March 09, 2004
Thomas Sowell deals effectively with the comparison of the Massachusetts judges and San Fransisco mayor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks:
As private citizens, neither Mrs. Parks nor Dr. King wielded the power of government. Their situation was very different from that of public officials who use the power delegated to them through the framework of law to betray that framework itself, which they swore to uphold as a condition of receiving their power.
If you felt that Justice Moore was wrong in his failure to uphold the law, then you should feel that these actions are equally wrong. (The opposite is also true...if you supported Justice Moore, then you should not have any problem with these equally defiant actions.)
The real analogy would be to Governor George Wallace, who defied the law by trying to prevent black students from being enrolled in the University of Alabama under a court order.
