As a senator from Texas, Cruz has championed his state’s voter-ID law, the strictest in the country. The law—which allows voters presenting a handgun permit to cast a ballot, but not those with a student ID—has been blocked by federal courts on three occasions. Cruz’s website featured a petition calling on supporters to tell Obama:…
Category: The Courts
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – August 24, 2015 – The Rational Progressive
TRP News with James Andre. This week – can Sanders win the Democratic primary? Do Clinton’s emails really matter? What do you know about the Senate elections? Two states fail to draw legal voting district maps, migrants storm the Macedonian border, and the Koreas exchange artillery fire in the middle of a joint U.S. –…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – August 10, 2015 – The Rational Progressive
TRP News with James Andre. This week – the Jade Helm military exercise brings out the crazies, Potential Reid successor Senator Schumer bucks White House on Iran deal, voting rights on the 50th anniversary of the voting rights amendment, an update on the HIV outbreak in Indiana, the EPA accident polluting a Colorado river with…
TRP News – Progressive News & Information – June 29, 2015
TRP News with James Andre. This week Fast Track has passed and been sent to the President, the Islamic State turns one year old and calls for a month of disaster, SCOTUS hands down several important decisions including same sex marriage, the Iran talks overrun but are said to be near completion, and the politics…
Meet the Unusual Plaintiffs Behind the Supreme Court Case That Could Destroy Obamacare
On March 4, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in King v. Burwell, a lawsuit designed by conservative advocates to destroy Obamacare. If the plaintiffs prevail, about 8 million people could lose their health insurance. Premiums are likely to skyrocket by 35 percent or more, threatening coverage for millions of others. Health policy experts…
Judge Myron Thompson rules Alabama abortion clinic law unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson today ruled an Alabama law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals is unconstitutional, saying that it poses an undue burden on women’s right to abortion.Abortion providers sued to block the law, passed in 2013, saying it would force three of Alabama’s five abortion clinics to close.The…
Federal agency cancels Redskins trademark registration, says name is disparaging
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans. ”The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was the second time such a case was filed. “This victory…
Republican Court Unpacking Plan Takes Judicial Manipulation to a New Level
Republicans in the Senate have made no secret of their efforts to block the President’s constitutional responsibility to appoint federal judges. They have filibustered unquestionably qualified nominees, like Caitlin Halligan. And their obstruction of the confirmation process kept several nominees waiting more than a year for a vote. In fact, on average, our judicial nominees…
Judicial Vacancies Languish On Key Federal Appeals Court
The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., is sometimes called the second most important court in the country, regularly delivering the final word on major environmental, labor and national security cases. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has a whopping four vacancies, the most in the nation, including one…
Reagan-Appointed Judge On Race: ‘Eleanor Roosevelt Said Staffs Of One Color Always Work Better’
A Texas civil rights group filed a complaint against Judge Lynn N. Hughes, a Ronald Reagan-appointee to a federal district court in Texas, criticizing his “outlandish racial comments” in a case brought by a South Asian man alleging employment discrimination: At one point, during a hearing in a racial discrimination case, Hughes reportedly said, “Eleanor…
Supreme Court Inaction Boosts Right To Record Police Officers
The Illinois and Massachusetts laws have been used to arrest people who attempt to record on-duty police officers and other public officials. In one of the more notorious cases, Chicago resident Tiawanda Moore was arrested in 2010 when she attempted to use her cell phone to record officers in a Chicago police station. Moore…
Case Will Test Constitutionality Of The Filibuster : NPR
The non-partisan advocacy group Common Cause has filed a law suit with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to get the Senate’s use of the filibuster declared unconstitutional. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with Common Cause president Bob Edgar. MORE: Case Will Test Constitutionality Of The Filibuster : NPR.
The Conservative Takeover of State Judiciaries
Since the New Deal, despite several attempts, no state in our nation has shifted to a system for seating state court judges that makes these judges more vulnerable to politics. But that might well change this year. This November, ballot measures in three states would politicize state courts in an unprecedented way, calling into serious…
Justice Department, Texas Face Off In Court Over Voter ID Law
The Justice Department and the state of Texas faced off at trial Monday over the state’s new voter identification law, which the Obama administration claims violates the federal Voting Rights Act. In opening arguments before a three-judge panel in federal district court in Washington, D.C., a lawyer for Texas argued that the photo ID requirement…
Whats Ahead On The Post-SCOTUS Decision Landscape
After the Supreme Courts decision last week upholding the health law, news outlets analyze what comes next in terms of the laws implementation, the obstacles it faces and its impact on various parts of the health system. MORE: Whats Ahead On The Post-SCOTUS Decision Landscape – Kaiser Health News.
Justice Scalia should resign
Justice Antonin Scalia needs to resign from the Supreme Court. He’d have a lot of things to do. He’s a fine public speaker and teacher. He’d be a heck of a columnist and blogger. But he really seems to aspire to being a politician — and that’s the problem. So often, Scalia has chosen to…
Awaiting The Court Ruling, A Consumer Guide To Health Reform Law
The Supreme Court is expected to rule within a week on some key constitutional challenges brought by states against the 2010 health care overhaul law. The decision will have sweeping ramifications for consumers, state officials, employers and health care providers, including hospitals and doctors. While some of the key features don’t kick in until 2014, the still-controversial…
Top 10 Obamacare Benefits at Stake for Women
The Supreme Court is currently reviewing the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as “Obamacare.” This landmark piece of legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama drastically reforms the way health insurance works in our country. Below we outline 10 reasons why, as stated in the Center for American Progress report…
Court Strikes Blow To Illinois Eavesdropping Law
In a blow to Illinois sweeping eavesdropping law, a federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked its enforcement in cases where someone is recording a police officer at work. It was a victory for activists who had feared that using smartphones or video cameras to record police responding to demonstrations during this months NATO summit in…
Rick Scott Drug Testing Executive Order Ruled Unconstitutional By Federal Judge
A federal judge has ruled that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) violated the Constitution last year when he ordered drug testing for state government workers. U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro ruled on Wednesday that suspicionless drug testing testing for state workers violated the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable search and seizure. Scott had suspended…