Author: Sarah Burris

BREAKING: It’s a great day to be gay in OK

Another day, another win for LGBT equality! The 10th Circuit says the Oklahoma gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.

Nerd out over the legal document whatnot here. Quote:

“In that companion case, we held that: (1) plaintiffs who wish to marry a partner of the same sex or have such marriages recognized seek to exercise a fundamental right; and (2) state justifications for banning same-sex marriage that turn on the procreative potential of opposite-sex couples do not satisfy the narrow tailoring test applicable to laws that impinge upon fundamental liberties,” writes U.S. Circuit Judge Carlos Lucero (appointed by President Clinton).

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, released the following statement:

“Today’s ruling arises out of the oldest active marriage case in the country, filed in Oklahoma ten years ago; and follows more than two dozen favorable rulings for marriage in the past year. The legal consensus is clear: marriage discrimination is unconstitutional and inflicts concrete harms on committed gay and lesbian couples and their families. From the heart of the Southwest and as far as the Mountain West, the federal rulings from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals from Oklahoma and Utah affirm that all of America is ready for the freedom to marry. It is time for the Supreme Court to end this patchwork of discrimination and bring our country to national resolution as soon as possible.”

As an Oklahoman, I’m excited and proud and I hope all of my friends in OKC go out tonight and celebrate the hell out of this! Here’s a fun old postcard for the Rainbow Room just because it’s fun. Love to all of you back home!

Chris Christie Supports the Hobby Lobby Decision

Our friends over at American Bridge had a tracker on Chris Christie this week and what do you know…. when asked if he supported the Hobby Lobby decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court that put a corporation’s religion over individual liberties the New Jersey Governor gave a Republican Iowa Caucus answer:

John Oliver gives Americans the uncomfortable reality of our American Dreams

Oh John Oliver, I love you so so much.

Highlights from this week include Oliver citing a Pew poll from January that says among other things

65% of Americans think the gap between the rich and poor has increase in the last 10 years
60% of Americans believe the system is rigged to favor the wealthy. But wait here’s the funny part:
60% also believe that most people will make it if they are willing to work hard.

So as Oliver says “Yup, I can clearly see this game is rigged. Which is what’s going to make it so sweet when I win this thing!!” Then he laughs at financial consultants on TV who help people understand how to protect their imaginary lottery winnings.

New Poll: Young Voters DO Want Hillary Clinton over GOP Rivals

It’s still very early in the game but young voters are already weighing in on who they prefer in a 2016 presidential matchup featuring Hillary Clinton and the leading Republican candidates.

According to Libertarian pollsters Reason-Rupe, 39 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed said they would vote for Clinton, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren coming in second among Democrats. For the GOP, Rep. Paul Ryan was the first pick, chosen by 6 percent of those polled.

The poll matched previous surveys of young voters, indicating they have more progressive-leaning interests; for example, 71 percent of respondents said they believe the minimum wage should go up to $10.10 an hour, which most Republicans oppose. The survey could cause some heartburn among GOP candidates who tend to be far more conservative than the young people whose votes they are seeking.

The next step for Hillary Clinton: recruit those young voters.

What Have Unions Ever Done for Anybody?

One of the memes that has made it’s way around the internet outlines a thank you to American Labor Unions for setting the standard for workers rights.

After years of PR battles and s0-called “right to work” laws being passed all over the country, it seems Americans have forgotten what the worker’s rights movement did for them over the last hundred or so years. Following the disappointing Supreme Court Harris v. Quinn ruling, there is nothing more important now than to value the work that organized labor has done and continues to do for all of us. Here’s a fun old vintage video that helps to illustrate:

Stacey Dash: I’m going to show you how wrong you are by doing exactly what you just did

Stacey Dash is one of the non-Alicia Silverstone stars in the 1990’s valley girl movie Clueless, getting a new prime spot as an anchor on Fox News. Well, she’s settling in just fine, and is already making headlines with heartless, thoughtless, inappropriate and insensitive comments – this time, by calling out someone else’s thoughtless and inappropriate thoughts…

Stacey Dash: I’m going to show you just how wrong you are by doing exactly what you just did.

Great job Stacey. Stay clueless.

Cartoon goes viral after this Biblical scholar schools a Fox News host

So this Fox News interview went very, very wrong for the Fox News anchor, who probably shouldn’t have pushed her right-wing, Fox New-sy prejudices on a Biblical scholar. The interview was pretty awesome, and it deserves to get way more play than it has, but the cartoon that genius artist Rob Tornoe did for our friends over at MediaMatters.org quite simply won the internet, with front page placement on Reddit and serious virality all over Facebook.

Cartoon:

Video:

If you want to stalk Rob like I do, he does other stuff for the Philly Inquirer and Phillydotcom.

Federal judge’s blog telling SCOTUS to STFU goes viral. Wait, a judge has a blog?

