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  • May 22, 2012

    Religious Groups’ Join Wobbly Attack on Birth Control

    by Jeremy Leaming

    University of Notre Dame’s religious leader the Rev. John Jenkins claims the string of federal lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s health care policy on birth control is all about protecting religious freedom. But in reality the lawsuits are on wobbly legal ground, and Jenkins’ assertion about protecting a cherished First Amendment freedom is tired.    

    Like a federal lawsuit lodged earlier this year on behalf of Ave Maria University, a Catholic institution in Florida, the new lawsuits argue that a portion of the health care reform law requiring insurance companies to provide birth control to employees, including ones at religious institutions, is a serious affront to the religious institutions’ free exercise of religion rights.

    The Affordable Care Act, however, does not single out religious entities for unheard of treatment. Instead it is a law of general applicability, meaning it covers secular and religious institutions. There are all kinds of laws of general applicability, which may offend religious beliefs, but do not amount to a violation of the free exercise of religion.

    Nonetheless, the religious groups are apparently counting on judicial activism from some of 12 federal courts where their lawsuits have been lodged. In a press release about his school’s lawsuit, Jenkins stuck to the religious liberty canard, saying it “is about the freedom of religious organizations to live its mission ….”

    Irin Carmon, reporting for Salon on the religious groups’ legal actions, agrees with Angela Bonavoglia’s assertion that “this struggle is part of a larger crackdown by conservative hierarchy against liberal elements within it – chiefly, women, including nuns.”

    Others such as the public interest group Americans United for Separation of Church and State say the Catholic organizations are looking to the courts to help them revive faltering church doctrine.

    More
    Tags:
    Civil rights, Religion clauses, Other courts, Reproductive freedom, Women's rights, First Amendment, Affordable Care Act, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, birth control, Cecile Richards, Health Care Law, Health Care Reform, Irin Carmon, Obama administration, Planned Parenthood, The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the Rev. John Jenkins, University of Notre Dame
  • May 21, 2012

    Senate Confirms Watford to Overworked Ninth Circuit, Ending Obstruction of Filibustered Nominee

    by Nicole Flatow

    The U.S. Senate confirmed Paul Watford to a judicial emergency seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday evening, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved to force a vote on his nomination.

    Watford’s confirmation will provide some much-needed relief to the Ninth Circuit, which has more than twice the caseload of the next busiest circuit.

    But the confirmation vote came only after Reid filed a motion to force a vote – the 27th he has had to file on President Obama’s judicial nominees. Before the scheduled cloture vote, senators agreed to instead hold an up-or-down vote on his nomination and confirmed him 61-34.

    That a cloture motion was needed to secure a vote on Watford appalled Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and others. After all, Watford had glowing endorsements from a host of prominent conservatives, including two former presidents of the Los Angeles Lawyer Chapter of the Federalist Society, two bloggers from the conservative legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy, and the general counsels for four major corporations.

    Jeremy Rosen, one of the former presidents of the Federalist Society's Los Angeles Lawyer Chapter, called Watford a "home run" in a letter supporting his nomination, adding, "[E]veryone who knows Paul (whether they are conservative or liberal, or somewhere in between) recognizes that he possesses the qualities that are most needed in an appellate judge."

    More
  • May 21, 2012

    Marriage Equality Movement Glosses Over Ongoing Fight for Full Equality

    by Jeremy Leaming

    As noted here recently, marriage equality, as important as it is for many lesbians and gay men, can hardly be seen as the key to full equality for the LGBT community in America. But what has not been noted on this blog, or overlooked by it, has been placed in perspective at Jacobin’s blog by Kate Redburn.

    In a post earlier this month Redburn lamented the fact that the marriage equality movement “is designed to distract liberal consciences and give Democrats political cover to gut social services.” She notes that Mayor Michael Bloomberg lauded President Barack Obama’s embrace of marriage equality days after pushing a budget that contained whopping slashes in funding for homeless shelters for the youth, “in a city where 40% of homeless youth are LGBT.”

