The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will hear a case involving a restrictive Texas abortion law, which women’s advocates fear may portend reversal of Roe v. Wade. This is the law that Wendy Davis, then a Democratic state senator, and later a defeated candidate for Texas governor, famous[...]
Posts Tagged ‘law’
October 30th, 2015 - 5:31 pm § in Misc.
Texas judge orders defendants to get married or face jail time
This story is almost too bizarre to believe, but it’s apparently true. A judge in Smith County, Texas, apparently is ordering people charged with minor crimes to write Bible verses and get married as conditions of getting probation instead of jail time. I don’t see how that can possibly [...]
June 26th, 2015 - 9:31 am § in Politics
Supreme Court rules gay marriage is a constitutional right
It has taken the Supreme Court 150 years to figure out that “equal” means “equal,” and discrimination isn’t equality. What took them so long? But better late than never. The theocrats and states’ righters are pissing and moaning about it. They don’t like thi[...]
June 21st, 2015 - 9:08 pm § in Uncategorized
Clarence Thomas was deciding vote against Confederate license plates
Clarence Thomas is one of the Supreme Court’s most conservative justices, but he’s also a black who grew up in the South’s bitter racial culture, so it’s hardly shocking that he voted for his own people in last week’s 5-4 ruling upholding Texas’ refusal to issue C[...]
June 21st, 2015 - 11:23 am § in Politics
Book Review: Rightwing myths about the Constitution
Wrong and Dangerous: Ten Rightwing Myths About Our Constitution by Garrett Epps, professor of law, University of Baltimore “The primary purpose of the United States Constitution is to limit Congress. There is no separation of church and state. The Second Amendment allows citizens to threaten t[...]
February 9th, 2015 - 9:01 pm § in Misc.
Clarence Thomas has hissy fit over Alabama gay marriage order
Clarence Thomas wants SCOTUS to let states keep banning same-sex marriage the court decides the issue. The court isn’t going along with that, and today refused such a request from Alabama, the latest of such orders against states that have tried to ban gay marriages. It was too much for poor C[...]
February 5th, 2015 - 3:25 pm § in Misc.
Arizona claims teacher working in prison assumed risk of rape
“The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is asking for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a teacher who was brutally assaulted and raped after being left in an unguarded prison classroom with a convicted sex offender. The AG’s reasoning is essentially this: the woman knew she was in a [...]
February 4th, 2015 - 10:04 pm § in Misc.
The Supreme Court responds to the vaccination controversy …
… over a hundred years ago: “The defendant insists that his liberty is invaded when the state subjects him to fine or imprisonment for neglecting or refusing to submit to vaccination; that a compulsory vaccination law is unreasonable, arbitrary, and oppressive, and, therefore, hostile to[...]
January 15th, 2015 - 6:07 pm § in Misc.
Would you execute this inmate?
Barry Van Treese, a Tulsa motel owner, was brutally beaten to death with a baseball bat in a motel room. His killer, Justin Sneed, was sentenced to life imprisonment. The prosecutor dropped the death penalty against Sneed in exchange for his testimony that Richard Glossip hired him to kill Van Trees[...]
December 25th, 2014 - 3:12 pm § in Schools & Colleges
If You Moaned, You Weren’t Raped
Summary: If you’re seduced by a Heisman-winning FSU quarterback, moaning during the encounter transforms it from rape to consensual sex. At least, that’s what star player Jameis Winston’s lawyer argued at FSU’s hearing on whether Winston violated the school’s code of co[...]