomy illegal, which you would need to do to avoid a problem with the Equal Protection clause. The electorate was not interested in this solution. At least this is how I understood what I read about it. I am not either a lawyer or an expert.

In some states, like Vermont, the Equal Protection clause in the State Constitution is even stronger than in the Federal Constitution, one reason why the state court there was either the first or one of the first, to strike down a state marriage law.

Olympia · Jan 21, 2014

In addition to that, Bluebonnet, the root of all our laws is the Constitution. Our judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, strikes down a law because it violates something set down in the Constitution. This is the principle of judicial review, established (if I recall correctly) in the case Marbury v. Madison early in the nineteenth century. This can be seen in the eventual fate of the Dred Scott decision. In the days when slavery was legal in many states, the Supreme Court itself ruled that Dred Scott could still be considered enslaved even though he had been taken to a free state and then sued for emancipation. After the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. The Dred Scott decision was no longer constitutional by any interpretation whatsoever.

luckyguy · Jan 21, 2014

Ptichka said:
Sort of but not really. There are indeed states that have sodomy laws on the books, prohibiting various sexual acts (I don't want to go into details here). However, in 2003, the US Supreme Court has found those to be unconstitutional - meaning that from that point on, they are unenforceable, even if they are still technically on the books.

They are unenforceable, but a prosecution and a trial are juridical in these states still possible. Am I right?

CanadianSkaterGuy · Jan 21, 2014

luckyguy said:
They are unenforceable, but a prosecution and a trial are juridical in these states still possible. Am I right?

Nope. These are simply archaic laws that haven't been enforced. Why expend the costs of a trial for something that can't be enforced.

Which is why Putin's bashing of American states is a stupid argument because the laws of those states are essentially obsolete whereas these Russian laws have just been implemented and are very real.

dorispulaski · Jan 21, 2014

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/connecticut

We have lots of unenforced dumb laws in the US. In Hartford, Connecticut, it is still illegal for a man to kiss his wife on Sunday.

Ashley Wagner decries Russian anti-gay law

Tonichelle

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