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Loading ...Supreme Court prospect draws criticism from gay groups
05.15.2009 8:32am EDT
(Atlanta) Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, considered a potential nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, has drawn criticism from gay rights groups after announcing plans to join a think tank whose founder is an outspoken opponent of gay marriage.
Sears, the nation’s first black female chief justice of a state supreme court, announced this week she will join the New York-based Institute for American Values when she retires June 30.She has declined to address speculation about a possible nomination to succeed retiring Justice David Souter, who will leave the Supreme Court when it ends its current session in June. Sears has appeared on several lists of possible candidates to succeed Souter, according to officials familiar with President Barack Obama’s deliberations.
Obama publicly supports civil unions and aides say he believes that committed gay and lesbian couples should receive equal rights under the law. He does not, however, personally support gay marriage; he believes that states can make their own decisions about marriage.
In announcing her future plans, Sears said her role at the institute would build on her work with the Georgia Supreme Court toward “strengthening the institution of marriage” by working to reduce the nation’s divorce rate.
Gay rights advocates, who enthusiastically supported Sears’ re-election bid against a conservative in 2004, said they felt betrayed that she will be working part-time for the New York-based think tank.
Institute president David Blankenhorn, critics point out, wrote in 2008 that changing the definition of marriage to accommodate gay couples “definitively undermines” the institution of marriage. Blankenhorn, however, has said he doesn’t oppose Congress supporting civil unions if states can have exceptions allowing religious groups not to accept them.
Jeff Graham, executive director of the gay rights group Georgia Equality, said Sears’ decision to join the Institute for American Values is “something that’s very troubling, concerning and at the very least disappointing to me.”
State Rep. Karla Drenner, the state’s only openly gay legislator, said she felt “betrayed.”
“I don’t understand her committing her energies to an organization that doesn’t believe in equality for everybody,” Drenner said.
Gay rights groups eagerly backed Sears in 2004 when she faced Grant Brantley, a conservative who earned the endorsements of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and other state GOP leaders. She has also drawn criticism from conservatives for siding with an opinion that overturned the state’s law against sodomy.
Sears, who has not taken a public stance on same-sex marriage, said the institute takes no position on same-sex marriage and has a number of scholars on both sides of the issue.
“Blankenhorn happens to be on one side of this issue, and there are those on the other side,” she said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Sears, who was once divorced but has since remarried, said she is joining the group to continue her push for reducing unnecessary divorces, a topic she has embraced since she became chief justice in 2005. In a recent interview, she said the 2007 suicide of her brother, who was in the grips of a painful divorce, further inspired her work. “It made it very personal,” Sears said.
Blankenhorn is a self-described “lifelong Democrat” who wrote “The Future of Marriage,” which discusses his belief that children need a mother and a father.
In an interview Thursday, Blankenhorn said same-sex marriage is one of dozens of issues the institute studies and there is no “litmus test” on where members of its board of directors fall on the contentious topic.
“I have my position that I have, and I have plenty of colleagues with different positions,” he said. “The ethos at this organization is that we have different positions and we’re actively involved in bringing people together.”
He said Sears had made it clear she won’t take a public stance on same-sex marriage – an issue that might come before her for judicial review.
Blankenhorn has drawn praise from some prominent supporters of gay marriage as someone who is looking for middle ground on the contentious topic.
Jonathan Rauch, a guest scholar with the Brookings Institution who wrote “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good For Gays, Good For Straights, And Good For America,” called Blankenhorn a “uniquely constructive force” in the debate. “He’s trying to carve out a new center,” Rauch said.
In 2006, Sears joined a unanimous decision that upheld Georgia’s same-sex marriage ban. The court didn’t rule on the merits of the ban. It just dismissed a challenge that claimed the law violated a rule governing the number of issues on a ballot measure.
How much you wanna bet Obama throws us under the bus on this one?
Why are so many people concerned about protecting religious rights in the law? They are already protected by law in the constitution. There is a separation of church and state but the church never follows that law themselves.
This woman will be on the court for her life-time….no is the only answer. Maybe she should get a civil union herself…then her divorce wouldn’t count…same for her brother….sheesh…another bigot
I’d like to know why President Obama is supposed to get the benefit of a doubt when he makes gestures like this. It’s like nominating somebody with a history of questioning the need for the Civil Rights Act. No way in hell would that nomination go anywhere–but if it’s about gays, it’s OK. So now we call/write/e-mail the White House and hope that we cause enough of a storm to torpedo the possibility. That’s what gays find themselves doing with Obama, over and over again. His words were (past tense) light-years beyond Bush, but his actions are no more than a parking space away, if that much. The only safe position is to view Obama as being as antigay as a Republican president. If he doesn’t show some support for gays in the very near future, then I think gay donors will be putting the Dems on notice–no support, no money. Obama is creating gay opposition where it didn’t need to exist, and it’s only going to get uglier.
