There was some pretty big news out of the Supreme Court today. First, the Court decisively ended Elian’s stay in the United States; the kid is on his way to the airport as I’m typing this, and is free to return to Cuba. I wish him well in his homeland, and apologize for the way that our country treated him and his family.
Second, though, the Court upheld the Boy Scouts’ right to exclude homosexual troops and leaders from the organization in a 5-4 vote. The decision was based on the right of expressive association — essentially, the Boy Scouts have the right to choose their message, and then to enforce the adherance of all members of their organization to that message. Perhaps the biggest result of this decision is that organizations to which antidiscrimination laws do apply — fire stations, police precincts, and the like — are going to end up having to terminate their association with the Boy Scouts, since they cannot lend public support or funds to organizations which admittedly discriminate.
Jim Roepke swooped in today with an article that the Canadiens won’t be allowed to leave Montreal, inducing an enormous sigh of relief from Canadians who are sick of hockey deserting its homeland.
(Wow! This computer in the hospital let me enable cookies, so I can update Q. Of course, I have to be in a meeting in 3 minutes, so…)