Civil Rights -- Rolling Back Rights

August 25, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, and Ryan Powers

CIVIL RIGHTS

Rolling Back Rights

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In November, citizens in states across the country in the general election will vote on the fate of over 100 different ballot initiatives. Such initiatives "allow voters to directly decide whether to change state laws or amend state constitutions." In 2004, conservative activists across the country worked to put hot-button social issues at the center of these ballot initiatives in an attempt to draw the conservative base to the polls on election day. While some analysts credit these ballot initiative campaigns with "helping George W. Bush win a second term in office," other research indicates that ballot measures "do not drastically alter voter turnout." Regardless of their effect on the result of the presidential and congressional elections, ballot initiatives advanced by conservative activists have enjoyed success in recent years. In 2004, ten states voted on ballot measures opposing marriage equality for same-sex couples and every one of the measures passed. In 2006, conservative activists won again when seven of the eight states with ballot measures opposing marriage equality were approved. Ballot initiatives limiting women's and civil rights have witnessed less success in recent years, but the radical right is still pouring millions of dollars into such campaigns. However, the progressive majority in the U.S. is growing, and states across the country appear more likely to reject the discriminatory proposals of the radical right. In today's Progress Report, we preview what is at stake in this year's election.

GAY RIGHTS: In all, 28 states "have approved adding marriage discrimination to their state constitutions since 1998." This year, three more states will consider bans on gay marriage: California, Arizona, and Florida. Because the populations of California and Florida are so high, "about a quarter of the U.S. population will be directly affected by marriage votes in November." In California, an estimated 15,000 people mobilized over the weekend in an attempt to garner support for overturning "the California Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage." John Matsusaka, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California explained, "If California voters reject the amendment banning gay marriage, it will be the first significant popular affirmation of gay marriage." In Arizona, it will be the second time a proposed ban has appeared on the ballot. In 2006, "Arizona distinguished itself as the first and only state where voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage." A second defeat, however, will not ensure same-sex couples in Arizona have the right to marry, as state law already prohibits such unions. Supporters of the constitutional version of the ban "say it's important to embed that provision in the state Constitution so a judge cannot overturn the state's marriage laws." Floridians will vote on a similar proposal banning same-sex marriage. In a reversal, the ballot measure is now supported by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R). Gay rights are also being challenged in Arkansas, where "a measure to change state law to ban unmarried couples from adopting or serving as foster parents" may appear on the November ballot.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS: California, South Dakota, and Colorado will vote on measures that would impose extreme limits women's reproductive rights. In California, voters will be asked -- for a third time -- to make "parental notification and a waiting period before a minor can have an abortion" a legal requirement. The ballot's description of the measure, referred to by anti-choice activists as "Sarah's law," will feature the story of a 15-year old who tragically died after obtaining a legal abortion in 1994. They argue that "Sarah" would have been saved if the parental notification requirement had been in effect. Planned Parenthood unsuccessfully challenged the description of the measure, citing the fact that "Sarah" was in a common law marriage at the time and would not have been subject to the parental notification required by the proposed measure. South Dakota will consider a measure to ban abortion "except in cases of rape, incest or threats to a woman's health." If approved, "the proposal would give the state one of the strictest bans in the country, and it would almost certainly lead to a challenge in the courts." The anti-choice proposal on the ballot in Colorado goes even further, giving "a single-celled, newly fertilized human egg...the same rights and protections as a fully developed, living, breathing human being." The measure would ban abortion in all circumstances, "certain contraception, including the morning-after pill and the intrauterine device," and even some fertility treatments. The amendment is so extreme that even James Dobson's Focus on the Family views the measure as a political overreach, preferring instead to continue an incremental approach to banning abortion.

CIVIL RIGHTS: Voters in Nebraska and Colorado will consider proposed bans on affirmative action. Such measures in Arizona, Missouri and Oklahoma "did not receive enough valid signatures" to qualify for a spot on their respective ballots. Heading up the initiative to ban affirmative action is Ward Connerly, the Californian who ran similar campaigns in California, Washington and Michigan. This year, his campaign has spent about $3 million and is backing the campaigns in Colorado and Nebraska. In Colorado, "three recent polls show that support for the measure is higher among Democrats than Republicans," most likely because the wording on the ballot measure does not include the words "affirmative action." Bob Loevy, a political scientist at Colorado College, explained, "Many may wake up after Election Day and realize they probably voted for something they didn't want." Craig Hughes, an organizer of the Vote No on Amendment 46 campaign, explained that the wording tactic "follows a pattern with similar measures that passed in other states." "What's deceptive is trying to ban equal opportunity programs in the guise of expanding equal opportunity for all," he said further.

ETHICS -- CHENEY LINKED TO TED STEVENS' CORRUPTION TRIAL: Newsweek reports that in a conversation "secretly tape-recorded by the FBI on June 25, 2006," scandal-clad Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who was recently indicted on allegations that he hid major financial gifts, "discussed ways to get a pipeline bill" through the Alaska Legislature with Bill Allen, an oil-services executive accused of providing the senator with about $250,000 in undisclosed financial benefits." In the conversation, Stevens promised Allen, "I'm gonna try to see if I can get some bigwigs from back here and say, 'Look...you gotta get this done.'" Two days later, Vice President Cheney undertook the unusual move of writing a letter to the Alaska Legislature urging members to "promptly enact" a bill to build the pipeline. The letter was unusual because the White House rarely contacts state lawmakers about pending legislative matters. "We wanted the federal government to tell the state to act quickly on it," Stevesn said, confirming that he did ask Cheney to write the letter.

