Federal judge orders local judges to issue marriage licenses

MoonHowler

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 


newyorktimes.com:

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge here ruled on Thursday that the local probate judge cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, potentially adding some clarity to a judicial quarrel that has roiled Alabama for most of a week.

The order by Judge Callie V. S. Granade of Federal District Court came after a brief hearing and prompted cheers and crying in the halls of the probate court here, where several couples obtained licenses and were married before the license office closed.

Read More

How long will the hysteria last?

MoonHowler

I have listened to people’s hysteria over ACA for several years now.  Part of it escapes me–the hysteria that is.  Health care is horribly expensive.  Insurance companies rip people off all the time and often one’s treatment depends on what is deemed appropriate by the insurance company, not by the medical community and the patient.  People are excluded from health care because of pre-existing conditions.  All the things I have mentioned are not good for the average person.

Read More

CNN and Fox News screw up big time

MoonHowler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Washingtonpost.com:

 

Maybe it’s time for the news media to take a deep breath.

In the wake of Thursday’s breathless reporting, and mis-reporting, of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act, a timeout might help. Although the court upheld the law, it was hard to know that as the news broke on TV and online Thursday morning.

CNN and Fox News left viewers, including President Obama, confused with reports that suggested the court had ruled unconstitutional a key part of the law — the requirement that individuals buy health insurance. Those reports quickly made their way to other news outlets and were spread far and wide via Twitter.

Except the information was wrong. Within minutes, the full story emerged.

Read More

The Post’s View: Justice Scalia’s partisan discredit to the court

MoonHowler

The Washington Post’s opinion (in full):

By Editorial Board, Published: June 27The Washington Post

IN ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S memorable formulation, the federal judiciary is “the least dangerous branch.” Unlike Congress and the president, which make and execute the laws, respectively, the courts “have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment; and must ultimately depend upon the aid of the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments.” Hamilton assumed that offering judges life tenure would encourage them to augment their modest power with moral authority — the intangible combination of legal expertise, persuasive reasoning, impartiality, independence and solemnity, actual and perceived, that we call “legitimacy.”

Read More

AZ SB 1070 Takes Center Stage Again Today

MoonHowler

The much disputed Arizona SB 1070 goes back to court today on appeal.  Federal Judge Bolton shot down several aspects of the law several months ago.  The major component of the law that was blocked deals with police officers being allowed to question anyone they had have reasonable suspicious about being in the country illegally.  According to the Washington Post:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear Arizona’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that blocked the most-contested provisions of the law from taking effect. The law, signed in April by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), empowers police to question people whom they have a “reasonable suspicion” of being in the country illegally.

Amid a fierce debate over the measure, the Justice Department sought to overturn the law by taking the rare step of suing Arizona. Government attorneys won the first round in July when U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton, seated in Phoenix, put on hold provisions that would require police to check immigration status if they stop someone while enforcing other laws, allow for warrantless arrests of suspected illegal immigrants and criminalize the failure of legal immigrants to carry their registration papers.

The case will be heard by a 3 judge panel.  2 judges were appointed bya Republican and 1 by a Democrat.  Either Arizona or the U.S. government can appeal the panel’s decision.  Should that happen the case will go to the full  9th Circuit Court.  The WaPo further adds:

Brewer, whose outspoken criticism of the federal lawsuit has helped her popularity at home, has vowed to take her appeal of the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit hearing in San Francisco is the next step, and legal experts say the case likely will wind up before the high court within several years.

The lawsuit ratcheted up the political and legal debate over the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, with Republicans condemning the administration and civil rights groups praising it for fighting a law that they contend targets Hispanics.

Talk of immigration has receded somewhat in the runup to the elections, especially compared to the economy, but it has been a key factor in a number of races. Monday’s argument, which Brewer plans to attend, will shine an even brighter light on the issue.

Perhaps all will become quiet once this election is over.  Arizona has problems for sure.  So does California, New Mexico and Texas.  The drug violence along the border towns in Mexico continues to rage on.  Our border states must be vigilant that the violence doesn’t creep or stampede into our country.  However, SB 1070 isn’t the way to stop the drug violence and that is what Arizona should be worried about.

Probable cause as a police tool is always rife with problems.  There are other ways, such as PWC recently found out, that are far better.  And like PWC, Arizona probably doesn’t have the money to waste on endless lawsuits.

Convicted Sex Offender Kevin Ricks Tells Court He is Not a Pedophile

MoonHowler

Convicted sex offender Kevin Ricks who taught at Osbourn High School until his arrest told the court that he was not a pedophile.  According to the News & Messenger:

“I never have been. I am not a predator. I never have been,” he said.

Ricks, 50, pleaded guilty in July to taking indecent liberties with a minor for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

Thursday, Prince William Circuit Court Judge William D. Hamblen sentenced him to five years in prison, with four suspended. He will get credit for the eight months he has already served.

The sentence exceeds Virginia’s voluntary sentencing guidelines, which recommended between one and 90 days in jail.

