SLIGHTLY OT
The SCOTUS has struck down the Texas sodomy law. Why is this only slightly off-topic? Justice Kennedy, in his majority opinion, cites the same case that homeschoolers use to back our right to homeschool, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510 (1925). In fact, summarizing the opinion, he nearly quotes Pierce:
The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government.
Compare that with this from the 1925 decision:
“The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”
See? As I wrote in April, it’s all tied together in that right to privacy that Sen. Rick Santorum thinks doesn’t exist. Pretty amazing that Justice Kennedy cited the same case, huh?
2 Responses to “SLIGHTLY OT”
 Comment by Richard A. Heddleson June 26th, 2003 at 12:47 pm |
Do we need emanations and penumbras in the constitution to have the right to home school? Do we really need rights that aren’t in the constitution when the rights that are there are sufficient? |
 Comment by Daryl Cobranchi June 26th, 2003 at 1:18 pm |
The Constitution and especially the Bill of Rights are all about what government can’t do. The framers couldn’t anticipate every excess that some future bureaucrat might pursue. They certainly didn’t anticipate that government would compel schooling. So, they wrote the 9th Amendment. That’s where the right to privacy resides, IMO. |