Is ?Will of the People” always appropriate?
I am very tired of hearing the term “the will of the people” used in arguments against a California Supreme Court challenge to Prop 8. It was the “will of the people” in southern states to condone and promote slavery for decades; it took a bloody civil war to finally stop that inhumane practice. It was the “will of the people” in many states less than fifty years ago to prohibit interracial marriage; it took a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court to put an end to that injustice.
It is the job of the courts to protect all of us from unjust laws, no matter how they are passed. Human rights must always trump the “will of the people.”
Linda Guebert
Kelseyville
Originally Published:
