This decision and opinion come as a Thanksgiving provocation.i&i am provoked by the locker-room talk between gorsuch and roberts, with roberts getting the worst of it, and yet, at the end of the day not clear how gorsuch and company handle the issue as stated by sotomayor.
I propose that all citizens be required to follow the same standard set by Gavin Newsom at his $850 per person indoor birthday party (and by his children attending in person private school); by Nancy Pelosi and Lori Lightfoot at their self-indulgent salon days; by De Blasio at his essential excursion to his indoor YMCA (give the man a break – he just “wanted to visit a place that keeps him grounded,” his spokesman explained); by the indoor Thanksgiving plans Andrew Cuomo made with his family and elderly mother; by Michael Hancock, who urged citizens to forego Thanksgiving plans then flew halfway across the country to see his own family on Thanksgiving; by Gretchen Whitmer’s husband, when he name-dropped his wife to try to persuade a dock installation company to work on his summer home in violation of pandemic restrictions (but don’t get offended, plebes – this was just “a failed attempt at humor,” he assured us); by House Democrats, who planned a lavish indoor meal to celebrate their new members (yes that’s right: your family’s milestones are not worthy of indoor celebration, but the House Dems’ smashing electoral performance certainly is); by Chuck Schumer’s and Lori Lightfoot’s maskless street partying following Biden’s win (don’t worry – Lightfoot assures us that “there are times when we actually do need to have a relief and come together,” and, in her unbiased medical expertise, she “felt like that was one of those times”).
The list goes on and on and on. Either this is the wokest virus in the history of medicine – somehow, it knows whether or not it should infect you depending on your political affiliation – or the politicians pushing main street to the brink of despair while they live it up and bask in their sense of self-importance (and accept Emmy’s for their performativeness!) are naked hypocrites.
An admirably high level of rhetoric, but what does it come down to legally, in this case. Is Gorsuch saying the petitioners met their burden of proving discrimination?
Bodrog, there was clearly discrimination. Just look at the stuff Cuomo said about Orthodox Jews. It is horrifying and all citizens of this country should be appalled.
Now - whether that discrimination was justified (i.e. stated had a compelling interest) is another question. And I think that is what the justices were debating
But yes, Tollana - although I am not sure why you expect anything other than that from politicians. Few politicians actually give a damn about anyone, and don't actually mean what they say. If it gets them re-elected, that's all they care about. (on both sides of the aisle)
Cuomo getting an emmy though, is amazing. Dude killed all the nursing home patients in his state and walks away with an emmy lol. Now, I am not saying he was wrong - it could be he didn't know better. But own up to your mistake and don't go on a victory lap.
Tollana do you think it can be true that the virus is serious and we ought to be quarantining and the Democratic leadership is just doing a bad job of that in the examples you cite?
Mars - bad job in leadership is a gross understatement. They are keeping children and teens home causing unprecedented levels of mental health issues and closing up small businesses (beefing up corporations of course) and they don't do the same for themselves? that is worse that bad leadership
Yes, I fail to understand how the party that was so ahead in issues regarding mental health, domestic abuse, etc. and the party that was actually holding corporations accountable seems to no longer care. Not saying there is an easy answer, but if we really want to be consistent, we should at least take it into account.
Debate is whether Cuomo's orders were discriminatory (I think so) and as someone above said, whether they were justified (perhaps, although I'm inclined to say no). Unless I'm missing something
venus that's definitely more focused but I think Prof Nesson wanted to discuss the actual decision and how the justices responded (if at all) to each other's points.
"Discriminatory" in the sense of having something against churches? We have a right to free exercise, you are taking it away, end of story. What has "discrimination" got to do with it, and in whose mind, and even what is it?
right to free exercise is only free as much as anything else. If the governor limited evertyhign and all groups of people, it would be fine. Problem is when you start pick and choosing and "slicing with a hatchet" as Gov Cuomo said
I was with Gorsuch until Sotomayor pointed out that venues similar to religious institutions (lecture halls, movie theaters, etc) are actually being treated worse. I thought her point about the absurdity of the church complaining about being named in the Executive Order as an institution that gets laxer treatment was a great one. So long as the zones are not drawn arbitrarily (so long as they are faithfully drawn based on infection rates), I see no issue.
I don’t understand why we are still in lockdown at all. I say that as someone who is personally risk averse and very cautious about covid. The initial argument was that we needed to do it to prevent overwhelming the hospitals. I bought that. But the argument for why we need to maintain the lockdowns months later seems to be constantly shifting with no clear explanation as to what the goal is and no real discussion about the policy trade offs. Well over 99% of people are (thankfully) surviving this. Unless I am mistaken there is no comparable threat that we have treated as heavy handedly - not even close. We crashed our economy and ended millions of peoples livelihood and retirement plans. We told people they can’t attend funerals of loved ones. We threw away a year of educating our youth. (All while breaking the rules when convenient for our side and engaging in the hypocrisy others have pointed out). Does anybody still believe the benefits outweigh the costs? Sincere question. And to be clear, I personally benefit from these lockdowns and would rather they continue for selfish reasons. But I can’t bring myself to impose that on others seeing the consequences. Perhaps if I was a politician with untold power to gain from perpetuating this I might feel different...
Gorsuch should have replied to Sotomayor that the reason houses of worship are safer than retail stores is because (at least for now) in the case of houses of worship, thousands of people have not taken to streets across the country for months on end to smash their windows, beat their owners, loot them empty, and burn them to the ground with the active or tacit support of half this country’s political class.