Category: The Courts

The Day After - Gay Marriage »

Well, it’s the day after the first full day that gay marriage was legal in California, and gosh darn it, the sun came up, birds still sang, children were born, people died, there were even some heterosexual marriages, and I still had to go to work. In other words, if God is mad about it, he sure missed that wrath thing by taking it out on the mid-west. This raises a lot of questions, such as what happens next in California, what does this mean to Florida’s Amendment 2 initiative (and see a possible connection), and what does it mean for gay people around the country.

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The Real Importance of Telecom Immunity to the Cheney Administration »

Well, the House seems to be sticking to their guns, and not passing a FISA bill that will grant immunity to the telecom industry for illegal spying. This is critically important, because it’s the last best hope to have the illegal surveillance activities of the current Cheney Administration see the light of day. During a press conference on February 28, George Bush finally went rogue on Dick, and accidentally told the truth about the reason for telecom immunity.

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News for the Week Ending July 22, 2007 »

This post summarizes various smaller news items of interest that I found during the week of July 23, 2007.

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And Away Goes the Fifth Amendment »

President Bush unveiled an executive order that allows the administration to block bank accounts and any other financial assets that might be found in this country belonging to people, companies or groups that the United States deems are working to threaten stability in Iraq.

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Restoration of Constitutional Rights »

Dear Senators Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson:

The history of the present King … [George] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

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A Little Habeas for Your Corpus »

Wow, the courts have sure been busy lately. They given us lots of fun stuff to cover. Let’s see what we have:

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The $54M Pants and Other News of The Week Ending June 5, 2007 »

This is a wrap of smaller news items for the week ending June 10, 2007.

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Vermont: Leading the World in Sanity »

Yes, it would seem that the good people of Vermont probably have the most intelligence. They’ve seen through the bull shit and their state senate voted 16-9 without debate to impeach Bush and Cheney.

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Destroying Freedom »

George Christian, executive director of Library Connection, a consortium of 27 libraries in the Hartford, Conn., area, has, since 2005, been fighting a National Security letter request from the FBI for subscription information on patrons of the library system. Because of the way the PATRIOT Act is written, he was only recently, through a court order, un-gagged to be able to testify to Congress about the experience.

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Boston’s Big Dig–Top Secret Stuff »

In Boston, the state is trying to shut down a lawsuit brought by the family of Milena Del Valle, who was killed last July when 12 tons of Boston’s Big Dig tunnel fell on her husband’s car. The excuse they’ve given this time is that if they turn over relevant documents to the family, the nation’s transportation security could be compromised.

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Equal Rights for All »

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week that same-sex couples and their families are entitled to the “same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples” under the state’s civil marriage laws. In a 4-3 split, the court rejected the claim that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to have their relationships recognized as “marriages.” Instead, it left that decision “to the democratic process,” ruling that the state legislature must now decide whether to “amend its marriage law to include same-sex couples” or provide these equal benefits, protections, and obligations “by some other means such as civil unions.” This decision is a positive step toward equality, and an affirmation of the importance of committed relationships and healthy families.

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The Keys To The Kingdom »

With the detainee law, the Republican Senators and Congressmen (with the help of 12 Democrats) basically said to Bush, “Here are the tools to be a dictator, go forth and …have fun with it.” It is the worst legislation ever passed in my lifetime, and I am in my late 40s.

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