Big Meetings and Thoughts on Gun Control
ACS Lunch Meeting
A Harvard Law professor came to discuss the republican dominance in the federal judiciary. It's really frightening. Most Americans don't know or care what is happening in the courts. We have judges being appointed that prosecuted people for registering black voters in the South. We have judges who say women should be subserviant to men. We have judges who are open racists and say things like the only problem they have with the KKK is that some of its members smoke pot. Not only is this a threat to progressive America, it's a threat to moderates. The liberal judges are so outnumbered that they have no ability to change the law in a positive direction, the best they can do is try to prevent it from being changed any more for the worst. William Rehnquist was considered to be on the far right when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. Now he is considered a moderate. It isn't that he has changed, it's that the Court has moved so far to the right that he's in the center now. Thank you justices Thomas and Scalia. The infestation of right wing idealogues in the federal circuit on up to the Supreme Court poses a serious threat to civil rights litigation, which has nearly ground to a halt, and previous landmark dicisions like Roe v Wade protecting abortion rights are threatened and may be overturned in the next few years. Sadly there is no good solution to this problem. Due to redistricting and gerrymandering there are only a handful of close house races now. Even if the Democrats retake the white house, the house and senate are pretty much a lost cause. Without majorities in the house and senate, Republicans can easily block liberal and moderate appointees, and remember that federal judges are appointed for life so the hundreds of appointees from the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II years will be around for a while. Our country's judiciary is in a dismal state.
JGL Meeting
Still working on cite checking this article on injustice towards women in the Dominican Republic. We reviewed four articles tonight and accepted one on something or other. Hard to get excited about these meetings right now. Too much work.
Senate Budget Meeting
The senate budget meeting started at 9 and let out at midnight. Not as bad as I expected. We got the budget passed satisfactorily and I gave my pitch for a 1L message board. The parlementarian will work with me on it and I've been appointed the ad hoc web committee chairman but no one volunteered to help. I'll have to recruit from the general student body.
My Stance on Guns
Americans should be able to own guns. They should also be strictly liable for damages caused by those guns both criminally and civilly and should have to keep them registered with authorities. Strict laws regulating when and where guns may be used and how they must be locked up and secured when not in use are necessary. Mandatory gun insurance would be a good idea along the same lines as car insurance in case there should be an accident. Some types of weapons should be banned for the sake of general safety. Bombs should be included in this list. Most likely so should sniper rifles and assault weapons.
