Civil & Human Rights

But what if I want to show people how much I “care” about them as they’re trying to get into the voting booth?

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

clinic protesters

The Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision today in McCullen v Coakley, finding that Massachusetts’ 35 foot buffer zone around abortion clinics violated the free speech rights of protesters to harangue and intimidate uh “counsel” women entering them. It looks like the court bought the plaintiffs’ carefully constructed image of kindly “plump grandmothers” being the typical sort of protesters patients would encounter outside clinics rather than the actual intimidating people known to be there. I’m certain that the Justices weren’t thinking about these people when they rendered their decision.

SCOTUS was concerned about the free “transmission of ideas”.

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SCOTUS strikes down an abortion clinic ‘buffer zone’

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gavelChief Justice John Roberts is terrible at writing court opinions. His attention to detail and to judicial precedent is lax, and his legal reasoning is deeply flawed. I believe this is because he has an ideological agenda and is outcome oriented. He is not the “umpire who calls balls and strikes” that he promised to be at his Senate confirmation hearing.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court in Hill v. Colorado upheld by a six-to-three vote a Colorado law that forbade approaching within eight feet of another person within one hundred feet of abortion facility. This is the Court’s abortion clinic “buffer zone” precedent.

The state of Massachusetts’ abortion clinic “buffer zone” law was at issue in McCullen v. Coakley. “It is notable that outside of a brief mention in describing the background of the case (noting that Massachusetts had originally enacted a narrower buffer-zone provision modeled on the statute upheld in Hill), the majority opinion makes no mention of Hill at all.” What is left of Hill v. Colorado? (in contrast with Justice Scalia’s dissent, joined by Justices Kennedy and Thomas, which overtly calls for Hill to be overruled). Kevin Russell at SCOTUSblog.com writes:

Did the Chief Justice effectively overrule Hill or its result as a practical matter, without saying so?

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Big victories for marriage equality today

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has upheld the December 2013 U.S. District Court for Utah ruling in Kitchen v. Herbert striking down that state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional, in a 2-1 decision written by Judge Carlos Lucero. The Salt Lake Tribune reports, 10th Circuit Court upholds same-sex marriage:

Pride-Flag-Thumbnail-Friday-3x2-256x171A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that states outlawing same-sex marriage are in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

By upholding a Utah judge’s decision, a three-member panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver became the first appeals court in the nation to rule on the issue, setting a historic precedent that voter-approved bans on same-sex marriage violate the Fourteenth Amendment rights of same-sex couples to equal protection and due process.

But the court immediately stayed the implementation of its decision, pending an anticipated appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Utah attorney general’s office said Wednesday it will initiate that appeal.

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Sixth Circuit schedules same-sex marriage appeals for argument on August 6

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EqualWe are waiting on the Fourth Circuit and Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to issue opinions any day now in the same-sex marriage appeals argued earlier this year.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear same-sex marriage appeals from Idaho and Nevada in September.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, in an unusual move, has scheduled all four same-sex marriage appeals pending before that Court for argument on August 6, 2014. Sixth Circuit sets oral arguments in same-sex marriage cases from four states:

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has formally scheduled arguments in all of its pending same-sex marriage cases, for August 6.

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The court is hearing cases from Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, and two from Ohio. The arguments are set to begin at 1PM on that day, and last for over three hours.

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50th Anniversary of Mississippi Freedom Summer

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This weekend marks the Mississippi Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary:

50LogoSquare_new_450In the summer of 1964, hundreds of summer volunteers from across America convened in Mississippi to put an end to the system of rigid segregation. The civil rights workers and the summer volunteers successfully challenged the denial by the state of Mississippi to keep Blacks from voting, getting a decent education, and holding elected offices.

As a result of the Freedom Summer of 1964, some of the barriers to voting have been eliminated and Mississippi has close to 1000 Black state and local elected officials. In fact, Mississippi has more Black elected officials than any other state in the union. While the Freedom Summer of ’64 made profound changes in the state of Mississippi and the country, much remains to be accomplished.

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