The federal court system of the United States is in serious jeopardy — judicial vacancies abound at an alarming rate. With more than 100 vacancies, 49 of which have been declared “judicial emergencies” by the U.S. Courts Administrative Office, something must be done.
Posts Categorized: Judicial System
NOW Urges the Obama Administration to Prosecute Roeder Under Domestic Terrorism
The Associated Press reports that Scott Roeder has confessed to shooting late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in May at a Wichita church. Roeder told AP he intends to use the so-called necessity defense at his trial — arguing he was protecting unborn children. “The absurdity of his defense is insulting and dangerous to women, but it also reveals his terrorist methodology using murder to accomplish his political goals,” says NOW President Terry O’Neill.
NOW President Terry O’Neill Calls Polanski Furor “Dangerous Talk” That Could Set Back Women’s Rights, “Celebrity Culture Gone Haywire” Blurs Case, O’Neill Says
NOW president Terry O’Neill said today that attempts to trivialize or dismiss criminal charges against film director Roman Polanski would undermine the message that sexual abuse is “Never OK.”
Ginsburg Dissents Offer Bright Spots in Two Disappointing Supreme Court Rulings
Today’s Supreme Court ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano was disappointing, but it’s what we have come to expect from the conservative majority on the Roberts Court. Had retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor still been on the court, instead of her successor Justice Samuel Alito, this 5-4 decision might well have gone the other way.
Chris Brown Gets Off Easy – Even Paris Hilton Got More Jail Time
In a preliminary hearing Monday, singer Chris Brown avoided jail time altogether and pled not guilty of assaulting ex-girlfriend and singer Rihanna in February. After the assault, shocking photos of Rihanna surfaced, showing her face badly swollen and bruised.
NOW Denounces California Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Prop 8: Same-Sex Couples’ Constitutional Right to Marriage Denied
Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court to uphold Prop 8 is a devastating setback, but I believe it will be another galvanizing moment in the struggle for equal marriage,” said NOW President Kim Gandy. “We commend the court for allowing to stand the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place under the court’s earlier decision.”
Harassment Complaint Against Federal Judge Calls for Congressional Inquiry
On October 31, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) formally requested that the House Judiciary Committee open an investigative file on U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent, of Galveston, Texas, regarding sexual harassment complaints. Kent was reprimanded by and suspended from the bench by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 28, 2007, but that suspension ends on January 1, 2008.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) applauds Congresswoman Jackson Lee for taking this crucial step, noting as a member of the Judiciary Committee that it is their “obligation as members of the U.S. Congress to do all in our power to prevent all forms of sexual harassment, especially in the judicial arena, which is entrusted to administer these very laws which have allegedly been violated and over which we have oversight.”
National Organization for Women Foundation Opposes Southwick Nomination
The National Organization for Women (NOW) Foundation opposes the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and we are proud to stand today with the Congressional Black Caucus and many allied organizations to ask the U.S. Senate to reject this nomination.
NOW Calls for Judiciary Committee Investigation of Federal Judge Reprimanded after Sexual Harassment Allegations
U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent of Galveston, Texas, received a four-month paid vacation and a slap on the wrist after a secret investigation.