This has been a blockbuster week for anyone who happened to be watching the U.S. Supreme Court. Some of the most newsworthy decisions from our nation’s highest bench feature the following matters:
Gay Marriage: The Court gave legally married gay couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans, and also cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California by restoring a trial court’s declaration that California’s Proposition 8 ban was unconstitutional. Both decisions hinged on scant 5-4 majorities.
Indian Child Welfare Act: In another 5-4 decision, The Court determined that that ICWA doesn’t require that the child at issue be given back to her Cherokee father but it also doesn’t clear her adoptive parents, to immediately regain custody of her. This was the case that was discussed in this blog entry.
Voting Rights Act Requirements: The Court voted 5-4 to strip the government of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, which previously required that all or parts of 15 states with a history of discrimination in voting get Washington’s approval before changing the way they hold elections.
Affirmative Action: In an unusual variation from its rather predictable 5-4 voting dynamic, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for the Court’s 7-1 ruling that a court should approve the use of race as a factor in admissions only after it concludes “that no workable race-neutral alternatives would produce the educational benefits of diversity.”
What to conclude from this assortment of decisions? Besides authoring the opinion above, note that Justice Anthony Kennedy voted in the majority of all of these decisions. Can we at least safely conclude that Kennedy is the really our nation’s most powerful person? He certainly was this week.
