Debbie Schwarzer of the Homeschool Association of California's legal team does not believe that is the case. She posted to the HSC Yahoo group:
"I am convinced that the court did not have any anti-religious bias. I think you could have substituted 'hippie' or 'Jewish' in any mention of religion and, based on the facts presented, the court would have found the same way."
She points out that the Longs are far from the ideal family for a test case of the right to homeschool. Fair enough, but I'm still not convinced that the judges are totally fair and impartial when it comes to conservative Christianity.
I did a little Google search and found out that Joan Klein has been described as "a forthright feminist", "liberal and political", "an active Democrat", and a member of the National Organization of Women's Legal Defense Fund. Now somebody like that couldn't *POSSIBLY* be a teensy-weensy bit biased against conservative Christianity, could she?
It's entirely possible that Debbie Schwarzer is correct and that Judge Klein would've ruled the same against the Longs had they been members of a different faith or of a more liberal branch of Christianity. But radical feminists have been pretty outspoken over recent decades about their disdain for the patriarchy they see in conservative Christianity.
The irony is that Judge Klein was the one who back in 1991 moved the Rodney King trial out of LA out of concern for fairness. Yet she may very well have let her own biases color her ruling in the Long case.
2 comments:
I fail to see any bias in the trial result. The Longs circumvented the Long for their own personal gain and that is a violation in all fifty of the United States.
There is not an anti-Christian atheist under every rock just as there is not a crazed Bible Thumping fundamentalist waiting to be appointed to every appellate court by a GOP president.
Enough polarisation, read the law!
Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J, J.F.
Actually, Cavalor, they don't seem to have circumvented the law. The Ed. Code provides no guidance pro or con for whether private schools can offer independent study. The mere fact that 51745 offers statutory guidance on the ability of public schools to offer ISPs doesn't inherently deny the right of private schools to do the same. This ruling is the first legal comment on the issue, and I believe it is standard legal practice that something is presumed okay until it is expressly forbidden.
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