Civil & Human Rights

USPS issues Harvey Milk stamp today

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The United States Postal Service will dedicate its new Harvey Milk stamp at a White House ceremony today. Postal Service to dedicate Harvey Milk stamp at the White House:

Harvey_Milk_Stamp-01230The event is scheduled to take place on May 22, the first day the Postal Service plans to issue the stamp commemorating one of the nation’s gay-rights pioneers.

Another ceremony will take place on May 28 in San Francisco.

Milk won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, becoming one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States.

The Postal Service said in an announcement that Milk’s achievements “gave hope and confidence to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in the United States and elsewhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination.”

A gunman assassinated Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Mascone in November 1978, less than one year after Milk took office.

Purchase online at Harvey Milk Stamps – The Postal Store @ USPS.com.

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U.S. District Court for Pennsylvania strikes down that state’s same-sex marriage ban

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U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III for the U.S.District Court for Pennsylvania today struck down that state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. U.S. judge strikes down same-sex marriage ban in Pa.:

EqualA federal judge on Tuesday struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriages, a landmark ruling that appeared to clear the way for the Commonwealth to become the latest state to legalize gay marriage.

The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III marked the first and most significant to date in a series of court challenges to the state’s 1996 ban.

“We are better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them onto the ash heap of history,” Jones wrote in a thirty-nine-page opinion (.pdf). “By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth.”

It was not immediately clear if Gov. Corbett, whose administration had defended the law, would appeal the decision. It has 30 days to do so.

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10th Circuit grants stay pending appeal in proof-of-citizenship voter registration case

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NoVoteThe 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a stay pending the appeal of the district court order in Kobach v. U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) requiring the EAC to modify the federal National Voter Registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship for Arizona and Kansas residents. Court extends stay in Arizona, Kansas voting case:

A federal appeals court has delivered a new setback to officials in Arizona and Kansas, ruling that residents in those states can continue registering to vote using a federal form without having to show proof of citizenship.

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Earlier this month, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver issued a stay of a lower court ruling ordering the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to immediately modify its federal voter registration form to add special instructions for Arizona and Kansas residents about those states’ proof-of-citizenship requirements.

Late Monday, the appeals court extended its block on the lower court order and granted an expedited hearing on the merits of the case sought by the federal commission and voting rights groups.

Kobach has said if the courts do not allow the federal form to be revised, he would implement a system in Kansas allowing people who register using the federal form to vote only in federal races such as for president and members of Congress.

Read the Stay Order here (.pdf).

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U.S. District Court for Oregon strikes down state’s same-sex marriage ban

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U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. McShane for the U.S. District Court for Oregon struck down that state’s sane-sex marriage ban today. Same-sex marriages were allowed to proceed immediately this afternoon.

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com reports, Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban nullified:

EqualIn a ruling that might never be tested in an appeal, a federal judge in Oregon at midday Monday ruled (.pdf) that the state’s ten-year-old ban on same-sex marriage is invalid under the federal Constitution.  U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane of Eugene did so by applying the most relaxed constitutional test.

The judge put his ruling into effect immediately, thus allowing county officials to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, unless a higher court steps in to block it.  It is not clear at this point that anyone has the legal right to pursue an appeal; state officials refused to defend the ban and, in fact, added their support to the challenge by four same-sex couples.

The only other entity that has come forward to provide a defense — the National Organization for Marriage, a strong opponent of same-sex marriage — was denied a role in the case by Judge McShane last Wednesday.  It is now seeking to appeal that denial to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but — before Judge McShane issued his decision — the Ninth Circuit on Monday morning refused to postpone his denial of that group’s entry into the case.

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‘With all deliberate speed’: 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, schools are still segregated by race

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TopekaJournalSaturday is the 60th Anniversary of the most important U.S. Supreme Court decision of the 20th Century, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). The decision overturned Plessy v. Feguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state-sanctioned racial segregation under the racist doctrine of “Separate but equal.” The U.S. Supreme Court gave its blessing to Jim Crow  laws and black codes.

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court in Brown held that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled to be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. In Brown II (1955), the Supreme Court ordered the lower federal courts to require desegregation “with all deliberate speed.”

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