Blog 3: Supreme Court Decisions

Michael Hsu

6/28/19

Entry #3

The Supreme Court issued two major rulings on issues that were relevant to my placement site, Democracy Initiative. One was on the question regarding whether or not to add the citizenship question on the census, and the other ones were two gerrymandering cases that were wrapped into one. We went to the Supreme Court for a rally ahead of those decisions, and we stayed for the press conference after the decision was handed out. I was a little nervous on what the decision was going to be because this could affect much of our democracy that we have left in the United States.

With the citizenship question, this could heavily affect those that are undocumented, because many would not want to indicate their citizenship status for fear of deportation. As a result, this could result in loss of federal funding to communities that have a large number of undocumented immigrants, such as my home state of California. With the gerrymandering cases, we are living in a “democracy” where it’s not voters that chooses its elected officials, but the other way around. We are in a situation where those in elected office can draw maps that are so skewed and extreme for partisan gain.

For the decisions. The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration from adding the citizenship. However, in their opinion, the Court ruled that the administration provided inadequate explanation on adding the question. Therefore, the Court’s explanation leaves a lot of grey area. As with the gerrymandering cases, the Court ruled that it’s not up to the federal judiciary to decide whether they can end the practice of gerrymandering. Although the Court acknowledge the amount of danger partisan gerrymandering plays in the function of a democracy, the Court decided not to intervene themselves.

We are living in a dangerous time, if it wasn’t obvious enough. We are in a time where democracy is under attack. The unlimited amounts of money spent on campaigns and lobbying as a result of Citizens United, the gutting of a crucial provision of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby, and now the continuation of partisan gerrymandering as affected us in ways that extend beyond these issues. Many who benefit from these decisions are in favor of policies that help the wealthy and the powerful, while screwing over those that are poor. This is a big reason why we still don’t have healthcare as a human right, why we’re not taking action on climate change, why we continue to spend money on endless wars, etc. Many in elected office call themselves Christians, but the policies that favor and have already enacted are contradictory to the calling that Jesus asks of us.

God help us all.