Religious Action Center :: RACBlog

OT08 is O-V-E-R

2009-07-02T21:04:35Z

The October 2008 Supreme Court Term (OT08) has come to an end. After deciding 79 cases (up from 71 in OT07 and 72 in OT06), the Justices have hung up their robes for the summer and Justice Souter said goodbye to the Court forever.

By many measures, OT08 was more similar to OT06 (one of the most divisive terms in Supreme Court history) than to OT07. For example, in OT08, 29% of the cases were decided by a 5-4 majority as compared to 33% in OT06 and only 17% in OT07. And, the Court reversed or vacated the lower court in 76% of cases this term as compared to 73% in OT07 and only 66% in OT07.

]]> One thing that hasn't changed is the influence of Justice Kennedy, who voted with the majority in 73 of the 79 cases this term. Twenty-three of this year's cases were 5-4 decisions and Justice Kennedy was in the majority in 18 of them. Sixteen of these 5-4 decisions were divided along the typical ideological lines, with Justices Ginsburg, Stevens, Souter, and Breyer making up the liberal voting bloc, Justices Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Scalia making up the conservative voting bloc, and Justice Kennedy serving as the sole swing vote. Justice Kennedy sided with the conservative voting bloc in 11 of these cases and the liberal voting bloc in only 5.

Justice Kennedy's fairly consistent agreement with the conservatives on the Court is only one of the reasons why both the Washington Post and the New York Times featured articles yesterday about how the Supreme Court has shifted to the right this Term.

For the next few weeks, no doubt, reporters and analysts will try to answer lots of questions about this term--What was the most significant case? What was the biggest surprise? Which Justice wrote the most influential opinions? I recommend reading through Slate's "Supreme Court Breakfast Table" to get a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the term. It is a conversation between Walter Dellinger, (former Solicitor General) Dahlia Lithwick and Emily Bazelon (senior editors for Slate Magazine) and Linda Greenhouse (former New York Times reporter), that highlights the biggest cases of the term while taking a big picture look at the Court and OT08 as well.

Note: All statistics in this post come from the summary memo of the SCOTUSWiki's End of Term "Super Stat Pack," which has even more interesting and informative data. I highly recommend checking it out.

Praying With Your Feet

2009-07-02T19:05:09Z

Julie Bressler is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Washington University in St. Louis and an intern at the National Education Association.

At our Tuesday night Machon Kaplan class, we were asked to reflect on our first few weeks in Washington. We talked about our internships, our DC explorations, and our lack of sleep. To conclude our discussion, our group leaders told us about Abraham Joshua Heschel's trip to Selma, Alabama, to walk with Martin Luther King Jr. When asked why he came to Selma, Heschel replied, "When I march in Selma, my feet are praying." What does it mean to pray with your feet?

]]> tikkun olam, the repairing of our world, we use our Judaism and passion for social justice to contribute to our organizations as much as we can. Each day at the National Education Association (NEA), I join hundreds of employees who work tirelessly to achieve the goal of ensuring great public schools for every student. As states continue to cut funding for public schools in this economic crisis, the continued passion and enthusiasm of NEA employees is admirable and inspirational. Tell Congress to support education funding by clicking here.

A few nights ago, I visited several monuments with a few friends from the Machon Kaplan program. After realizing just how big the Washington Monument really is, we made our way to the Lincoln Memorial. As I sat on the steps and looked out on the reflecting pool and monuments in front of me, I felt the power of this place. Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired a nationfrom that very spot in 1963, and thousands came together to celebrate our 44^th President at the 'We are One' concert this past January. Even though it is sometimes difficult to see the big picture and our goals seem impossible to achieve, I try to remember that it often takes many tiny steps to reach such great moments like these. So while our public education system is far from perfect today, I will hopefully be able to look back one day when public education in America is the global standard and be proud of my small part in this achievement.

I have truly fallen in love with this city and want to explore as much as possible. However, I keep feeling like I have to do everything during this trip, as if the city will suddenly disappear once I fly out on July 26^th. I need to remind myself that I can come back and that the city will continue to be exciting, but to still make the most of each day as I pray with my feet and work to bring positive change in America.

Fasting Together for Darfur

2009-07-02T14:19:25Z

After over 80 rabbis joined together to fast for Sudan on June 18th, they agreed that they wanted to do more to keep the international, and their local, community focused on the humanitarian situation in Darfur.

Together they decided to do a rolling fast, with rabbis and cantors invited each to pick one day between now and Rosh Hashanah to do a one day water-only fast and to alert their communities and elected officials to the ongoing suffering in Darfur. A fast sign-up, resources to write a letter to the editor and spread the word, and a clergy sign-on letter are all available here.

]]> Since President Bashir expelled over a dozen aid agencies this March, the humanitarian situation in Sudan has been illustrated by the remaining agencies scrambling to cover gaps. Even with three "new" aid groups being allowed to return, it is unclear whether the groups will be able to freely provide aid in a sustainable way. The Enough Project's John Norris explains:

"As has always been clear, Khartoum was willing to let three of the 13 groups return to work if they were rehatted under new names, a charade the international community apparently was willing to accept. Now Khartoum is expecting credit for its willingness to partially address a humanitarian crisis which it manufactured itself. Gration also insisted that aid capacity in Darfur was back up to nearly 100 percent of what it had been before Khartoum put so many lives at risk through its callous decision to expel aid groups. Lots of analysts, including the humanitarian chief at the U.N., have suggested that we are still well short of restoring previous aid capacity, and most aid groups still face a maze of restrictions that allow Khartoum to turn aid on and off at will."

President Bashir's ability to control humanitarian aid entry keeps the lives of over a million people in Darfur at risk. In reflecting on 20 years of Bashir's rule in Sudan, an op-ed in The Guardian reminds us that during his tenure he has "has waged two civil wars, taking the lives of more than 2.6 million people, and displaced a further 6.5 million; he has funded murderous rebel armies in Chad and Uganda; and most recently he has been indicted by the international criminal court for five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crime." The op-ed continues, urging "the UN and its member states to reflect on the horror and destruction he has brought to his country and not to allow the suffering of the Sudanese people to be forgotten. Only a coherent, concerted and consistent policy towards Bashir will deliver peace and justice to the people of Sudan."

Ending Prison Rape

2009-07-01T20:42:04Z

Last week the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission issued its 259-page report on the disturbing prevalence of sexual abuse in our nation's prisons. The Commission, established under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (which was drafted with the help of the RAC and which Rabbi Saperstein testified in favor of) called for a number of standards to be put into place and for specific steps to be taken.]]> For too long, Americans have turned a blind eye to prison rape. No person, in jail or otherwise, should be subjected to such abuse and it is past time that our government takes direct action toward ending the cruel, unjust and abhorrent reality of prison rape.

Earlier this week, Rabbi Saperstein responded to the report's release. The whole statement can be found here, and below is a short excerpt:

We commend the report issued by the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission that makes clear that prison rape remains a widespread problem that demands immediate and swift action. The Commission estimates that nearly 60,500 prisoners experienced sexual abuse one or more times in State and Federal facilities in 2007. Among the most disturbing statistics in the report is that, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 16.8 per 1,000 juveniles held in adult facilities experienced sexual abuse, a rate five times greater than adults. These numbers, likely underreported, serve as an alarming reminder of the scourge of prison rape and the immediate need for preventative programs, treatment, and investigation.