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September 8, 2011 9:55 pm | By Jamie Raskin
4th Circuit Upholds Rule of Law in Healthcare Case
In a badly-needed boost to the rule of law and the nation's much-abused new health reform, a three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit today rejected two attacks on "Obamacare." In one case, Virginia v. Sebelius, the appeals court found that…
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September 8, 2011 5:39 pm | By Paul Gordon
Resurrecting Lochner
Right-wing columnist George Will has a column this morning filled with deception and misdirection on the Supreme Court's infamous Lochner decision. Lochner was the decision in which arch-conservative Supreme Court Justices struck down New York's law setting a maximum work…
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September 8, 2011 4:37 pm | By Paul Gordon
Senate Republicans Only Delayed Four of Five New Nominees Today!
This morning, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee did something they have done only a handful of times: They exercised their discretion NOT to obstruct one of President Obama's judicial nominees. The Committee was scheduled to vote on ten nominations…
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September 7, 2011 7:35 pm | By Miranda Blue
The 2012 GOP Field: Not Even Ronald Reagan Could Get This Nomination
Tonight, eight GOP presidential candidates will alight on sacred ground to some: the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. As the candidates pay the required perpetual homage to the 40th president, the rest of us might take some…
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September 6, 2011 5:51 pm | By Miranda Blue
Fox News’ Misinformation Campaign on Muslims a Rousing Success
The Brookings Institution today released a new extensive poll on American attitudes toward racial and religious diversity in the ten years since 9/11. There are a whole lot of interesting themes in the study, but one thing that stood out…
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September 6, 2011 4:12 pm | By Miranda Blue
Mitt Romney Brings Back Bush’s Economics and Bork’s Jurisprudence
When Mitt Romney announced last month that his campaign’s legal team would be led by rejected Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, we were somewhat aghast. Bork’s legal record was so extreme – he opposed the Civil Rights Act and the…
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September 1, 2011 3:45 pm | By Miranda Blue
Goodwin Liu Gets a Place on the California Supreme Court
Goodwin Liu, the much-admired law professor whose nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was run into the ground by the Senate GOP this year, is now a judge. Liu was confirmed last night to sit on the California…
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August 30, 2011 9:36 pm | By Paul Gordon
Justice Ginsburg Mourns Breakdown of Judicial Nominations Process
At a speech yesterday at Southern Methodist University, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg touched upon the depressing state of our nation's judicial nominations process. As reported by the Associated Press: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Monday that the…
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August 30, 2011 4:05 pm | By Paul Gordon
Anonymous Attacks Against LA Progressives
This summer, an organization called Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) finds itself the target of dozens of baseless public records requests instigated by an anonymous right wing entity apparently seeking to intimidate and harass the organization.LAANE has…
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August 29, 2011 10:12 pm | By Justin
Funnywoman Bachmann
Michele Bachmann said she was joking when she suggested this weekend that last week’s earthquake and the deadly Hurricane Irene were a message to Washington from God. Here are a few recent statements that we hope are also jokes: •…
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August 25, 2011 5:51 pm | By Miranda Blue
GOP Planning to Use Disaster Aid as a Bargaining Chip
Steve Benen points out that in the wake of Tuesday’s East Coast earthquake and in anticipation of the hurricane expected to hit the eastern states this weekend, House Republicans are getting ready to use disaster aid as a political bargaining…
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August 25, 2011 4:23 pm | By Miranda Blue
‘What You Talkin’ Bout, Willard?’
If you watched TV in the 1980s, you surely remember this: The TV show Diff’rent Strokes – which featured the iconic tagline “What you talkin’ bout, Willis”? – was produced by PFAW’s founder Norman Lear. And when Norman heard that…
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August 24, 2011 2:36 pm | By Miranda Blue
The Play Rick Perry Didn’t Want Performed
The Austin Chronicle has set up a new Twitter account devoted exclusively to digging up old stories on the shenanigans of Texas Gov. Rick Perry. They’ve pulled up some good stuff, including this story from last year on the governor’s…
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August 23, 2011 4:36 pm | By Miranda Blue
No New Taxes! (Except for the Poor and Middle Class)
You might remember, if you haven’t forced it from your memory, that a few weeks ago Congress participated in some nerve-wracking brinksmanship over a routine but necessary raising of the debt ceiling, risking a disastrous default and ultimately causing the…
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August 23, 2011 3:14 pm | By Brian
For Rick Perry, Fighting “Over-Taxation” Is A Testament Of Faith
Cross-posted on Right Wing Watch Texas Gov. Rick Perry raised eyebrows yesterday when, while campaigning in South Carolina, he likened the struggles of corporations resisting paying their fair share in taxes to the civil rights movement. When told that he…
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August 22, 2011 7:08 pm | By Libby
DHS Announcement on Deportations Marks Significant Step Toward Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Work Remains
On August 18, the Department of Homeland Security announced a major shift in its deportation priorities, monumental news and a very encouraging first step toward comprehensive immigration reform in America. DHS will now focus its deportations on only the highest…
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August 19, 2011 1:47 pm | By Paul Gordon
Ongoing Focus on GOP Obstruction of Judicial Nominations
Since President Obama took office, Republican obstruction of his judicial nominees has been multifaceted, unstinting, highly partisan, hypocritical, and unprecedented in scope. When the Senate left town at the start of the month, Republican leaders prevented the Democrats from scheduling…
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August 18, 2011 10:07 pm | By Justin
Darrell Issa’s Two Hats
Rep. Darrell Issa’s ties to big business run deep, and as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, Issa has functioned quite efficiently as an arm of a Wall Street lobbying shop. He has demanded that government regulators…
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August 18, 2011 4:42 pm | By Justin
NY’s Rogue Clerks Shirk Official Duties
Despite the hard-fought, passionate campaign in New York in which the people’s representatives ultimately voted to extend marriage equality to all New Yorkers, several city or county clerks responsible for signing marriage licenses have chosen not to certify same-sex marriages,…
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August 17, 2011 6:15 pm | By Miranda Blue
ACLU DNA, Lead Paint, and the Judges who Made it Through GOP Obstruction
As we like to remind anyone who will listen, the current GOP senate has been shameless in its enthusiasm for obstructing judicial nominees just for the sake of obstruction. For instance, a PFAW memo on August 2 reported that of…