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For Immediate Release
May, 22 2009, 01:16pm EDT
Friday May, 22 2009, 01:16pm EDT
Contact:
Jason Howe, Sr. Public Information Officer, Lambda Legal
213-382-7600 ext: 247Cell: 415-595-9245
jhowe@lambdalegal.org
Gordon Smith, Communications Director, ACLU of SoCal
213-977-5247
gsmith@aclu-sc.org
Vaishalee Raja, Communications Director, Equality California
Cell: 916.284.9187
vaishalee@eqca.org
Prop 8 Challenge Legal Team to Hold Press Conference Following Supreme Court Ruling
LOS ANGELES
LOS ANGELES - The California Supreme Court has announced that it will rule Tuesday, May 26, 2009, on whether Proposition 8, passed by a slim majority of voters on November 4 and eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry, was a valid amendment to the California Constitution.
At 10:30 a.m. - approximately a half-hour after the expected posting of the ruling - attorneys for plaintiff couples and community leaders will hold a news conference to discuss the ruling and what it means for California's same-sex couples and their families, communities of color, and the future of LGBT rights in California. Clergy members will deliver an invocation at 9:45 a.m., shortly before the ruling is announced.
WHEN:
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
9:45 a.m. Clergy Invocation
10:30 a.m. News Conference
WHERE:
Lucy Florence Cultural Center
3351 W. 43rd Street, L.A., CA 90008
WHO:
* Ron Buckmire, Jordan Rustin Coalition
* Jenny Pizer, Lambda Legal Marriage Project Director and Co-counsel, Strauss v. Horton
* Mark Rosenbaum, Legal Director, ACLU of Southern California
* Rocky Delgadillo, City Attorney of Los Angeles
* Nancy Ramirez, Western Regional Attorney, MALDEF
* Rev. Eric Lee, President/CEO, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California
* Marc Solomon, Equality California (organizational plaintiff in Strauss v. Horton)
* Jorge Amaro, Latino Equality Alliance
* Doreena Wong, API Equality
* Lorri L. Jean, CEO, L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center
Gay rights groups filed Strauss v. Horton, challenging Proposition 8, on November 5. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal and the ACLU, representing six couples and Equality California, argued that the radical change attempted by Proposition 8 amounts to a "revision" of the California Constitution that cannot be accomplished by a simple majority vote of the electorate unless first approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature. Civil rights groups representing people of color and other minority groups joined the challenge because of a shared concern about protecting the constitutional guarantee of equality.
Local couples and community leaders will be available in English, Spanish, Chinese and Korean for one-on-one interviews.
Equality California is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grassroots-based, statewide advocacy organization whose mission is to achieve equality and civil rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.
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Sanders Shows Senate Dems How to Message 'No' Vote on GOP Spending Scam
Republicans' continuing resolution, he warned, "will provide a blank check for the administration and Mr. Musk to continue their savage war against working families, the elderly, children, the sick, and the poor."
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With a shutdown looming, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday offered his Democratic colleagues a blueprint for how to reject Republicans' stopgap measure, which would fund the government through the end of September but, as critics warn, give President Donald Trump—and billionaire Elon Musk—broad discretion over spending priorities.
"Since President Trump has been in office we have seen chaos, shock, and heartbreak," Sanders (I-Vt.)—who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020—said in a statement explaining his plan to vote "no" on the House-approved package.
"We have seen oligarchs take over our government and the wealthiest person in the world decimate programs that provide support for a struggling working class," Sanders said, pointing to Trump and Musk's recent attacks on the Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Social Security Administration.
"We have seen a move toward authoritarianism where the president is illegally usurping the powers of Congress, while his administration challenges the role of the federal courts in constraining unconstitutional administrative actions," he continued, echoing his recent Senate floor speeches and national tour.
The continuing resolution (CR) passed Tuesday by 216 House Republicans and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) "will provide a blank check for the administration and Mr. Musk to continue their savage war against working families, the elderly, children, the sick, and the poor in order to lay the groundwork for massive tax breaks for the billionaire class," Sanders warned.
"This legislation will also provide a green light for the administration to continue its illegal and unconstitutional activities," he concluded. "This is a bill I cannot support. Instead, the Senate must pass a 30-day CR so that all members of Congress, not just the House Republican leadership, can come together and produce legislation that works for all Americans, not just the few."
