Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Gay and lesbian Latina/os are finding it more difficult to claim asylum due to improving tolerance in their home nations. A Virginia court has given the state’s first “writ of innocence” after new evidence cleared a man incarcerated on a gun charge. Virginia has until recently been perhaps the most aggressive state at seeking to suppress the admission of exculpatory evidence after conviction. The NAACP is frustrated with the pace...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news An auto parts store in Houston is being sued by the EEOC for tolerating harassment of Black employees and passing over them for promotions. PETA wants to put ads up on the Mexican side of the border fence, warning potential Mexican immigrants about the effects of fatty, meat-filled diets. The ACLU is not thrilled with Hartford for imposing a juvenile curfew. A Florida cop who was caught on tape beating a suspect has resigned. Conservative groups in...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news A nice article about attempting to register ex-felons to vote. Self-deportation has few takers. Really? The Boston Globe: Being multi-lingual is a good thing, not a threat to American values. The Santeria, a religion which has been at the center of more than a few free-exercise cases over the past several decades, are being targeted by Florida officials again. The changing demographics of a historically-Black school district (Hispanics are rising in...

I have to admit, I had my doubts as to whether Nikki Tinker’s ugly campaign tactics would pay off. But given Steve Cohen’s crushing victory last night, I owe you all a huge apology.

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Texas has executed another illegal immigrant in a case with similar fact patterns to Medellin. …And the Washington Post asks why Texas hates America. A federal judge ruled that the government owes Indian tribes $455 million for mismanaged oil and gas revenues — far less than the $47 billion they were seeking. Even White folks can “play the race card” if they dare corroborate an accusation of racism. A step in the right direction:...

The race between Steve Cohen and Nikki Tinker has certainly caused some stress for those of us concerned with Black/Jewish relations, but we may have worried too much: With 67% reporting, Cohen is stomping Tinker by 60 points. Presumably, if a strong Tinker challenge fueled by anti-Semitic themes would have strained Black/Jewish relations, a majority Black district resoundingly rejected those tactics should be a great data point in its favor. Yes?

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news In several DC area counties, the surge in Hispanic immigration is making minority children the under-five majority. The Washington Post calls it a “drug bust gone awry”, but, from my reading,s it’s unfortunately hardly out of the ordinary. Liberal bishops in the Episcopalian Church will continue to ordain gay clergy, and their conservative counterparts will continue to threaten to secede. A fund has been set up to pay the bonds of...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Almost forget today, kids … I took the day off from work to catch up on some law school-related paperwork, and my mind assumed it was a weekend. It’s tough being a woman of color in the military. Chicago is starting to detain Hispanics during traffic stops on suspicion of being illegal immigrants, apparently in violation of local law. Cry me a river of tears: Prince William County’s aggressive campaign to undertake immigration enforcement...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The WaPo opines against the appalling state of DC’s child services department. The Feds are pursuing a case against a unrecognized Indian tribe which falsely told immigrants that by purchasing tribal membership, they would become American citizens. The 5th Circuit is preparing to hear whether Texas’ moment-of-silence law is an unconstitutional cover for school prayer. Texas continues to struggle with getting good teachers to teach at poorer...

The 8th circuit just held that the practice of shackling pregnant women to their bedpost while they are in labor does not violate the constitution, because the state has an interest in protecting against them attempting to escape. The case is here, my commentary is here.

