Tag Archives: Supreme Court

Today the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling that adoptive gay parents may not both be listed an a child’s amended birth certificate. The justices rejected the California couple’s appeal Tuesday without comment. The couple claims that Louisiana, where the child was born, has an unconstitutional policy against adoption by unmarried partners. The state …

Several members of Congress have filed a formal ethics complaint against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas because of his wife’s prominent role with the Tea Party. “Public records demonstrate a failure by Justice Thomas to exercise the care expected of a Supreme Court Justice,” the letter says. “Not only did Justice Thomas fail to report at least $1.6 million in …

Suck it, Alan Keyes. The high court on Monday refused without comment to hear a challenge brought by conservative activist Alan Keyes and other members of the American Independent Party. They contend Obama wasn’t eligible to be president because he was not born in the U.S., and thus not a citizen. U.S. courts, and the Supreme Court, have previously thrown …

The Supreme Court today refused to hear the appeal of a lower court’s ruling that faith-based humanitarian organizations may legally refuse to hire those outside of their religion. The suit had been brought on behalf of several former employees of the massive Virgina-based evangelical group World Vision. In August, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that World Vision could …

Equality Matters notes: In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Texas’ sodomy statute was unconstitutional, marking a major legal victory on the path towards LGBT equality. With the remainder of state sodomy laws technically invalidated by Lawrence, the LGBT community began to shift its focus. [snip] Eight years later, however, eighteen states still refuse to …

Despite Lawrence Vs. Texas, laws specifically against gay sex remain on the books in four states. Ten other states continue to outlaw all acts of sodomy. Last month the GOP blocked an attempt to delete such a law in Montana. (Via – Matt Yglesias)

Even though in 2003 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all anti-sodomy laws in its landmark Lawrence vs. Texas ruling, two state legislators in Kansas are fighting to keep their now unconstitutional laws on the books. The Kansas Equality Coalition reports: State Representatives Jan Pauls (D, Hutchinson), and Lance Kinzer (R, Olathe) said yesterday that being gay or lesbian should …

Watch our hero hand the Fox anchor her head.

Bereaved father Albert Snyder, who lost his Supreme Court battle with Westboro Baptist Church earlier this week, says that somebody is inevitably going to open fire on the Phelps family. “Something is going to happen,” Albert Snyder told CNN Thursday. “Somebody is going to get hurt.” “You have too many soldiers and Marines coming back with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and …

“The fringe cult calling itself Westboro Baptist (a small congregation consisting of close, and possibly incestuous, relatives of Fred Phelps, who calls himself a pastor) first became famous by protesting gay rights events with revolting signs suggesting that God hates gay people. (They used another offensive terms as well). These ugly signs proved irresistible to reporters from the New York …

“This [Westboro] ruling is important for many reasons. First and foremost, it preserves the primacy of free speech in America, which benefits us all. But from a parochial pro-LGBT narrative, it’s equally important to note that it proves the lie to the multiple instances when anti-gay activists falsely claimed that advances in LGBT equality and protections — whether they come …

The Supreme Court today ruled 8-1 to overturn a $5M judgment against Westboro Baptist Church, saying that the First Amendment protects their right to picket the funerals of military members. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and– as it did here– inflict great …

“It would be easy to spin yesterday’s news about the Supreme Court as a victory for same-sex ‘marriage.’ (So easy, in fact, that homosexual activists are already doing it!) But there was a lot more behind this case than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on D.C.’s counterfeit marriage law. When the justices announced that they wouldn’t hear Bishop Harry Jackson’s …

(Tipped by JMG reader Miranda)

Just in from Catholics For The Common Good: “It is shocking that the U.S. Supreme Court did not accept the appeal of District of Columbia citizens who were deprived of their right to vote on the definition of marriage. The Court’s decision effectively upheld the finding of the Washington Human Rights Commission that it would be discriminatory to even give …

According to the Supreme Court’s public docket, the nine justices have scheduled a Friday meeting to discuss Jackson v. the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, Bishop Harry Jackson’s lawsuit demanding that DC residents be allowed to vote on same-sex marriage. The Court is expected to announced on Monday if they will hear the case. Lou Chibarro reports at the …