Up To Date With Ethan Callender Entries 5 and 6: Not So Up To Date

Before I begin this post, I would like to pay tribute to one of our great American trailblazer, and an even greater lawyer, judge, and person. Her name was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, AKA The Notorious RBG. It’s a nickname she truly deserved, given that her immense track record paved the way for so many crucial rights, especially for women. She was far from just an effective legal mind, but a pop culture icon due to her practically personifying dissent when our rights were at risk. For that, I hope the nation remains forever grateful.

Ah, who am I kidding? You think modern American politicians weren’t going to take advantage of this for their own gain? On this edition of Up To Date, both of replacing a beloved SCOTUS Justice and race relations are on the docket. This one is going to be a doozy, but I have to stay up to date. It’s in the f***ing title.

Entry 5: A Justice Among Us

To begin, let’s talk about RBGs now-nearly-inevitable replacement, Amy Coney Barrett. Believe it or not, there are a few positives to Trump picking her for the job. They are that she has an impressive track record at Notre Dame, having clerked for the late Justice Scalia, as well. There is also her potentially being only the fifth woman on the Supreme Court. That’s where the positives end, though. 

The big negative here is the fact that despite her impressive record, there is a gaping hole in that record. That hole is the fact that she’s only been a judge for three years, having first joined the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017. And now, for a disclaimer: I am not going to criticize Judge Barrett for her religion. It is her right under the Constitution. However, there are still two matters that are of interest. 

The first is her membership in a mostly Catholic group called People for Praise. Nothing is inherently wrong with this, but the members of this group do seemingly have to swear a loyalty oath. This is the problem here because judges are ideally loyal to only the Constitution. Also, in the article, there is an interview with one of the group’s leaders, a dude named Craig Lent (not joking), that I recommend checking out. The icing on the cake is that the group believes that husbands have to lead the family, with the wife being subservient. The irony in this is that Judge Barrett is a powerful woman in a group that might have some beef with powerful women. I won’t touch on the Senate confirmation fight, as that ship has likely sailed. But, she’s better than Kavanaugh, so that’s something.

Entry 6: My Take On the Murder Of Breonna Taylor

I would like to quickly discuss my stances on race-related issues. I bring this up due to the recent abdication of justice in the case of Breonna Taylor. For those who are somehow still unaware, Taylor was caught in the crossfires of a police raid while she slept and was murdered in the process. Just days ago, it was announced that the cops who killed her would receive no charges related to the incident. Only one cop was charged with anything at all, and the charge was “wanton endangerment” of her neighbors. I’ve seen a sign on social media saying that the neighbors’ drywall was more valued than her life. That’s how rightly furious people are about this. No one deserves to die at the hands of police. The only people who come close are mass murderers, and even then, they still have a Constitutional right to a fair trial. Simply put, these officers violated the Constitution itself by killing Breonna Taylor, an innocent young woman who wasn’t even the target of the raid. In America or any free nation, no one should be above the law. Nobody. Black lives matter.