Institute for Southern Studies

Big Money's map mischief in North Carolina

By Alex Kotch and Chris Kromm

This week a panel of three federal judges refused to delay its order that North Carolina redraw congressional maps before the state's March 15 primary elections on the grounds that North Carolina's 1st and 12th districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered along racial lines.

The ruling was not a surprise: North Carolina's congressional and legislative districts have been embroiled in litigation since they were devised by state Republicans after the 2010 Census. In their decision, the judges agreed with voting rights plaintiffs who argued that the unconstitutional way race was used as a "nonnegotiable criterion" in drawing up the maps outweighed the inconvenience the ruling posed to the state, which would could be forced to move its primaries if the ruling stands.

State attorneys immediately appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court; elections experts are split in their predictions about which way the high court will rule.

The North Carolina case highlights the growing role of powerful, well-funded political organizations in the high-stakes world of election map-making. In North Carolina, the Republican State Leadership Committee — a Washington, D.C.-based super PAC created in 2002 to elect state-level GOP candidates — played a uniquely influential role in both creating the state's contested districts and helping to elect state lawmakers and a N.C. Supreme Court Justice who would pass and approve them.

WINNING THE LEGISLATURE: As documented by Facing South and others, in 2010 the Republican State Leadership Committee made it a priority to win over state legislatures in time for the biennial redistricting process. The RSLC funneled $1.25 million to Real Jobs NC, a 527 political committee launched by conservative donors including Art Pope, who sat on the group's board.

Real Jobs NC was part of a constellation of Pope-connected groups that targeted nearly two-dozen races. Republicans won 80 percent of the contests, helping fuel the GOP's historic capture of the N.C. General Assembly, and putting Republicans in charge of drawing the state's new Congressional and legislative districts.

DRAWING THE LINES: After winning the election, the Republican State Leadership Committee turned to its nonprofit arm, the State Government Leadership Foundation, to aid in creating North Carolina's new political districts.

As reported by ProPublica, Chris Jankowski — who headed both the RSLC and the Leadership Foundation — wrote a letter to North Carolina lawmakers describing the role his groups could play in the process. The letter, which became public as a result of the redistricting lawsuits, read in part:

Our team would be happy to assist in drawing proposed maps, interpreting data, or providing advice … We are engaged in a number of states and believe we are playing a meaningful role in helping draw fair and legal lines that will allow us to run competitive elections in 2012 and in future cycles.

Heading the Leadership Foundation's redistricting team was Tom Hofeller, a GOP mapmaking veteran. On Feb. 1, 2011, Hofeller came to North Carolina for the first of 10 visits he would make to the state. According to depositions gathered in the lawsuit, Hofeller and others — including Art Pope — used Hofeller's software to create a so-called "10-3" map that would pack Democrats (and African Americans) into three districts, allowing 10 others to be dominated by Republicans.

SECURING THE COURT: With North Carolina's controversial districts guaranteed to face a robust legal challenge, the RSLC moved aggressively to secure a conservative majority on the N.C. Supreme Court, where the redistricting lawsuit would be heard.

In 2012, with conservative Justice Paul Newby facing a tough election and the court's 5-4 conservative majority on the line, the RSLC funneled nearly $1.2 million into the North Carolina-based group Justice for All N.C., formed in May of that year. Justice for All then used that money and donations from other sources to fund another state-based group, the North Carolina Judicial Coalition, which ultimately spent nearly $2 million on ads supporting Newby. Justice for All also spent $175,000 directly on ads supporting Newby, who beat opponent Sam Ervin by a 52-48 margin.

In 2014, the RSLC sent over another $1.3 million to Justice for All, which spent nearly $900,000 on a widely-panned attack ad against incumbent justice Robin Hudson, and $425,000 moresupporting conservative candidate Mike Robinson in a second supreme court race. Both liberal incumbents held onto their seats.

The N.C. Supreme Court ruled twice to accept the congressional and state legislative districts, most recently in December 2015 on a 4-3 decision following party lines. Justice Newby refused a request from attorneys involved in the redistricting lawsuit that he recuse himself, given the role the RSLC played in both drawing the maps and electing him to office.