Hamblen said he thought the guidelines were not appropriate because they did not “take into account the breech of trust” involved in the crime, he said.

Ricks was accused of having  two sexual encounters with the teen boy, who was a student in his English class during the 2008-2009 school year.

What part of predator and sex offender does this pervert not get?  He is 50.  His victim is 16 years old.  He rented a room from this boy’s father.  He was entrusted with teaching kids.  Ricks tried to explain that his indecent liberties were consensual.  He still doesn’t get it.  That doesn’t make it ok. He is 50.  If he were 19, maybe.  But 50? 

It looks like this sexual predator will spend 4 more MONTHS in jail.  Why is this person getting out of jail?  He lived in someone’s home and he molested the owner’s child.  Consensual my foot!  Sex between an adult that age and a minor is NEVER consensual.  He taught in a school system.  He taught this boy.  He betrayed the City of Manassas, the boy, the parents, the public.  And he spends 4 more months in jail, goes on the sex offenders list, and can’t work around kids.  UFB. 

I guess it is a good thing I am not a judge.  He would have gotten 20 years from me or until his urges to do this left him completely.  Our legal system as it relates to child molesters and all sexual predators needs to grow some major fangs and get these creeps out of society where they can no longer harm anyone. It sounds like Judge Hamblen’s hands were somewhat tied and he would have given him more time if he could have.  These predators are getting by with what amounts to a slap on the wrist.

Federal Judge in Michigan Reject HCR Challenge

MoonHowler

From Huffington Post:

 

DETROIT — A federal judge on Thursday rejected an attempt to stop some key provisions of the new national health-care law, saying Congress has the authority to require people to get insurance by 2014.

The ruling – the first in a challenge to the Obama administration’s health care overhaul – came in a lawsuit filed in Michigan by a Christian legal group, the Thomas More Law Center, and four people who claimed lawmakers exceeded their power under the Constitution’s commerce clause.

But U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh in Detroit said the insurance mandate, and the financial penalty if someone skips coverage, are not illegal. He said Congress was trying to lower the overall cost of insurance by requiring participation.

“Without the minimum coverage provision, there would be an incentive for some individuals to wait to purchase health insurance until they needed care, knowing that insurance would be available at all times,” the judge said.

“As a result, the most costly individuals would be in the insurance system and the least costly would be outside it,” Steeh said. “In turn, this would aggravate current problems with cost-shifting and lead to even higher premiums.”

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler noted the ruling “marks the first time a court has considered the merits of any challenge to this law.”

Now we all get to discuss what this ruling means.  Meanwhile, according to my friend Ivan, the race to the appeals court is on.  Where does this leave our esteemed AG?  How does this affect his solitary lawsuit?  

Most of us will now have more questions than we did before this ruling was issued.   U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh was appointed by Bill Clinton and has been a U.S. District Judge for about 12 years. 

Predictable: Judge Topples U.S. Rejection of Gay Unions

MoonHowler

Posted this morning in the New York Times:

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts found Thursday that a law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, ruling that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples.

Judge Joseph L. Tauro of United States District Court in Boston sided with the plaintiffs in two separate cases brought by the state attorney general and a gay rights group.

Although legal experts disagreed over how the rulings would fare on appeal, the judge’s decisions were nonetheless sure to further inflame the nationwide debate over same-sex marriage and gay rights.

If the rulings find their way to the Supreme Court and are upheld there, they will put same-sex marriage within the constitutional realm of protection, just as interracial marriage has been for decades. Seeking that protection is at the heart of both the Massachusetts cases and a federal case pending in California over the legality of that state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Where will this ruling take us? What will happen to all the state ‘defense of marriage’ laws all over the United States? How do same sex marriage bans differ from previous racial marriage bans that were ruled unconstitutional in the 60’s?

Political Asylum for Home-School Family from Germany

MoonHowler
Give me your tired, your poor...
"Give me your tired, yor poor...

Political asylum in the United states is usually granted when a person feels he or she may be persecuted or have a  well-founded fear of imminent  persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.  We think of political asylum being granted to avoid torture, imprisonment,  physical harm.  We do not, as Americans, think of giving political asylum to avoid going to private or public school. 

A Tennessee judge has granted asylum to a German couple and their children so the couple may home school their children.  German is one of the few European countries that enforces compulsory attendance in a recognized school.  According to Yahoo News:

 

The Romeikes are not your typical asylum seekers. They did not come to the U.S. to flee war or despotism in their native land. No, these music teachers left Germany because they didn’t like what their children were learning in public school – and because homeschooling is illegal there.

 “It’s our fundamental rightto decide how we want to teach our children,” says Uwe Romeike, an Evangelical Christian and a concert pianist who sold his treasured Steinway to help pay for the move.

 Romeike decided to uproot his family in 2008 after he and his wife had accrued about $10,000 in fines for homeschooling their three oldest children and police had turned up at their doorstep and escorted them to school. “My kids were crying, but nobody seemed to care,” Romeike says of the incident

 
Read More