Supreme Court to Rule on Gerrymandering 3/30/19

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took on the case of Extreme Partisan Gerrymandering in both North Carolina, by Republicans, and Maryland, by Democrats.

The result of this case could effect elections all across the country, impacting how redistricting is done nationwide.

The likelihood of that result, however, seems slim, as the Court has, as recently as 2016, kept out of the States methods of redistricting:

In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold Arizona’s independent redistricting commission.
The justices last year failed to deliver a definitive ruling on the legality of partisan gerrymandering. They got another chance in the cases before them on Tuesday challenging a Republican-drawn 13-district statewide U.S. House of Representatives map in North Carolina and a single Democratic-drawn House district in Maryland.
“Have we really reached the moment, even though it would be a big lift for this court to get involved, where the other actors can’t do it?” Kavanaugh asked, referring to states.

It seems that Justice Kavanaugh will likely be the deciding vote.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gerrymandering/us-supreme-court-divided-on-partisan-electoral-maps-idUSKCN1R70Z2

Trump’s Transgender Military Ban to go into Effect 3/29/19

Trump’s Ban on Transgender people in the military is to go into effect starting on April 12th.

The current version of the law will allow for the military to ban new transgender recruits from joining the military, as well as allowing for the discharge of members in need of hormone treatment and/or surgery.

The case against the ban is still open, however, and the DC Court of Appeals may still decide against the ban. Currently they have only allowed for the injunctions to be lifted.

Source: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/435945-appeals-court-clears-path-for-pentagon-to-enforce-transgender-ban-april-12

Alabama Suspending Thousands of Licenses 3/28/19

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has suspended somewhere around 23,000 Alabama residents Drivers Licenses due to nonpayment on unpaid traffic tickets. The SPLC argues that such a law is unconstitutional due to the State not first assessing the individuals ability to pay these tickets.

The lawsuit challenges a law that allows a person’s driver’s license to be suspended for unpaid traffic tickets, without taking into account the person’s ability to pay. The law is unconstitutional, and harms thousands of low-income families across the state, according to the complaint. [1]

This is not the first time that the SPLC has fought a similar law. In Mississippi, over 100,000 drivers had their licenses suspended for the very same reason, and SPLC was able to reach an agreement with the State, allowing for reinstatement of suspended licenses, an end to the practice, and waiving of the $100 reinstatement fee in the State for those drivers affected [2].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2018/11/19/splc-sues-alabama-unlawfully-suspending-thousands-driver%E2%80%99s-licenses

Source 2: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/12/19/splc-reaches-agreement-mississippi

Mueller Report Filed but is Not the End (Updated) 3/27/19

While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
Robert Mueller on Obstruction of Justice Charges

Robert Mueller has finished it’s report and openly stated that the President has not Conspired with Russia, a relief to many Republicans on the Hill [1].

What the report did not outline however, and actually avoided concluding on, was if Trump had committed Obstruction of Justice in trying to prevent the investigation, which the House Judiciary Committee is currently looking into and actively investigating [2].

The current best case situation is that Trump committed no discernible crime.

The worst case is that he did and the Department of Justice will refuse to act upon it, setting precedent that a President is more than a man of the people, the very thing the founders wanted to avoid by beginning this country [3].

We won’t know which is true until the majority or entirety of the report is obtained, as William Barr doesn’t believe a President can be indicted especially on Obstruction of Justice charges [4], which Trump has already openly admitted to attempting when he fired James Comey and said it was for the Russia Investigation [5], as well as when he asked Russia to hack the DNC and they did so within hours [6].

This is why the Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, are trying to ensure that Congress gets a more thorough view of Mueller’s Report [7].

Let us also not assume that the case is closed, as even though Mueller has stated his team will serve no more indictments [8], he has handed off many cases to Federal and State prosecutors.

