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...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news. I’m going to New York this afternoon and won’t be back until late tomorrow, so the roundup will be off until Monday What is the world coming to when hippies attack the homeless? An Arizona sheriff is being accused of racial profiling in his aggressive efforts to roundup undocumented immigrants. The University of Texas is working to make sure websites which document human rights atrocities don’t disappear. Prison guard fired for wearing...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news Is our natural inclination when seeing others in distress indifference? Montgomery County, Maryland just became America’s first jurisdiction to pass a law protecting the workplace rights of nannies. Immigrant students in college (here legally, I might add), face severe harassment and discrimination on campus. The focus, unfortunately (since I rather like the state), is on Somali students at the University of Minnesota. The US might finally lift...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news This is a theme I’ve been seeing a lot of lately: Immigrants being mistreated at detention centers. Obama continued to hit the responsibility theme in his speech before the NAACP. It was a message met with “loud applause” by the influential civil rights groups. On that point, Ta-Nehisi Coates (who is a strong supporter of the “responsibility” meme) is sick of media coverage that acts as if this message is something new...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news In today’s no-kidding file: NAACP head: Obama win won’t solve racial injustice. The Washington Post has an article about out gay youth. The nation’s oldest Black sorority is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Historians to judges: Stop pretending to be historians. You suck at it. Seattle is settling its third excessive force case in less than a year. The Seattle Times opines: “Dump Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. A...

I’m going to the Hill again this morning, hence, the civil rights roundup will be delayed.

The 7th Circuit has held that a condo association rule which prevents Jews from putting up Mezuzot does not violate the Fair Housing Act. The opinion and dissent are here, my thoughts on the case are here. The rule, of course, was defended on the grounds that it was “neutral” (it banned all objects on doors, not just Mezuzot). I just call that a data point for the insufficiency of “neutrality” to protect religious liberty for minority faiths in America. On the other hand,...

Your morning dose of civil rights and related news An Ohio jury has ruled that a Black community in the Appalachian region was denied water service for decades on account of race. The pitch is out for a designer for the new African American History museum, scheduled to open in 2015. The Washington Post calls for the repeal of DADT. The Post also issues a call for states to reduce the number of non-violent offenders they’re imprisoning. US diplomat asks for reduced sentence for sex with under-aged...

Your morning dose of civil rights and related news The American Medical Association is set to apologize for its racist past, including excluding Black doctors and largely sitting out the civil rights movement. The NAACP alleges that Nashville’s new zoning plan will alter the racial dynamics of the city so much that it actually re-establishes segregation. A performing arts charter school in LA with a focus on hip-hop is probably going to be shut down after its charter expires. You’re saying...

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news (abbreviated and late due to work, alas) CNN has now picked up the story of the racist Mexican cartoon character I posted on in yesterday’s roundup. An atheist solider is suing the military, alleging discrimination. A Louisiana judge has overturned the conviction of Albert Woodfox, an ex-Black Panther and one of the “Angola three”, who was held in solitary confinement for thirty years. Can a diversity advocate serve two masters? A...