Supreme Court Upholds Limits On Religious Gatherings. Chief Justice Roberts was the swing vote in the first challenge on COVID-19 restrictions to reach the Court. Federal judge for Delaware rules the same way.
Everything Falls Apart, Police Brutality Edition. You just know that Trump will do everything he can to fan the flames. For his campaign, you know. BTW, this Derek Chauvin had quite the history, most of which is being shielded due to ‘police rights’ protections. He has rights, his victims have no rights. Personnel matters, my ass. Hey, at least Trump got the pandemic off the front page. Plus, it almost certainly takes Klobuchar out of the Veepstakes, which is a good thing.
Everything Falls Apart, COVID Edition, Ctd. The latest carnage: 1,747,087 confirmed cases and 102,836 deaths in the United States. What better time for the US to quit the World Health Organization, even though it appears Trump can’t legally do this?
Same-Sex Couples Win Major Legal Victory:
Michael Ely and James A. Taylor were in a committed relationship for 43 years. They considered themselves married, but Arizona, where they lived, did not—until 2014, when a federal court invalidated the state’s same-sex marriage ban. The couple promptly wed. Six months later, Taylor died of cancer. Ely applied for survivors benefits from the Social Security Administration, but the agency turned him away. Federal law required a couple to be married for at least nine months in the state where they reside before a surviving spouse can receive benefits. It didn’t matter that Ely and Taylor were barred from marriage by a law later voided as unconstitutional. Ely could not receive a dollar in survivors benefits.
On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the Social Security Administration to pay up—not just to Ely, but to every American denied survivors benefits because of same-sex marriage bans. His sweeping decision provides benefits to thousands of LGBTQ surviving spouses, tearing down one of the last remaining vestiges of federal discrimination against same-sex couples. It will also test the judiciary’s continued commitment to gay rights following a sudden infusion of anti-gay judges under President Donald Trump.
How The Supreme Court Lets Cops Get Away With Murder. It’s called ‘qualified immunity’, and it essentially places police above the law. An absolute must-read.
The Tensions Between Mayors And Their Police Forces. If we’re gonna have ‘police reform’, we’re gonna need different police. The police unions make themselves part of the problem.
What do you want to talk about?