(DOWNLOAD) "Social Work and the Supreme Court: A Clash of Values; A Time for Action (Commentary)" by Social Work # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Social Work and the Supreme Court: A Clash of Values; A Time for Action (Commentary)
- Author : Social Work
- Release Date : January 01, 2004
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 181 KB
Description
Are these the words of a lone judge striking out against homosexuals and gays from a wayward lower court in a less progressive part of the country? Of are they the sentiments of a judge in the most exalted judicial position--the United States Supreme Court? If you chose the latter you would be right. These words were written by Justice Scalia in a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Thomas and Rhenquist, in Lawrence v. Texas (p. 2496-2497), a 2003 Supreme Court case invalidating a Texas statute that criminalized homosexual conduct as a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Constitution. These words, and many more like them, ate emblematic of what is wrong with the Supreme Court today. Although law, not ideology, is assumed to guide the Court's decisions, it is easy to spot the animus toward gay people that underlies this dissent. Although Justices Rehnquist, Thomas, and Scalia may have been in the minority, often they are not. The Court has enormous influence over social policy, and its decisions are increasingly at odds with social work values. Social workers and their professional organizations thus need to be fully informed and engaged in the doings of the Supreme Court.