![]() Wendy Williams: It was the case that the Supreme Court had never once met a distinction between men and women it didn’t like. ( Bass enters into the remix as all the voices exit the song. Longoria: There was this basic assumption in the law that, you know, equality for Black people is one thing. Sandman” plays, remixed and with an indistinct spoken-word track overlaid. Griffiths: When the Fifteenth Amendment had been written-which said every citizen could vote-in the name of heavens, why couldn’t women vote? Why did you have to have the Ninteenth Amendment? Well, of course, the answer was they didn’t consider women people. It was meant to bring equality to Black people. Longoria: The Fifteenth Amendment essentially giving Black people-really, Black men-the right to vote.įarias: If you understand the Fourteenth Amendment to be a part of that trio of amendments, you’re like, Oh, okay. Hirshman: Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. Longoria: Along with the Thirteenth and the Fifteenth. Hirshman: The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in the aftermath of the Civil War. Longoria: As legal editor Linda Hirshman says … ( After the sounds of a banjo tuning, twangy hoedown music starts to play. Longoria: That’s Martha Griffiths, congresswoman.įarias: When you think about the history of the Fourteenth Amendment … Representative Martha Griffiths: They never applied the Fourteenth Amendment to women. ) That’s legal editor Cristian Farias.įarias: We had a Fourteenth Amendment that told people that we’re equal under the law-that everyone has equal protection of the laws.Ībumrad: But doesn’t that say? I mean that’s kinda? Eh? No? So where do you get it from?Ībumrad: There was nothing that said that? I mean, not-not those words explicitly-but there was nothing that says you can’t discriminate?Ĭristian Farias: Uh, not on the basis of sex. Longoria: That’s the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Antonin Scalia: Certainly the Constitution does not require sexual discrimination on the basis of sex. So when it comes to discriminating against women, some people have argued that there’s nothing in the Constitution that says you can’t do it. Constitutionally, women have a problem, which is that basically we’re not in the Constitution except, like, in this one little spot. Longoria: ( As if to stop Abumrad from asking. Which is crazy, because we already have …Ībumrad: What is it, like, a non…? Is there a sex word that’s not sex, like gender or something-something?Ībumrad: Is there, like, ladies in the Constitution? Longoria: It’s one! One time, in the Nineteenth Amendment, which grants people the right to vote based on sex.Ībumrad: ( Incredulous. Longoria: If you were to do a Control-F in the Constitution, like, how many times do you think the word sex comes up?Ībumrad: Oh. Longoria: And I’m gonna put it to you as a question. So let me outline the basic dilemma that’s at the heart of the story here. I’m going to ask you an utterly false question, which is “Where would you like to start?” As if we haven’t been doing this for so damn long. ( Supreme Court recordings play, overlaid with legal-drama music. Before she got on the Supreme Court, she was a lawyer trying to convince an all-male Supreme Court to make gender equality a reality. This is a story about a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But, really, it’s about the same things we explore on The Experiment -the ideals of our country that we strive for and the messy, imperfect pursuit of those ideals. It’s hosted by Jad Abumrad from Radiolab, and it’s all about the Supreme Court. Īnd this week, we’re going to revisit a story I reported a little while back for a different show, called More Perfect.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |