Latest news with #EqualProtection
Washington Post
a day ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Supreme Court to rehear case over Louisiana's second majority-Black district
The Supreme Court on Friday put off deciding whether to uphold a Louisiana map that added a second majority-Black congressional district in the state, saying it would rehear the case in its next term. States must thread a needle when drawing electoral districts. The landmark Voting Rights Act allows states to consider race as a means to redress discriminatory electoral practices. But maps that are explicitly based on race violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, which requires all people to be treated equally.
UPI
3 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
Civil-rights groups urge California governor to grant clemency to all on death row
California's corrections department (such as FCI San Pedro pictured in May 2020) holds the nation's largest death row block, with 574 people, among more than 94,000 prisoners statewide. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo June 25 (UPI) -- More than 200 civil-rights groups are urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to use his constitutional powers to commute more than 500 state death sentences. "California's death penalty system is not only broken, it is deeply racist and unconstitutional," Michael Mendoza, national criminal justice director of the New York-based justice advocacy group LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said Wednesday in a statement. The call arrives as some point to what they call an "overwhelming" amount of evidence of racial bias in how the death penalty is carried out in the state. Numerous civil rights orgs argue the death penalty is unconstitutional under the state Constitution's Equal Protection guarantees. On Thursday, scores of advocates and national civil rights leaders will gather at the state's capitol building in Sacramento to visit Newsom and deliver a signed statement by nearly 200 organizations which implores the two-term Democratic governor to grant universal clemency to all of California's 574 inmates waiting on death row. A pubic rally will start around 10:30 a.m. local time on the west steps of the capitol complex with a press conference to follow lead by leaders of renowned organized state and national groups like Clemency California coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Center for LGBTQ Rights, Disability Rights California, Equal Justice Society, Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and several others. A proposed ballot measure in the 2012 election sought to eliminate California's death penalty, but it faced a narrow defeat with 53% saying keep and 47% of voters in favor of getting rid of it. "The death penalty is biased beyond repair, which is why we are a proud petitioner in the lawsuit to end California's death penalty," stated Morgan Zamora, prison advocacy manager at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, urging Newsom to "uphold California's values of dignity, human rights and equal justice by commuting the sentences of every person sitting on death row." Last year, 26 people in the United States were sentenced to death with 25 executions. Meanwhile, California's department of corrections holds the nation's largest death row block, with 574 people, among more than 94,000 prisoners in the state. The state also has one the world's single biggest death rows in which 69% are people of color and one-third Black. "The death penalty and entire criminal legal system is overrepresented with disabled people, especially disabled people of color," said Eric Harris, a spokesperson for Disability Rights California. California's high court in 2021 overturned the double murder conviction of Edward Wycoff after it was revealed that a trial judge failed to determine his mental competency. On Wednesday, Harris said DRC has "strongly" advocated to ensure that people with poor mental health, brain injury or intellectual and developmental issues are not placed on California's death row, where one-third of its population is diagnosed with a "serious" mental illness and dozens with a known intellectual disadvantage. "Many of these impacted people are undiagnosed and it is crucial that we ensure that they not be on death row," added DRC's Harris. The state previously released eight men from California's death row due to a wrongful conviction. This month, officials in Oklahoma took steps to grant a new murder trial for longtime death row inmate Richard Glossip after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in February determined his trial had been flawed. At least 4% of U.S. convicts on death are innocent, according to estimates in a 2014 study by the National Academy of Sciences. "Now is the time for California to be a beacon of light for the rest of the country by protecting the civil rights and human dignity of the state's most vulnerable residents," said Vincent Pan, a spokesman with Chinese for Affirmative Action, a San Francisco-based entity founded in 1969. In addition, advocates say its critical to acknowledge how the brains of young people don't fully develop until their mid-twenties. Nearly half of California's death row population was convicted under age 26, with two-thirds having sat for more than 20 years, dozens for more than four decades, which has resulted in "literally decades of delays caused by California's inability to provide lawyers to handle capital appeals." But while California lawmakers have previously enacted a number of legal reforms targeting the legality of sentencing young offenders who have diminished intellectual capacity, the new laws excluded death row prisoners and those serving sentences of life with no chance of parole. "Gov. Newsom has a historic opportunity to reject this legacy of racial injustice by granting universal clemency," Mendoza of LatinoJustice said Wednesday.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal lawsuit looks to halt Arkansas' Educational Freedom Account program; claims it violates US Constitution
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Four Arkansans have filed a federal lawsuit against multiple state departments over the state's Educational Freedom Accounts, claiming it violates the United States Constitution. The lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Arkansas on June 13. The plaintiffs are Gwen Faulkenberry of Franklin County, Special Renee Sanders of Drew County, Anika Whitfield of Pulaski County and Kimberly Crutchfield of Pulaski County. The lawsuit names Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas Department of Education, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, Secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration Jim Hudson and the nine-member state Board of Education, who are represented by state Attorney General Tim Griffin's office. The plaintiffs said in the 108-page complaint that the Education Freedom Accounts, or 'the Voucher Program', violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over others. Benton County employee fired after sexual misconduct investigation It also claims that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment is violated, which mandates that people in similar circumstances receive the same treatment under the law. Article 2, Section 24 in the Arkansas Constitution is also reportedly violated. The article prohibits people from being compelled to attend any place of worship against their consent and bars the state from giving preference by law to religious establishments, denominations or modes of worship 'above any other.' 'The LEARNS Act is, through the use of public funds of the State of Arkansas, creating a separate and unequal dual school system of public and private schools, the latter of which, as a regular part of their curricula, teach the doctrines of particular religious, creeds and sects as a means of the establishment, encouragement, development and perpetuation of such religions, creeds and sects,' the complaint said. The plaintiffs say in the complaint that the EFA system 'denies the equal protection of the laws available and applicable to Arkansas school children based on economic, racial and physical characteristics and abilities.' It also allegedly creates a 'system of private schools that are not available to all school children in Arkansas because such private schools are not located in and accessible to school children in many rural areas' in the state. The Arkansas Department of Education's website reports that since the start of the 2023-24 school year, Arkansans have applied for more than 64,000 Education Freedom Accounts. Voucher recipients were given at least $6,856 each for the 2024-25 school year, and next year's will receive $6,864, the ADE previously told KNWA/FOX24. The EFA program was created by the LEARNS Act in 2023. It aims to provide state-funded accounts to approved families, helping them cover the costs of private school tuition, homeschooling, and other educational expenses. 5 Arkansas-based companies in Forbes' latest 'Global 2000' list A spokesperson for Governor Sanders' office gave the following statement to KNWA/FOX24 on Friday: 'This suit has no merit. More than 44,000 students have applied for EFAs for next school year and far-left activists are playing politics with those kids' futures to try and protect a failed status quo.' The Department of Finance and Administration said that as a policy, the department does not comment on any active litigation. 'The LEARNS Act has been a game-changer for Arkansas. Where previously there was stagnation, we now see progress. Where there was malaise, we now see hope. I have successfully defended the LEARNS Act and will eagerly do it again,' Attorney General Tim Griffin's office said in a statement. KNWA/FOX24 also reached out to the Arkansas Department of Education for comment, but has not heard back. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Bloomberg
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
The Supreme Court Is Taking the Easy Way Out on Trans Care
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court made clear that it wants no part of the transgender debate — and, in attempting to avoid a decision, made a mess of more than one area of law. Faced with a challenge to Tennessee's S.B. 1, which bans minors from receiving treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy for gender dysphoria, the justices declared that it wasn't their call. The key issue before the Court in United States v. Skrmetti was whether Tennessee's law should face heightened scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause — a category that has several levels but has been used largely to review classifications deemed 'suspect' or 'quasi-suspect,' usually minorities who've been subjected to discrimination. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded that the statute need only satisfy 'rational basis' scrutiny, the easiest form for the state to meet. But the court didn't rule that discrimination against transgender individuals shouldn't receive special scrutiny. Rather, Roberts wrote, the issue wasn't even presented, because the Tennessee law does not distinguish on the basis of whether one is transgender:
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sotomayor warns Skrmetti decision will cause 'untold harm' to transgender children in scathing dissent
Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted six of her colleagues on the Supreme Court in a blistering dissent on Wednesday for deciding to uphold a Tennessee law banning specific transgender medical treatments for minors. Sotomayor said the 6-3 decision in United States v. Skrmetti, issued along ideological lines, improperly discriminated against minors based on their sex. The liberal justice made the atypical move to read her dissent from the bench. Sotomayor, who was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama, said the majority "refuses to call a spade a spade" and "obfuscates a sex classification" to allow the Tennessee bill to withstand constitutional tests. Supreme Court Appears Divided Over State Bans On Gender Transition 'Treatments' For Minors "The Court's willingness to do so here does irrevocable damage to the Equal Protection Clause and invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight," Sotomayor said. "It also authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them." The case, which was one of the most closely watched of the high court's term, arose from the Biden administration suing over a bill Tennessee passed in 2023 to ban puberty blockers and hormone therapy as treatments for minors who identify as transgender. Read On The Fox News App Scotus Rules On State Ban On Gender Transition 'Treatments' For Minors In Landmark Case Sotomayor, whose dissent was joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, said doctors would offer such medical treatments based on a patient having gender dysphoria. A law banning that practice requires a heightened level of scrutiny that the Supreme Court's majority recklessly did not apply, Sotomayor alleged. "The majority subjects a law that plainly discriminates on the basis of sex to mere rational-basis review," Sotomayor wrote. "By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent." The Supreme Court's decision effectively allows states who pass laws like Tennessee's to ban certain medical treatments for article source: Sotomayor warns Skrmetti decision will cause 'untold harm' to transgender children in scathing dissent
