NPR has a story on the court challenge to Proposition 8. It’s a high-risk, high-reward endeavor; no matter what, this case is going to the Supreme Court, and if they decide to hear it, it’ll be huge. I’ve seen commentary about this sort of thing, going through the courts, that somehow it delegitimizes the movement. Going through the courts, especially after a failed ballot initiative, makes it look like the gay marriage movement doesn’t care about the will of the people, like they’ll go to any lengths to get what they want.
Which is, you know, true. Decisions of minority rights should never, ever, ever be subject to popular vote. The Constitution, particularly the justice system, was put together to prevent the tyranny of the majority. The will of the people is frequently ignorant, petty, cruel, and hateful, and should not be considered when deciding the rights of any group of citizens. Maine and California have made that abundantly clear.
The case is also being broadcast in a delayed feed to YouTube, which is… interesting. I understand some of the concerns about witness intimidation, I honestly do (although the fact that the pro-Prop 8 side is concerned about that indicates that at leat some of them know that public opinion is turning against them), but… as far as I know, these trials are open to the public anyway, right? People can come and sit in the gallery and watch? This is just… expanding that, I guess. I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to see how it goes. In theory, I like the idea. Transparency and very public records and the judge’s goal of raising awareness about the judicial system are all good things. But like I said, we’ll have to see how it goes.
Although… hmm. The link at the bottom of that article is supposed to go to the Ninth Circuit YouTube channel, but clicking on it brings up a page saying that the channel doesn’t exist. I’m going to keep investigating… one hopes that it hasn’t fallen victim to YouTube’s horrifically easily exploitable complaints policy. If I track down the channel and/or videos, they’ll be posted.
