# This idiot's response to the history of Law in America... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 6, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505 "2008-11-06T20:00:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/21 "2008-11-06T22:38:41Z")
> [@Eyer8](#): > > Why not give us a precedent or two so we can see the whiners for ourselves? **Bricker** , can you help us out here? I can try. [Santa Fe Independent School District v. Jane Doe](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=99-62) is most likely the high school football case, decided by the Supreme Court in 2000. _Newdow v. Congress_, [328 F. 3d 466 (2002)](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0016423p.pdf), is probably the Pledge of Allegiance case. Here the Ninth Circuit agreed that “Under God” in the Pledge is violative of the Constitution, although the US Supreme Court reversed on other grounds (namely, that as a non-custodial parent, Newdow had no standing to sue over his daughter’s recitation of the Pledge). Since that case, three anonymous families have refiled and won a district court order against the phrase, and the appeal is pending again at the Ninth Circuit as _Newdow v. Carey_. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/22 "2008-11-06T22:44:16Z")
Whiners? I think not. [Brown vs Board of Education](http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/23 "2008-11-06T22:47:29Z")
How dare those butthurt nigras demand voting rights! Troll troll troll the Pit… ---
**Author:** ![UncleNito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7cd45c/32.png) [@UncleNito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleNito)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/24 "2008-11-06T22:53:39Z")
Considering that this country was founded by solitary, butt-hurt whiners who were fleeing from the likes of **Freejooky** , I can’t say I’m too surprised. Yay for wet blankets! ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/25 "2008-11-06T23:47:39Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > Just because some marginal weirdo decided to get their panties in a twist because people were saying a prayer before the big football game,… You can pray during the entire game if you wish, and neither I, nor the SCOTUS will have any problem with it. Hell, you can even pray to that hot dog you’re wolfing down. Knock yourself out. > [@](#): > > …or pledging allegiance in the classroom,… Again, go to town. As long as you don’t disrupt the teacher who is busy teaching the students, I don’t care if you pledge your allegiance to a flag, the trash can, or your dirty underwear from which you just pulled that little crusty glob before eating it. > [@](#): > > … or having “Under God” on an official document,… You can write “Under God” on any document you’d like. Here’s a pen. > [@](#): > > … or whatever…we have a big fucking trial and now mainstream, middle-of-the-road society can’t do what it overwhelmingly wants to do because of that scowling asshole. Mainstream, middle-of-the-road society can do anything it wants to do, as long as it doesn’t trample on the rights of the rest of us in the process. Want to drink your own piss? Slurp away. Want me to drink it? Fuck off. Want to make me watch you drink it? Yep, you can still fuck off. > [@](#): > > Congratulations, party-pooper! You get your picture in the law textbook, officiously frowning with your ugly kids, and now the rest of society bends over backwards to capitulate to and accommodate your marginal opinion. Congratulations asshole. Just be happy that society at large doesn’t always rule. I’m guessing I could find a rather large faction of people who would happily shit on your rights. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/26 "2008-11-07T00:08:42Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Actually, it’s not. > > Black and white is “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or the free exercise thereof…” 🙂 You missed a word there, but I like your version better. Re the OP, you pretty much nailed it. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing though. Also, you get extra points for using the term “butt-hurt,” love that word. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/27 "2008-11-07T05:48:39Z")
Indeed; I know that were I a Christian, being ruthlessly forced to pray without school supervision and enforcement would certainly ruin my day. And were I American, I’d know that I would be bending over backwards to accept the onerous task of not having my God recognised in all offical legal forms. Wherever will I get my warm bask of glow from knowing that the word of the deity with whom I have a personal, loving relationship is starkly printed in the midst of the legalese, next to “wherewithal” and “pursuant”? It’s nonsense, of course. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/28 "2008-11-07T11:27:39Z")
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Bernard Shaw Butthurt is what makes change. And if you don’t like it? Change it. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/29 "2008-11-07T13:42:55Z")
> [@](#): > > **Some FNG** said: > If it’s the law o’ the land, then we’re either woefully ignorant of it or we’re proudly defiant. Why would you be proud of forcing your religion on others? What’s wrong with praying silently to yourself and not making it a public spectacle in which those who do not participate are singled out, often to be criticized, ostracized and harassed? There’s nothing to be proud of in ignoring the religious freedom of others. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/30 "2008-11-07T14:15:36Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > Congratulations, party-pooper! You get your picture in the law textbook, officiously frowning with your ugly kids, and now the rest of society bends over backwards to capitulate to and accommodate your marginal opinion. It’s called progress. You get used to it. Incidentally, the only whiner who was actually butthurt would have been [John Geddes Lawrence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas), presumably, although I’m sure there’s a chapter on corporal punishment somewhere in your textbook. Oh, and as you so thoughtfully pointed out in your OP, you’re a complete fucking idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/31 "2008-11-07T14:44:55Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > What’s wrong with praying silently to yourself and not making it a public spectacle in which those who do not participate are singled out, often to be criticized, ostracized and harassed? What kind of [long-haired radical rabble-rouser](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=6&version=9&context=chapter) encourages _that_ kind of thinking? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/32 "2008-11-07T15:05:27Z")
> [@muttrox](#): > > I hope they keep fucking it up. All those fuck-ups have somehow made this a pretty damn good country. Funny how that worked out. Kinda remarkable, isn’t it, considering that some of the most revered me in this country and indeed them men responsible for the idea of this country were a bunch of lousy traitorous criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/33 "2008-11-07T15:37:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Incidentally, the only whiner who was actually butthurt would have been [John Geddes Lawrence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas), presumably, although I’m sure there’s a chapter on corporal punishment somewhere in your textbook. Ingraham v. Wright. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/34 "2008-11-07T16:00:19Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > I’m borrowing a friend’s “intro to basic American Law”-type textbook, and it’s just amazing…it’s like every legal precedent that we have was set by some solitary butt-hurt whiner that couldn’t just go along with what the majority of society clearly prefers. Just goes to show how much we all owe to solitary butt-hurt whiners! And we just don’t appreciate them. Buy one flowers today! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/35 "2008-11-07T16:03:03Z")
The worst whiner was Rosa Parks. Now _I_ can’t get a decent seat in the bus! ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/36 "2008-11-07T16:05:12Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > You’re a dipshit. Served with a side of dumbshit. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/37 "2008-11-07T21:14:49Z")
> [@Freejooky](#): > > =We’re talking page after page of black-and-white pictures of self-righteous, scowling jehova’s witnesses, mormons, athiests, and other similarly marginal people that suddenly decided that their personal, singular hypersensitivity or proclivity should dictate what the overwhelming majority of mainstream society holds in law. Total fucking bullshit, and anti-Democracy. Yes, we are not a Democracy. Never have been. Democracies (and apparently, you) encourage [tyrannies of the majority](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority). Did you just arrive to the US? ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505/38 "2008-11-07T21:41:22Z")
Crap, sorry, I just posted as my wife. Post #37 was me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-idiots-response-to-the-history-of-law-in-america/471505.md?page=1)