Today, President Obama nominated a very experienced center-left jurist for the Supreme Court. The nominee is a Hispanic woman. If confirmed, she will be the first Justice of Hispanic descent to serve on the Supreme Court.
Today, the Supreme Court of California ruled that Proposition 8 — the ballot initiative that outlaws gay marriage — was legal under the California Constitution.
Today when White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about President Obama’s reaction to the California decision, he responded with a very politic non-answer:
He didn’t. And as a result, he missed an opportunity to speak about real change. He missed a chance to speak out for policy change that affects millions of Americans. Instead, he leaves himself open to criticism — from the left and the right — that his pick of Judge Sotomayor is (from the right) tokenism and (from the left) empty symbolism.
A year ago, I went to my friend Jason’s wedding in San Francisco. I was able to return the favor he paid me nine years ago by standing with him as he married the love of his life. For Jason and Kevin, it meant that the state could claim that their love was any less meaningful, valuable or powerful as the love another couple may share. It was a wonderful day, and as his friend, it meant the world to me that he was able to have that day.
Several months ago, I stood with my friend Steve as he had to bury his husband after a horrible accident. We spoke at the wake, and he talked about how much harder it would have been if he had to fight to be allowed to make funeral arrangements, deal with his husband’s finances, etc… At his lowest, most difficult moment, his marriage meant that his grief, as overwhelming as it was, was not compounded by the anger and frustration of not being married in the eyes of the law.
During the campaign, time and time again, President Obama appealed our ideals of what our country could be. He spoke of equality and equity. He appealed the progressive ideals of young and old across the nation. Today, while on the one hand, he made an historic nomination to the Supreme Court, he betrayed those same ideals by staying silent when his voice was dearly needed.
I hope Judge Sotomayor is confirmed. I hope that she is more than a center-left jurist. I hope she does pass judgement with compassion and empathy. And I hope that she serves as a living symbol that our government is of all the people and for all the people. But on a day when a judicial body in this country dashed the hopes of millions in California (and millions more across the nation,) President Obama could have — and should have — made plain and powerful the link between the need for jurists like Judge Sotomayor on the Supreme Court bench and the need for the courts to overturn unjust laws like Proposition Eight. That’s what we needed today. That kind of leadership was the change I could believe in. Anything else, is sadly, to quote Vice-President Biden, more of the same.
Tags: politics, proposition 8, SCOTUS
