The Supreme Court is still not moving fast enough to the left on social issues to please some liberals, and New York Times Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak is on it. His latest front-page report, "Justices’ Rulings Advance Gays; Women Less So," used a speech by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as his launch point. Not once did he question Ginsburg's liberal reasoning in his front-page article.
Liptak has previously described the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision as a defeat for women's rights, without specifying what right was being taken from women. He has also suggested the U.S. Constitution as old and outdated for failing to guarantee entitlements and health care for its citizenry.
Liptak warned on Tuesday's front page:
When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reflects on the Supreme Court’s recent rulings, she sees an inconsistency.
Liptak said the Court had indeed employed the "soaring language of 'equal dignity' when it came to gay rights. But the outlook is more grim, "paternalistic," and "troubling" (i.e., less liberal activist) when it comes to women's issues.
But in cases involving gender, [Ginsburg] said, the court has never fully embraced “the ability of women to decide for themselves what their destiny will be.” She said the court’s five-justice conservative majority, all men, did not understand the challenges women face in achieving authentic equality.
Justice Ginsburg is not the only one who has sensed that cases involving gay people and women are on different trajectories.
