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April 22, 2009 9:35 pm | By Marge Baker
UPDATED: Message from Senator Whitehouse: Keep Up the Pressure to Confirm Dawn Johnsen
Today I had the opportunity to moderate a discussion with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on a conference call with PFAW members and activists. As we’ve mentioned before, Senator Whitehouse has been one of the leading voices in the push to restore…
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April 21, 2009 7:06 pm | By Marge Baker
David Hamilton to Appear on the Hill. Again.
We just got word from the Senate Judiciary Committee that Republicans are going to get another shot at questioning Judge David Hamilton, President Obama’s first judicial nominee who is being put forward for a seat on the Court of Appeals…
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April 20, 2009 5:13 pm | By Ben Betz
Restore Justice — Impeach Bybee
Sunday's New York Times included an editorial calling for the impeachment of Jay Bybee, a U.S. Appeals Court Judge on the Ninth Circuit (nominated by Bush) who, while at the Department of Justice, authored memos providing the "legal" justification for the…
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April 15, 2009 7:08 pm | By Drew Courtney
Kathleen Turner Speaks Out for Dawn Johnsen
People For the American Way Foundation board member Kathleen Turner posted a piece today on the Huffington Post making a forceful case for confirming Dawn Johnsen as the head of Office of Legal Counsel. To restore integrity and respect for…
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April 14, 2009 10:35 pm | By Stacey Gates
Not a Joke. We think.
What do you get when you cross a desperate Republican House campaign and a US senator who only months ago held the very seat the Republican candidate is seeking? Another reason no-excuse absentee voting makes sense.
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April 8, 2009 7:10 pm | By Willard
Obama Administration Raises the Bar on Wiretap Secrecy
Two of the most damaging legacies of the Bush Administration - the gutting of FISA through warrantless wiretapping, and the assertion of the almost monarchical "unitary executive" theory of executive branch authority - returned to center stage late last week,…
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April 7, 2009 8:44 pm | By Drew Courtney
What a Day for Marriage!
As we hope you’ve already heard, champagne corks are popping in Vermont where both houses of the state legislature successfully overrode the Governor’s veto of same-sex marriage legislation. And for those of us in DC, marriage equality is a step…
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April 6, 2009 6:04 pm | By Drew Courtney
The Audacity of Blackmail
According to the Daily Beast, the GOP is threatening to filibuster President Obama’s legal nominees if he moves to release the infamous “torture memos” that came out of the John Yoo-era Office of Legal Counsel: A reliable Justice Department source…
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April 3, 2009 8:38 pm | By Peter Montgomery
More Good News from Iowa
While national Religious Right leaders have reacted with predictably apocalyptic venom to the unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruling upholding marriage equality, there's more good news from the state's political leaders. According to the national Stonewall Democrats, the Iowa Democratic Party…
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April 3, 2009 2:53 pm | By Peter Montgomery
Iowa Marriage Decision Recognizes Religious-Civil Distinction
People For the American Way Foundation's recent Right Wing Watch In Focus report documented the deceptive ways that Religious Right leaders blur the distinction between civil and religious marriage in order to convince Americans that marriage equality is a threat to…
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April 1, 2009 11:26 pm | By Marge Baker
GOP Boycotts Hamilton Hearing
I’m just back from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which the Republicans on the committee boycotted because they claimed they had not been given…
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April 1, 2009 10:48 pm | By Drew Courtney
If You Care About the Environment . . .
You should also care about the Supreme Court.In a setback for environmentalists, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that federal regulators may consider costs when deciding whether to order the operators of power plants to install protections for fish.By 6…
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March 27, 2009 8:42 pm | By Willard
What About the D.C. Voting Rights Act?
The DC Voting Rights Act (H.R. 157) is currently sitting in limbo, hung up over controversial amendments. The bill has been removed from the floor, further delaying the vote that the citizens of the District deserve. This week DC Vote…
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March 27, 2009 6:13 pm | By Drew Courtney
Homophobia and the Black Church Event
This week, People For Foundation’s African American Ministers Leadership Council is co-sponsoring the Harambee* celebration at Howard Divinity School. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend one of the panels we sponsored, “Homophobia in the Black Church.” It was, if…
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March 26, 2009 3:18 pm | By Marge Baker
Obama DOJ Invokes State Secrets For Second Time
This Washington Post recently had a story on a second instance of the Obama Department of Justice invoking "state secrets" in an effort to shut down a lawsuit challenging violations by the Bush Administration of individuals' constitutional rights. The first…
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March 24, 2009 12:47 am | By Marge Baker
More Nonsense from the Right on Hamilton
Late last week several leaders of the Right, including Tony Perkins, Edwin Meese, and Alfred Regnery issued a statement opposing the nomination of David Hamilton (currently the Chief Judge of the Southern District of Indiana) to the Seventh Circuit Court…
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March 23, 2009 9:47 pm | By Drew Courtney
Justice O’Connor Speaks Out. Kinda.
The New York Times has a short interview of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and it’s interesting to see all the topics she doesn’t want to talk about. Whom did you vote for in the presidential election? Come…
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March 23, 2009 8:47 pm | By Paul Gordon
Torturing the Rule of Law
Newsweek is reporting: Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the "enhanced" interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration…
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March 20, 2009 8:08 pm | By Drew Courtney
Marriage Equality on the March
As if Ben and Jerry’s wasn’t enough reason to love Vermont, it looks like marriage equality legislation is moving forward in the state legislature: A Vermont Senate committee voted to advance a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the…
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March 20, 2009 3:55 pm | By Josh
Kathryn Kolbert Talks Judges and GOP Hypocrisy on Air America Radio
People For the American Way president Kathryn Kolbert appeared recently on the David Bender Show on Air America to talk about President Obama’s judicial nominees. Even before Obama nominated a single person, GOP Senators threatened to filibuster his nominees. These are…