Civil & Human Rights

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Back in early November, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered National Guard units in nine mostly Southern GOP governor controlled states to comply with the new Department of Defense same-sex marriage benefits regulations for military spouses and veterans. Secretary Hagel orders national guard units to comply with DoD regulations re: same-sex partner benefits.

After some resistance, particularly from the governors of Oklahoma and Texas, Secretary Hagel announced on Friday that Holdout states now compliant with Pentagon’s same-sex benefits policy:

All states are now processing benefits for same-sex National Guard spouses after several holdouts found ways to implement the policy without violating their constitutional bans on the recognition of gay marriage.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in an announcement Friday that same-sex spouses in every state can now obtain the military ID cards required to receive benefits for wives and husbands of service members.

“All of [the Department of Defense] is committed to pursuing equal opportunities for all who serve this nation, and I will continue to work to ensure our men and women in uniform as well as their families have full and equal access to the benefits they deserve,” Hagel said.

A handful of states, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, refused to process ID applications for gay spouses after the Pentagon issued a directive requiring the military to treat all legally married couples equally for purposes of federal benefits. The states told same-sex couples they could only apply at federal installations, though heterosexual spouses could submit their paperwork at state facilities.

Hagel directed the chief of the National Guard Bureau in late October to work with state officials to reach compliance with the Defense Department’s new policy. The policy came in response to a landmark Supreme Court decision in June overturning a key provision in the Defense of Marriage Act.

Slowly, the holdout states and the National Guard Bureau found workarounds to ensure equal treatment of service members without allowing their employees to process same-sex benefits.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Wichita Eagle reports today, Judge sends voter citizenship suit back:

A federal judge has sent back to federal elections officials a request by Kansas and Arizona to force modifications in a national voter registration form so the states can fully enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on Friday sent the states' lawsuit back to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, with instructions that the commission has to have a final decision by Jan. 17.

The states want the federal form to include instructions requiring Kansas and Arizona residents to provide a birth certificate, passport or other proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

The Justice Department says such a change places an additional obstacle for eligible voters and would affect nationwide policy by setting a precedent.

Well Judge, here's the problem with your order. The EAC has no commissioners to comply with your order.

Senate Tea-Publicans have used obstruction of presidential appointments to the EAC to "nullify" the agency out of existence without ever enacting legislation to terminate the agency. This unprecedented form of "nullification" is being remedied with executive and judicial nominees now that Democrats exercised the constitutional option to eliminate the Senate filibuster rule, but the confirmation process has not yet made it down to presidential appointments to the EAC.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Press release from the Brennan Center for Justice: Federal Court in KS to Hear Arguments on KS, AZ Voter Reg Restrictions The U.S. District Court in Wichita will hear arguments tomorrow, December 13, in Kris W. Kobach et al. v. United States Election Assistance Commission, which seeks to undermine federal voter protections … Read more

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Neo-Confederate Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of the Tea Party are gearing up for the next session of the Arizona Legislature with yet another state sovereignty and nullification of federal law measure.

These Neo-Confederate dead-enders just never give up their long discredited theories of interposition, nullification and secesssion in their never-ending insurrection against the federal government.

Sen. Kelli Ward (R-Lake Havasu City), who last session sponsored model legislation for the Firearms Freedom Act and Federal Gun Laws Nullification, this session plans to introduce model legislation to nullify the capabilities of the National Security Agency (NSA) in Arizona — you know, the spy agency that keeps Americans safe from the Hezbollah Muslim terrorists and Chicoms these same paranoid teabaggers believe are invading the U.S. across the Mexican border.

The Arizona Capital Times (subscription required) reports Senator hopes to curtail NSA activities in Arizona:

Arizona may be the first state to consider legislation designed to hinder the National Security Agency’s ability to spy within its borders.

Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, announced Monday she’ll introduce legislation next session that would “nullify” the NSA’s capabilities in Arizona by encouraging state agencies, counties, municipalities and local law enforcement to refuse to cooperate with NSA operations.

Information collected by the NSA in Arizona without a warrant would be banned from use by law enforcement and deemed inadmissible in court, Ward said.

Agencies and companies would face penalties if they aid the NSA and state funding would be cut off in the case of agencies and municipalities.  Companies that, for example, provide water or electricity to NSA facilities in Arizona would be banned from contracting with the state at any level of government.

Ward said the 4^th Amendment Protection Act, model legislation pushed by constitutional-rights organization the Tenth Amendment Center, isn’t meant to punish local governments and state agencies, but is more of a disincentive to the NSA if it wants to conduct surveillance in Arizona.

I would dispute the "constitutional-rights organization" characterization of what this "Tenther" organization is about. It promotes state sovereignty ("states' rights"), interposition and nullifcation of federal laws, theories long discredited since the end of the Civil War and the adoption of the 14th Amendment. Not to mention the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.