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March 4, 2010 9:25 pm | By Paul Gordon
GOP Obstructionism Is No Surprise
The good news is that the Senate Judiciary Committee voted this morning to approve - again - Dawn Johnsen's nomination to head the Office of Legal Counsel. The bad news is that this was yet another party-line vote where the…
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March 3, 2010 8:19 pm | By Drew Courtney
Marriage Equality in DC
It took a while, and opponents of equality still insist they'll fight it, but marriage equality legislation finally took effect this morning in Washington, DC.Washington, D.C., became the nation’s sixth jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriage Wednesday when it opened its…
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February 27, 2010 10:46 pm | By Marge Baker
Judiciary Committee Hearing on OPR Report
On Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on the recently-released report by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). The Office had been tasked with assessing whether lawyers in the Bush Office of Legal Counsel had acted unethically…
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February 27, 2010 7:41 pm | By Drew Courtney
Rev. Kenneth Samuel Responds to Rep. Trent Franks
You'd think that Congressman Trent Franks would have learned from his brush with fame last year when he declared that President Obama was an "enemy of humanity" because he's pro-choice. But he didn't. Yesterday Congressman Franks argued that African Americans…
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February 27, 2010 6:18 pm | By Leslie Watson Wilson
African American History Awareness Month – A Chance to Prove
In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of Black people throughout American history. Today the celebration in the arts and science, public and private business industries, sports,…
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February 25, 2010 10:36 pm | By Jordan
Senators Dodd and Udall call for a constitutional amendment
Yesterday, Senators Christopher Dodd and Tom Udall introduced a constitutional amendment to correct the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. According to Senator Dodd: Ultimately, we must cut through the underbrush and go directly to…
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February 24, 2010 9:56 pm | By Paul Gordon
Despite the Right’s Objections, Maryland To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages from Other States
This morning, the Maryland Attorney General released a well-reasoned opinion that firmly establishes that the state may recognize same-sex marriages from other states (and countries). The Far Right, of course, wanted an opinion stating that Maryland would not recognize out-of-state…
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February 24, 2010 2:23 pm | By Drew Courtney
John Yoo versus Reality
Via The San Francisco Chronicle, it seems that the latest filing by John Yoo's lawyer— in a case brought by a prisoner who was illegally detained and tortured based on Yoo’s advice—has all the hallmarks of one of Yoo’s own…
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February 19, 2010 8:24 pm | By Ben Betz
Virginia’s New Radical Right Governor Begins His Assault
Pat Robertson's man in the Virginia State House, Governor Bob McDonnell, has been in office less than a month and is already delivering on the Religious Right's agenda ... at the expense of Virginians' civil rights. A February 5 executive…
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February 18, 2010 11:13 pm | By Jordan
Jeffrey Rosen on John Roberts’ Judicial Activism
Despite Chief Justice John Roberts’ claims in 2006 that his goal for the Supreme Court was to converge around narrow, unanimous rulings, The New Republic’s Jeffrey Rosen writes that Citizen’s United v. FEC is, “the kind of divisive and unnecessarily…
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February 11, 2010 9:18 pm | By Drew Courtney
Leahy Keeps Pushing Forward on Nominations
At a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Dawn Johnsen was set to be sent for a second time to the full Senate—this time on the one year anniversary of her original nomination. True, Washington is almost totally shut…
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February 11, 2010 9:14 pm | By Peter Montgomery
Judging, Judges and Prop 8
Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, in a piece titled, “Don’t ask, don’t judge?” gave a rhetorical green light to Religious Right activists who have responded to news that federal judge Vaughn Walker is gay by attacking his ability to rule…
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February 10, 2010 4:51 pm | By Drew Courtney
Ronald Reagan’s Court
By any measure, the Supreme Court has moved far to the right in the last few years. In the Los Angeles Times today, David Savage writes about how the decision in Citizens United shows how far the court has moved on…
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February 5, 2010 8:18 pm | By Jordan
Voter ID Battles on the Horizon
The fight to protect voting rights celebrated a victory last fall in the Indiana State Court of Appeals. There, the court struck down what has become known as the strictest voter identification law in the country. But it’s an election…
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February 5, 2010 7:24 pm | By Drew Courtney
Senator Shelby Should Maybe Review His Website
There are plenty of reasons to be outraged by Senator Shelby's decision to put a blanket hold on all executive branch nominations in an effort to steer more federal dollars to his state. After all, most people would agree that…
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February 3, 2010 11:43 pm | By Paul Gordon
A Good Day For Equality in Maryland
The Baltimore Sun is reporting good news on the marriage equality front in Maryland today, where a bill that would have prohibited the state from recognizing out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples was defeated in committee. The state's Attorney General is…
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February 2, 2010 11:38 pm | By Josh
Justice Alito: Words v. Actions [VIDEO]
The media spent much of last week obsessing over Justice Samuel Alito's injudicious show of disapproval during the State of the Union. They went a bit overboard to be sure, but were it not for that, millions of Americans may have missed…
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February 2, 2010 10:46 pm | By Drew Courtney
Senator Kerry Speaks Out for a Constitutional Amendment
During a hearing of the Senate Rules Committee today, Senator John Kerry announced his intention to introduce a Constitutional Amendment to repair the damage done by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC. We face two challenges: first, to…
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February 2, 2010 6:12 pm | By Drew Courtney
What Moderates?
Last night, Patricia Smith, President Obama’s choice to be Solicitor of the Department of Labor, passed an important procedural hurdle: the Senate decided to vote on her nomination. What’s remarkable is that, unlike past attempts to block votes on executive…
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February 1, 2010 9:36 pm | By Drew Courtney
Justice Alito Begs to Differ
If you watched the State of the Union last week, you probably saw Justice Samuel Alito take exception to President Obama's entirely accurate characterization of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC. Some people were outraged by Justice Alito's…