Civil & Human Rights

The American Taliban fails to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Treaty

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This caught my attention: "UN treaty on disability rights dies on altar of home school movement."

Say what now?

Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo explains in Senate Republicans Block Ratification Of U.N. Treaty On Rights For The Disabled, Citing Impact On Home-Schoolers:

The Senate Tuesday fell short of the two-thirds vote required to
ratify a United Nations treaty aimed at securing rights for disabled
people around the world, when the vast majority of Republican senators
voted against the treaty. The final vote was 61-38 vote. All the nay votes were Republican.

[Only eight Republicans voted yes: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John
Barrasso of Wyoming, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and
Olympia Snowe of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of
Alaska and John McCain of Arizona.]

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities essentially
makes the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act a non-binding
international standard. It requires no change to U.S. law.

Originally signed by then-President George W. Bush in 2006 and
re-signed by President Barack Obama in 2009 shortly after he took
office, the treaty has been championed by former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS),
the one-time GOP presidential nominee who suffered a disability while
serving in the Army in World War II. Dole was on the Senate floor
Tuesday ahead of the ratification vote, in a wheelchair, accompanied by
his wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC).

‘CCA, go away’: Florida residents say ‘no’ to nation’s largest deportation center (video)

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No ccaby Pamela Powers Hannley

Private prisons are a "infecting our nation like a virus," according to Florida activists who are fighting against the construction of one of the nation's largest immigrant deportation centers. 

From their website…

We do not agree with the federal government privatizing our immigration detention centers throughout the nation when there is clear evidence that privatizing our prisons creates a clear public safety threat. For ICE to continue to privatize these institutions and bring this safety threat through their "secure communities Initiative" to our community is unacceptable. Depriving someone of their liberty is a non-delegable governmental function and privatizing of such a function is infecting our nation like a virus.

What about Arizona? Governor Jan Brewer and many in the Arizona Legislature are loyal private prison boosters— to the detriment of our residents. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) runs six private prisons in Arizona. In addition to the well-know immigrant detention centers, CCA also runs DUI prisons. CCA likes to have all of their beds full. Is it any wonder, then, that Arizona has some of the toughest immigration laws and toughest drunk driving laws? Watch anti-CCA protesters in Florida after the jump.

No orders from the Supreme Court today on same-sex marriage petitions

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: I had expected to see some orders today. Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog reports Again, no gay marriage orders: The Supreme Court on Monday released additional orders from its Friday Conference, but the list did not include any action on the ten cases dealing with the same-sex marriage issue.  It now appears that … Read more

U.S. Supreme Court allows challenge to Affordable Care Act

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed
an appeal by Liberty University to go forward with new challenges to two key
sections of the new federal health care law — the individual and
employer mandates to have insurance coverage. Lyle Denniston reports at SCOTUSbog,
Way cleared for health care challenge (UPDATED):

The Court did so by returning the case of Liberty University v. Geithner
(docket 11-438) to the Fourth Circuit Court to consider those
challenges.  The Court last Term had simply denied review of Liberty
University’s appeal, but on Monday wiped out that order and agreed to
send the case back to the appeals court in Richmond for further review.

* * *

The Court’s decision last Term on the new health care law upheld,
under Congress’s power to tax, the requirement that virtually all
Americans have health insurance by 2014, or pay a penalty.   That is the
individual mandate.  The law also contains a somewhat similar mandate,
requiring all employers with more than fifty employees to provide them
with adequate insurance coverage.  The Court had declined to rule on
that issue last Term.