In a time when the president is testing the bounds of the executive branch every day, the judiciary has become a central player in checking that power. State leadership has realized that the path to protecting civil rights is not just through new legislation but also through appealing to the laws already in place — by defending them in court.
California Courts and the Fight for Civil Rights
The California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (which is seated in California) have a long history of being the first-in-the-nation to reach decisions on landmark legal issues that the U.S. Supreme Court would later vindicate, dating back to the 1948 decision in Perez vs. Sharp, which struck down bans on interracial marriage twenty years before the U.S. Supreme Court followed suit.
Author: Jennifer Job is a digital strategist with Courage California. Courage California speaks truth to power, creates tools, and provides a progressive and unifying digital community to help Californians effectively and courageously engage in the democratic process. With Courage, we can build a more progressive, equitable, and representative democracy.