Yesterday a story about a blog post from a federal judge in Nebraska appointed by George H. W. Bush went viral. Understandably so. The judge literally told the Supreme Court to shut the f*ck up: STFU

“Next term is the time for the Supreme Court to go quiescent–this term and several past terms have proven that the Court is now causing more harm (division) to our democracy than good by deciding hot button cases that the Court has the power to avoid. As the kids say, it is time for the Court to stfu”.

That’s kind of kickass on it’s own. A federal judge appointed by a Republican president tells the five dudes on the Supreme Court that not only was their decision stupid but they should really stop embarrassing the bench.

I loved the story. It was great. It went viral. Awesome sauce. Here’s what struck me, though: this federal judge has a blog. Seriously!

What you may not know is that one of the most highly-trafficked legal websites that doesn’t provide case law research is SCOTUSBlog.com. It’s where EVERYONE goes – and where everyone went last week while waiting for the decisions to be handed down from the bench on these cases. But SCOTUSBlog can’t get a seat in the press box for the Supreme Court because the US Senate Daily Press Gallery doesn’t consider them journalists. All appeals by these smart folks were denied. No offense to the Press Gallery, but I’m fairly certain that among the more than 50,000 people on SCOTUSBlog waiting for decisions were journalists who needed someone to explain to them what these rulings meant.

By that same token, how is it that a federal judge in Nebraska is more transparent than the highest court in the land? How is it that we as a country are constantly up in arms about government transparency when we require it for our state and federal leaders, but we don’t for our courts?

There have been several arguments against transparency (specifically cameras in the courts) from the Justices themselves. They believe it would undermine the court, it would diminish the authority somehow, or it would create a spectacle.

During the confirmation hearing of Justice Sonia Sotomayor 2009, she was asked if she was open to the idea of cameras in the Supreme Court. “I have had positive experiences with cameras,” she said. “When I have been asked to join experiments of using cameras in the courtroom, I have participated. I have volunteered.” But later, Justice Sotomayor flip-flopped.

Here’s the thing: The court has kind of already made a spectacle of itself. There are so many allegations of improper behavior from this court. There are questionable ethics, lack of recusals when there should be, conflicts of interest, even racism.

If they’re not going to be on TV, if they won’t let SCOTUSBlog.com in to report, fine. At least there’s one judge taking to the internet.

BREAKING: The birth control case that is WORSE than Hobby Lobby

On Thursday, even as their horrible Hobby Lobby decision continued to send shockwaves around the nation, the Supreme Court actually made things worse. It issued a short, unsigned opinion that says Wheaton College, a small Christian college in Illinois, doesn’t have to provide birth control coverage to female students if they don’t want to – and they don’t even have to fill out a religious-exemption form so someone else could provide it. Because apparently filling out paperwork saying, “We’re not going to pay for this, but someone else can,” was for Wheaton College the same thing as committing an abortion themselves.

In a blistering dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the ruling contradicts what the conservative majority said in the Hobby Lobby case just a few days ago – that a way to fix the religious opt-out would be to have the government pay for the contraceptives, and that the Hobby Lobby decision was narrow:

“Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word. Not so today. After expressly relying on the availability of the religious-nonprofit accommodation to hold that the contraceptive coverage requirement violates [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] as applied to closely held for-profit corporations, the Court now, as the dissent in Hobby Lobby feared it might, retreats from that position,” Justice Sotomayor said.

We here at BNR have spent most of the week telling you about why this ruling is bad, how it hurts women, how it makes a decision based on a belief and not science. We’ve told you about the companies now saying that want to be allowed to discriminate against LGBT workers because they don’t believe they should have to abide by equal protection. In the end, we as women must understand that this country’s institutions no longer prioritize our individual rights over the rights of a corporation. If you have not incorporated yourself, I urge you to do so quickly.

Sorry. Your beliefs do not trump science, reality, or personal liberty

To every church or religious person everywhere: Just because you believe something is true does not make it true. I’m sorry to break this to you, but your faith doesn’t trump facts. If you firmly believe that the Earth is flat, it doesn’t mean the Earth is flat and that NASA is part of a government conspiracy. Yet Hobby Lobby believes that certain kinds of birth control cause abortions, and the Supreme Court agreed, even though it’s not true. The Plan B pill, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and other forms of contraception Hobby Lobby can now ban, in fact, don’t cause abortions. The science is irrefutable. Doctors, pharmacists and other experts agree. And no religious belief can ever change it.

Here is the real science behind Plan B, IUDs, and similar types of birth controls that do not abort anything.

If a corporation wants to oppose birth control because it prevents pregnancy, that’s an entirely different issue. If that’s the case, then Hobby Lobby should not pay for male employees to have vasectomies – which they currently do. But again: it should never trump someone else’s personal liberty. Or the facts.

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