Why Judge Roger Vinson Shouldn’t Rely On The Family Research Council

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Why Judge Roger Vinson Shouldn’t Rely On The Family Research Council For Legal Research
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2011/02/01/perkins-vinson/

The only thing more surprising than Judge Roger Vinson’s decision to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act on the basis of a single provision that does not got into effect until 2014 is his reliance on the Family Research Council’s brief to do so. The FRC has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and if Vinson is using their rational in this case, he should at least be aware of group’s history of questionable legal conclusions and anti-gay bigotry. Below is only a partial sampling:

- CRIMINALIZING HOMOSEXUALITY: “I think the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas which overturned the sodomy laws in this country was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place in this country for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.” (Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg)

- GAYS MOLEST CHILDREN: “Tony Perkins, President of the FRC, claimed that ‘the research I overwhelming that homosexuality poses a danger to children.’ Perkins cited the American College of Pediatricians in doing so. But the American College of Pediatricians is actually as breakaway faction of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the official 60,000 organization representing pediatricians. The American College of Pediatricians requires that members “hold true to the group’s core beliefs… that the traditional family unit, headed by an opposite-sex couple, poses far fewer risk factors in the adoption and raising of children.”

- GAY PEOPLE SHOULD MARRY STRAIGHT PEOPLE: “here is no evidence that Proposition 8 was “motivated by sexism in general or a desire to disadvantage men or women in particular”….”Proposition 8 does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Homosexuals may marry someone of the opposite sex, and heterosexuals may not marry someone of the same sex.”

- GOD SHOULD INTERVENE AGAINST GAYS: “Scripture warns that the shedding of innocent blood (e.g., abortion) and perverted sexual practices are abominations that call for Biblical judgment…..May God’s people have faith to believe that laws giving those who practice homosexuality special rights, protections and privileges can be reversed! May the Lord supernaturally intervene to do so.”

- PERSECUTING GAY PEOPLE’S SEXUAL ACTS: “The critical difference upon which the legal distinction rests is not the raw physical behavior but the relationships: same-sex deviate acts can never occur within marriage, during an engagement to marry, during a courtship prior to engagement, or within any relationship that could ever lead to marriage.”

The brief’s author, Ken Klukowski, has his own questionable history. He is the coauthor of The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency, has called on the Justice Department to probe ‘child porn’ allegations on the MTV show Skins, accused the Federal Reserve of waging a war against Christmas and attacked Obama for trying to “control” children’s minds.

Meanwhile, FRC President Tony Perkins is taking credit for his organization’s influence on Vinson. In a statement released yesterday, Perkins pointed out that “Judge Vinson quoted Klukowski (pg. 32 and footnote 27 on pg. 64) in his opinion. Judge Vinson wrote that he borrowed ‘heavily’ from FRC’s amicus brief and said the brief ‘quite cogently and effectively sets forth the applicable standard and governing analysis of severability.’”

[Kurovski]

1. Idiotic ideas that are based on myths and self-delusion is given far too much credence.

There is opinion, and there is sheer lunacy and nonsense. It's time it be treated as such.

At very best, It's tiring, tired and tedious. Just call it out already.