The Little People

I’m just a plainspoken Colorado criminal defense lawyer, but the way I see it…

I can’t remember the last time I cited the Bible in a brief to the court, or closing argument to a jury.

Can’t remember the last time I said, you know what the Torah tells you. Or, you better not question the Quran, or put down the Upanishads, or mess with the Mahayana, or even tussle with the Tao.

Maybe that’s because Colorado is one of those states that take separation of church and themselves a little more seriously than some. I don’t know why, but Alabama comes to mind.

That state’s Supreme Court decision governing in-vitro fertilization cites God (no doubt a respectable if not legal authority) forty-one times. Quotes the prophet Jeremiah, and some probably lesser authorities like Petrus Van Mastricht, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, and Charlton Heston — no, sorry, that was Moses.

The court’s Chief Justice, who provided most of those cites, says of the embryos:

“Carving out an exception for the people in this case, small as they were, would be unacceptable to the People of this State, who have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God, who made them in His image.”

Would that the court actually do that, with considerably larger people, who happen to be woman, or black, or 2SLGBTQI+, or…well, you know what I mean.