I’m going to be frank, yesterday I was furious today I am just sad. For the last five years I’ve watched our country test the boundaries of our Constitution and push our checks and balances to a degree they were designed for in the event of an emergency, not to indefinitely withstand. It is not sustainable. Last night I felt like I finally watched the last branch fall and fail us like the other two already have. The last branch that in its very nature is designed with the intention to not be political. And this morning I’m just really fucking sad.

I understand that the appreciation and admiration I have for SCOTUS doesn’t apply to everyone. I am not going to lie and act like up until this point I’ve been worry free and ok with everything that has happened in the last five years with the Court, because it is simply not true. But what I have maintained, whether I’ve agreed with a Justice appointed or not, was the respect and faith that we all in the legal profession take what the Court does and what it stands for seriously enough to appropriately do our jobs. That we value the Constitution enough to uphold and honor it, even when personally our feelings don’t align. The reasoning in forgoing the stay last night was flimsy at best. Once again, like we’ve watched in the Executive branch and even more clearly in the Legislative branch, I watched our Government fail us in function because one side has the numbers to back their emotion instead of properly perform their job. It’s about time we all pull our heads out of our asses, and stop worrying about blindly making choices along party lines.

I once again find myself saying the same thing I’ve been saying for the last 10 years: this is all fun and games, convenient, and gratifying when it’s your party and your objective you are benefiting off of lawlessness. Mark my words, this will not always be the case. Just as we’ve watched Administration after Administration benefit off of the incredibly dangerous precedent the Patriot Act brought in the name of ‘national security’, so too will we continue to see our personal freedoms erode in other categories as we continue to uphold and allow these Politician to misbehave and disregard both the Constitution and well-established precedent in the name of party. Let me remind you that Texas itself used to be ‘blue’ before the Bush’s. I have sat back and listened to the continued argument regarding COVID and that the more enforcement power we give the Government, the more we are willingly handing over power we will never get back. Well, I agree with you, that is something we should stay aware and vigilant about but that does not mean we cherry pick when it’s relevant. In fact, I am tired of us also cherry picking when the Constitution, the first amendment, and the right to privacy are respected as well.

I have long since accepted that the views on abortion will remain deeply divided and contentious in this Country. I am happy for you to have a view that differs from mine: I welcome it and I respect that you have the right to do so. But I will not welcome, respect, or condone lawlessness and a blatant disregard to the Constitution in an attempt to enforce your side. Today it is abortion, in the future it will be something else you thought untouchable. Let me explain to you how deeply problematic the literal procedure of this bill is that was just enacted:

The Constitution and precedent has made it clear you have the right to bear arms. Sure, the semantics of what that means in detail will be argued probably for our entire life time, but the essence of that right is pretty clear cut. Your State has now decided that they no longer want you to have access to any guns unless you fit in a very specific window of time and place. For this example, let’s just say you are only permitted a singular weapon and a singular box of ammo at a time. You have six weeks to turn over all extra guns and ammo or civilians can report and sue you for violating this. They will receive a $10,000 reward for doing so. But wait, your gun dealer is now also liable even if you got that gun several years before. The neighbor who didn’t even know you had multiple guns is also liable, because perhaps they ‘should have known’. The person who gave you money for your birthday you chose to put towards one of your guns you don’t want to turn over is also liable because that’s ultimately what it was used for. It doesn’t matter if when this bill goes into effect that the law and precedent makes the right to bear arms constitutional, if later it is found to be unconstitutional you are still liable for violating it in that time. They can backdate their claim. That is what the language of this bill allows at the very basic, procedural level. To be blind to the bigger implication of this precedent because it’s a ‘victory’ in the fight against abortions is to be willfully ignorant.

To allow our politicians to side step the law, turn our citizens into constant ‘police’ of one another for things that are still legal, or that they aren’t even aware is happening, and to choose to act like SCOTUS precedents only matter when it’s something we agree with is literally leaving us vulnerable for (God forbid) the day someone can and will misuse this power. The day that is no longer something you agree with, and the day we will all realize we can’t undo the years of looking the other way in the name of party that we have done to get us there. I know there is a good portion of people that feel strong victory in what has happened the last 48 hours, but I assure you we have all lost in this process. What I just witnessed SCOTUS essentially side step last night, a bill that is blatantly on its face unconstitutional, is deeply terrifying. And not because I simply don’t agree with it, because they themselves acknowledge they have essentially green lit other state governments to be empowered to blatantly disregard the law, the Constitution, and precedent and be rewarded for doing so. Because our last branch whose job is to be a neutral and final arbiter of the law chose to align with weak legal reasoning at best because they have the numbers to honor their feelings instead of performing their duty to uphold the law. As a woman I’m infuriated, as a lawyer I am deeply troubled about the direction we are headed in, and as an American that values our Constitution I am sad. Please, start paying attention to the actions of the people you are voting into these positions instead of blindly supporting party. Register to vote and ask your peers to do the same. And for god’s sake, start paying attention.

– Kelsey

Sep 2, 2021 at 10:19 AM