judiciary

Republicans continue to undermine voting rights: Louisiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin

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Louisiana The 5th Circuit issued a writ of mandamus canceling a hearing to choose a new congressional map for Louisiana, after a lower court declared that the original unconstitutionally diluted Black residents’ votes. Background Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the map in March 2022 because, despite Black people making up one-third of the state’s population, Republican lawmakers …

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Alliance Defending Freedom’s crusade to discriminate in the name of religion

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Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a conservative Christian legal advocacy group that has been racking up wins at the U.S. Supreme Court. In recent years, ADF was involved in overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing businesses to deny services to LGBTQ+ people, eliminating limits on government support for religious organizations, and permitting employer-sponsored health insurance to exclude birth control. ADF’s newest cases focus on expanding the …

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Supreme Court back in session: Racial gerrymandering, civil asset forfeiture, and mandatory minimums

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The Supreme Court is back in session next week, hearing important cases on racial gerrymandering, civil asset forfeiture, and mandatory minimums in its first 30 days of the term. OCT 2: Pulsifer v. United States Pulsifer v. United States is about the interpretation of a federal law that allows defendants to avoid mandatory minimum sentences for …

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Republicans in gerrymandered swing states seek to impeach Democratic state Supreme Court justices

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Gerrymandered into power Two of the nation’s most purple states, with a voting population split nearly 50/50 between the two parties, are also the most gerrymandered to produce a Republican advantage. North Carolina voted for Donald Trump in 2020 by just 1.3% (or 74,000 votes) and has a split state government (with a Democratic governor …

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11th Circuit bans gender-affirming care for minors because it isn’t ‘deeply rooted’ in history

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The 11th Circuit on Monday overturned a district court order that blocked Alabama’s felony ban on gender-affirming care from taking effect. Background The case, brought by a coalition of four parents of transgender children, healthcare providers, and a pastor, challenges the legality of Alabama’s “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.” Signed into law by Gov. …

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DOJ sues Texas over Rio Grande buoy system rigged with serrated metal plates; 2 migrants found dead

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READ ON SUBSTACK The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Texas over the state’s refusal to remove a 1,000-foot buoy barrier system it placed in the Rio Grande River to “secure the border.” The buoys are tethered to the bottom of the river “with thick cables and concrete bases,” to prevent people from swimming under. …

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Louisiana asks the most conservative court in the nation to invalidate another portion of the Voting Rights Act

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The state of Louisiana asked the 5th Circuit on Thursday to require a district court to consider throwing out Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — a move designed to bring the case to the conservative Supreme Court majority. Background The case, Robinson v. Ardoin, was brought against Louisiana in 2022 by civil rights …

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The Supreme Court declines to review two cases of qualified immunity awarded to cops who killed citizens

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The Supreme Court ended its 2022-2023 term last week with a crescendo of injustice, issuing rulings that harm racial minorities, gender/sexual minorities, and the working class. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the conservative majority ruled that considering race in order to help minorities is illegal discrimination, but, in 303 Creative v. Elenis, considering …

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Gun violence in America: Disagreement and misunderstanding result in shootings

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Note 1: The point of this article is not to fearmonger about crime — overall, violent crime has decreased significantly since the early 1990s and is currently at about the same level as violent crimes in 2016. The point of this article is to document a uniquely American phenomenon: the easy availability of firearms (see note 2) combined with the …

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Supreme Court rules against innocent people in prison and Navajo water rights

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After two weeks of surprisingly good results, including one prohibiting (obvious) racial gerrymandering and another upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Supreme Court returned to its regularly scheduled injustice yesterday. Innocent but in prison The first case, Jones v. Hendrix, revolves around a very technical legal issue that essentially boils down to when people held in federal prison …

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