Month: September 2013

Prop. 8 ‘dream team’ joins lawsuit to overturn Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriages

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

VirginiaThe state of Virginia's tourism and travel slogan is "Virginia is for Lovers." Well, not quite for everyone.

The Prop. 8 "dream team" of Ted Olson and David Boies, who teamed up to overturn the gay-marriage ban
in California, have joined a lawsuit against Virginia’s prohibition against same-sex marriage. Lawyers want Virginia as same-sex marriage test case:

The American Foundation for Equal Rights — with its attention-getting
political odd couple of conservative Republican lawyer Theodore Olson
and liberal Democrat David Boies — will announce Monday it is joining a
lawsuit against what the lawyers called Virginia’s “draconian” laws
prohibiting same-sex marriages, the recognition of such marriages
performed where they are legal, and civil unions.

EqualIt is one of dozens of lawsuits filed across the nation by same-sex marriage activists who say they feel emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decisions in June that
overturned the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that forbade
recognition of same-sex marriages and separately allowed such unions to
resume in California.

* * *

There are dozens of lawsuits filed in state and federal courts in 18
states, according to the Human Rights Campaign, and on Friday, a state judge in New Jersey ruled same-sex marriages must be allowed there. Gov. Chris Christie (R) is appealing.

But
the ultimate goal is the recognition of a constitutional right, such as
when the Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s ban on interracial
marriages in the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision.

Department of Justice aggressively pursues voting rights cases against GOP voter suppression

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Washington Post reports that GOP-led states are moving aggressively on voting rules:

Emboldened by the Supreme Court decision that struck down part of the
Voting Rights Act, a growing number of Republican-led states are moving
aggressively to tighten voting rules. Lawsuits by the Obama
administration and voting rights activists say those efforts
disproportionately affect minorities.

Last week, a three judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled 2-1 to allow the Department of Justice to intervene in the Texas redistricting lawsuit. The Court ruled (.pdf) that "after Shelby County, circumstances changed significantly, since §3(c) became an issue for the first
time."

"The parties recognize the importance of the §3(c) claims. Certain Plaintiffs “posit that this particular VRA claim will be critical in resolving the issues in this litigation.” Docket no. 788 at 2. Plaintiffs’ and Defendants’ briefing on §3(c) illustrates the fact that issues concerning the proper construction and application of §3(c) are unsettled and highly disputed. And the parties recognize that “there is limited judicial guidance available on the application of Section 3(c).” Docket no. 788 at 9. The United States has a direct interest in the construction and application of §3(c) that was not present until after the Shelby County ruling. Therefore, the interest that the United States seeks to protect is not the same interest that was present from the inception of the litigation."

Today, the Department of Justice sued the state of North Carolina in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina over "the worst voter suppression law" in the nation. Read the complaint Here (,pdf).

Senate kills House Amendments, sends a ‘clean CR’ back to the House

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Senate wasted little time dispatching the ridiculous hostage demand from House Tea-Publicans, voting to table (kill) the House Amendments to the Senate's "clean CR" funding the government. C-SPAN reports, Senate Tables (Kill) House Amendments Funding Gov't. and Delaying Health Care Law:

The Senate passed by
a vote of 54 to 46, to table, or kill, the House amendments to the
temporary government funding bill which funds the government beginning
tomorrow and delays the health care law. The Senate will now send back
to the House the bill without those amendments for them to act on. The
Senate's continuing resolution would fund the government beyond Sept.
30, when the current appropriations authorization expires without
defunding the health acre law.

Following the vote tabling the
amendments, Majority Leader Reid called on House Speaker Boehner to "let
the Senate 'clean' CR pass with bipartisan support" or force a
government shutdown. He dismissed rumors that the House might send back a
resolution funding the government for a few days while negotiations
continue. He pointed out that the Senate CR covers a six-week period and
that was short enough.

Leader Reid also said he would keep the Senate in session to deal with whatever the House sends back later in the day.

Post-Democracy Republicans

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have done several posts over the years about "post-truth politics," and the "post-policy nihilism" of the Republican Party. Now Dave Weigel at Slate characterizes recent remarks by the GOP's alleged boy genius, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), as evidence of "post-democracy Republicans" — in essence, elections no longer have consequences (at least when Democrats are the winners).

CryingteabagbabySteve Benen chimes in, A 'post-democracy' phase:

[There is an] underlying phenomenon: GOP lawmakers feel justified in creating a
series of deliberate crises because they lost at the ballot box. If only
Americans had elected them, they wouldn't need to threaten us.

As Jon Chait put it,
Paul Ryan's argument is that Republicans need to force Obama to accept
their agenda, "not in spite of the fact that the voters rejected it at
the polls but precisely for that reason."

Democracies really aren't supposed to work this way.

(Repost) Tea-Publican Tyranny: Chaos Theory of Economic Terrorism

by

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Originally posted January 15, 2013. (Update) Tea-Publican Tyranny: Chaos Theory of Economic Terrorism:

I have posted about the radical extremism of "chaos theory" being pursued by Tea-Publicans from time to time. For example, Tea-Publican Tyranny: Chaos Theory of Economic Terrorism.

David Firestone at the New York Times more recently wrote about this Tea-Publican "chaos theory" in Chaos as Legislative Strategy:

President Obama’s description this morning of an idealized budget
negotiation with Republicans was bizarrely quaint and decorous. “There’s
a pretty straightforward way of doing this, and that is to set the debt
ceiling aside, we pay our bills and then we have a vigorous debate
about how we’re going to do further deficit reduction in a balanced
way,” he said at the final news conference of his first term, devoted
largely to the coming debt-ceiling crisis.

But the debate that
Washington has been having has been anything but straightforward, and
demanding that it be otherwise won’t make it change. The hard-right
Republicans in the House aren’t interested in sitting at a long table
with pencils and budget books; they want to set that table on fire, and
burn to ashes all the compromises that long defined the two-party
system.