Sanders' statement came amid fears that Senate Democrats may cave to the GOP plan in exchange for a certain-to-fail vote on an alternative bill. Although Republicans control the upper chamber, they lack a filibuster-proof majority—meaning at least 60 senators have to agree to hold a vote on most legislation, including a CR on funding.
Progressives in the House who stood against the Republican package urged Senate Democrats to continue the fight to actually pass an alternative spending bill that doesn't further empower Trump and Musk—such as a "clean" 30-day CR that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other key members of the party have suggested.
"Some Senate Democrats are being tempted to pretend to fight the Trump-Musk funding bill today, then quietly agree to give up on blocking it," Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) said on social media Thursday. "That would be a disastrous decision. Voting for cloture on a bill that allows Musk and Trump to steal from taxpayers is the same as voting to allow Musk and Trump to steal from taxpayers. Everything is on the line. Democrats weren't elected to put up a fake fight."
CPC Chair Emeritas Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) similarly declared that "Democrats need to stand up and fight for the American people," and expressed support for the 30-day resolution.
Progressive voices outside of Congress are also calling on Democrats to keep up the fight ahead of the potential shutdown, which would occur if a deal isn't reached before the end of Friday.
"Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats must insist on a clean 30-day funding bill," Public Citizen and Indivisible said in a joint statement. "Helping Republicans pass their harmful, partisan slush-fund for Trump and Musk would correctly and needlessly redirect the public's outrage from Republicans to Democrats. Even those who would be most directly harmed by a government shutdown—federal employees—have said they are willing to risk a Republican-created government shutdown instead of allowing the ongoing lawless dismantling of government, and they're right."
"All Americans should be clear: The Republican long-term CR is not a clean continuation of previous funding commitments. It would enable Trump and Musk to claim much greater authority to violate the separation of powers and refuse to spend appropriated funds," the groups continued. "The Republican long-term CR also would impose draconian spending cuts on Washington, D.C. and impose pointless, devastating harm on children in the nation's capital."
"If Republicans disregard the well-being of the country and choose to shut down the government over their failure to pass their destructive funding bill," they vowed, "we and our partners will mobilize across the country to ensure the anger of voters is directed at the culprits of this manufactured crisis, in defense of the vital programs that Musk's MAGA allies are eager to destroy for the sake of greater corporate profits."
DHS Official Explicitly Equates Protest to Terrorism in 'Stunning' Interview
"This is one of the most chilling things I've heard a senior U.S. official say."
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In an interview with one of the top officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, NPR's Michel Martin sought to gain clarity about the agency's reasoning for arresting former Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil last week—but Troy Edgar provided no supporting evidence of specific offenses committed by Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime, and suggested his mere participation in "pro-Palestinian activity" was sufficient to order his deportation.
Edgar, the deputy homeland security secretary, repeatedly alleged that Khalil was in the U.S. on a visa, despite Martin correcting him and clarifying that the Algerian citizen is a legal permanent resident of the country with a green card—until it was reportedly revoked under the Trump administration's "catch and revoke" program targeting international students who protest the government's pro-Israel policy.
The Trump administration has accused Khalil, who is of Palestinian descent, of leading "activities aligned to Hamas" and protests where pro-Hamas propaganda was distributed, but officials have provided no evidence that he's provided support to Hamas or other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
A White House official this week toldThe Free Press that Khalil is not being accused of breaking any laws, but is rather "a threat to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States," and Edgar's comments to Martin offered further evidence evidence that DHS is working to deport Khalil without accusing him of a crime.
"He is coming in to basically be a student that is not going to be supporting terrorism," said Edgar. "So, the issue is he was let into the country on this visa. He has been promoting this antisemitism activity at the university. And at this point, the State Department has revoked his visa for supporting a terrorist type organization."
But Edgar was unable to point to specific "terrorist activity" that Khalil was supporting when he helped lead Palestinian solidarity protests at Columbia, where students occupied a building and displayed a banner labeling it Hind's Hall in honor of a six-year-old girl who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and negotiated with administrators to end the school's investment in companies that benefit from Israel's policies in Palestine.
"How did he support Hamas? Exactly what did he do?" Martin pressed.
