Civil & Human Rights

Martha McSally is a ‘Deportation Republican’

by

I posted last week that The GOP is officially the party of Steve King and of mass deportation. Call them “Deportation Republicans.”

All four of Arizona’s Tea-Publican congressman voted for the two House bills. Arizona’s Senators voted with their GOP colleagues to filibuster the Democratic bill for border emergency funding over a procedural vote. Arizona’s angry old man John McCain had his panties in a bunch over an amendment that he wanted to offer to deport refugee children from Central American faster and with fewer due process protections than they now enjoy under a 2008 law (similar to the bill passed in the House). They are “Deportation Republicans.”

The Arizona Daily Star reported that CD 2 GOP candidate Martha McSally supports Rep. Steve King’s Tea Party non-compromise border bills in the House. She also is a “Deportation Republican.” CD2 Watch: Reactions to $694 million House immigration bill:

McSally-King“Yesterday, Congressman Barber failed Southern Arizonans by voting against a bill to help secure our border and provide badly needed resources to deal with the humanitarian crisis. Either he doesn’t understand how important this issue is or is more concerned with following his party’s wishes,” McSally said.

McSally notes the bill contains funding for additional resources for Customs and Border Patrol operations, funds National Guard troops on the border, increases humanitarian assistance for unaccompanied minors and adds funding for temporary immigration judges.

I guarantee you that Martha McSally, who has never demonstrated to me that she has any intellectual curiosity in learning anything about public policy, had any inkling about what was actually in these bills before this boilerplate statement was prepared for her by her RNCC handlers.

Read more

The GOP War on Voting – dual election systems

by

Election rules in the states of Kansas and Arizona are set to disenfranchise thousands of American citizens in coming weeks from casting ballots in state primaries, even though the federal government allows them to vote in congressional races. The Wall Street Journal reports Kansas, Arizona Require Proof of Citizenship for Voting:

NoVoteThe [dual election] system is the result of a growing battle between federal officials and a handful of states over the necessity of verifying that a newly registered voter is a U.S. citizen.

Kansas and Arizona say the federal registration process doesn’t rigorously check citizenship. They have established their own verification systems and are barring people who register using the federal system from voting this month for such offices as governor and local posts.

* * *

Several states are closely watching a pending federal court case that has produced the unusual balloting in Kansas and Arizona. Georgia and Alabama are looking to implement proof-of-citizenship laws that have already passed, while lawmakers in states such as South Carolina and Oklahoma have considered adding such rules.

NOTE: The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on Monday, August 25, after the Kansas primary election, and the day before the Arizona primary election.

Read more

Know your anti-choice Democratic candidates in Arizona. Part 1.

by

Jose Leonardo Suarez (LD4-D) is running for Arizona State House this year. When asked how he differed from the Democratic platform at the Clean Election primary debate, he said that he opposes marriage equality and abortion in most cases. Link to video, which can’t be embedded on this site. Suarez believes life starts at conception … Read more

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s politically motivated decision on voter ID

by

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is composed of seven justices who are elected in state-wide “non-partisan” elections. (Riiight). Each justice is elected for a ten-year term, and only one justice may be elected in any year.

solidarity_wi_fist_shirst-1You will recall that the 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court election between incumbent David Prosser, Jr. and challenger Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg gained significant nationwide publicity, and was widely seen as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker’s proposed budget reforms in Wisconsin, and a part of the 2011 Wisconsin union protests. Wisconsin Supreme Court election, 2011 – Wikipedia.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court in the NAACP case, and the LWV case, on a 4-3 vote (and 5-2 vote in the second case), rejected two challenges to the state’s voter ID law on Thursday.

Read more

Marriage Equality in the Courts of Appeal

by

EqualCongress may be on recess for the next five weeks, but during this time a number of same-sex marriage cases will be heard by the Courts of Appeal.

On Wednesday, August 6, at 1:00 p.m. the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear six same-sex marriage appeals from four states. Notice to the Media (.pdf):

DeBoer, et al v. Snyder, et al, Case No. 14-1341 (E.D. Michigan)

Obergefell, et al v. Himes, et al., Case No. 14-3057 (S.D. Ohio) consolidated with Henry, et al. v. Himes, Case No. 14-3464 (S.D. Ohio)

Bourke, et al v. Beshear, et al, Case No. 14-5291 (W.D. Kentucky). consolidated with Love, et al. v. Beshear , Case. No. 14-5818 (W.D. Kentucky)

Tanco, et al. v. Haslam, Case No. 14-5297 (M.D. Tennessee)

 The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is dominated by conservative judges appointed by Republican presidents. So far, every court since the U.S. Supreme Court marriage decision in U.S. v. Windsor in 2013 has struck down state same-sex marriage bans as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. If there is a Court of Appeals panel that could go the other way and create a conflict among the circuits, it is the Sixth Circuit (and the equally conservative Fifth Circuit).

Read more