Judges Rosemary Barkett, Phyllis Kravitch, and William Pryor will decide two lgbt-related cases to be argued this week before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Barkett and Kravitch (who is on senior status) are two of the liberal members of what is usually a conservative circuit; they were appointed by Presidents Clinton and Carter, respectively. Pryor, considered [...]
Paul Oetken will become a member of the same court – the Southern District of New York – where Judge Deborah Batts, the first openly lesbian federal judge, sits. Judge Batts was appointed by President Clinton in 1994; at that time, her sexual orientation was not known to the public. President Clinton also appointed openly [...]
And what's even scarier is that the Des Moines Register reports that polls show a tie between supporters and opponents on the retention vote for the three state supreme court judges on the ballot, all of whom joined the ruling that gay couples must be allowed to marry. See other attacks on judicial independence at [...]
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter has appointed Deputy State Attorney General Monica Marquez to serve as a justice on the state supreme court. Marquez, 41, becomes only the third openly gay judge on any state supreme court, joining Oregon Supreme Court Justices Virginia Linder and Rives Kistler.Marquez currently is the head of the state services section of the [...]
By SF Bar Assn President Arturo J. Gonzalez in the LA Times: I write on behalf of the Bar Assn. of San Francisco, a legal professional membership organization with 8,000 members that works to elevate the standards of integrity, honor and respect in the practice of law. I disagree with Times Assistant Managing Editor David [...]
From the L A Times:Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye moved one step closer Wednesday to becoming the first minority California chief justice, winning unanimous confirmation by a state commission. The three-member Commission on Judicial Appointments heard nearly two hours of testimony before approving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's nominee to head the state's $3.5-billion court system and the California Supreme [...]