Marital Status on the Supreme Court
There’s really nothing to say about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s marital status, or Justice Sotomayor’s, or Justice Souter’s, or anyone else’s. Marital status should not be a factor in any person’s employment application. Unfortunately, marital status discrimination in hiring is still allowed in much of the country, and, obviously, in the media.
I tried not to read any of the media flap about Kagan’s personal life. But, many AtMP members sent me links to Maureen Dowd’s column, so here it is in case you missed it. Personally, yuck! I’ve never been a Dowd fan. But I’m a big fan of Bella DePaulo, so I hope you’ll read her roundup of the media’s singlism and mothermania with regard to Kagan’s nomination.
Of much greater interest would be any serious legal analysis of whether Kagan thinks the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, or how she’d vote on a hypothetical challenge to an employer who provides domestic partner benefits but only to same-sex couples. Would she have decided, like Justice Alito, that spouses of persecuted refugees have greater rights than the refugees’ unmarried partners? Is she beholden to the marriage movement, like oft-mentioned potential nominee Judge Sears? Any legal scholars out there? Please?
