supreme Court

SCOTUS thinks ‘entities’ make decisions all by themselves

“Captain, we have encountered the Sioux Falls School District.”

The Title IX case concerning gymnastics has been interesting to watch. While I don’t have a dog in the fight, I do think that gymnastics is a legitimate high school sport, AND they had a very good case against the Sioux Falls School District. In fact, I was surprised the District didn’t concede before the hearing.

But what I found interesting in the judge’s injunction is how he dropped the athletic director and superintendent from the suit citing SCOTUS has concluded that individuals are normally dropped from these suits and only the ‘entity’ itself can be sued.

This happened recently in the Bunker House case against the city. The defendant claimed he was racially discriminated against and the city (the mayor) requested that these claims of racial bias be removed from the case. I don’t know what was said, or even if the mayor said it, but if he did, that racial bias is ON him and should not have been dropped from the case UNLESS the mayor can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he never said or did anything to discriminate.

While our local Federal Judge has no control over SCOTUS rulings and essentially wants to follow their case law I find it interesting that SCOTUS thinks individuals can’t be held liable for making bad decisions on behalf of the entity. I would have sued not only the Super and Athletic Director, but the entire school board and any staff associated with this decision.

People are NOT naive, we know since the Pam Homan days that decisions come directly from the administration and they hog house the board into going along with their poor planning.

Sorry SCOTUS but entities like school districts don’t make decisions on their own, PEOPLE do, and when those people make decisions that clearly violate Federal statutes they deserve to be sued in their official capacities AND should be permanently removed from their positions (fired).

I’m not sure how you can keep someone around who clearly advised the school board to make this decision and violate Federal law. If these are the kind of decisions she is making, do we want her running the District?

I also take issue with the fact the school district felt it necessary to spend district money fighting this. They could have probably funded the program for the next 3 years for what it cost in lawyering. I certainly am NO expert on Title IX law, but this seemed like a pretty good case that the district was going to lose. Who is giving them legal advice? Oh that’s right, no one, just the ‘ENTITY’.

Last Week was a Real kick in the N . .

The Authoritarian Right Wingers really had quite the week pushing their Wacky Radical agenda onto a majority of Americans and South Dakotans that don’t support their ideas;

JACKLEY GETS NOMINATED AS THE GOP CANDIDATE FOR SD ATTORNEY GENERAL

If there ever was a time I wish Jason Rumblestrips didn’t hit and kill Joe Boever, it is NOW. The SD Dem Party must dig deep to find someone to run against this guy. Remember, this is a person who covered up Gear Up and EB-5, and probably numerous other things, and if you think he has changed, you are mistaken. He has an axe to grind, and it won’t be pretty. Ravnsborg may have been a liar, a dope and a killer, but he isn’t a Marty.

NOEM SAYS IT IS A TRAGEDY TO ABORT A BABY CONCEIVED BY RAPE OR INCEST

In one of her more bizarre incidents, Noem said on Face the Nation that victims of rape and incest should be forced to have the child conceived in violence. It was probably one of the most despicable things I have ever heard her say. When she claims to be for Freedom and Liberty then turns around and forces raped children to have a child produced by their attacker, you have to wonder what is going on in her head. Cue the circus music.

ROE VS. WADE OVERTURNED

I even tell my single male friends that this decision will have further implications in the Supreme Court. They are coming for your contraception and partner rights. A majority of Americans support safe and legal abortion clearly showing our SCOTUS is extremely out of touch with Americans.

A TRUMPLICAN GETS NOMINATED AS THE SD GOP CANDIDATE FOR SOS

It’s one thing for this Stop the Steal supporter to get nominated as SOS, but her extremist views on voter registration, religion and all things wacky to the right should scare the Hell out of us. I BEG the SD DEM Party to find a strong candidate to run against Ms. Johnson. What is even more strange is that they booted an incumbent who has done a fairly decent job. My feelings are they booted Barnett because he was trying to make voting easier in SD by supporting online registration and voting by mail. Even the Republicans in this state hate moderate Republicans.

