Civil & Human Rights

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Gov. Brewer’s request to deny DREAMers a driver’s license

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Small miracles in the Christmas season — today the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Governor Jan Brewer’s request to deny DREAMers a driver’s license out of hatred for people breathing while brown and spite for that Black man in the White House.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court turns down Arizona on immigrant issue:

DREAmactOver the dissents of three Justices, the Supreme Court today rejected Arizona’s request to allow it to deny driver’s licenses to young undocumented immigrants who have been permitted by Obama administration policy to remain in the United States.

In a brief order, the Court refused to block a temporary ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requiring the state to issue driver’s licenses to the so-called “Dreamers” — young adults who came to this country illegally — if they have permits allowing them to have jobs here. Justices Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas said they would have granted the state’s request. There were no explanations by either the majority or the dissenters.

Arizona remains free to pursue a regular appeal to the Court.

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David Koch pretends to be a decent human being, fails miserably

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

Barbara Walters finds David Koch to be one of 2014’s “most fascinating” people. I find him to be an insufferable libertarian douchewaffle. I see nothing fascinating about him at all and lord knows I’ve been trapped in so many tedious conversations with his ilk for the past twenty some odd years. Decide for yourself who is right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bcusQMb7qU&feature=player_detailpage

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Tom Horne plays doctor

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

sad tom horne

Some good news for reproductive rights in Arizona, and elsewhere, from the Supreme Court:

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning rejected a bid by attorneys for the state to overturn a federal appellate court ruling which had concluded the limits illegally infringe on the constitutional right of women to terminate a pregnancy. The justices gave no reason for their decision.

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U.S. Supreme Court declines review of Arizona abortion case

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uterus-stateThe “forced birth” religious zealots of the Arizona legislature and Cathi Herrod’s Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), the author of the RU-486 abortion bill, lost another round in the U.S. Supreme Court today after having lost in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court passes up RU-486 abortion issue, again:

The Supreme Court chose again today to bypass a dispute over state authority to strictly limit the access of pregnant women to abortion procedures that use drugs instead of surgery.  This time, the Court declined to review a case from Arizona — a state where nearly half of all abortions have been performed without surgery (Humble v. Planned Parenthood Arizona).  Last Term the Court dismissed a similar case that was an appeal from Oklahoma.

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Nonpartisan League

Sanders Echos Warren with Call to ‘Bust Up the Big Banks’

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Teddy Roosevelt
President Teddy Roosevelt was America’s original “trust-buster,” taking on monopolies and big banks in the early 20th century.

One day after Senator Elizabeth Warren rekindled the spirit of President Teddy Roosevelt and called for breaking up the Wall Street banks because they have too much political power, Senator Bernie Sanders has seconded that proposal.

From Sanders’ press release:

“Over the last several days, it has become abundantly clear that Congress does not regulate Wall Street but Wall Street regulates Congress.  If Wall Street lobbyists can literally write a provision into law that will allow too-big-to-fail banks to make the same risky bets that nearly destroyed our economy just a few years ago, it should be obvious to all that their incredible economic and political power is a huge danger to our economy and our way of life,” Sanders said.

Lobbyists for Citigroup drafted the measure and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon reportedly called congressmen to lobby for the provision that would gut a key provision of Dodd-Frank, the Wall Street reform law passed in 2010.

“Enough is enough,” Sanders said. “Today, almost all of the too-big-to-fail banks are bigger and even more powerful than they were before we bailed them out. The six largest financial institutions have over $9.8 trillion in assets — the equivalent of more than 60 percent of GDP.  They issue over half of the mortgages and more than two-thirds of the credit cards in America.

“If Congress cannot regulate Wall Street, there is just one alternative.  It is time to break these too-big-to-fail banks up so that they can never again destroy the jobs, homes, and life savings of the American people.

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