Kitzmiller II
So far I've read up to page 68 of Perry v. Schwarzenegger. It's time for me to close the laptop and go to bed, but before I do I had to mention one overriding impression.
Normally I come into an issue with some preconcieved biases based on incomplete or bogus information. Via the court's report, I learn more stuff that fleshes out the argument on both sides and I come away thinking "I see where these folks are coming from". I don't usually change my mind, but I come away with a more favorable impression and deeper understanding of both sides.
One exception was Kitzmiller v. Dover. I came into that story thinking that intelligent design wasn't worth teaching in school. Only after reading the court's decision did I realize how much I'd underestimated that side's dishonesty. Their arguments were even worse than I expected, based on even deeper dishonesty than I'd imagined they were capable of. (The search and replace error was particularly hilarious.)
That's the impression that I'm coming away with all over again. I was no friend of Prop 8 before reading the court decision, but I hadn't dug past the few incomprehensible layers on top to understand just how many layers deep this cake of self-deluding bullshit went. Each section of the decision - the pretrial claims and trial evidence, the determinations of credibility, the findings of fact, and the conclusions of law - adds another dimension to my appreciation of just how terrible their case was. And the judge totally gets it. The judge isn't hearing both sides and splitting the difference, he's going to great lengths to show you, the reader, just how ridiculous the argument in favor of Prop 8 turns out to be.
I'm going to post another review but seriously, if you care about same-sex marriage, reading the decision in its entirety is virtually mandatory. And if you oppose same-sex marriage, reading the decision in its entirety is doubly mandatory because it's an excellent review of all the claims to avoid wasting your time trying to assert or justify.
Normally I come into an issue with some preconcieved biases based on incomplete or bogus information. Via the court's report, I learn more stuff that fleshes out the argument on both sides and I come away thinking "I see where these folks are coming from". I don't usually change my mind, but I come away with a more favorable impression and deeper understanding of both sides.
One exception was Kitzmiller v. Dover. I came into that story thinking that intelligent design wasn't worth teaching in school. Only after reading the court's decision did I realize how much I'd underestimated that side's dishonesty. Their arguments were even worse than I expected, based on even deeper dishonesty than I'd imagined they were capable of. (The search and replace error was particularly hilarious.)
That's the impression that I'm coming away with all over again. I was no friend of Prop 8 before reading the court decision, but I hadn't dug past the few incomprehensible layers on top to understand just how many layers deep this cake of self-deluding bullshit went. Each section of the decision - the pretrial claims and trial evidence, the determinations of credibility, the findings of fact, and the conclusions of law - adds another dimension to my appreciation of just how terrible their case was. And the judge totally gets it. The judge isn't hearing both sides and splitting the difference, he's going to great lengths to show you, the reader, just how ridiculous the argument in favor of Prop 8 turns out to be.
I'm going to post another review but seriously, if you care about same-sex marriage, reading the decision in its entirety is virtually mandatory. And if you oppose same-sex marriage, reading the decision in its entirety is doubly mandatory because it's an excellent review of all the claims to avoid wasting your time trying to assert or justify.