The still-live investigations range from an expansive probe into the Trump inaugural committee, to various investigations relating to former top Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, to tips that stemmed from Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen’s experience with Trump and his family’s company. It’s possible other investigations are being conducted quietly, as well. [9]

For a good summation on the possible legal implications, please look at THIS DISCUSSION about US Attorney General Barr’s Summary of the Mueller Report to listen to this clip of a discussion between former US Attorney for SDNY, Preet Bharara, and former AG of NJ, Anne Milgram, on what they’ve read so far [10].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/24/mueller-report-donald-trump-barr-congress-russia

Source 2: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/26/mueller-obstruction-of-justice-legislation-1237498

Source 3: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-america-has-president-instead-exalted-highness-180961841/

Source 4: http://time.com/5505438/wiliam-barr-confirmation-hearing-attorney-general/

Source 5: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-he-didn-t-fire-comey-because-russia-contradicting-n878836

Source 6: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/us/politics/trump-russia-clinton-emails.html

Source 7: https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/32419/

Source 8: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/03/25/trump-russia-mueller-evidence-danger-even-without-indictments-column/3268632002/

Source 9: https://wtvr.com/2019/03/24/investigations-will-continue-despite-end-of-mueller-report/

Source 10: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/stay-tuned-with-preet/e/59625778?autoplay=true

Sandy Hook Lawsuit Facts 3/19/19

Many news outlets are pointing out that the CT State Supreme Court has now allowed Gun Manufacturers to be sued for any killed by their weapons, but is that the true story?

The case is no longer focused specifically on the incident itself, as there is a federal law, passed by the NRA, that does not allow for the lawsuit of gun manufacturers in a shooting event, even one as massively damaging as the Sandy Hook Shooting [1].

What the law does allow, however, is the right for the parents to sue based on the companies advertizing methods.

In the lawsuit, the families seized upon the marketing for the AR-15-style Bushmaster used in the 2012 attack, which invoked the violence of combat and used slogans like “Consider your man card reissued.”
Lawyers for the families argued that those messages reflected a deliberate effort to appeal to troubled young men like Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who charged into the elementary school and killed 26 people, including 20 first graders, in a spray of gunfire. The attack traumatized the nation and made Newtown, Conn., the small town where it happened, a rallying point in the broader debate over gun violence.
In the 4-3 ruling, the justices agreed with a lower court judge’s decision to dismiss most of the claims raised by the families, but also found that the sweeping federal protections did not prevent the families from bringing a lawsuit based on wrongful marketing claims [2].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/06/446348616/fact-check-are-gun-makers-totally-free-of-liability-for-their-behavior

Source 2: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/nyregion/sandy-hook-supreme-court.html

Pentagon Moving Forward with Transgender Ban 3/13/19

The Defense Department has signed a memo stating that it is moving forward with a plan to stop Transgender individuals from serving in the military if they require hormone treatments or surgery for transition.

The plan is expected to take effect on April 12th, but critics point out that the Pentagon’s own studies contradict the need for this policy:

A 2016 Pentagon-commissioned study found that any impact on cost or military readiness from having transgender troops would be marginal. It estimated there were around 2,450 transgender troops at the time [1].

The policy was allowed when the new Supreme Court allowed the ban to take place, overruling the ruling by the lower-courts [2].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-transgender/pentagon-sets-limits-on-transgender-troops-idUSKBN1QU06M

Source 2: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/politics/scotus-transgender-ban/index.html

Muslims as Second Class Citizens 2/11/2019

A sad reality to all Muslims in America.

In the US, your religion is now second class to Christianity.

Last week, the Supreme Court permitted the state of Alabama to execute a Muslim man, Domineque Ray, without his religious advisor present. The court’s 5-4 decision reversed an emergency lower-court order that had temporarily delayed the execution because of grave concerns that Alabama’s practice of allowing only the state’s Christian chaplain to be present in the execution chamber unconstitutionally favored Christian prisoners.
Without even acknowledging those concerns, the court issued a brief, callous decision that is, as Justice Kagan noted in dissent, “profoundly wrong.” It is also the latest example of a disturbing trend of religious favoritism, in which minority faiths — particularly Islam — are given second-class legal status.

Source

https://www.aclu.org/blog/religious-liberty/supreme-court-playing-favorites-religion