The
Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is in a mess. It has always been
thus and has come into clear relief now, during the disastrous term of Donald
J. Trump as POTUS (President of the United States).
Before
I try explaining the title of this post, I may wish to, for the uninitiated,
take a beginner’s class on Astronomy, AST101. During a Lunar Eclipse event, as
the sun is very large and is at a great distance from the earth, the shadow of
the earth falling on the moon as the latter transits behind the former has two phases – one, when the moon is directly
behind the earth; two, when it is in the outer shadow.
This penumbra thing gained a lot of traction thanks to an Associate Justice of SCOTUS mentioning it in his judgement in Griswold v. Connecticut in 1960s. Penumbra is a shadow but, at the same time, not a shadow. Some Hindu philosophy thing! It is in this shadowy region, SCOTUS located the right to privacy.
In
the current SCOTUS, another associate justice found it wrong, from A to Z. He
did not accept the possibility of a penumbra – it is a shadow or not a shadow,
nothing in between.
Nowhere
in the Constitution of the US is there a mention of the right to privacy; yet,
in Griswold, SCOTUS ruled 7-2 that leading a married life of liberty, happiness
etc. requires a right to privacy, hidden in the penumbra of rights emanating from the US Constitution.
This
was the fountainhead for various other decisions that asserted in many ways the
rights of women to take decisions regarding their bodies, including abortion,
and reaffirming it at least once.
While
I am following the events in the US from a distance about the leaked draft of a
decision discarding the logic and decision of Roe v. Wade, I am surprised that none of the newspaper articles I
have read mention the source of the right of the women – the penumbra of rights!
Are
lawyers and judges not aware of this piece of astronomy? Things are not black
and white (even the moon has its spots!), and going beyond, we have an umbra
and a penumbra.
I
carry a backpack to the university to teach, slung from my shoulders on to my
back. I have seen students carrying their backpacks, particularly when it
rains, again slung from their backs, but on to their tummies, with their
umbrellas tilted way forward! Are they trying to hide their stomach bulge?
No.
They are smarter than me. When the bag is in the back, it is in the penumbra of the rain, and I cannot tilt way backward without drenching my
front! But, sling the bag in the front, it is in the umbra with the whole of me
and my bag getting some protection. Even such an elementary observation and
inference seem to have been missed by the brain waves of some members of
SCOTUS.
Penumbra
has gone into hiding. Hence the title.
Raghuram
Ekambaram
5 comments:
Even though USA is considered a developed country, it has got some old ideas, especially the persons belonging to GOP and the judges appointed by Presidents belonging to GOP. They think women are inferior to men and Blacks are inferior to Whites. That is the reason why USA still do not have women President. These Supreme Court judges think that ladies do not have freedom to kill life and hence rule against abortion. But they kill so many people in the name of war. Also given rights to have guns, which is used to kill innocent people. Till now there were 198 shooting incidents in USA in 2022 alone!
Even in India the so called forward community, Brahmin, do not allow ladies equal rights. Property is given to Sons, if the daughters do to go to court and the ladies are not allowed to say manthras!
Mr. Subramanian, you hit the nail on the head, in both cases. It is truly nonsensical that a majority of human beings are considered less of humans than the majority! The same holds good for most of the other countries. I am curious about South Africa, the de facto and not the de jour condition there.
Thanks.
Raghuram
I just have not read enough but there was a leak of the initial draft, which is the first of its kind, this was reported on the 4th of May.
Now why would that happen? Any takers?
I have to say this and I repeat it always: It is not the woman who gets pregnant. A couple does. Sometimes the man chickens out of the coupling, sometimes the woman prefers freedom.
Now umbra and penumbra are both shadows. Yes? When will there be light? If they can talk in slant, so can we!
i agree with all these commenters. i want to point out though, that although the US Constitution does not mention many rights by name, it does state that there are many more unmentioned. does that create the penumbra? right to privacy may be one. more focus should be put on on equality among the genders. note, it is recently recognized that there is more than two.
also, I'd like to direct you to historian Heather Cox Richardson who writes a daily newsletter. she has pointed out that SCOTUS does not grant rights, nor does the Constitution. rights are recognized. they exist regardless...
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