Meta(
    title: "The Supreme Court has completely lost all credibility at this point",
    summary: None,
    published: Some(Time(
        year: 2023,
        month: 6,
        day: 30,
        hour: 23,
        minute: 2,
        second: 59,
    )),
    tags: [
        "politics",
        "gay_rights",
    ],
)
---
In case there's any doubt which Supreme Court I'm referring to, it's the US one. If you aren't up on US news, allow me to briefly sum the latest bullshit up.

In 2016, a web designer based in Colorado name lorie Smith filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado for violating her religious freedom, as she wanted to begin doing web design work for engaged couples, but only for straight couples, which under law in Colorado would constitute discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

In federal district court, the state sought dismissal of the suit because Smith had not received any such request to perform work for a gay couple.

In response, her legal team, the Alliance Defending Freedom (now there's a bullshit name if I've ever heard one) added a sworn statement that a same-sex wedding request actually had been submitted to Smith's website.

Earlier today the US Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in Smith's favor, gauranteeing her right to discriminate against gay people - or pretty much anyone she decides she doesn't like, for, you know, religious reasons.

One of the craziest, most certifiably batshit crazy aspects of this case is that the request that Smith had supposedly received came from a name and number corresponding to another wedding designer, who obviously didn't need her professional services because he is, you know, a web designer. He's also straight, and at the time he supposedly made the request was married. To a woman. In fact, his first knowledge that his name had any bearing on this case came just a few days ago when a reporter from New Republic contacted him to ask about it.

=> https://newrepublic.com/article/173987/mysterious-case-fake-gay-marriage-website-real-straight-man-supreme-court

## Who exactly are the Alliance Defending Freedom?
I had to look this group up. According to Wikipedia:
> The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group[6] that works to expand Christian practices within public schools and in government,[7][8] outlaw abortion,[9][10] and curtail the rights of LGBTQ people.

Ok, so they are against a woman's freedom to receive medical care in the form of an abortion. They are against allowing Queer people to have basic human rights. About the only "freedom" that his group seems to want is the freedom to butt into other people's lives and be holier than thou pieces of shit. It goes without saying that not one of the founding members of this group own a uterus, yet they seek to regulate tham. I cannot express strongly enough how repulsive this is. But that's hardly the point, now, is it? These assholes managed to bring a fraudulent lawsuit, in which their client had no standing for the filing, get it in front of the US Supreme Court and for all intents and purposes enshrine into law the right to discriminate based on your religious belief.

## We are well and truly fucked if this is allowed to stand
I am outraged beyond belief. I'm also pretty freaking scared. We are now living in a society which has managed to go backwards from where we were when I was a child. In 1980's America, the court had managed to just avoid ruling on anything relating to gay rights, and we were in effect living "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" before that term was officially coined. I'm not saying it was good. It was a hypocritical society that basically just ignored the fact that gay or trans people even existed for the most part. But at least they hadn't enshrined bigotry into law? At least the Supreme Court of the time was a body that you couldn't say had made a milestone decision affecting the fundamental rights and dignity of a minority group based on a fraudulent lawsuit that should never have progressed past it's initial filing due to lack of standing.

For all intents this court has just made it known that they are above the law they purport to interpret, and that they are perfectly willing to make society shaping decisions with literally no veil hiding their own political motivations. The Founding Fathers wanted the Supreme Court to be above party politics, which was the reason why they were appointed for life and do not stand for re-election. Well that was obviously a ridiculous idea, that by taking away their accountability they would be free to exercise their power without fear of political repercussions, because they are also free to just be complete jackasses and give the entire nation the finger without fear of being removed from office. The fact that they are so blatant about it is what scares me. It sets a precedent for even worse things to come. If they are willing to hear a case that doesn't even have legal standing, they will basically just do whatever they want.