You could say that I’m almost looking for a worst-case scenario. We can act on what’s in front of us, or we can get screwed while waiting for Obama to “find time” to support us. All of his (in-)action has shown bad faith, so I’m inclined to act based on what’s in front of me.
NO!
Sorry, Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears sounds like a potential fellow segregationist — like Obama.
Such irony that a formerly oppressed minority would take the side of upholding the anti-christian, high moral crime of discrimination and favor keeping a fellow minority “in their place”.
To paraphrase Jesus “what-the-hell-are-the-doing-in-my-name“ Christ:
What does it profit one to rule the world by upholding the special privileges of the status quo only to lose your soul?
In regards to Obama, most of us in the LGBT community thought that we were voting for Superman when, in reality, we just replaced Lex Luthor with his evil twin. I think I’d rather have the real thing than some viper who lures you in closer with lies just so it can strike with less effort.
Let’s just take a look at Obama’s record so far:
Obama now supports George W. Bush style Military Tribunes for foreign war detainees (he was against them as candidate Obama).
Obama has expanded (not limited) Bush-style warrantless wiretapping; adding special guarantees of government immunity and expanded “special powers” (without Congressional Oversight) of the Executive Branch.
Obama has stifled government investigations into Torture and the Human Rights Abuses of the former administration.
Obama gives away hundreds of billions of tax payer’s dollars to Wall Street and then turns his back on the union workers who supported him in the Auto Industry;
Obama allows his minions in Congress to conduct hearings on Heath Care Reform where they invite the profit-driven vultures and profiteering extortionists from the Insurance Industry to sit at the front of the table when formulating Health Care Reform — while they simultaneously arrest and expel single-payer National Health Care advocates from the hearings.
On civil rights, Obama has de-priorized repeal of DADT which has destroyed the military careers of over twelve thousand loyal, patriot Americans (even as Candidate Obama campaigned to push Congress to overturn that odious Jim Crow-style affront to human dignity).
Obama (and Pelosi/Reid) have expressed no interest whatsoever in overturning DOMA so that those of us who are legally married (or partnered under some other kind of quasi-marriage-like legal arrangement) can receive federal benefits — as Obama promised.
Obama’s apologists say that he busy trying to save the nation and the economy and jobs — so, then why isn’t pushing for job equality and protections (ENDA) for the tens of millions of GLBT citizens who do not have the same level of job protections as ninety percent of the population?
In the final analysis, the Democrats and, especially Obama, are NOT “The Change You Can Believe In“ ! As bigoted, odious and villainous as the Republican Party is, at least they are upfront about it. The Democrats, along with their lying segregationist, bigoted demagogue, Barak Obama, are master deceivers who troll the GLBT community for money, political volunteers, and votes — only to slap us all in the face with either that tiresome mantra of “the time is not right” excuse or just an outright “get out of my face” avoidance of us after an election — that is, after they have exploited us again in order to grab political power.
The Democratic Party un-official line: “Hey, just because they took us to the prom, it doesn’t mean we have to dance with them — right?”
….Well, that is their attitude. And we are expected to gleefully accept that? But what do you expect when all we get from our fearless “leadership” in the GLBT community is a “bend-over-may-I-have-another” and “will-you-please-kick-us-in-the-ass-again“ subservience from of our masochistic, fan-boy GLBT, Democratic fund-raising, political social clubs and toadies in Washington.
Fortunately, amongst the deluded millions of Obama sycophants who initially supported this dishonorable bigot, there are millions of us now who are finally starting to see the light.
It will be a third party ticket for me and my spouse next time — unless the Segregationists Democrats in Congress and the Bigot-in-Chief in the White House get the message. I am sure many millions in the GLBT community will also express a similar outrage at the ballot box. Maybe then will “our friends” on Capital Hill, and in the White House, get the message that when you win an election with a mercurial coalition of minority voters you don’t dare ignore them nor betray any of their fundamental rights.
If things don’t change, and quickly, I’m ready to:
!!! Ditch President Barack Obush in 2012 !!!!
© Bud Evans
Uhhhh, Chief Justice Sears has been a steady and reliable friend of the gay community in Georgia.
I’m not certain what it is but something is a bit fishy here in that someone is trying to turn gay folk against a friend.
