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Gingrich assails judges as he courts conservatives
U.S. Legal News |
2011/12/20 18:18
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As he works to rev up his conservative base in Iowa with just two weeks to go until the state's caucuses, Newt Gingrich is launching a full-throated assault on a reliable GOP target: judges.
There is little love for the judicial branch among the Republicans seeking the White House. But Gingrich's ridicule has been, by far, the sharpest and the loudest. And it's taken a central role as his campaign struggles to stay atop polls in Iowa, a state where irate social conservatives ousted three judges who legalized same-sex marriage.
"I commend the people of Iowa for sending a strong signal that when judges overreach that they can find a new job," Gingrich told about 200 supporters who turned out to hear him speak in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday.
Gingrich has suggested that judges who issue what he termed "radical" rulings out of step with mainstream American values should be subpoenaed before Congress to explain themselves before facing possible impeachment. As president, he said, he'd consider dispatching U.S. marshals to round up judges who refuse to show voluntarily. In extreme cases, whole courts could be eliminated.
In the final debate before voters weigh in at the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, Gingrich called the courts "grotesquely dictatorial." He cast the fight in stark religious terms reminiscent of the culture wars, in which a secular, legal elite was encroaching on religious liberties.
The targets of Gingrich's strongest derision: the West Coast's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a perennial punching bag for the right, and a federal judge in Texas who banned prayer in a public school. |
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High court halts new Texas electoral maps
U.S. Legal News |
2011/12/11 18:11
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Texas' March primary will likely be delayed after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked the use of state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges.
The court issued a brief order late Friday that applies to electoral maps drawn by federal judges in San Antonio for the Texas Legislature and Congress that would have ensured minorities made up the majority in three additional Texas congressional districts. The justices said they will hear arguments on Jan. 9.
The judges issued the new maps for the 2012 election in Texas after a lawsuit was filed in San Antonio over redistricting maps drawn by the GOP-led Legislature. The maps were to remain in place until the lawsuit was resolved.
The Supreme Court's order brings to a halt filing for legislative and congressional primary elections that began Nov. 28. The primaries had been scheduled to take place in March, but the Supreme Court's decision means those elections almost certainly will be delayed, possibly until May. |
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CA same-sex marriage ban gets another day in court
U.S. Legal News |
2011/12/09 11:10
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The sponsors of California's gay marriage ban renewed their effort Thursday to disqualify a federal judge because of his same-sex relationship, but they met a skeptical audience in an appeals court panel.
It's the first time an American jurist's sexual orientation has been cited as grounds for overturning a court decision.
Lawyers for a coalition of religious conservative groups told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker should have revealed he had a long-term male partner before he presided over a trial on the measure's constitutionality. He also should have stated whether he had any interest in getting married, the lawyers said.
Because he did not, Walker's impartiality stands in doubt and the decision he ultimately made to strike down Proposition 8 as a violation of Californians' civil rights must be reversed, said Charles Cooper, an attorney for the ban's backers.
"In May 2009, when Judge Walker read the allegations of the complaint, he knew something the litigants and the public did not know: He knew that he, too, like the plaintiffs, was a gay resident of California who was involved in a long-term, serious relationship with an individual of the same sex," Cooper said. "The litigants did not have any knowledge of these facts, and it appears that Judge Walker made the deliberate decision not to disclose these facts." |
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Political aide to former Md. governor found guilty
U.S. Legal News |
2011/12/07 17:15
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A political aide to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to use election-day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election.
Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to influence or attempt to influence a voter's decision whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an authority line. A stoic Schurick comforted his wife in the courtroom after the Baltimore jury's verdict was read, but declined to comment.
His attorney, A. Dwight Pettit, said they will appeal.
Prosecutors argued the calls that went out on the evening of Election Day to about 110,000 voters in Baltimore city and Prince George's County — two jurisdictions with high percentages of black voters — were an effort by the Republican campaign to reduce the number of black Democrats voting in heavily Democratic Maryland. |
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Senators pushing for televised court arguments
U.S. Legal News |
2011/12/06 17:43
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Senators are once again pushing the Supreme Court to televise its courtroom proceedings, especially since justices will have an election-year argument over the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul.
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee debated Tuesday whether Congress should or — even could — force the Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, to allow cameras to broadcast live during arguments.
The high court does not allow live television or audio broadcasts. Transcripts and audio recordings are released after the nine justices hear lawyers argue cases.
Former Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania says he has been trying to get the high court televised for 25 years. He testified that putting arguments on TV would help people understand what the justices do. |
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Federal court issues new political maps for Texas
U.S. Legal News |
2011/11/18 13:56
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A federal court on Thursday issued temporary political maps for the 2012 election in Texas that some say will give Democrats a greater chance of winning seats in the Legislature.
The maps, which still must be given final court approval, will remain in place for state House and Senate districts until there is a resolution to lawsuits filed over the Legislature's proposals — likely through the 2012 elections. The court is expected to also release a proposal for new congressional districts.
Republicans have acknowledged they are not likely to hold on to the 101-49 supermajority they have in the Texas House. Still Democrats argue that the GOP map drawers went too far in trying to preserve their power.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office, which is representing the state, was reviewing the maps and "working to prepare a response as directed by the court," spokeswoman Lauren Bean said.
Democrats and minorities have complained that the maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature prevent minority groups from electing their choice of candidate. |
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