    Many other states are also cutting services to their most vulnerable, at a time when the nation’s middle class is shrinking and its number of poor is swelling. And the topic of the nation’s gaping wealth gap is not one that is particularly enjoyable for many to engage.

    The nation’s right wing is hostile to the discussion and tars most who point to the disheartening and destructive nature the growing concentration of wealth as rants from crazed collectivists. Even the allegedly upbeat and inclusive conferencing group dubbed TED, devoted to providing “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world,” couldn’t handle a talk that hit upon economic inequality. As Alex Pareene reports for Salon, TED head Chris Anderson in an e-mail exchange with Nick Hanauer, author of a forthcoming book on the wealth gap, explained, in part, why Hanauer’s “TED talk,” would not be one of the talks featured on the TED website. Part of the reason centered on comments Hanauer made during his talk that could insult entrepreneurs. Read Pareene’s article for more about what exactly a TED talk is, but one of Pareene’s most enjoyable observations is, “At this point TED is a massive, money-soaked orgy of self-congratulatory futurism ….”

    In addition to the nation’s increasing tattered safety net, laws protecting the LGBT community from all kinds of discrimination are too few or limited.  

    More
    Tags:
    Economic inequality, LGBT issues, Equality and Liberty, Alex Pareene, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, ENDA, equality, Jacobin, Kate Redburn, LGBT, marriage equality, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, President Obama, Salon, Same-sex marriage, social services, TED
  • May 21, 2012

    Reid Moves to Force Vote on Nominee to Most Overworked Appeals Court

    by Nicole Flatow

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds the title of the nation's busiest appeals court, with twice the caseload of the next busiest circuit.

    While the West Coast court experienced some relief when Jacqueline Nguyen of Los Angeles was confirmed to a Ninth Circuit judgeship just a few weeks ago, three other vacant seats remain, all of which are considered judicial emergencies by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

    Paul Watford, nominated in October with broad bipartisan support, would fill one of these seats. But senators have blocked a simple up-or-down vote on his nomination.

    On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved to force a vote on Watford’s nomination. The Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture Monday, deciding whether to prevent a simple yes-or-no vote on yet another qualified, consensus nominee.

    Cloture has historically been considered an extraordinary measure, particularly when it comes to judicial nominations, which the Senate once processed quickly as a matter of course. But since President Obama took office, an exasperated Reid has resorted to the measure 27 times.

    More
  • May 18, 2012

    Another Overlooked Struggle for Equality: Discrimination Against LGBT Jurors

    by Jeremy Leaming

    Putting aside the North Carolina vote embracing discrimination against lesbians and gay men, the struggle for marriage equality has seen more victories of late than defeats. Today, for example, Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that same-sex marriages recognized in other states, such as New York or Connecticut, will be lawfully recognized in Maryland. The case is Port v. Virginia Anne Cowan. The Maryland legislature earlier this year also passed a same-sex marriage law.

    But marriage equality, while an important component to equality, is hardly the pinnacle. As Andy Birkey notes for us in an extensive piece for The American Independent, it is still legal for public officials in the vast majority of states to exclude members of the LGBT community from jury service.

    The Constitution, Birkey notes, says criminal defendants are entitled to an “impartial jury,” and the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that jurors cannot be excluded because of gender or race. Sexual orientation and gender identity, however, remain open to discrimination.

    “Federal courts,” he writes, “have consistently declined to prohibit attorneys from openly discriminating against LGBT people during jury selection. And as recently as last year, the U.S. Department of Justice told a panel of judges that it ‘takes no position’ on whether the case law that prohibits attorneys from removing jurors based on race or sex should be extended to cover sexual orientation.”

    Only a few states have taken action to prevent government officials from yanking prospective jurors because of beliefs they are gay or transgender. California is the exception. When former Calif. Gov. Gray Davis enacted a law barring such discrimination, he said “No Californian should be deprived of the opportunity to share in our system of justices simply because they are gay or lesbian.”

    More
    Tags:
    LGBT issues, Equality and Liberty, Andy Birkey, discrimination, equality, jury service, LGBT equality, Sixth Amendment, trials
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