Courts & Law

Federal Judge enjoins racial profiling by crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio and his MCSO

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember when crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County, told his ardent critics who accused him of having a policy of unlawful racial profiling of Latinos to "prove it" in court? Be carfeful what you wish for, old man.

Today, U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow specifically found from the evidence presented at trial that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has a policy of unlawful racial profiling of Latinos, and issued an order enjoining that policy, with a 142 page Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.
(.pdf). Awesome!

If you don't have time to read 142 pages, Stephen Lemons at the Phoenix New Times has his celebratory take, Joe Arpaio's Doomsday: Arpaio Loses ACLU Civil Rights Lawsuit, MCSO Enjoined from Racially Profiling Latinos:

U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow just handed the ACLU, the Mexican
American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the law firm Covington
& Burling, all Latinos and everyone who has strived for justice in
Maricopa County a reason to celebrate over the long holiday weekend by
ruling against Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the big Melendres v. Arpaio racial profiling lawsuit.

Essentially, Snow found that the MCSO does engage in racial profiling and discrimination, and he has ordered it to stop.

A major breakthrough in judicial nominations

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For five years, Senate Republicans led by the Septegenarian Ninja Turtle, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have systematically abused the Senate filibuster rules in partisan warfare to block President Obama's judicial nominees. There are currently four vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit as a result of this unprecedented partisan obstruction by the GOP.

Today there is one less vacancy. The Septegenarian Ninja Turtle finally had to cave on his filibuster strategy and —surprise! — President Obama's nominee to the  U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was approved unanimously 97-0, after pending for almost a year. 

Steve Benen writes, Senate unanimously approves Srinivasan:

Of all the recent judicial confirmation votes, today's was the most important.

After five years of trying, President Barack Obama has placed his first nominee on a key appeals court in Washington.

The Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to confirm Sri Srinivasan to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The
court is considered the most important in the country after the Supreme
Court. The Senate voted 97-0 in favor of his nomination.

Srinivasan is currently the principal deputy in the Office of the
Solicitor General. He has worked in both Democratic and Republican
administrations and served as a law clerk to former U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

‘Gang of Eight’ immigration reform bill advances in the Senate

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Sausage makerIt has often been said that people do not want to see the "sausage making" process of legislation, and nowhere is that a truer statement than with the "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill.

After multiple attempts by Tea Party senators to add "poison pill" amendments to kill the bill — all defeated — there was a death-defying friendly amendment offered yesterday by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to treat gay partners equally under federal law for immigration purposes. Tea-Publicans howled that this was a deal breaker, and Sen. Leahy eventually withdrew his amendment.

Of course, Advocates
were outraged at lack of LGBT protection in immigration bill. This is a timing problem. This bill needs to move forward in the Senate now. The U.S. Supreme Court is not expected to rule on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) until June. Should the Court strike down DOMA, as most court observers anticipate, it would remove the obstacle to treating gay partners equally under federal law. The immigration bill will still be going through the "sausage making" process, and may be amended to respond to any Supreme Court ruling. Patience and perseverance are virtues in the "sausage making" process.

So it is good news that the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday approved its final mark-up of the comprehensive immigration reform bill on a vote of 13 to 5. Senate
panel approves sweeping immigration reform bill:

After five days of debate over dozens of amendments, the Judiciary
Committee voted 13 to 5 in support of the bill, with three Republicans
joining the committee’s 10 Democrats. The legislation emerged with its
core provisions largely intact, including new visa programs for
high-tech and low-skilled workers and new investments in strengthening
border control.

“The dysfunction in our current immigration system affects all of us
and it is long past time for reform. I hope that our history, our
values, and our decency can inspire us finally to take action,”
committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said. “We need an
immigration system that lives up to American values and helps write the
next great chapter in American history by reinvigorating our economy and
enriching our communities.”

The Arizona Republic might want to rethink this strategy

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Arizona Republic has an editorial opinion today giving their direction to the Arizona House of Representatives on Governor Jan Brewer's Medicaid (AHCCCS) restoration plan, which could have just as easily been summed up in three words with a Nike ad: "Just do it." Our View: No time to punt on Medicaid. … Read more

9th Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down Arizona’s 20-week abortion ban

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It looks like the "Mayor" of Washington, D.C., Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), has a bit of a problem with his plan to take his anti-abortion crusade nationwide. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Arizona's 20-week abortion ban law today. Doh! Court Strikes Down Arizona 20-Week Abortion Ban:

TalibanThe 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law violated a woman's
constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus
is able to survive outside the womb. "Viability" of a fetus is
generally considered to start at 24 weeks. Normal pregnancies run about
40 weeks.

Nine other states have enacted similar bans starting at 20 weeks or even
earlier. Several of those bans had previously been placed on hold or
struck down by other courts.

Judge Marsha Berzon, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel on the
San Francisco-based court, said such bans before viability violate a
long string of U.S. Supreme Court rulings starting with the seminal Roe
v. Wade decision in 1973.

The judge wrote that "a woman has a constitutional right to choose to terminate her pregnancy before the fetus is viable."

Gov. Jan Brewer signed the ban into law in April 2012 after it was
approved by the Republican-led Legislature. Supporters said the law was
meant to protect the mother's health and prevent fetuses from feeling
pain. U.S. District Judge James Teilborg ruled it was constitutional,
partly because of those concerns, but the 9th Circuit blocked the ban
from going into effect until it ruled.

Lawyers representing Arizona argued that the ban wasn't technically a
law but rather a medical regulation because it allowed for doctors to
perform abortions in medical emergencies. Berzon rejected that reasoning
and deemed the legislation a law banning abortions before a fetus is
viable.

"The challenged Arizona statute's medical emergency exception does not
transform the law from a prohibition on abortion into a regulation of
abortion procedure," Berzon wrote. "Allowing a physician to decide if
abortion is medically necessary is not the same as allowing a woman to
decide whether to carry her own pregnancy to term."

Berzon was joined by judges Mary Schroeder and Andrew Kleinfeld.