“Statutes and principles point in different directions. …”
[from The Formers Blog]
The quote above is from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in reference to the high court’s decision Monday to reverse two lower court rulings against several white firefighters in New Haven, Conn. The firefighters had filed a racial discrimination suit arising from the city’s actions following a written test to determine possible promotions within the fire department.
No black firefighters — they were not the only such minorities — had test scores high enough to qualify them for promotion, but whites and Hispanics did. City officials, fearing a lawsuit from aggrieved African-American firefighters, threw out all the test scores, including Frank Ricci’s. His hard-knocks story and hard work in meriting a promotion, in accordance with the rules, caught the sympathies of many Americans.
This story is even more newsworthy because one of the three judges on the chastised 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who had ruled to invalidate the white firefighters’ lawsuit was Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s appointee to replace retiring Justice David Souter.
I couldn’t help noticing an interesting parallel between this case and that involving the child custody/visitation dispute between former same-sex civil union partners Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins. If “statutes and principles point in different directions” in the above brouhaha, couldn’t we say the same for the Miller-Jenkins case?
Two states, Virginia and Vermont — or more specifically, two citizens representing each state — are at odds with one another. The two states’ laws, i.e., statutes, are at odds over what constitutes a marriage and a family. Vermont says same-sex marital unions are fine. Virginia not only does not have a similar law, but its citizens also voted to constitutionally define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Additionally, the state has a Marriage Affirmation Act. Then there’s that minor inconvenience called DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), a federal law that covers every state in the union.
Principles also are at issue in the case, however. A common dictionary definition of the word principle is “a standard of moral or ethical decision-making.” Is there a job on earth more difficult than that of presiding over disputes involving estranged “parents” and innocent children in accordance with “ethical” and “moral” principles — especially when a common definition of “parent” or “marriage” no longer exists? Whose ethics? Whose morals?
Heaven help all the parties involved in the Miller-Jenkins case and all similar cases before the courts of this land. This is only one battle in a growing war.
Even now, the storm is gathering anew in Virginia and Vermont as Janet Jenkins is seeking swift reprisals against Lisa Miller for a long succession of missed visits with Miller’s daughter, Isabella. Court documents filed on Jenkins’ behalf in Virginia yesterday ask that Miller “be imprisoned, fined, or otherwise dealt with for the failure to abide by the visitation orders.”
Additional background on the case can be found at http://www.protectisabella.com.
The judges in this nearly 6-year-old case need much clarity and soul-searching. If there is anyone or anything to fear, it ought to be the Lord God and not political backbiting. Let all praying people bend a knee in search of the Almighty’s mercy and justice. It is by His hand that governments are instituted and judges are seated.
Let’s also remember as we enter this Independence Day weekend that many God-fearing freedom fighters died birthing this nation, severing it from a tyrannical rule. Many more have paid the ultimate price to keep us free. That lends additional perspective to the burden on the shoulders of all who are in authority.
May God bless America!
