Tag Archives: Nevada

One month after the Nevada GOP dropped opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion from its platform, the Republican National Committee announced this afternoon that Las Vegas has withdrawn its bid to host the 2016 convention. Heidi Hayes, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said timing played a big role in the decision to withdraw the bid. “After …

Tea Party darling Cliven Bundy appeared on CNN this morning where he whitesplained his racism. I took this boot off so I wouldn’t put my foot in my mouth with the boot on. Let me see if I can say something. Maybe I sinned and maybe I need to ask forgiveness and maybe I don’t know what I actually said. …

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro. In front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their …

Via the Las Vegas Review-Journal: Amid raucous debate, Nevada Republican Party conventioneers on Saturday stripped opposition to gay marriage and abortion from the party platform and endorsed Gov. Brian Sandoval for governor in the June 10 primary despite misgivings by conservatives, his criticism of the process and his absence from the meeting. By a show of hands, convention-goers adopted the …

In late January, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals invoked “heightened scrutiny” in its ruling that a gay juror had been improperly booted off the jury in a price-fixing lawsuit between two HIV pharma giants. As no federal court had previously applied heightened scrutiny to cases involving LGBT people, the establishment of that precedent has been …

Last month Nevada Attorney General Catherine Masto withdrew her defense, declaring that Ninth Circuit Court’s application of heightened scrutiny in an unrelated case means that Nevada’s ban is now indefensible. UPDATE: Press release from Lambda Legal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today set April 9, 2014 for oral arguments in Sevcik v. Sandoval, Lambda Legal’s lawsuit …

US Attorney General Eric Holder spoke today to the National Association of Attorneys General.  Here is an excerpt from his speech as provided by the White House: The essential duty to which all of us – as attorneys general – have been sworn: not just to win cases, but to see that justice is done. This is the cause that …

Clip description: Virginia’s marriage ban is unconstitutional, with a strongly-worded victory in AFER’s case. And that’s just the start of multiple marriage wins from coast to coast this week. We have good news coming out of Kentucky, Indiana, and Nevada, plus several new lawsuits, hearings, and favorable polls.

Two days after Nevada Attorney General Katherine Masto withdrew her defense against Lambda Legal’s marriage equality lawsuit, the Ninth Circuit Court has granted Lambda’s request for an expedited hearing. Via press release: Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Tara Borelli issued the following statement: “The fact that the government defendants no longer are defending Nevada’s exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage makes …

“This is an erroneous and shameful decision — it’s that simple. In addition to showing very poor legal reasoning, this move reveals cowardice and an embarrassing lack of integrity on the part of Governor Sandoval and Attorney General Masto. Rather than stand up for state voters who overwhelmingly adopted Nevada’s marriage amendment against the bullying lobby trying to push marriage …

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Masto has filed a motion with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, withdrawing her defense of the marriage equality lawsuit against the state. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval says he agrees with the move, saying it’s clear the state’s arguments supporting the ban are no longer defensible in court. The decision means Nevada will not argue to …

Clip recap: “We have big news in Virginia this week, as AFER nears decision in the federal case there. A new ruling in Nevada could be the key to victory. Lawsuits also advance in Florida, Michigan and Oregon, and signature-gathering starts in Arkansas.”

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto late yesterday issued a statement declaring that her office was reconsidering the State’s arguments in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit challenging Nevada’s discriminatory marriage ban, Sevcik v. Sandoval, in light of the recent U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in GlaxoSmithKline v. Abbott Laboratories. Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Tara …

Two days ago Democratic Nevada Attorney General Catherine Masto earned widespread criticism when she filed a defense brief that compared same-sex marriage to incest and bigamy. Last night Masto declared that she is reconsidering that brief in light of the Ninth Circuit Court’s application of heightened scrutiny in an unrelated ruling that gays cannot be peremptorily booted off of juries. …

Democratic Nevada Attorney General Catherine Masto has filed a brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in which she compares same-sex marriage to bigamy and incest. Chris Johnson writes at the Washington Blade: Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, took Masto to task for making an implicit comparison between same-sex marriage and bigamy or incest while saying she …

From their website: The American Sociological Association (ASA) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today supporting efforts to overturn gay marriage bans in Nevada and Hawaii and highlighting the overwhelming body of social science research that confirms “children fare just as well” when same-sex or heterosexual parents raise them. The Ninth Circuit …

Via press release: Today Lambda Legal filed its opening brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case on behalf of eight same-sex couples challenging the amendment to Nevada’s constitution and other state laws banning marriage for same-sex couples. “The world has changed dramatically since we filed this lawsuit over a year ago,” said Tara Borelli, Staff Attorney …