Hiding in Plain Sight

[elleng]

The intense public and media attention to Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s decision in the California same-sex marriage case led me to wonder how the media responded 40 years ago to another Federal District Court ruling — the decision that declared the Texas criminal abortion law unconstitutional, in a case called Roe v. Wade.

My database search yielded a surprise. The New York Times reported the decision, issued by a three-judge Federal District Court in Dallas on June 17, 1970, in a 251-word article by The Associated Press, “3 U.S. Judges Rule Laws on Abortion Invalid in Texas.” The story ran on page 37.

What a difference a generation makes. . .

Knowledge can change perceptions, which in turn can change reality.

With Elena Kagan confirmed to the Supreme Court, and thoughts turning toward the opening of the court’s new term, the first with three women on the bench, I’m reminded of a play that opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington in late 1977 on its way to Broadway. It was “First Monday in October,” with a plot that turned on the appointment of a woman to the Supreme Court. The notion was regarded as inherently comic, and it was played for laughs. But the successful play propelled a once far-fetched idea into the popular culture. Meanwhile, a woman named Sandra Day O’Connor was sitting on an appellate court in Phoenix, hiding in plain sight.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/hiding-in-plain-sight/

[Control-Z]

1. What's to unrec here?

It had 5 recs when I clicked on the title and only 3 when it got to the page. I don't get it.

Well, here's my kick and rec. Hope it helps.

[elleng]

2. Thx, Z.