"Well, I think you can see it on TV, right?" Edgar replied. "This is somebody that we've invited and allowed the student to come into the country, and he's put himself in the middle of the process of basically pro-Palestinian activity."
Martin then repeatedly asked whether criticism of the U.S. government, which is the largest international funder of the Israeli military and has backed its assault on Gaza, and protesting are deportable offenses.
"Let me put it this way, Michel, imagine if he came in and filled out the form and said, 'I want a student visa.' They asked him, 'What are you going to do here?' And he says, 'I'm going to go and protest.' We would have never let him into the country," said Edgar. "I think if he would have declared he's a terrorist, we would have never let him in."
Will Creeley, legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), called the interview "stunning" and said Edgar's "conflation of protest and terrorism stopped me cold."
The interview, said Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid, serves as the latest confirmation from the Trump administration that "Mahmoud Khalil's arrest has no basis."
The interview was released the same day that more than 100 people were arrested at a sit-in led by Jewish Voice of Peace at Trump Tower in New York City, demanding Khalil's release. His arrest has sparked outcry from progressives in Congress, local lawmakers including New York mayoral candidate and state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani, legal experts, and the human rights group Amnesty International.
As Trump and Cabinet Thrash Climate, Coalition Demands Dems Hold the Line Against Big Oil Immunity
"What's at stake here isn't just who pays for climate disasters—it's whether our democracy allows powerful industries to simply rewrite the rules when justice catches up to them," said the communications director at Make Polluters Pay.
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Over 190 groups are urging Democrats in Congress resist any attempts by Big Oil to evade potential legal liability amid the growing number of legal and legislative efforts aimed at holding major polluters accountable for their role in the climate crisis.
In a Thursday letter addressed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the groups urge Democratic lawmakers "to proactively and affirmatively reject any proposal that would shield fossil fuel companies" from those efforts.
A quarter of U.S. residents live in a state or locality that is "taking ExxonMobil and other major fossil fuel companies to court to hold them accountable for this deception and make them pay for the damage their climate lies have caused," according to the letter. Maine, for example, became the eighth U.S. state to sue major oil and gas companies for deceiving the public about their products' role in the climate crisis.
The letter signatories include a long list of green groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and Extinction Rebellion US, as well as the American Association of Justice and other nonprofits.
The Supreme Court on Monday denied a request by a coalition of Republican state attorneys general aimed at preventing oil and gas companies from facing these types of lawsuits. Trump has also vowed to block climate litigation aimed at Big Oil.
In their letter, the groups also point to a number of efforts, some successful, to pass what are known as "superfund laws," which force privately owned polluters to help cover the costs of protecting public infrastructure from climate-fueled threats. Oil and gas companies have lobbied against the passage of these laws.
"What's at stake here isn't just who pays for climate disasters—it's whether our democracy allows powerful industries to simply rewrite the rules when justice catches up to them," said Cassidy DiPaola, communications director of Make Polluters Pay—one of the letter's signatories—in a Thursday statement.
"Lawmakers must decisively reject any attempt by the fossil fuel industry to evade accountability and ensure both justice today and the right of future generations to hold polluters responsible for decades of deception," DiPaola continued.
The letter references episodes when "fossil fuel companies and their allies" tried to "secure a blanket waiver of liability for their industry."
In 2017, a carbon tax plan spearheaded by a group of Republican statesmen and economists proposed stopping potential lawsuits against oil companies and other corporations that release greenhouse gases, and in 2020, the fossil fuel industry tried to quietly include a liability waiver for itself in a government Covid-19 relief package, according to the outlet Drilled.
The letter also highlights that 60 Democratic House members urged leadership to categorically oppose efforts to "immunize polluters" in response to the latter effort.
"We have reason to believe that the fossil fuel industry and its allies will use the chaos and overreach of the new Trump administration to attempt yet again to pass some form of liability waiver and shield themselves from facing consequences for their decades of pollution and deception," the letter states. "That effort—no matter what form it takes—must not be allowed to succeed."
The demand from these groups comes amid broader attacks on climate and environmental protections from the Trump administration
On Wednesday, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a series of actions to roll back environmental regulation impacting issues ranging from rules on pollution from power plants to regulations for vehicles.
On his first day in office, Trump signed executive orders withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and initiated plans to open up Alaskan wilderness to drilling and mining.
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