Courts & Law

Arizona’s lawless legislature smacked-down in the courts again

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Arizona's Tea-Publican controled legislature is a lawless legislature; they do whatever they please without regard for the Constitution or the rule of law. Many of them suffer under the delusion that "I AM the law!" As a result, nearly every piece of substantive legislation passed by our lawless legislature winds up in court where, far more often than not, the courts hand them a smack-down for their lawless conduct. And we the taxpayers get the "privilege" of paying for their legal fees and costs.

Today, the courts handed our lawless legislature yet another defeat, this time in their war on organized labor. (Bonus: Also a defeat for the "Kochtopus" ALEC and Goldwater Institute, who drafted these bills). The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Federal judge rules in favor of Arizona labor unions:

A federal judge handed Arizona unions a
legal victory by finding two 2011 bills regulating paycheck deductions
and picketing unconstitutional.

The United Food and Commercial Workers and the Arizona Education
Association challenged laws passed as SB1363 and SB 1365.   U.S.
District Court Judge Murray Snow granted an injunction against SB1365,
which never went into effect because of the legal challenge, and voided
most of SB1365.

(Update) Redistricting trial in U.S. District Court

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Hopefully you were all following reporting by Steve Muratore at the Arizona Eagletarian blog last week as I recommended because, I have to be honest, the corporate media reporting on this case has been so pedestrian and politicized it appears to have been culled from press releases from the conservative media entertainment complex. Bloomberg News, Arizona Capitol Times, and The Arizona Republic in particular were horrible.

This poor court reporting occurred the same week that a legend of court reporting, Anthony Lewis, the great New York Times reporter and columnist, passed away at the age of 85. On Anthony Lewis:

As a journalist, Lewis is best known for revolutionizing the coverage of the Supreme Court. In his remembrance of Lewis, current New York Times legal reporter Adam Liptak wrote:

As a reporter, Mr. Lewis brought an entirely new approach to
coverage of the Supreme Court, for which he won his second Pulitzer, in
1963.

Rep. Matt Salmon is the antithesis to ‘evolved’ Sen. Rob Portman

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Screenshot-21A couple of weeks ago, Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) revealed that his son is gay and that he has now decided to support gay marriage. By Sen. Portman’s own account,  he opposed gay marriage
until he realized that opposition to gay marriage stands in the way of
his own son’s happiness.

The Washington Post reports today, Rep. Matt Salmon: Gay son hasn’t changed my views on marriage:

In an interview aired over the weekend, Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) told a
local news station that his son’s homosexuality has not led him to
change his position on gay marriage.

“I don’t support the gay marriage,” the social conservative said. But
Salmon emphasized that he loved and respected his son and did not
consider homosexuality a choice.

“My son is by far one of the most important people in my life. I love
him more than I can say,” an emotional Salmon told 3TV. “It doesn’t
mean that I don’t have respect, it doesn’t mean that I don’t sympathize
with some of the issues. It just means I haven’t evolved to that stage.” (video below the fold).

SCOTUS appears ready to strike down DOMA

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral argument in United States v. Windsor, the challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com has posted his first impression of today's oral argument. Argument recap: DOMA is in trouble:

If the Supreme Court can find its way through a dense procedural
thicket, and confront the constitutionality of the federal law that
defined marriage as limited to a man and a woman, that law may be gone,
after a seventeen-year existence.  That was the overriding impression
after just under two hours of argument Wednesday on the fate of the
Defense of Marriage Act.

That would happen, it appeared, primarily because Justice Anthony M.
Kennedy seemed persuaded that the federal law intruded too deeply into
the power of the states to regulate marriage, and that the federal
definition cannot prevail.   The only barrier to such a ruling, it
appeared, was the chance – an outside one, though — that the Court
majority might conclude that there is no live case before it at this
point.

SCOTUS grants review of second affirmative action case

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last October, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the University of Texas affirmative action case of Fisher v. University of Texas (11-345). It is widely speculated that the Court may issue its decision in this case this week.

But on Monday, the Court granted review in another affirmative action case with broader implications, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision striking down Michigan's Proposition 2, the so-called "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative" (2006) promoted by anti-affirmative action proponent Ward Connerly and his American Civil Rights Institute. Similar Ward Connerly measures were enacted in California, Proposition 209 (1995), in Nebraska, Initiative 424 (2008), and in Arizona, Proposition 107 (2010).

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com reports, Court to rule on affirmative action ban:

In a surprise development, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed
to decide whether a state may constitutionally ban the use of race in
deciding who gets admitted to public colleges or universities.   The
Court chose not to await the outcome of an already pending case on the
constitutionality of an admissions plan at the University of Texas that
makes some use of race. The new case is significantly broader.