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February 16, 2012 3:08 pm | By Miranda Blue
This is Why Americans Don’t Trust Congress
The New York Times’ Gail Collins on the Senate’s failure to do one of its most basic tasks: And the bipartisan cooperation keeps rolling on. This week, the Senate confirmed Judge Adalberto Jose Jordan to a seat on the federal…
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February 15, 2012 10:58 pm | By Paul Gordon
Yet Another Filibuster: GOP Ignores Goalposts, Moves Entire Football Field
Senate Republicans – already being condemned for their unprecedented obstruction of highly qualified judicial nominees with strong bipartisan support – today responded to that criticism by escalating their partisan obstruction to even more extremes. Today, after finally overcoming the four-month…
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February 15, 2012 7:04 pm | By Paul Gordon
Falsely Waving the Flag of Religious Liberty
To no one's surprise, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has rejected President Obama's compromise that respects both the rights of women to contraception and the religious liberty of employers who are affiliated with religious organizations opposed to birth…
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February 15, 2012 5:31 pm | By Miranda Blue
Senate Confirms First Cuban American 11th Circuit Judge After Months of GOP Foot-Dragging
The Senate this afternoon finally confirmed Judge Adalberto José Jordán to sit on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Jordán becomes the first Cuban American to join the 11th Circuit – an important victory…
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February 15, 2012 4:09 pm | By Miranda Blue
Virginia House Takes the War on Women to a New Level
The Virginia House yesterday passed two anti-choice measures that would be among the most extreme in the nation, including one that could put birth control at risk and another that requires that women seeking an abortion undergo an extremely invasive…
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February 14, 2012 11:15 pm | By Miranda Blue
White House Blasts Senate GOP for Filibuster of 11th Circuit Nominee
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney began his press briefing today by pointing out the absurdity of the Senate GOP’s persistent stalling of the president’s judicial nominees, most recently 11th Circuit nominee Adalberto Jordán. Jordán is a consensus nominee supported…
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February 14, 2012 11:05 pm | By Justin
DISCLOSE Act, Take 2
Last week, Congressman Chris Van Hollen introduced the DISCLOSE 2012 Act in an effort to bring transparency and accountability to our political system by requiring corporations to disclose their spending on elections. Sound familiar? That’s because the DISCLOSE Act was originally…
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February 14, 2012 8:01 pm | By Jen Herrick
Pew report reveals our real voting problem
The Pew Center on the States’ Election Initiatives today released Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient, detailing an astonishing voter registration crisis in this country. “Voter registration is the gateway to participating in our democracy, but these antiquated, paper-based systems are plagued…
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February 14, 2012 6:45 pm | By Miranda Blue
For Valentine’s Day, How About Repealing DOMA?
The Senate is currently tied up by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has blocked action on a major transportation bill and the confirmation of an urgent judicial nomination. While it’s stalled, the Senate has the perfect opportunity to take up…
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February 14, 2012 5:26 pm | By Jen Herrick
UPDATE: Stop School Bullying this GSA Day!
As you know, PFAW recently celebrated GSA Day 2012 and the work of Gay-Straight Alliances that bringing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight allied people together to stop bullying, homophobia, transphobia and hate, and we called on you to be…
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February 14, 2012 4:14 pm | By Miranda Blue
What War on Women?
This one: Washington Post via Digby
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February 13, 2012 11:08 pm | By Jen Herrick
President Obama calls for DC budget autonomy
The budget proposal that President Obama released earlier today is the first in a series of executive and congressional actions that will fund the government in the next fiscal year. Among the thousands of pages of tables and spreadsheets are…
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February 10, 2012 10:28 pm | By Drew Courtney
Victory for American Women, But the Fight’s Not Over
In a big victory for American women, the White House today ensured that women will have access to free contraception in their insurance plans while it continued to protect religious liberty interests. While today’s news is welcome, what’s stunning is…
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February 10, 2012 10:21 pm | By Miranda Blue
Florida Nominee to Test How Far GOP Will Take Obstruction
As Paul wrote earlier today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has schedule a vote on Monday to break the GOP filibuster of Adalberto Jordán, a Florida judge nominated to fill a judicial emergency on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.…
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February 10, 2012 3:25 pm | By Miranda Blue
Michael Keegan Speaks with Al Sharpton about White Nationalists at CPAC
On Wednesday, PFAW sent out an alert urging the GOP presidential candidates speaking at this week's Conservative Political Action Conference, to denounce the views of a white nationalist leader who had been invited to speak on a panel at the…
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February 10, 2012 2:48 pm | By Paul Gordon
End the Filibuster of Judge Jordán
With Republican obstruction of qualified consensus judicial nominees showing no sign of abating, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has filed cloture on the nomination of Adalberto José Jordán to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The vote to break the…
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February 9, 2012 9:09 pm | By Paul Gordon
The Mechanism of Obstruction Continues
Before Senate Republicans graciously allowed a vote this afternoon on one of the 19 long-pending judicial nominations – just one, mind you – they did something this morning, that, unfortunately has become all too routine in their relentless efforts to…
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February 8, 2012 7:33 pm | By Miranda Blue
Olson: ‘Marriage is a Conservative Value’
Ted Olson, who served as solicitor general under George W. Bush and is now half of the legal team fighting the anti-gay Proposition 8 in California, went on the Rachel Maddow show last night to discuss the marriage equality victory…
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February 7, 2012 9:34 pm | By Peter Montgomery
Appeals Court Rules Prop 8 Unconstitutional, Decision Highlights Role of Judiciary
A federal appeals court ruled today that the California ballot initiative that took the right to marry away from same-sex couples violated the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. The decision, which is stayed temporarily, affirms an August 2010 ruling…
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February 7, 2012 7:20 pm | By Justin
Exposing ALEC in Ohio
Yesterday, community leaders held a press conference in Columbus, Ohio to expose the firm grip that corporations hold on the Ohio legislature made possible by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Through this organization, corporations and special interests sit down…