Inland Empire Progressive

The current majority of the Supreme Court of the United States can no longer be seen as a neutral arbiter of law, they are, plain and simple, a power‑grabbing activist tribunal intent on stripping away the civil rights of same‑sex couples and openly flouting the will of the American people. Back in 2015, the Court rightly ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same‑sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. That decision wasn’t merely symbolic; it recognized that the liberty and equality guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment apply just as much to gay and lesbian couples as to their heterosexual peers. But today we find ourselves staring down the barrel of what looks like a targeted rollback, disguised as judicial review. Recent filings indicate that the Court is considering taking up a case brought by Kim Davis, a former county clerk who refused to issue licenses to same‑sex couples, seeking to dismantle Obergefell entirely. Instead of defending settled law and the rights of Americ...

                                                                 Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash Every democracy relies on trust in the courts. Without it, laws mean little more than the whims of whoever happens to be in power. But in America today, that trust is being shredded by conservative activist judges who have decided that restraint is optional, precedent is disposable, and conservative ideology is the law of the land. Politico  recently reported that a powerful immigration appeals court just declared anyone in deportation proceedings who entered the U.S. without authorization is automatically barred from even asking for bond. Translation: immigrants can now be locked up indefinitely with no chance to argue for release, even if they have jobs, families, or strong legal claims t...