If she gets picked it will be because of the color of her skin, not her merits.
sounds like racism and discrimination to me…
Steal from one to raise up another, still leaves one lower. sad.
I’m already considering my vote next election, not sure Obama is working to EARN it.
Nonetheless, I will patiently wait until next election, because I still have “hope” that he will do the right thing(s).
Chief Justice Sears voted with the majority on the court to overturn Georgia’s Sodomy law. She opposed the and voted against the Georgia Legislature’s attempts to put same-sex marriage amendment on the ballot.
She attends every (not most) but every gay function that she is invited too.
Sorry boys and girls. Can not sit here while this fine woman is disparaged. As earlier mentioned, I’m not sure why she is being pointed out as being anti-gay. The simple fact is that we could as for no better of a jurist on our issues.
Anyone needing to know this woman’s true record merely needs to access ajc.com or southervoice.com
Hmmmmmm…then, according to Obama (aka O’Bush) then slavery, racial segregation, interracial marriage…well hell, then every single civil rights issue should be left to the states to decide, eh?
So, why did over 600,000 people die in the Civil War if individual states are entitled to set their own rules and trump the US Constitution? What a waste that was.
By the way, I wonder how Black people would feel if Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears was White and she belonged to a club that was founded by a man, and supported by other members, who still debate the merits of segregation and who argue for bans on interracial marriage? Yes, how supportive would Black people be of a White Segregationist Obama who considered such a person for a seat on the US Supreme Court?
…Oh, but I forgot, we are supposed to be more open-minded (deluded) when “benign” bigots spit in OUR faces. And, as many apologists in the GLBT community tell us, that kind of spittle is good for our complexions– besides, we should be grateful for any kind of attention paid to us anyway.
Jeeze…save us all from the fools who think that just because you can make lemons into lemonade that you can make sh*t into chocolate.
Trace, I just looked on southernvoice, and I can see how you get to your point. Can you see why I might be suspicious?
Southern states talk a good game on family, yet incarceration and divorce are both FAR more common in the South than arguably any other part of the country. I appreciate Sears’ desire to reduce the number of divorces–who doesn’t? It’s not a long leap to see the good in churches requiring marriage classes, because it’ll save a lot of grief in the long run.
My issue comes with Sears affiliating herself with an organization which has questionable goals. It’s nice to advocate for marriage–but what about those who are entirely locked out of civil marriage? I don’t yet see Sears speaking to this. You may be right, we might not have seen what she really thinks, but she herself has said that being on the bench limits her ability to present an opinion (unless she morphs into Antonin Scalia).
Trace, you moved from Cincinnati to suburban Atlanta. I moved from Nashville to Cleveland. I know the systems you know, the institutional limits at either end (and you know that Cleveland is unquestionably the most liberal corner of Ohio). But when I see somebody advocate for marriage in the abstract, without acknowledging that some aren’t allowed to drink from that fountain or sit in that row, then I have to question whether you’re maybe being too generous.
I’m open to convincing, and I may yet owe an apology for my perspective on Sears. As the song says, this ain’t a scene, it’s an arms race, and I don’t feel like goin’ in and just assuming the best.
drewski, I only know from what and how I have seen the Chief Justice perform on the job. You should know that Georgia is very much an “Old Boys” network in both the Judiciary and in the Legislature. We have probably the most worthless governor ever elected to office. Sears has held her own and made her opinion known even in the most difficult situations.
Sears could be more pro-LGBT than her joining this group seems to suggest. In any case, there are other possible nominees. This is more important than any one legislative issue, such as ENDA or even marriage equality. The appointment will be for life. I suggest we contact the Obama administration and urge him to appoint someone who will respect precedent and stand up for the essential rights of privacy, equal treatment under the law, and the pursuit of happiness. The exclusion of LGBT people from equality under the law is a stark constitutional violation that any qualified justice would abhor.
Despite the probably-deserved praise for president Blankenhorn ,he might want to take a vacation up here in Canada , where the redefining of marriage hasn’t “definitively undermined” the institution of marriage.As for the hardened opponents of SSM ; I have always questioned whether marriage is the real issue.Take the lip gloss off the pig and what one sees is an entrenched opposition to our very existence.I believe it is very possible that we are simply facing the largest group of personality disorders ever assembled in common cause.Now , if I had any character defects , ….ahem….I’d say things like – If and when the Rapture occurs , I do hope all those taken up just happen to be seated on toilets at the time.
I’ve got it all figured out for Justice Sears: to reduce divorce rates, all you have to do is make gay marriage legal. Massachusetts’ rate dropped from 2.2/thousand to 2.0/thousand after marriage equality passed.
Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate of any state in the entire country.