Affirmative Action cases being heard in Supreme Court - and

[Valkyrie]

There are a couple landmark civil rights cases being heard in the Supreme Court, re: affirmative action admissions into public universities The cases are Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger. The decision will decide the question of wheather affirmative action quotas are within constitutional rights. It's an important decision as it will set the precedence on this issue for the future.


http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmat...ls.cfm?id=11877 (http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmative/details.cfm?id=11877)


http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmat...ative/michigan/ (http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmative/michigan/)

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmat...ils.cfm?id=3778 (http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmative/details.cfm?id=3778)


http://www.jointcenter.org/nabre/about_nab...xec_summary.htm (http://www.jointcenter.org/nabre/about_nabre/exec_summary.htm)

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmat...ls.cfm?id=11887 (http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmative/details.cfm?id=11887)

http://www.civilrights.org is an excellent site to keep track of what is happening on the civil rights front.

Also right now there is the issue of the nominations of very right-wing reactionaries to the Federal Court of Appeals. The court of Appeals settle many civil rights cases regarding the rights of woman, minorities, privacy, etc. They hear about about 28,000 cases a year that never make it to the Supreme Court. The decisions made at the level of the Federal Court of Appeals are final as the Supreme Court refuses to hear these cases. We need to fight against these nominations as well.

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/nominati...ions/index.html (http://www.civilrights.org/issues/nominations/index.html)



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(Edited by Paris at 7:26 pm on April 3, 2003)

[Valkyrie]

Right Wing Judicial Nominees Advance in Senate

The Senate voted Tuesday, April 1 (58-41) to confirm right-wing nominee Timothy Tymkovich to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Tymkovich is a member of the ultra-conservative legal organization, the Federalist Society. He opposes the federal requirement directing states that receive Medicaid funds to pay for abortion procedures for low-income women in cases of rape or incest. He is also against civil rights laws aimed at protecting members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

In a party line vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-9 to send the nomination of staunchly anti-abortion Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the Senate floor for approval. Though Owen's nomination to the Fifth Circuit Court was rejected by the committee last fall, President Bush, in a controversial move, resubmitted Owen's nomination after Republicans regained control of the Senate. Unless Democrats filibuster, Owen, who has been described as the "far right wing" of the Texas Court, is likely be approved by the Senate.

Three other controversial Bush appellate nominees have also been voted out of the Judiciary Committee. John Roberts, nominated to the D.C. Circuit, and Deborah Cook and Jeffrey Sutton, both nominated to the Sixth Circuit, are currently awaiting Senate floor votes. Republican leaders have expressed their intention to quickly bring these nominations up for a vote.

Democrats have continued to firmly oppose right wing D.C. Circuit Court nominee Miguel Estrada. Republican leaders have tried to end debate and force a vote on Estrada three times. Each time the Democrats filibustered, preventing floor approval of this nomination. Republicans intend to keep calling for cloture votes in hopes of eventually weakening Democratic resolve and winning approval for this controversial nominee. Estrada has refused to produce additional information that would help Democrats determine whether he has the necessary qualifications. Additionally, he has appeared vague and non-committal when asked about his position on abortion rights and many fear that Estrada may be the stealth candidate for an eventual Supreme Court appointment.