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  • July 24, 2013 7:12 pm | By Paul Gordon

    PFAW Supports House Amendment Against NSA Spying

    The House will soon be considering an amendment to the Defense appropriations bill that would impose much-needed limits on the NSA's unconstitutional surveillance program that indiscriminately collects the phone records of millions of Americans. With bipartisan sponsors Justin Amash (R-Mich)…

  • July 22, 2013 8:20 pm | By Layne Amerikaner

    Young People For Supports Florida Dream Defenders’ Courageous Sit-In

    In what the Miami Herald is calling the “longest sit-in demonstration in recent memory,” a group of more than sixty young people called the Dream Defenders came to Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office last Tuesday and have not left.  Arriving…

  • July 22, 2013 8:05 pm | By Tali

    Congress Begins Work on New Voting Rights Act Legislation

    The House and Senate held hearings last week to discuss a replacement for the federal preclearance formula of the Voting Rights Act, which was recently scrapped by the Supreme Court. Without a coverage formula, the Justice Department will no longer…

  • July 15, 2013 10:09 pm | By Tory

    Confronting the GOP’s Lies in the Border Debate

    In a presentation last week at the offices of New Democrat Network, a Washington, D.C. think tank, political analyst Simon Rosenberg challenged the Republican resistance to comprehensive immigration reform. According to Rosenberg, the GOP’s arguments against legalization of undocumented immigrants…

  • July 15, 2013 5:22 pm | By Miranda Blue

    Sen. Hatch Misleads ‘This Week’ About His Role in Judicial Filibusters

    On ABC News’ “This Week” yesterday, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah claimed that he takes the “principled position” of voting against filibusters of judicial nominees: And matter of fact, I continue to vote against filibusters with regard to judicial…

  • July 12, 2013 8:36 pm | By Miranda Blue

    Unprecedented GOP Obstruction Leading to Senate Showdown

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today moved to end Republican filibusters of seven of President Obama’s nominees to fill executive branch positions, including nominees for some of the agencies most despised by the GOP:  Richard Cordray to head the Consumer…

  • July 10, 2013 7:31 pm | By Miranda Blue

    Deconstructing Ted Cruz’s DC Circuit Grandstanding

    The Senate Judiciary Committee today held a hearing for the first of President Obama’s three recent nominees to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney Patricia Ann Millett. Republican committee members, having no actual objections to Millett’s qualifications, used the…

  • July 10, 2013 6:04 pm | By Jen Herrick

    ENDA passes HELP Committee, ready for Senate floor

    The Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee this morning on a bipartisan 15-7 vote, with Republicans Orrin Hatch (UT), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and lead sponsor Mark Kirk (IL) voting in favor of the…

  • July 2, 2013 2:15 pm | By Layne Amerikaner

    New Poll Shows Support for Marriage Equality, Affirmative Action, and Voting Rights – But Not the Supreme Court

    In the wake of last week’s Supreme Court rulings on critical civil rights issues, a new poll finds increasing support for marriage equality and falling support for the high court itself. A national Princeton Survey Research Associates poll found that…

  • July 1, 2013 9:18 pm | By Tory

    Oregon Becomes 16th State to Join the Fight Against Citizens United

    Following the approval of House Joint Memorial 6 by a 17-13 vote in the Oregon Senate today, Oregon became the 16th state to call for an amendment to the Constitution overturning the 2010 Citizens United decision and related cases. The…

  • June 28, 2013 7:06 pm | By admin

    Wendy Davis and the People’s Filibuster in Texas

    Guest post from Robin Lane, alumni board member of affiliate People For the American Way Foundation’s Young People For program. Tuesday afternoon in Austin, I arrived at the Capitol and was swallowed in a sea of orange, ready to support…

  • Dumping DOMA: The Next Step
    June 27, 2013 8:07 pm | By Jen Herrick

    Dumping DOMA: The Next Step

    As Miranda pointed out yesterday: [T]he effort to overturn DOMA is not over. While Section 3 was the law’s most damaging provision, DOMA’s Section 2, which says that states don’t have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, still…

  • June 27, 2013 7:24 pm | By Tory

    After Heroic All-Day Filibuster Foils Anti-Choice Bill, TX Gov. Rick Perry Calls ANOTHER Special Session to Continue Attack on Women

    It’s been a chaotic week for the Texas legislature, but the drama isn’t over. Following state Senator Wendy Davis’ epic filibuster of a bill that would limit Texas women’s access to abortion, Governor Rick Perry has called yet another special…

  • June 26, 2013 10:25 pm | By

    In 2016, Remember This Week at the Supreme Court

    It's been a week of mixed emotions for those of us who care about civil rights. There was the elation today when the Supreme Court overturned the so-called Defense of Marriage Act -- the discriminatory law that has hurt so…

  • June 26, 2013 9:25 pm | By Paul Gordon

    A Mixed-but-Mostly-Bad Supreme Court Term

    Although today's decisions consigning DOMA and Proposition 8 to the dustbin of history are a triumph for our nation's constitutional values, the rest of the term ending today wasn't so great. The principle of equality under the law that carried…

  • June 26, 2013 3:57 pm | By Miranda Blue

    Supreme Court Dumps PART of DOMA

    The Supreme Court today ruled that the core section of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. DOMA’s Section 3, which the Court vacated, prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex…

  • June 26, 2013 3:37 pm | By Paul Gordon

    DOMA Decision Slices Right Wing Talking Point on Referendums

    Today's 5-4 Supreme Court decision striking down DOMA devastates one of the Far Right's most ridiculous talking points: that state legislatures behave anti-democratically when they pass marriage equality legislation without a statewide referendum. Here are a couple of choice quotes…

  • June 26, 2013 1:26 pm | By Tory

    The Truth Behind the IRS ‘Scandal’

    Now that the smoke has cleared, it appears that the IRS scandal that has consumed right-wing media for weeks is not much of a scandal at all. The original story that the IRS was unfairly targeting conservative groups has dramatically…

  • The Smoking Gun in the Voting Rights Case
    June 26, 2013 1:04 pm | By Paul Gordon

    The Smoking Gun in the Voting Rights Case

    Lest anyone be fooled into thinking that yesterday's 5-4 ruling crippling the Voting Rights Act was anything but five justices substituting their ideologies for the law, let us recall that Justice Scalia showed his cards during oral arguments in February.…

  • June 25, 2013 7:28 pm | By Jen Herrick

    Representative John Lewis: “There’s other bridges to walk across”

    Just 11 days ago, on June 14, 2013, Representative John Lewis was honored as a 2013 Progressive Champion by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. Representative Lewis offered an impassioned call to action: We've come too far. We've…