Civil & Human Rights

Barber Wins Spirited Debate, as McSally Ducks Questions

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Last night’s televised debate between CD2 Congressman Ron Barber and Republican challenger Martha McSally was livelier than I had anticipated. In the end, it was obvious that Barber had won the debate. He answered the questions with concrete, specific examples and ideas, while McSally displayed great skill in avoiding actually answering most of the questions.

Barber was the real surprise of the evening for me. He came out swinging from the beginning with a bow to women’s right to choose and acknowledgement of the landmark SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage (two things McSally is against). It’s a good thing he led with these issues because they differentiate the two candidates and otherwise would not have been raised. (As Donna Greathouse has pointed out, debate moderators have repeatedly deemed women’s rights as not worthy of one question.)

In the beginning of the debate, both candidates tried to prove they were the most independent (since this highly competitive district has so many independents). Barber touted his record as the “fourth most independent” Congressman, which means he bucks the Democratic Party routinely. In fact, McSally’s charge that Barber does what Minority Leader Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi tells him to rings particularly hollow with most Democrats who wish he would do just that!

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SCOTUS temporarily stays 9th Circuit Court opinion on same-sex marriage

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Pride-Flag-Thumbnail-Friday-3x2-256x171The state of Idaho wasted no time filing a last-minute plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to delay same-sex marriages in that state after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down that state’s same-sex marriage ban on Tuesday.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com reports that Justice Anthony Kennedy, to whom such petitions from the 9th Circuit are directed, this morning ordered a temporary stay of the 9th Circuit Court ruling going into effect. Idaho same-sex marriages delayed (UPDATED):

UPDATED 9:47 a.m.  Justice Kennedy ordered the Ninth Circuit to postpone its ruling temporarily, at least until a further order by Kennedy or by the full Supreme Court.  Lawyers for same-sex couples were told to file a response by 5 p.m. Thursday to Idaho’s request.  The order means that gay and lesbian couples will not be able to obtain marriage licenses in that state in the meantime.

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BREAKING: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down same-sex marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada

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The 9th Circuit court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday struck down state same-sex marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada.  The ruling (.pdf) is expected to control pending legal challenges to bans in Alaska, Arizona, and Montana. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Two more bans fall:

Pride-Flag-Thumbnail-Friday-3x2-256x171The Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling was made up of three parts.

First, all three judges on the panel joined in an opinion by Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt finding that the Idaho and Nevada bans violate the constitutional guarantee of same-sex couples to be treated the same legally as opposite-sex couples.

Second, Judge Reinhardt issued a separate opinion, for himself only, saying he would also strike down those bans under the Constitution’s due process clause, arguing that the right to marry is a fundamental guarantee and that gays and lesbians have a right to share in that right.

Third, Circuit Judge Marsha S. Berson, in a separate opinion only for herself, said she would have also struck down the bans on the premise that they discriminate on the basis of gender.

The third member, Circuit Judge Ronald M. Gould, joined only the main opinion on the equal protection principle.

This ruling was perhaps the least surprising among four federal courts of appeals decisions striking down state prohibitions on same-sex couples marrying, and already-married couples gaining official state recognition of those unions, performed elsewhere.

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The trouble with E.Orr: Women’s issues are just ‘wedge politics’

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EyeoreSince science has not yet figured out how someone can be in two places at the same time, I was unable to attend the LD 9 House Debate Monday night moderated by Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly. Our “Woman of Steele” Rep. Victoria Steele and super-hero Doctor Randall Friese debated the mythical moderate Republican Ethan Orr aka “E.Orr.” From what I have heard from those who were in attendance, E.Orr got served. I look forward to the Weekly’s write-up for the details of this debate.

The Arizona Daily Star also attended the debate (shock!) but so far the only reporting is reporter Joe Ferguson’s tweets of the debate last night. Let’s focus on this exchange regarding the abortion bill for surprise, warrantless searches of abortion clinics, HB 2284, from Cathi Herrod and the Center for Arizona Policy. (The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law in 2004. The Court ruled that the statute’s authorization of “warrantless, unbounded inspections of their offices” violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure):

Screenshot from 2014-10-07 11:10:41

Screenshot from 2014-10-07 10:59:15

E.Orr is attempting to deflect from the GOP’s war on women, using a tack similar to what we have seen from Tea-Publicans elsewhere of late.

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