All Eyes on the Court

What is All Eyes on the Court?

PFLAG is all about connection; this theme translates seamlessly into All Eyes on the Court. All Eyes on the Court is a program that relates the seemingly far off and irrelevant decisions, proceedings of, and appointings to the Supreme Court to the lives of the GLBT community, PFLAG members, and anyone who cares about justice and equal rights in the United States. The mission of All Eyes on the Court is simple; to educate people about the importance of Supreme Court decisions, to create a connection between these decisions and an average person's life, and to provide a means for people to monitor the Supreme Court and interpret what the events mean for them.

Educate

While any given president, in office for 4 or eight years, would be considered one of the few people who is an almost universal household name in the U.S., not many people know the beliefs of or even the name of Chief Justice for life John Roberts, Jr., not to mention the other eight justices. In fact, a poll taken in January 2006 showed that only 57 percent of American's could state the name of one judge on the bench, while zero percent could name all nine. These shocking numbers and the appointment of Justice Samuel Alito, a conservative choice outwardly criticized by PFLAG, drove the organization to develop a program geared towards providing the knowledge to the masses that any citizen devoted to the equal rights cause should be aware of.  

This information starts with what the Supreme Court is. The program's website describes what cases the Supreme Court hears (mostly appeals from lower courts, but also law suits between two states or between a state and the federal government), the length of the sessions of the court (they see 22-24 cases in a sitting and are in session from October to July), and the proceedings of a case (each side concisely presents their argument and there are no witnesses or jury). The judges are introduced with a picture, their party, the president that appointed them, and the dates of their appointment. The nomination process (the president suggests a candidate and the Senate approves him or her) and the term length (judge positions are for life, given that they maintain appropriate behavior) are detailed. Perhaps most importantly, this portion of the site sums up the impact that the Supreme Court has on civil rights by providing the information that the rulings are only in the most obscure cases not taken as the final word and so the rulings on issues concerning the GLBT community and other minority groups are very important.

Connect

While easy access to information is a necessary factor to bring attention to the Supreme Court, it is nothing if the people who receive the information cannot interpret it. All Eyes on the Court did not take a chance that the people browsing their web site could pick out the meaning themselves; they hand it to the viewer on a silver platter.   There are stories of unfair treatment of people based on their sexuality and how an upcoming Supreme Court case could change or confirm that discrepancy. One Arizona PFLAG member was fired from two jobs for being lesbian; soon to be voted on by congress, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act could take away an employer's ability to fire someone based on their sexuality or any other factor other than their merit and productivity. A mother tells the story of her young son being bullied because other boys thought that he was gay and his teacher ignoring the obvious harassment; if the Supreme Court judges that Title IX, an amendment to the Higher Education Act that says that educational establishments are responsible for any sexual harassment that occurs on school grounds, covers same sex bullying, this situation could be prevented in the future. If the Supreme Court judges that laws that say that a parent can be told that a child is gay if it is recorded when the child is arrested are unconstitutional, this delicate subject will not be told outright to the parents of an arrested son or daughter. The pieces of understanding are in the information, but it takes the connection to put the together.

Monitor

All Eyes on the Court is not only about catching people up on their knowledge of the Supreme Court, it is also concerned with keeping people up do date. There are many important cases being decided right now, and the program updates its viewers on all court rulings that have an impact on the GLBT community. One case being covered by the program is that of Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR) versus Rumsfeld. This case will either uphold or declare unconstitutional the Solomon Amendment, passed by congress in 1995, which says that if a school does not let the military recruit at their school then the government can deny them funding. Some universities bar military recruiters from their campus because their policies on discriminating organizations will not permit the military with its "don't ask, don't tell" policy towards gays. According to the decision of this case, universities could potentially be forced to support discriminating organizations.   Another case being watched by All Eyes on the Court is Ayotte versus Planned Parenthood, which is either validating or rejecting the New Hampshire law that a parent must be notified at least 48 hours in advance of an abortion even in the case of a medical emergency. This could either loosen or tighten privacy laws, which have much to do with the GLBT community because of anti-sodomy laws and the like. The site also details the cases of Lawrence versus Texas, in which two men challenged their arrests for having sex in their own home and won, striking down anti-sodomy laws in 2003, and Romer versus Evans, in which a Colorado law preventing any state or city from protecting gays against harassment was overturned in 1996.

Another aspect of the monitoring portion of the project is monitoring the new appointees for the Supreme Court. The program stays true to its original purpose of educating people about what makes a good justice--being squarely in the center and able to make choices that are beneficial to everyone--which it adopted at its founding in response to the appointment of Samuel Alito. Above all, it is important that American citizens be aware of the effect that the Supreme Court and all of its members have on the country, PFLAG members, and the GLBT community, and that they can form educated opinions and act on those opinions.

Click here for more information on All Eyes on the Court.