EDITH WINDSOR, REST IN POWER | Travel Ban And Texas Maps Not Going Nowhere | WHERE THE LADIES AT
September 13, 2017
REST IN POWER
|“Edith Windsor, the gay-rights activist whose landmark case led the Supreme Court to grant same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time and rights to a host of federal benefits that until then only married heterosexuals had enjoyed, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 88, a civil rights icon and an American hero to many.”
THE PERFECT WIFE
|Ariel Levy with The New Yorker tells the story of EDITH WINDSOR: a woman who fell in love, got married, and won a landmark case for gay marriage. As far as articles go, this one captures Windsor, her magic, her persona better than anything else you’ll read today.
ICYMI – NEVER SAY DIE
|The travel ban is still very much a thing. The Supreme Court yesterday agreed with the Trump administration and put a hold on a lower-court decision that would have allowed more refugees to enter the country. At issue is whether the president can block a group of about 24,000 refugees, who have assurances from sponsors, from entering the United States. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had interpreted a Supreme Court directive this summer to mean that such refugees should be allowed in, but the government objected. SCOTUS will hear the merits of PRESIDENT TRUMP’S travel ban order on October 10.
LET'S TALK TEXAS
|The Supreme Court justices announced last night they voted 5-4 along partisan lines to block a three-judge panel’s ruling that said Texas needed to redraw its congressional district map that was adopted in 2013. The stay will remain in place until the Supreme Court receives and acts on an appeal from the state of Texas, which means current legislative maps are likely to be used in the 2018 elections.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board at The Washington Post wants the Supreme Court to strike down Wisconsin’s gerrymandering rules. “Gerrymandering has contributed to a ‘crisis of confidence in our democracy,’ reads the brief filed by MR. MCCAIN and his Democratic colleague SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (R.I.). The judiciary cannot and should not be the sole solution to this crisis, but it has a valuable role to play in reassuring Americans that their votes matter.”
WHERE THE LADIES AT
|“Of the 42 people PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has nominated as US attorneys, the chief federal prosecutors throughout the country, only one is a woman.” That’s Joan Biskupic with CNN reporting that this pattern of nominees from the Trump administration could very well shift “how the nation’s laws would be enforced and underscores Trump’s broader lack of diversity in appointments, starting at the top with his Cabinet, which is dominated by white men.”
HELL HATH NO FURY
|In The Washington Post, Jonathan Capehart tells us of the time EDITH WINDSOR“got angry and changed America.” He writes, “By bringing her revolutionary suit, Windsor was simply fighting to make her life — all of our (LGBT) lives — ordinary. But by trying to be ordinary, Windsor showed her life to be extraordinary.”
SCOTUS MOVIE REVIEWS
|Best SCOTUS movie date? JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER. TMZ caught the justice on camera at Reagan National Airport in DC and asked him about movies he’s recently seen. Justice Breyer called out “The Big Sick” and said, “It’s a very good movie.” (He ain’t wrong.) And when asked what his top three favorite movies are, the justice simply said, “Groundhog Day.” TMZ, I think you’ve found a new focus area. Ditch the celeb sightings and give the people what they want: more info on our beloved Supreme Court justices.
TODAY IN HISTORY
|On this day in 1962, Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s order for the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, a black student, declaring in a televised address, “We will not drink from the cup of genocide.”