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14 Jun 2011 18:00

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Politics: District court chief: Prop. 8 Judge Walker is impartial

  • The mere fact that a judge is in a relationship with another person — whether of the same sex or the opposite sex — does not ipso facto imply that the judge must be so interested in marrying that person that he would be unable to exhibit the impartiality which, it is presumed, all federal judges maintain.
  • U.S. District Court Chief James Ware • Explaining his ruling that retired Judge Vaughn Walker, a gay man who ruled against California’s Proposition 8 in court, should not have had to remove himself from the case. This is a major victory for gay-rights advocates, and the legal opponents of Proposition 8; its supporters had argued that Walker’s long-term relationship with another man biased his judgment in the case, as he might want to get married. Walker’s ruling against Prop. 8 is still on hold pending a circuit court appeal. source

12 Apr 2011 17:06

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Politics: A win for breast cancer awareness in schools

  • NO school can’t ban anti-cancer “I (heart) boobies” bracelets source
  • » And for the ACLU, there was much rejoicing: The American Civil Liberties Union had taken on the case of two middle school girls suspended from school for wearing breast cancer awareness bracelets with “I (heart) boobies” written on them. In a preliminary ruling, federal judge Mary McLaughlin said they “can reasonably be viewed as speech designed to raise awareness of breast cancer and to reduce stigma associated with openly discussing breast health.”

27 Jan 2011 19:04

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U.S.: Does Rahm Emanuel get to stay on the Chicago mayoral ballot?

  • YES so step off Rahm-en Boy’s back, hataz source

24 Jan 2011 13:52

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U.S.: Emanuel’s Chicago mayoral candidacy struck down by court

  • NO Rahm Emanuel is not eligible to run for mayor of Chicago source
  • » What happened: A state appeals court ruled that while Rahm owned property in Chicago for the requisite amount of time necessary (one year), he wasn’t actually living there, and thus is ineligible for the election. In a world in which rivals sometimes accuse each other of being “carpet-baggers,” it probably stings to have an official ruling saying so.

30 Aug 2009 09:42

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World: Japan’s election points to the Democrats over the Liberal Democrats

  • We have been trying to outgrow this old one-party system ever since the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It took two decades, but we finally made it.
  • Japanese political expert Takeshi Sasaki, a former University of Tokyo president • On the Democratic Party’s likely landslide victory in today’s elections. The conservative-leaning Liberal Democratic Party (no relation to the Democrats), which has only lost its ruling status once before, currently would need an American football-style Hail Mary to remain in power. • source

18 Feb 2009 21:38

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Culture: Roman Polanski’s statuatory rape case: Still in the courts

  • 15 years since the original judge, who was trying to send Polanski to prison for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, died source