The invaluable Charlie Pierce brings us news from Kansas, the little laboratory of democracy currently confirming horrible experimental results.
Kansas has a well-known Koch problem. Their need for a greater fix has led to mainlining it at the cost of jobs, school, to say nothing of the families. Moreover, everyone knows that this level of Koch abuse leads to erratic behavior that surprises even recovering addicts (like myself, just not coke or Koch), who see the need for intervention reaching Defcon 5
Pierce notes the end stage symptoms are now upon us. Kansas’ paranoia about women and their ability to manage their bodies (Koch heads, mostly male, are “free” to abuse themselves. Women cannot be trusted to keep themselves healthy) has led them to use a “twofer." They reject women by citing a case most repugnant to African Americans.
I’m a lawyer. I know that the Declaration of Independence is not law, nor does it confer legal rights. There are plenty of cases that stand for that simple proposition. But, apparently Kansas, brain roiled in Koch (which breaks down into tea once having passed through the liver), made this citation in a brief arguing women do not have the freedom to choose.
("While the Declaration of Independence states that all men are endowed certain unalienable rights including 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,' it does not grant rights that may be pursued through the judicial system."). See also Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, 407 (1856)…
To which, Charlie responds as only Charlie can:
Holy cow. The state of Kansas has a lawyer citing Dred Scott in support of its position. In defense of a law aimed at limiting a woman's right to choose. What in the fck is the matter with Kansas?
Dred Freaking Scott!
I am not a lawyer, nor am I a legal scholar, although I do function as one here in the shebeen. But there's a nice shiny nickel for anyone who can tell me the last time anyone cited that monstrous ruling in support of anything. Jesus, these people
Enjoy. www.esquire.com/...