AFGHANISTAN -- 101ST U.S. SOLDIER KILLED THIS YEAR IN AFGHANISTAN: The U.S. military suffered its 101st death in Afghanistan this year when a soldier was killed last week, making it more likely that this year's death toll in Afghanistan will surpass last year's record of 111 soldiers. The death comes a week after Taliban fighters "mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting," including "a coordinated assault by at least 10 suicide bomber against one of the largest American military bases in the country, and another by about 100 insurgents who killed 10 elite French paratroopers." A New York Times editorial last week urged a change in strategy in Afghanistan, emphasizing that the war there "is not a sideshow. It is the principal military confrontation between America and NATO and the forces responsible for 9/11 and later deadly terrorist attacks on European soil." The Pentagon has declared its intention to send 12,000 to 15,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, where troop levels have been hampered by the war in Iraq. In July, Adm. Mike Mullen said, "I don't have troops I can reach for...to send to Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq."

JUSTICE -- IMMIGRATION JUDGES MORE FREQUENTLY RULED AGAINST ASYLUM-SEEKERS: Last month, a report from the Department of Justice found "that politics illegally influenced the hiring of career prosecutors and immigration judges." The report singled out "the department's former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, for violating federal law and Justice Department policy by discriminating against job applicants who weren't Republican or conservative loyalists." Now, a new analysis of the immigration judges shows that those appointed through the illegal, partisan process created by Goodling and former DoJ official Kyle Sampson have "ruled against asylum-seekers significantly more often than colleagues who were appointed, as the law requires, under politically neutral rules." Thirty-one judges were appointed under the illegal vetting process, and 28 of those remain; one was recently promoted by Attorney General Michael Mukasey to serve on the the Board of Immigration Appeals. "The analysis suggests that the effects of a patronage-style selection process for immigration judges -- used for three years before it was abandoned as illegal -- are still being felt by scores of immigrants whose fates are determined by the judges installed in that period," the New York Times notes.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will speak during tonight's opening of the Democratic National Convention, NBC reports. A convention tribute to the senator "will include a film by documentary producer Ken Burns, along with remarks from Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's daughter."

"Tax and accounting loopholes that largely benefit rich taxpayers and companies cost the U.S. government $20 billion a year even as the pay gap between chief executives and employees has widened," according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies and the group United for a Fair Economy.

Americans who lack health insurance will spend about $30 billion out of pocket on medical care this year, according to a new report from George Mason University and The Urban Institute. At the same time, "others -- mainly the government -- will end up covering another $56 billion in costs.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "is demanding changes to a draft deal on the status of US forces beyond this year." "There are points in the agreement that are still pending and they can't be approved without changes in order to preserve the complete sovereignty of Iraq," the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) quoted Maliki as telling fellow Shi'ite politicians at a meeting on Saturday.

A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people in the Iraqi city of Abu Ghraib Sunday, detonating explosives during a neighborhood celebration for a man who had just been released from detention. "It was one of several attacks that left about 40 people dead," underscoring "the threat still posed by insurgents despite improved security nationwide."

"In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday."

Hydrogen fuel cell cars from nine automakers "completed a 13-day cross-country trip this weekend" -- a first for vehicles powered by a zero-emission technology. While "there were stretches without hydrogen fueling stations when the vehicles were carried on flatbed trucks," one goal "was to demonstrate the need to build more fueling stations if the nascent technology is to develop."

And finally: Filmmaker Spike Lee was engulfed by a horde of reporters as he hit the town yesterday evening in Denver. When one reporter identifying himself as a correspondent for Fox News tried to ask Lee a question, the actor responded, "I don't do Fox News," and immediately disappeared into a restaurant.

Although gasoline this year climbed to over $4 per gallon, "the traffic death toll -- according to one study -- appears headed to the lowest levels since Kennedy moved into the White House. The number is being pulled down by a change in Americans' driving habits."

THINK PROGRESS: NBC censors sexual orientation of openly gay gold medalist diver.

WONK ROOM: Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Levitt pushes new abortion regulation as backdoor effort to restrict contraception.

YGLESIAS: Bill Kristol, feminist.

DAILY KOS: Wall Street Journal writer has problems with reading comprehension.

NEW YORK: Prices on school lunches are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices for food.

CALIFORNIA: "Thousands of California children are in danger of losing health insurance."

HEALTH CARE: "Eight states and Puerto Rico will no longer receive federal money for an advanced HIV monitoring system."

"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff...defended the construction of a fence along the southwest border, saying it's actually better for the environment than what happens when people illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico line."
-- AP, 10/1/07

VERSUS

"Environmentalists say flooding caused by a new border security fence in southwestern Arizona shows the structure is being built too quickly and without regard for the environment."
-- AP, 8/25/08

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