The blog overlord, Joe Gandelman, links over to a Rasmussen poll which says that more “voters” found Barack Obama’s “dollar bill” comment to be racist than they did John McCain’s Britney Spears/Paris Hilton ad. The article is a bit unclear if they asked if voters thought the ad and comment were “racist” or “played the race card”, which I think is generally meaningful, but not for the discussion I wish to have. For I think the real story...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The part of this story about video-taping errant traffic cops is not civil rights related. But the part about private citizen videos serving as a check against abusive cops is. Nothing says sensible immigration policy more than deporting a 31 year old legal immigrant for a theft charge she got probation for … as a teenager. The Washington Post accuses the Virginia GOP of trying to scare voters away from the polls. Texas is set to go forward with...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The House of Representatives just passed a gender pay equity law, responding (I presume) to the widely derided Ledbetter decision of last year. The Montgomery County police union is blocking the placement of audio recording devices in squad cars — a key step in enacted accountability for cops (not to mention protecting them against bogus charges of abuse). Gay couples are thrilled that Massachusetts has lifted the last barrier to gay marriages...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The Bush administration proposal to force hospitals and clinics to exempt employees who don’t want to dispense birth control is gearing up to be a huge fight. A report by the anti-immigrant Center for Immigration Studies credits the drop in illegal immigration population to stepped-up enforcement. The WaPo urges that Texas hold off on executing a Mexican citizen until Congress has time to address the international treaty concerns that made his...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Sorry for the delay folks, I was on the Hill this morning. In a resolution offered by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), the House of Representatives has formally apologized for slavery and Jim Crow. There is much to criticize with regards to the efforts against AIDS in the Black community. In a related story, if Black Americans were a country, they’d rank 16th in the world in AIDS infections. ICE has got a fool-proof new immigration strategy: Deport yourself! The...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) gave a major speech on inter-faith relations: “Somehow, we have to find a way to agree that faith may be worth dying for, but it cannot be worth killing for.” In related news, police are speculating that hate may have motivated an unemployed man to open fire in a Unitarian Church, killing five. The local press reports that the man professed a hatred of “liberals”, and had books by Bill O’Reilly,...

Y’all know I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Obama supporter, so I don’t lay out this scenario lightly.

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news An Iowa town has become “a flashpoint” for immigration protests after a raid on a meat processing plants. One anti-immigrant protester held a sign saying “What would Jesus do? Obey the law!” Umm…my Christian theology isn’t great, but I’m not sure that’s strictly accurate. Maryland might finally be recognized as having eliminated the last vestiges of segregation in its public college system. McCain flips...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Congress is questioning the use of expedited trial procedures against suspected illegal immigrants picked up in an Iowa raid on a meat processing plant. E.J. Dionne asks: Is this the year the youth vote finally arrives? Rep. Mark Souder wants to control DC’s gun laws. Mark Souder is from Indiana, which, thanks to the District’s disenfranchisement, still gives him more power over Washingtonians than their elected officials have. In an Atlantic...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news An interesting profile of the Prince Williams County Police Chief, who is tasked with enforcing his counties unusually harsh anti-immigrant policies. Conservative columnist Robert “Hit and Run” Novak has a column up alleging Democrats are blocking legislation that would make it easier for soldiers serving abroad to vote. A bit later, he hints that the real problem is that Dems want to expand the legislation to include all American expatriates....

I’m live-blogging a forum on the McCain and Obama campaign’s tax policies here (it’s in progress right now). Both campaigns have representatives present, and analysis is being done by the Tax Policy Center. UPDATE: Okay, live-blog done. Hope you enjoyed (and were more enlightened than poor me!).

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The HIV/AIDS infection rate for American Latinos is skyrocketing. In some urban cities, the proportion of gay Latinos who are HIV positive rivals that of sub-Saharan Africa. Being handicapped in one’s ability to have sexual relations constitutes a major life impairment under the ADA. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling is here. New York City will officially begin offering services in six foreign languages: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean,...

President Bush is thinking about extending pre-emptive pardons to his torture-implicated cronies? Bring ‘em on.

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The ACLU is seeking to overturn Alabama’s voter disenfranchisement law. The Boston Globe calls on the state to restrict unequal retirement plans that pay women less than men. Online adoption business discriminates against gay couples. John McCain: Anti-contraception. 16 years after “the year of the women”, women still account for less than 25% of legislators. PS: Barbara Mikulski, still a BAMF. Research shows: discrimination still...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news The Boston Globe has a report on Democratic efforts to find an “anti-Scalia.” Could Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a former bigwig in the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department, be that guy? A dissident Catholic group claims it has ordained three women as priests. I missed this while I was in NY, but Connecticut is likely to file suit to mandate that the VA allow voter registration drives. The Washington Post reveals how...