Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Lambda Defends 'Activist Judges'
by Bob Roehr
2004-03-10

This article shared 2034 times since Wed Mar 10, 2004
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email


Lambda Legal is launching a public education campaign to defend the American tradition of 'judicial activism' and judges who are attacked by the right wing. It is called 'Judging Discrimination.' The announcement came on March 2, on the eve of a U.S. Senate hearing on 'Judicial Activism vs. Democracy.'

'These hearings, by their title alone are a fraud in the halls of Congress, they are designed to mislead people about the role of the judiciary, ' said Kevin Cathcart, Lambda's executive director.

Use of the term 'judicial activism' is an attempt to smear and intimidate judges who take their oath of office to the Constitution seriously.' He sees it as an 'attack on the very checks and balances of the three parts of our government.'

'To say that any rulings recognizing justice or equality for LGBT people or for others, are an attack on democracy. It is a fraud that we at Lambda Legal are determined to expose,' said Cathcart.

The campaign includes advertising, civics lessons at universities, 'monitoring the media for baseless claims of judicial activism,' and encouraging citizen action such as letter writing to elected officials and the media.

Margaret Russell, a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, said the Founding Fathers intended the courts to play a paramount role 'as guardians of rights.' She called the term judicial activism 'a weapon that people use when they don't like the results.'

The claim of 'let the people decide' is a 'misnomer' to Russell because the people spoke when the Constitution was written and chose to create an independent judiciary.

'When you are talking about constitutional law, all judges are of necessity activists, pretty much all of the time,' said Herman Schwartz, a professor at the Washington College of Law at American University. The broad language of the U.S. Constitution has stood the test of centuries through interpretation by the courts.

'In our system, judges have been given a very special role which insulates them, or is supposed to, against politics, partisan voices, and against what [Founding Father Alexander] Hamilton called 'the passing humors of the electorate.''

'The judiciary is then, in that sense, the odd fish in a democratic society,' said Schwartz. 'It is there to protect those values that are primarily endangered for a minority. A majority doesn't really need a judiciary to protect them, it's the minority that does.'

Many of the best-known Supreme Court decisions were seen at the time as judicial activism. Those include striking down segregation in education; establishing gender equality under the law; mandating that the redrawing of political boundaries reflect the principle of one-man, one-vote; and the recent decision striking down state sodomy laws.

The campaign initially is targeting five states—Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, South Carolina, and Texas—whose Senators sit on the Judiciary Committee. Cathcart said the goal is to 'reshape the public discussion so that judges can't be demonized or intimidated ... and to hold political leaders responsible when they try to twist this for partisan ... gain.'


This article shared 2034 times since Wed Mar 10, 2004
facebook twitter google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

WTTW doc chronicles the activism of Danny Sotomayor 2023-11-03
- Practically everything the late Chicago AIDS activist Danny Sotomayor did was "a fight." So says fellow activist Victor Salvo in the new WTTW documentary The Outrage of Danny Sotomayor, which is part of the station's Chicago ...


Gay News

GAY HISTORY MONTH George Harris reflects on his late husband and Dallas activism 2023-10-10
- Special to Windy City Times. To mark Gay History Month, this article appears courtesy of Dallas Voice and the LGBT History Project. When George Harris and Jack Evans became the first couple to legally marry in ...


Gay News

Creating Change Conference calls for proposals, deadline fast approaching 2023-10-09
--From a press release - It's time to submit proposals for the 2024 Creating Change Conference happening in New Orleans, LA, Jan. 17-21, 2024. The Creating Change Conference is expected to draw over 3000 queer and allied activists to join to ...


Gay News

Prime minister of Andorra comes out as gay 2023-09-11
- Xavier Espot Zamora, the head of the government of the tiny European country of Andorra, has come out as gay—although he added that he never hid his sexual orientation, according to a translated article from The ...


Gay News

SAVOR LGBTQ+-owned Sfera co-owner talks menu, activism and more 2023-08-18
- Sfera Sicilian Street Food (5759 N. Broadway; https://www.sferachicago.com/) is the type of place where you can't help but get good vibes. This cozy Edgewater restaurant—owned by Chef Steven Jarczyk and Daniela Vitale, who are both member ...


Gay News

Brady-Davis sworn in to new water commissioner post 2023-07-13
- Community members gave a warm welcome to activist Precious Brady-Davis when she was sworn as the newest Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) Commissioner the afternoon of July 12. Brady-Davis was greeted with a ...


Gay News

SAVOR Owners of LGBTQ+-owned Wunderkeks talk activism, company and sweets 2023-06-30
- Anyone who considers himself/herself/themself a connoisseur of sweets has probably heard of Wunderkeks, the Austin-based company that has only been in the United States for three years. However, what some may not know is that Wunderkeks ...


Gay News

Gay youth pastor from Lake Street Church removed from Baptist World Alliance Commissions 2023-06-22
- A youth pastor at Evanston's Lake Street Church, T.J. Williams, was removed from two global commissions run by the Baptist World Alliance because he's gay, he said. Since 2020, Williams served on the Baptist World Alliance's ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: LGBTQ+ advocate Margaret Davis a.k.a. Spencer Ice 2023-06-06
- Bisexual LGBTQ+ advocate and retired University of Chicago auditor Margaret Davis, a.k.a. Spencer Ice, died May 30 after a 14 year battle with cancer. Davis was born on Aug. 3 (she wished not to have ...


Gay News

Chef Art Smith talks upcoming dinner and activism 2023-05-26
- More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, including more than 230,000 Illinoisans. Additionally, more than 11 million family members and friends serve as dementia caregivers, with more than 383,000 caregivers in Illinois. Unti ...


Gay News

About Face Theater hosts Leppen Leadership Awards 2023-05-23
- On May 14, About Face Theater presented its Leppen Leadership Awards to members of the LGBTQ+ community for their activism and service. The organization normally awards two individuals a year but decided to expand this year, ...


Gay News

MUSIC Billy Porter talks 'Mona Lisa,' authenticity and activism 2023-05-15
- Billy Porter certainly seems to have it all. The actor/singer/director received numerous awards—including two Tonys (for his role in Kinky Boots and as a producer of A Strange Loop), a Grammy (for Kinky Boots as well) ...


Gay News

Joseph Kraft: Gay Chicago artist talks activism, stereotypes, love of art 2023-04-20
- Joseph Kraft has been an artist practically all his life. The Illinois native and Ukrainian Village resident's love of art has taken him to many places. His latest big move was more professional than geographical, as ...


Gay News

ONYX Midwest forum tackles racist performance at Touche's anniversary party 2023-01-22
- In a response to the racist performance that took place at the leather, fetish and bear-focused Touche Chicago's 45th anniversary celebration on Nov. 1, 2022, ONYX Midwest hosted a community forum Jan. 21 at The Leather ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH bell hooks: A voice of love, activism and intersectionality 2022-10-22
- When bell hooks died on Dec. 15, 2021, it was a gut punch. There was no time when bell hooks' extraordinary writing and feminist and lesbian theorizing was not part of the queer community. There was ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.