Read the case “May 2, 1927 – The U.S. Supreme Court Decided Buck v. Bell”

1. Identify the sources and functions of values that guide human practices in science and technology. And

2. Reflect on how values shape personal and community ethics and decision-making in the context of science and technology.

In the document below, which is the complete Supreme Court judgment upholding the sterilization of Carrie Buck for eugenic reasons, identify the social values at stake and explain how they function to support this decision.

Explain what values could have led the Supreme Court to uphold a decision that most of us would find morally objectionable today.

But remember, your job is to identify and explain the values involved in the decision, not to reiterate the case’s background or to critique the decision. I think it is obvious that the decision is and was wrong, so the historical question has to be: why did the Supremes rule this way? What values were they protecting by upholding the states’ rights to sterilize certain citizens?