Tobias Wolff: ‘Are Liberties Subject to Majority Vote?’

In an excellent op-ed published in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, EJS board member Tobias Wolff summarizes the core issues facing the Calif. Supreme Court as it considers overturning Prop. 8.

Tobias, a constitutional law professor at U. Penn., rebuts Ken Starr’s argument that Prop. 8 should be considered an amendment rather than a revision to the state constitution, arguing that to agree with the Prop. 8 proponents’ arguments would pave the way for “any protected minority to have its fundamental rights taken away whenever a bare majority wishes to do so.”

In explaining why the structural provisions of the Constitution are so important and deserve special treatment, Starr let slip a reference to what the structural protections of government are actually for: They are designed to safeguard liberty. Therese Stewart, the lawyer for the city of San Francisco, went on to frame the issue succinctly: If we protect the structures of government but leave all liberties to simple majority vote, then we are safeguarding the moat while allowing the castle to burn down.

Read the full op-ed here.

Eva Paterson in Leah Garchik’s ‘Inaugural Snapshots’

San Francisco columnist Leah Garchik shares ‘Inaugural snapshots seen through Bay Area eyes‘ in her column today:

In line for a cab at Reagan National Airport, Eva Paterson of the Equal Justice Society chatted with a young man in the Air Force. As of midnight, he would be “detailed to the Secret Service, assigned to be in the sewers of the District of Columbia.” He described himself as one of the “people here looking out for pissed-off people.”