Culture Wars
Relations Between Supreme Court & America's Diverse Culture
Supreme Court Cases
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
In 1969 state officials pay directly to a non-public elementary school teachers by 15% extra depending on their salary, but cannot go beyond state maximum pay. The etchers were all eligible because they were connected to the Roman Catholic Church. Statute must have secular purposes. The religion statute must not foster excessive government entanglement. The supreme court ruled that aid to church related schools must be for secular purposes cannot advance nor inhibit religion.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
In Wisconsin the precedent was set for parent, school rivalry. Parents had the fundamental right to withdraw their children from school at any age due to religious purposes. The Amish exercised their 1st amendment rights when they withdrew their sons from school to attend farm work. The supreme court ruled that religious freedom outweighed the state's interest in education.
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
This court case allowed states to ban homosexual relationships. The court ruled that there was no constitutionality of sodomy, and if states were against the the act they had the right to ban it. Court Justice Byron White concluded that sodomy did not meet the standards of the "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty" and it was not "deeply rooted in the Nation's history and tradition".
Roe v. Wade (1973)
The right of privacy was firmly established under the due process clause of the 14th amendment. This case challenges a woman control of issues of reproduction due to right of marital privacy. The Court expanded right of privacy to reproductive rights. Now the mother has control if she wants an abortion or not. The state can only intervene if unborn child is viable (can live without being inside the mother).
Court Justices: Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Stephen Breyer
At age 81 and 75, it is considered that they should resign by 2016. Once president Obama is out of office. Considering both are elderly and have been through surgery ,people don't see their minds as fit for the supreme court.
Direction of The Court
Once Ruth Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer resign from the court ,it would be extremely hard to find individuals who are liberal in the ways as these two justices. Ultimately the supreme court focuses on balancing the two ideals ,in order to obtain an accurate point of view from the public. When the Republican party back in office the conservative ideology will be more prominent than liberalism.
Culture War
The culture war is basically conflicting ideas, religions, rights among the people. The people focus on equality ,however we realize that Church and State are not as separated as we would like. People's religious and moral beliefs often get in the way of what we consider justice. Also people the two opposing liberal and conservative feels in the supreme court can cause tension and can potentially cause a stalemate. People feel like America is rightly justified with their majority strict states over moral grounds. In order to prevent culture war we must accept deviance, and use empathy to understand one another.