Civil & Human Rights

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

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The dominoes continue to fall . . . today a U.S. District Court Judge in Wisconsin struck down that state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. The Wisconsin State Journal reports, Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban struck down:

EqualA federal judge has struck down Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban, the latest in a sweeping number of such rulings this year.

“Quite simply, this case is about liberty and equality, the two cornerstones of the rights protected by the United States Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote in her Friday ruling.

Read the Ruling Here (.pdf).

The ruling does not mean that same-sex couples will immediately be able to marry. In her order, Crabb gave the plaintiffs until June 16 to submit a proposed injunction describing “in reasonable detail … the act or acts restrained or required.” She wrote that the plaintiffs should identify what they want each named defendant to do or to be enjoined from doing.

She gave the state a week after that to file a response in opposition, and if they do, the plaintiffs will have a week to reply.

Crabb wrote that she would address the state’s pending motion to stay the injunction until after materials on the proposed injunction are filed. She wrote that both sides could supplement what they’ve already submitted on the motion.

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Secretary of State race: Goddard v. GOP voter suppression

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If you care about the fundamental constitutional right to vote and GOP voter suppression efforts like HB 2305, then you had better be paying attention to the Secretary of State race.

Former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is running for Secretary of State this year. The Payson Roundup scoops the big dailies with this report. Voting reform dominates campaign:

goddardThe normally low-key secretary of state’s office has suddenly moved to the center of the political debate as the result of a swirl of intensely controversial election reforms and rising concerns of about the impact of mysterious “dark money” on the political system.

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In a recent appearance in Phoenix, former Arizona Attor­ney General Terry Goddard said he decided to run yet another statewide campaign to win the open secretary of state’s office as a result of fierce struggles over voting requirements plus court rulings that allowed donors to pour millions in “dark money” into political campaigns without revealing their identities.

“Dark money does get people excited — people are getting very upset,” said Goddard. “The devil’s in the details when it comes to disclosure laws.

“These groups all sound like motherhood and apple pie, but you need more than the name.”

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SCOTUS will not block same-sex marriage in Oregon

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Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports, Court won’t block Oregon same-sex marriages :

EqualThe Supreme Court, in a one-sentence order without explanation, refused on Wednesday afternoon (.pdf)  to stop same-sex marriages in Oregon.  The denial was by the full Court, after Justice Anthony M. Kennedy had submitted the plea to it.

The request had come from a private group that is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage, the National Organization for Marriage.  It had been barred from taking part in the case over the constitutionality of an Oregon ban, and it had asked the Justices to put off a judge’s decision striking down that ban.  It has an appeal on file at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and wanted the federal judge’s decision put off until that appeal was decided.

In January, the Court had put on hold a different federal judge’s order striking down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban.  In that case, state officials had sought a delay. Although other federal judges have struck down similar bans elsewhere, in all of those cases the rulings have been put on hold — when that was requested by state officials — while appeals went forward.

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Thucky and the Gish Gallop

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Frequent commenter Thucydides, who is affectionately known as Thucky around these parts and who may or may not be Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, has a familiar arguing style. DailyKos diarist AmBush referred to it after the first Presidential debate in 2012, where Mitt Romney “won” by spewing out a barrage of lies and distortions of his own positions. The technique is known as the Gish Gallop.

The Urban Dictionary defines the Gish Gallop thusly:

Named for the debate tactic created by creationist shill Duane Gish, a Gish Gallop involves spewing so much bullshit in such a short span on that your opponent can’t address let alone counter all of it. To make matters worse a Gish Gallop will often have one or more ‘talking points’ that has a tiny core of truth to it, making the person rebutting it spend even more time debunking it in order to explain that, yes, it’s not totally false but the Galloper is distorting/misusing/misstating the actual situation. A true Gish Gallop generally has two traits.

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Anti-choicers actively tried to harm Arizona women with medication abortion law

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Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

pill cartoon

The official line on TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) is that they are necessary to make abortion “safer”. Of course, anti-choicers bent on passing often have a hard time staying on script about that, as we saw in April during the floor debate in the AZ legislature about surprise clinic inspections.

But Wednesday’s debate quickly moved from medical necessity to religion. Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, said he supports this measure because he backs anything he considers to be “pro-life.”

“It is amazing to me that we in America can give a slap in the face to God above by killing these unborn children,” he said. “Who is more defenseless than a child in the womb?”

Sen. Al Melvin, R-Tucson, commented about being a Roman Catholic and a Republican.

“And I take great pride in that my church and my political party both stand for the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural death,” said Melvin, a Republican candidate for governor.

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