Posts filed under 'Civil Rights'
President Obama has given several very important policy speeches during this month of September 2009. In general transcripts of President Obama’s speeches are easily found on the White House Speeches and Remarks site. A few of the September 2009 speeches are highlighted here:
Remarks by the President in a National Address to America’s Schoolchildren (Sept. 8th, Wakefield High School, Arlington, VA)
Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care (Sept. 9th, U.S. Capital, Washington, D.C.)
Remarks by the President on Financial Rescue and Reform (Sept. 14th, Federal Hall, New York, NY)
September 22nd, 2009
Vermont began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples today, becoming one of five states to allow same-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, and Maine are the others. New Hampshire will begin allowing same-sex couples to marry beginning January 1, 2010. California briefly allowed same-sex marriages, but stopped after the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008.
September 1st, 2009
Here is a piece of news I missed this weekend. The United States Census Bureau announced on Friday that it will count married same-sex couples in the 2010 Census. According to an article in the Washington Post, this is a reversal of a decision made by the Bush Administration not to count same-sex married couples because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The Obama Administration does not interpret DOMA as prohibiting this count. According to the article, the Census Bureau is now working to identify the technical changes needed to ensure the reliability of the information on such couples.
June 22nd, 2009
The California Supreme Court has just announced it will issue its ruling on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, May 26th at 10am. The opinion of the court will be found here on Tuesday: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/.
May 22nd, 2009
Maine’s Governor, John E. Baldacci, signed into law LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom. Maine becomes the 5th state to recognize same-sex marriages. More details can be found at the Governor’s website and the San Francisco Chronicle.
May 6th, 2009
UC Berkeley has recently acquired full-text access to the United States Congressional Serial Set (1789-1969) through LexisNexis Congressional. The Serial Set contains the legislative history of United States, and also includes many historic agency annual reports, House and Senate Reports, and many other official government documents (for a more complete summary of what is contained in the Serial Set, click here). Prior to this acquisition, citations to the Serial Set found in LexisNexis Congressional had to be searched in the Readex United States Congressional Serial Set database. With this purchase, you can now search LexisNexis Congressional for all your congressional research needs. Off-campus access to LexisNexis Congressional is restricted to current UCB student, faculty and staff, though anyone in the Library may access the database.
May 5th, 2009
In an opinion released today, the Iowa Supreme Court declared a state statute defining marriage as only between and man and women as violating the Iowa State Constitution. The full opinion can be read here:
http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Supreme_Court/Recent_Opinions/20090403/07-1499.pdf
or here:
http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/wfData/files/Varnum/07-1499.pdf
April 3rd, 2009
Beginning at 9am on March 5 (this Thursday), you can watch the California Supreme Court hear the oral arguments on Proposition 8 through the California Channel’s Website. Much like CSPAN, the California Channel covers the California state legislature, the governor and state agency press conferences. Many of their videos are available for free on this website.
March 3rd, 2009
The Connecticut Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to marry in a 4-3 ruling issued today. Connecticut is the 3rd state to allow same-sex couples the right to marry, following Massachusetts in 2004 and California earlier this year. The decision will take effect on October 28.
October 10th, 2008
According to an article in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice participated in meetings at the White House from 2002-2003 to discuss the use of “harsh interrogation methods on Al Qaeda detainees.” This news comes from a written statement Rice provided to Senate Armed Services Committee investing the use of torture. Present at these meetings were Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, David S. Addington, the vice president’s counsel. According to the article, the State Department “would not comment on correspondence between Rice and members of Congress.”
September 26th, 2008
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