Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is set for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. (2:30 EST) today on charges he violated Alabama’s ethical standards for judges. Moore is asking the Alabama Court of the Judiciary to dismiss the ethics complaint filed by the state’s Judicial Inquiry Commission. The Judicial Inquiry Commission is asking for a summary judgment against Moore … Read More
Breaking: 4th Circuit Overturns Lower Court; Finds That GOP “Intentionally” Passed “Discriminatory” Voting Rights Law
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit invalidated North Carolina’s stringent new voting restrictions, holding that the law violates both the United States Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. The North Carolina measure, the Fourth Circuit held, has a discriminatory impact on black voters, impermissibly burdening their voting rights under the VRA. More boldly, the court also … Read More
SCOTUS Strikes Down Oppressive Abortion Restrictions
This morning, the Supreme Court struck down parts of a restrictive Texas law that could have reduced the number of abortion clinics in the state to about 10 from what was once a high of roughly 40. The 5-to-3 decision was the court’s most sweeping statement on abortion rights since Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992. It applied a skeptical … Read More
Bad News For McCrory And HB2 Lovers
After the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request Tuesday to reconsider a previous ruling affirming the rights of a Virginia transgender student, Gov. Pat McCrory’s defense of HB2 has a hit a major road block. The intermingling of the two cases in question—the pivotal Virginia case (G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board) decided in favor of transgender student Gavin Grimm, and McCrory’s HB2 defense, … Read More
Imprisoned Bundy Brothers Are Upset Their Second Amendment Rights Have Been Taken Away
Ryan Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, was one of several participants in the month-long standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge back in January, which ended up with one dead. Ryan and his co-horts, which include his brother Ammon, all surrendered to federal authorities and are now in prison awaiting trial. And apparently, they are not happy in prison. According to a report … Read More
The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission Complaint Against Roy Moore
The world’s worst judge may finally be going down:
Confrontation Looms
Charlotte Observer: Republican state leaders were in no hurry Thursday to respond to the Obama administration’s determination that North Carolina is discriminating against transgender people – and didn’t even agree on whether to adhere to a Monday deadline. House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday that legislators won’t meet the Department of Justice’s Monday deadline to declare that House Bill 2 … Read More
Breaking: US Govt to NC — Fix HB 2 Or Else
This may end sooner than even I thought: RALEIGH — U.S. Justice Department officials Wednesday notified Gov. Pat McCrory that House Bill 2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act. The department gave state officials until Monday to address the situation “by confirming that the State will not comply with or implement HB2.” The letter says HB2, which pre-empted Charlotte’s anti-discrimination ordinance, … Read More
Court Opinion: 4th Circuit Sides with Transgender High School Student Suing School Board for Access to Boy’s Bathroom
The Fourth Circuit just reversed a lower Virginia court, which had tossed a lawsuit by a transgender boy against the school district which barred his access to the boy’s room. Not a final decision on the merits — the case was handed back down to the Virginia federal court. But a good harbinger, since on other federal appeals court has … Read More
The Yahoos Get Their Day In Court
Remember that 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that finally ended with one dude getting killed? Yeah, it’s still a rallying cry for the lunatic right, who love to carry around the Constitution but haven’t bothered to have it read and explained to them (except by other lunatics). Seven men are facing federal charges of conspiracy, weapon, theft and damaging … Read More
Governor McCrory Keeps Digging Deeper
The Governor takes to Youtube: Notes as I watch this: He’s talking out of the corner of his mouth and has that fakey politician smile The lip service offered to “respecting each other’s beliefs and values” is unnerving, given what he is defending here. He responds to politicians who have “demonized” North Carolina. Yeah, they’re the problem — these outside agitators. McCrory: “Frankly … Read More
FBI Quietly Drops Lawsuit Against Apple
Remember that thing last month that I wrote about where the FBI wanted to force Apple’s help to break into an iPhone of the San Bernadino terrorist? It was controversial in part because many thought that the FBI didn’t really need Apple’s help. Those people include Richard Clark. The former U.S. counterterrorism official and security adviser to the White House told NPR he … Read More
Governor McCrory Attempts To Clarify HB2 . . . But Obfuscates Even More
Responding to worldwide disgust at the passage and signing of HB2, which discriminates against transgender people (and does lots of bad stuff in general), NC Governor McCrory put some shit on his website, entitled “Myths vs Facts: What New York Times, Huffington Post and other media outlets aren’t saying about common-sense privacy law” Catchy title. Can we dispense with the … Read More
The Lawsuit Begins
Two transgender people and a lesbian law school professor, along with the ACLU of North Carolina and Equality NC, filed a federal lawsuit today to challenge the new North Carolina law that blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules and requiring transgender students to use bathrooms assigned to their biological sex. While I would have preferred that the lawsuit take on the … Read More
Repercussions
I know the Republican lawmakers don’t give a damn about non-straight people, but they’re supposed to give a damn about business. Apparently, they didn’t think about the effect on the economy: American Airlines and other major businesses across the state and nation are taking a stand against a bill signed into law Wednesday by N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory that invalidates Charlotte’s … Read More