Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Homophobia.]

"I think [the Supreme Court decision on DOMA] was wrong. [The justices substituted] their own judgment for the judgment of a Republican Congress and a Democratic President. In the Republican Congress in the '90s and Bill Clinton. I thought that Justice Kennedy's opinion was, in many respects, incredibly insulting to those people, 340-some members of Congress who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, and Bill Clinton. He basically said that the only reason to pass that bill was to demean people. That's a heck of a thing to say about Bill Clinton and about the Republican Congress back in the '90s. And it's just another example of judicial supremacy, rather than having the government run by the people we actually vote for."—Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, confessing that he doesn't understand how the fuck the Supreme Court works.

I couldn't be less thrilled about the undue power held by essentially one swing-voter on a bitterly partisan Court, nor about the Court's service to corporations rather than to people, but being unhappy with a decision (ha ha or SO MANY DECISIONS) that the Court doesn't mean I imagine the better option is putting marginalized people's civil rights to a vote.

And, by the way, all the conservatives who keep making this same argument: I am on to you. I get that matters of social justice tend to not go your way in the courts, and that the tyranny of the majority tends to work out better, especially once you rig the game. (Or just break the rules.) This is all a lot of high-falutin' talk for people who just want to put minority rights to a ballot to which the most privileged people who are reluctant to yield their privilege justly are the most likely to have access. If you were honest brokers, you'd just say, "The Court stinks. Long live mob rule."

Anyway.

I also love (hate) this argument that the Court reversing a piece of discriminatory legislation is "insulting" to the bigots who instituted it. Yes, excellent (terrible) point, Chris Christie! Let us forever keep denying same-sex couples their fundamental and constitutionally-guaranteed equality, because we don't want to hurt the delicate fee-fees of their oppressors.

And considering Bill Clinton is happy the gross legislation he signed into law has now been rendered to the dustbin of history, I don't think we need to worry about him.

Shut up, Chris Christie.