Supreme Court Should Rule on Vouchers Today

none | 6/27/02 | Me

[mrs9x]

Today is the last day of the Supreme Court's 01/02 session. The ruling in the vouchers case should come down today, along with a few other cases. Keep your eyes peeled for the decisions as they come out...of course, comment on them as well.

[mrs9x]

...Waiting for the decisions....

[anniegetyourgun]

Despite the idiocy of SOME courts, I'm optimistic about this decision - based on the line of questioning during presentation.

[FreeTally]

Aren't they supposed to rule on school drug tests too?

These will be interesting cases.

[mrs9x]

I'm not sure what other cases have not been ruled on yet this term...the drug testing case might be one of them.

[mrs9x]

You can never tell, though. O'Connor might have one of those 11th hour shifts to the left.

[1Old Pro]

I'm optimistic about this decision

Some sort of voucher system is necessary to create competition for the low performing government schools. I just hope they have few strings attached.

[Plutarch]

The School Choice case is Huge.

[Huck]

Predictions anyone? I predict vouchers get shot down by our old friend Sandra O' Connor. It'll be 5-4.

Majority: O'Connor, Breyer, Souter, Ginsburg, Stevens

Dissent: Scalia, Rhenquist, Thomas, Kennedy

Majority will be written by O'Connor with help from Souter and Breyer. The Minority will be written by Scalia.

That's it. My almost completely uninformed predictions.

[narses]

No!

[Viva Le Dissention]

The school case is huge, but not so much the actual decision today of whether Cleveland's program is or is not constitutional.

The Court could easily rule that the Cleveland's particular program is unconstitutional for one reason or another, without even addressing the broader question of whether vouchers, in general, are constitutional. The Court has been known to do this on cases it doesn't *really* want to decide, so don't leap to conclusions based on the headline when decisions start coming out in the next few minutes.

I think, though, by not addressing the constitutionality of vouchers, that would be a victory for voucher people.

My guess, it'll stand, 5-4. Chief, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, O'Connor for the majority.

[Viva Le Dissention]

I like the way you think--we are exactly the same except for O'Connor--I agree that she and Kennedy are the two question marks, but I think when push comes to shove that she'll go to the right.

[hchutch]

Based on the line of questioning:

5-4: Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Rhenquist, and O'Connor as the majority.

Opinion by Thomas.
Concurrence by O'Connor.
Dissents by Stevens and Souter.

[Huck]

:) I swear I always have to make a game out of things.

[mrs9x]

I don't see Thomas as writing the majority opinion. Probably Rehnquist or Scalia. Of course, this assumes that we win. O'Connor could easily swing to the left.

[Huck]

I really think it boils down to O'Connor. She's all alone on this one. I think Kennedy's on board. And she's gonna fold like a cheap tent. (is that the expression?)

[Kryptonite]

I hope it's a 5-4 win for the voucher proponents. That'd really piss off the lefties.

[TonyInOhio]

Any idea at what time the decisions will be announced?

Can we maybe send Dan Abrams or Rita Cosby to stand on the steps of the Court, just like on December 12, 2000? :-)

[mrs9x]

I don't know...today is the last day on the supreme court calendar, a "conference day". I'm not sure if they announce decisions on a conference day, but I figure since it is the last day on the Court's calendar, they must rule on it today.

[Viva Le Dissention]

I believe we should start getting them anytime.

I agree with the concept of vouchers, but the problem is that there are some far-reaching social implications that need to be recognized. That, however, is best left up to towns and states, but the Court doesn't always have tunnel vision on these sort of things.

[E Rocc]

Despite the idiocy of SOME courts, I'm optimistic about this decision - based on the line of questioning during presentation.

I'm pretty confident that the vouchers will be supported. The Cleveland program was carefully crafted to be Constitutional. The money goes through the parents, not the religious (or other) schools. They can send their child to a Wiccan or Atheist school if they wish, as long as its accredited.

-Eric