Judicial

The story of our American democracy has been the fight to make sure that every citizen’s voice is heard; that each of us can claim equal ownership of the government we’ve formed together. But the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has threatened that fundamental notion by allowing secretive special interests to make limitless and secret campaign donations, secret donations then give them an unfair advantage over the average voter.

In his dissenting opinion to the United States Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, now-retired Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), consistently described by the media as “a piece of legislation that has always enjoyed bipartisan support,” is trapped in congressional stalemate. VAWA has the support of the states’ attorneys general, more than 1,000 nonprofit organizations, including organizations of medical professionals, the broadest possible range of faith groups, as well as criminal justice system personnel, so it would be a devastating shame if VAWA itself falls victim to the gridlocked politics that have killed so many other worthy bills.

If  House Republicans are sincerely trying to obtain documents important to their “Operation Fast and Furious” investigation, rather than just provoking another partisan confrontation with a Democratic president, they are doing it all wrong.

The right way is now established. Read more...

One hundred years ago, the people of Montana raised their voices and voted to close the door on corporate money in politics. On Monday, without even hearing arguments, the Supreme Court kicked the door open, allowing corporate dollars to flood the Treasure State's elections. Lost between the rulings on Arizona’s immigration law and the Affordable Care Act is the most dangerous threat to our democratic process since the Citizens United v. FEC case of 2010 – and few people seem to have noticed.

Just two months after the government started accepting applications, next year’s highly skilled worker visas hit the numerical cap. No firm will be now able to apply to sponsor highly skilled foreign workers. Foreign high skilled workers neither “take” American jobs nor do they lower American wages. The low numerical cap, along with other regulations and visa fees, need to go, if the American economy is to grow.
 
The H-1B visa is a three year, employer-sponsored work visa, renewable one time, for highly skilled foreign workers. Only 85, 000 such visas are issued to annually to private firms.

Today the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee is holding a hearing to air concerns about the proposed purchase of EMI’s recorded music business by Universal Music Group. Congress, regulators and industry analysts are increasingly questioning this merger, and rightly so: the potential impact on competition in the music distribution marketplace – particularly the development of Internet distribution channels – and the overall effect on consumer choices are portentous.

On December 15th, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed while on patrol in Arizona. This brave man gave his life in service to our country and was murdered with guns that, for all practical purposes, were handed to Mexican cartels by the very government he died serving.

Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failure to produce documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious - an effort approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2009, authorizing the transfer of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels in order to build a case against drug smugglers.

Today, we will join hundreds of people of faith across the nation to fast for 23 hours, symbolizing the 23 hours per day that tens of thousands of prisoners, inmates, and detainees, are warehoused in solitary confinement. As we have seen in recent prisoner hunger strikes in California and Virginia, refusing food is one of the few means prisoners have to protest their conditions in solitary confinement. We will fast and pray for divine intervention that “drives out fear.” It is fear, rather than evidence-based best practices, that has led to an explosion in America’s use of solitary confinement over the past several decades.

The first U.S. AIDS patient was officially diagnosed on April 24, 1980, and seemingly overnight America was gripped by an epidemic that has since taken the lives of more than a half million people, torn apart thousands of families, and instigated numerous measures to stem the rate of transmission. During the height of the epidemic in 1985, the government enacted a blanket policy which bans any man who has had sex with another man (or “MSM”) even once since 1977 from ever donating blood.