GUN CONTROL TAKES A STEP FORWARD AND A STEP BACK

While the President did sign a bi-partisan bill for more gun control, it was watered down by the Republicans involved in the negotiations. It also did not help that SCOTUS said it was A-OK to carry a concealed weapon Federally not allowing states to regulate the 2nd Amendment. A majority of Americans support comprehensive gun control.

PRIVATE RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS CAN RECEIVE VOUCHERS

This is only the case in states that have a voucher program. I am vehemently against vouchers. I have argued that if property tax payers can receive vouchers when choosing to send their children to private schools then I should receive a voucher for choosing NOT to have children. I especially think it is reprehensible to fund religious schools with money meant to go towards public education. The SCOTUS got this one wrong on many levels, as well as their ruling on prayer in schools. SCOTUS is virtually ignoring 1st Amendment rights and Separation of Church and state.

UPDATE: SD Supreme Court rules excessive force case against Sioux Falls police officers can continue

UPDATE: Link to oral arguments, what is so crazy about listening to this is that 17 officers showed up over 5 drops of blood on a sidewalk to watch an officer slip on a rug . . . and they say they are understaffed. LMFAO.

While I was disappointed that the court supported the warrantless search they did say the trial for excessive force can move forward;

In its recently released opinion, Supreme Court justices agree that circumstances at the time created an exception to the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.

If you read the CASE you will see while the officers may have had a right to enter the apartment since they saw blood and heard people fighting throwing Ms. Boggs to the ground was not needed. It seems the only defense the police have is that they didn’t do what she claims. So where did her injuries come from? This is a perfect example of why body cameras are needed.

According to the 2021 salary listing both officers still work for the City of Sioux Falls as of January 1st. Officers Mark Toland and Andrew Pearson both make about $72K a year in hourly pay plus benefits.

I hope to have audio of the oral arguments soon.

A Legend Dies, RIP RBG

Not only am very saddened by Ruth’s passing, I’m afraid even if Trump loses in November, the Republican controlled Senate will replace her with a conservative judge that will push our Supreme Court to the hard right for decades. If you think Donny has f’kd this country, you wait until the SC goes right wing.

My thoughts on the Supreme Court confirmation hearings

Remember this lady? They didn’t believe her either.

I don’t like Washington, I tell people all the time what happens there is of no consequence to us locally. It is an outer space circus land.

But, I have been following the confirmation hearings, at a distance. A Supreme Court nomination DOES affect our lives on a local level and I find it deplorable that Thune & Rounds support Mr. Kavanaugh. We will get to that in a moment.

The one thing I remind people whether you are a Conservative, Moderate or Liberal, shouldn’t matter. We should be very concerned about this process because this is a life long appointment. We can’t vote Mr. Kavanaugh out of office in a few years if he makes bad decisions. He may be there for 30-40 years. The highest level of scrutiny should be given about every aspect of his life. Besides the sexual assault accusations, I have many concerns.

First off, I don’t think there has been enough study done about his years serving President GW Bush (one of the worst presidents ever besides Reagan). I also think he is way to conservative to be replacing Justice Kennedy. What we need is a strong, Constitutional Moderate. NOT a right wing ideologue who wants to put the Supreme Court backwards 60 years.

We must also remember that if the tables were turned and this was a Liberal appointment, the Republicans would be doing the same thing. That is just how Washington works. So when I hear Sen Graham chastise the Democrats on the committee I just shake my head.

But most importantly when we are trying to figure out who is telling the truth about the sexual assault, I remind people of a few simple things.

What does Dr. Ford have to gain by coming forward? What does Mr. Kavanaugh have to gain? He has all to gain, she has nothing but living with her memories of this assault. I guess I would give her testimony more weight based on this.

Maybe Mr. Kavanaugh has blacked this out of his memory, maybe he really doesn’t remember doing it. That is a distinct possibility. But it doesn’t change that it happened, and she is pretty sure it was him.

We already have a misogynist as president, hopefully he will be voted out of office and not serve a second term. But once Kavanaugh is confirmed, we can’t turn back. Remember that when defending his appointment.