ALBANY – State Senator Shelley Mayer (D, Westchester) has blasted the US Supreme Court for its recent decisions – striking down affirmative action, allowing businesses to refuse services to LGBTQ+ persons, and striking Down President Biden’s student debt relief plan.
“The decision to strike down affirmative action undermines efforts to expand opportunities and diversify universities and companies across the nation,” she said. “Clinging to colorblindness is disingenuous in a nation where African American, Hispanic, and Native communities have been historically and persistently disadvantaged.”
Mayer said America is not colorblind – “and we all know it. Every institution – university, business, and doctor’s office – is strengthened and more effective when it includes diverse perspectives to advance our society through ideas and experiences.”
The senator called the court’s decision “a terrible blow to this important effort.”
Mayer was also highly critical of the Trump-appointed Supreme Court majority” by ruling that, “under the pretext of free speech, a business can refuses services to LGTQ+ individuals, even though the website designer complaining was never even asked to provide a website for an LGTBQ+ couple.”
She said that the decision is not only “painful” to the LGBTQ+ community, but also “raises serious concerns about what other market activities and public accommodations – including those governed by New York’s Human Rights Law – will be denied on the basis of the First Amendment.”
Mayer said the court’s decision to strike down the president’s debt relief plan “undermines opportunities for those most burdened with debt, but I am confident the President has identified an effective – if more lengthy – path forward to provide much needed relief to those who incur college loan debt, including those who did not complete their degrees and their families.”
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