Steve Rogers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heroic_jawline) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2019-09-13 11:21 am
heroic_jawline) wrote in fandomhigh2019-09-13 11:21 am
Entry tags:
Practical Civics, Friday, September 13, 2019 [3rd period]
"Welcome back, everyone," Steve said with a smile. "We're not quite as annoyed with the Senate this week."
Out came the chart of the three branches of government again. "Today," he said, "we're talking a bit about the court system."
"Like we said last week, each branch is meant to balance the other so no one branch gains too much power," Tony said. Then sighed. "Ideally."
"We'll have a larger conversation about the criminal justice system and how it penalizes poor people for being poor later," Steve said. "Today we're focused on how the courts--especially those where the judges are appointed to a lifetime appointment without needing to be reelected--are supposed to serve as impartial arbiters of justice."
"Appointed, mind you, by elected officials," Tony added. "Who clearly have no bias at all."
"That was sarcasm," Steve added unnecessarily. "So conservative Presidents appoint conservative judges, liberal Presidents appoint liberal judges and theoretically they balance each other out. There have been some court cases over the years that have been considered landmark--they represent a giant societal step either forward or backwards. Dred Scott, for instance, which extended slavery. Or Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated America's schools."
"Roe v. Wade, which gave women the right to choose safe, legal abortions," Tony said. "These court cases have long lasting and very real consequences once they are decided on. They become the law of the land. And when certain people are allowed to pick the people whole issue these rulings, it can be..."
"Disastrous," Steve finished for him. "Dred Scott in 1857 declared that African Americans were not really citizens, even if they weren't slaves, and set the country on a collision course for the Civil War less than 10 years later. But court decisions can also be immensely freeing--the Supreme Court's decision that legalized marriage to same sex partners nationwide was something I would never have even dreamed could happen in my lifetime."
Steve passed out somehandwavey papers on various landmark US Supreme Court decisions. "Read these and tell us how the court system--if you have one--works in your dimension," he concluded. "Have they addressed these issues?"
Out came the chart of the three branches of government again. "Today," he said, "we're talking a bit about the court system."
"Like we said last week, each branch is meant to balance the other so no one branch gains too much power," Tony said. Then sighed. "Ideally."
"We'll have a larger conversation about the criminal justice system and how it penalizes poor people for being poor later," Steve said. "Today we're focused on how the courts--especially those where the judges are appointed to a lifetime appointment without needing to be reelected--are supposed to serve as impartial arbiters of justice."
"Appointed, mind you, by elected officials," Tony added. "Who clearly have no bias at all."
"That was sarcasm," Steve added unnecessarily. "So conservative Presidents appoint conservative judges, liberal Presidents appoint liberal judges and theoretically they balance each other out. There have been some court cases over the years that have been considered landmark--they represent a giant societal step either forward or backwards. Dred Scott, for instance, which extended slavery. Or Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated America's schools."
"Roe v. Wade, which gave women the right to choose safe, legal abortions," Tony said. "These court cases have long lasting and very real consequences once they are decided on. They become the law of the land. And when certain people are allowed to pick the people whole issue these rulings, it can be..."
"Disastrous," Steve finished for him. "Dred Scott in 1857 declared that African Americans were not really citizens, even if they weren't slaves, and set the country on a collision course for the Civil War less than 10 years later. But court decisions can also be immensely freeing--the Supreme Court's decision that legalized marriage to same sex partners nationwide was something I would never have even dreamed could happen in my lifetime."
Steve passed out some
Re: Discuss!
"The Radch is incredibly vast," she said, "so, for the most part, we do leave planets to handle their own affairs, but with guidance and in the presence of proper Ambassadors, military presence if necessary. After all, it's important to respect the various cultures that exist in civilized spacr. So smaller, domestic issues are handled by a deligation of their own people; it's really only matters of extreme criminality or when something is blatantly against Radchaai standards where a higher authority must get involved. Of course, since Radch space is so vast, it's easy to see why it's important for the Lord of the Radch to have so many entities," she may have shifted a little uncomfortably there, dropping her eyes, fully aware of it and hoping to pass it off as just a nervousness to be speaking so frankly, "to ensure that Radchaai law is still being followed and respected, that everything is still being followed according to the Treaty."
Re: Discuss!
Re: Discuss!
She was only...partly joking.
"Overall, though, if it poses a serious deteriment to the way things are supposed to function, it will be given more consideration than little petty squables about..." She made a small gesture, "...the price of tea on Athoek or the distribution of residence space on a station."
Just to pull out a few recent examples.