The Corruption of the Legal System By Charles Taylor

     The US is a living experiment of how a diverse liberal society self-destructs, and other Western countries march closely behind it.
  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/supreme-court-blocks-trump-from-ending-obama-era-daca-program?utm_source=breaking_push&utm_medium=app&utm_campaign=push_notifications
  https://www.amren.com/news/2020/06/supreme-court-blocks-trumps-bid-to-end-daca-a-win-for-undocumented-dreamers/
  https://gen.medium.com/the-terf-manifesto-goes-mainstream-1d68ab40a760

“Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas are two of the biggest feminists on the Supreme Court. This, anyway, is the conclusion you would be forced to reach if you followed the logic of the TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) movement, which for years has argued that trans people must be discriminated against to “protect” women, and which now finds itself standing with those men on the wrong side of history. The Supreme Court’s 6–3 ruling on Monday that queer and trans employees are protected under Title VII is a milestone for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, who for decades have fought for equal employment protections. It is also, even more significantly, the first major decision about trans rights by the Supreme Court. The victory has rightfully been celebrated. But equality advocates would be wise to pay close attention to the dissenting opinions by Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito — because their arguments are aligned all too closely with conventional TERF talking points. Alito’s dissent, in which Thomas joined, echoed TERF rhetoric point for point: “For women who have been victimized by sexual assault or abuse, the experience of seeing an unclothed person with the anatomy of a male in a confined and sensitive location such as a bathroom or locker room can cause serious psychological harm,” he wrote. This argument has been raised in the past by figures ranging from Mike Huckabee to the trans-exclusionary Women’s Liberation Front. It also appeared, in a slightly different version, in British author J.K. Rowling’s TERF manifesto, published late last week, wherein she argued that trans rights would “throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman” and “[play] fast and loose with women’s and girls’ safety.”

Transphobia has always served the wider agendas of sexism and patriarchy by making gender a rigid, violent hierarchy with cis men at the top. The idea that trans women are dangerous to cis women is central to TERF rhetoric, which positions them as predators seeking to invade cis women’s spaces or, indeed, to invade womanhood itself. Those same groups routinely cast trans men as inherently misogynist — deluded, self-hating “women” who have caved to internalized sexism or abandoned womanhood in favor of greener pastures. Even existing as a trans person, by some accounts, is an act of violence done to cis womanhood. If trans rights actually furthered some sinister agenda of misogyny and sexual violence, you’d think misogynist men would be all for it. Yet there are two justices on the Supreme Court accused of sexual misconduct, and they don’t side with trans people. They side with TERFs. Of course, you can argue about whether you believe Christine Blasey Ford and Anita Hill — more people believe Ford than Kavanaugh, at least — and you can argue the severity of the allegations against each justice, which differ from case to case. (Kavanaugh is accused of forcibly pinning Christine Blasey Ford to a bed, whereas Thomas allegedly cornered Anita Hill and subjected her to repeated, graphic monologues, including descriptions of rape scenes in pornography, after she refused to go out with him.) The facts remain that neither behavior is something any feminist would endorse and that both men are also notorious opponents of “women’s rights” more generally, as is Alito. Thomas even recently accused women who get abortions of committing “eugenics.” And before Alito argued that trans bathroom access would trigger cis women who’ve survived sexual assaults, he was expressing his concern for women by arguing that they should be required to notify their husbands before they get abortions. These men are embracing TERF talking points, not because they’ve switched gears and suddenly become radical feminists, but because transphobia has always served the wider agendas of sexism and patriarchy by making gender a rigid, violent hierarchy with cis men at the top. Misogyny is a system aimed at subjugating women by denying them bodily and sexual autonomy, and sexual assault is its bluntest tool, denying the victim control of her body in the most literal way. But transphobia and homophobia are also aimed at subjugating people by denying them sexual or bodily autonomy, and those forms of bigotry are also enforced through sexual violence.”

     The US Supreme court has shown that lawyers can find anything they want in documents, so long as I fits a politically correct agenda, because it is not about strictly valid arguments, but ideology and rhetorical flourishes.

 

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Thursday, 28 March 2024

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