Civil & Human Rights

What would make Arizona Republicans eager to raise their own taxes?

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com Terrorizing brown people, of course! HighGround, the firm owned by Chuck Coughlin (Arizona’s true Governor) which represents GOP candidate Scott Smith, released a poll of the upcoming primary. The results for Governor track with other recent polls showing Doug Ducey and Christine Jones vying for the lead but still a lot of … Read more

Arizona Rednecks Plan Murrieta-Style Ugly American Protest in Oracle, AZ

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statue of liberty5 UPDATEs at the end.

Two Oracle facilities may be sheltering unaccompanied migrant children soon– one in midtown Tucson at Oracle and Drachman and one tucked into the Catalina Mountains in Oracle, Arizona.

While liberals in Tucson are welcoming the children and touting the 250 jobs the migrant shelter and processing center will bring to a struggling part of the city, rednecks north of town are planning a Murrieta-style ugly American protest to greet 40 children who could be housed at the Sycamore Canyon Academy on the back side of Mountain Lemmon. (KVOA story here.)

You’ll remember that several days ago Murrieta, California made headlines when the mayor called for citizens to show their outrage against migrants coming to their town, and the citizens did just that– protesting and blocking the road, with the assistance of local police.

Now the ugly Americans want to stage a repeat in sleepy Oracle, Arizona.

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Louisiana: automatic voter pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds

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Arizona law permits a 17 year old who will be 18 years old at the next election to pre-register to vote before he or she is 18 years old.

VoteThe state of Louisiana — and I cannot believe I am saying this — now has the most progressive voter registration law in the country. I have long advocated for the Univeral Voter Registration (.pdf) system proposed by the Brennan Center for Justice, which includes automatic voter registration and an “opt out” provision. Louisiana has now taken a step in this direction. Fair Vote reports, Louisiana’s New Voter Pre-Registration Law Features Automatic Registration:

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal signed a youth pre-registration bill into law this May, an action confirming the state’s position as a frontrunner in registering young people to vote. The bill, HB501, lowers the voter registration age to 16-years-old for those applying for a license with the Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV). This change builds upon previous legislation, which allowed 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. The 17-years-old requirement is still in place for those registering outside of the OMV.

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Kansas judge approves dual election system in Kansas

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The Topeka-Capitol Journal reports that a Kansas judge ruled on Friday on the motion for preliminary injunction filed by the ACLU in Belenky v. Kobach.  Theis backs Kobach over ACLU in voter ID challenge:

NoVoteShawnee County District Court Judge Franklin Theis cleared the way Friday for Kansas to use a dual voting system to help enforce its proof-of-citizenship rule for new voters, suggesting that doing otherwise could taint the state’s August primary election.

The judge’s ruling was a victory for Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a conservative Republican who champions the citizenship rule as an anti-election fraud measure. Critics contend it will suppress the vote.

Theis rejected the American Civil Liberties Union’s request to block a policy Kobach outlined last month in instructing county officials on handling ballots from voters who registered using a national form that does not require providing a birth certificate, passport or some other documentation of their U.S. citizenship. Kobach advised counties to set aside the ballots and count only their votes in congressional races.

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Utah marriage equality cases before SCOTUS

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EqualLate Friday, a panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in Evans v. Utah that Utah hasn’t proven that the appeals court should stay a lower court’s ruling requiring the state to recognize the 1,300 same-sex marriages that were performed in Utah in December and January.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay order in Kitchen v. Herbert in January, until the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals completed action on the case. The same panel of the 10th Circuit judges in Evans v. Utah recently upheld the trial court order striking down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban in Kitchen v. Herbert.

The temporary stay in Evans v. Utah remains in place in order for the state to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The state had sought to have the lower court ruling put on hold for the duration of the full appeal. The temporary stay expires at 10 a.m. ET on Monday, July 21, according to the decision.

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