Reality Had Quite a Week |
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." This bit of wisdom is often attributed to the English novelist George Orwell. Though the statement is an excellent summation of a central theme in his satirical works "1984" and "Animal Farm," Orwell has never been confirmed as the source. Whoever originated the phrase must have been smiling down on the events of last week in the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Senate.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the cases of State of West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. Both cases arrived at the court via challenges by the ACLU to laws in West Virginia and Idaho protecting women's and girls' opportunities, fairness, and safety in sports. During one exchange, Justice Samuel Alito asked the attorney for Hecox to provide the court with a definition of boy and girl or man and woman. She could not. Alito then pointedly noted, "Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. It is a statutory term. It must mean something. How can [the court] decide [whether there is discrimination on the basis of sex] without........