Supreme Court Decision

[fabrisse]

When I was in college, either five years ago -- according to John of Canterbury's reckoning -- or when the dinosaurs roamed, I refused to sign petitions. My parents paid for me to go to school, with no student loans or request to pay them back, and it seemed disrespectful to me to sign my name to a document which I knew they would disapprove of. The military looked at the family more closely back then, too.

I have always been aware that signing a petition meant I was making a public statement of my beliefs. So I was not shocked that the Supremes went 8 - 1 on the Doe versus Reed case about disclosure of petition signatories for ballot initiatives; they upheld the existing law that all of these were public. It's still possible to seek an exemption if it can be proved those signing face something more than simple harrassment.

Imagine my surprise at the number of people posting comments at the LATimes and Slate that this is equivalent to eliminating the secret ballot. Apparently, we are now on the road to becoming North Korea by the Supreme Court's decision to let this stand.

My point, which I made in the comments at both sites, is that the ballot is secret, but voter registration is not. I have to prove I am Fabrisse to get a ballot. If I live in a state without mail-in options, I must go to the polling place in order to vote. These are public acts, public declarations that I uphold my duties as a citizen in order to have my rights as a citizen.

Am I viewing this the wrong way? I don't want to have to learn Korean.

Comments

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

I know you're more on the conservative end of the spectrum, just as I'm more on the liberal, but I've noticed in past debates that we're both squarely on the side of the rule of law and accountability. *G*

My biggest shock was that Thomas was the holdout. I expected it to be unanimous if the current law were upheld.

[tpau]

i find that the SCOTUS tends to always be a surprise to me, they never quite do what i expect, close but not quite :)

i believe in law, justice and personal accountability. very very strongly.

i have found btw, that when one talks of concepts i and my fairly liberal friends tend to agree. but when we get to specifics we do not. i think it is often an issue of seeing the same issue/facts and drawing a different conclusion. i believe that comes from having differing backgrounds and personal experiences in life. (rather then say stupidity which is what it is often attributed to)

that and i am a fairly moderate conservative about some things. downright almost liberal even sometimes :P but i think that is because i think i want government out of all aspects of my life, from my bedroom to my wallet :D