The conservative N.C. Supreme Court majority approved the maps in December even after the U.S. Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to North Carolina, had taken a clear stand against racial gerrymandering in a similar case in Alabama. As legal expert Billy Corriher wrote for the Center for American Progress, "When it upheld the maps [in December], the North Carolina Supreme Court's four-justice conservative majority essentially ignored the rules laid out in the Supreme Court's Alabama decision."

This week, the state Supreme Court refused to rehear a different case that challenges both the legislative and congressional districts, a case that may also end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Big Money, court conflicts

The RSLC's role in North Carolina's judicial elections has been especially controversial given the backing the political group receives from key corporate interests in North Carolina, including companies and groups with business before the N.C. Supreme Court.

A Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies analysis of reports submitted to the Internal Revenue Service finds that eight North Carolina companies have given $100,000 or more to the RSLC since 2011. While the donations slowed slightly in 2015, they continue to come from many of the companies that have been faithful donors over the years. Total contributions from North Carolina businesses to the RSLC totaled nearly $733,000 last year.

Among the largest North Carolina backers of the Republican State Leadership Committee:

REYNOLDS AMERICAN: Leading the pack by a wide margin is tobacco giant Reynolds American, based in Winston-Salem, which has given the RSLC close to $3.1 million over the past five years. Last year, Reynolds completed a $27.4 billion merger with Greensboro-based tobacco company Lorillard, which is the state's second-biggest donor to the RSLC, having pitched in nearly $335,000 since 2011. The merger unites two already substantial political donors to conservative groups. In addition to funneling money through the RSLC, the two companies — which have had key cases appear in N.C. courts in recent years — have been directly involved in spending on judicial elections: Since 2012, Reynolds American has given Justice for All $130,000 and Lorillard has donated $25,000. Reynolds gave $150,000 to the N.C. Judicial Coalition in 2012.

DUKE ENERGY: The nation's biggest utility company, which has had considerable business before the high court regarding rate hikes and environmental issues such as its 2014 coal ash spill, has given consistently every year since 2011 for a total of $305,000.

Other leading corporate donors to the RSLC from North Carolina include Time Warner Cable($300,000) and Variety Stores, the retail chain owned by Art Pope ($250,000). The following chart outlines North Carolina's top corporate contributors to the RSLC:

While North Carolina's 2010 maps continue to be fought out in the courts, the Republican State Leadership Committee already has its eyes on the future: The group has launched its Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP) for 2020, when the next Census is due, with a goal of spending a whopping $125 million on its efforts.

By Alex Kotch on February 12, 2016

http://www.southernstudies.org/2016/02/big-moneys-map-mischief-in-north-carolina.html

Mikey Amman to America for Bernie Sanders 2016

These 40 quotes, especially the final quote on this list, demonstrate precisely why Ted Cruz should never be allowed to become president.

40 Ted Cruz Quotes That Prove He Would

Be The Worst President Of All Time

These 40 quotes, especially the final quote on this list, demonstrate precisely why Ted Cruz should never be allowed to become president.

ADDICTINGINFO.ORG

40 Ted Cruz Quotes That Prove He Would Be The Worst President Of All Time

February 14, 2016

Ted Cruz is one of the most extreme individuals to ever run for the presidency. As such he has left a trail of quotes that should be held against him as his 2016 campaign continues.

His campaign has primarily focused on religion in an effort to attract the support of conservative “Christians,” much like Rick Santorum did in 2012.

And just like Rick Santorum, Cruz has also made his fair share of statements on topics such as the environment, science, foreign policy, and women’s rights among others based on his fanatical religious views that completely disqualify him as a viable occupant of the White House.

Here are 40 of them.

1. “I am saddened to see that some here, not everyone, but some here, are so consumed with hate… If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you.”
~Ted Cruz trashing his Muslim-American audience, who promptly booed him, September 2014

2. “It is now or never. I don’t think we’ve reached the point of no return yet. But we’re close. We are close! And I believe if we go four or eight more years on this same path, we risk losing the greatest country in the history of the world. Millions of Americans are realizing this isn’t working. The Obama economy is a disaster. Obamacare is a train wreck. And the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind — the whole world is on fire.”
~Ted Cruz before scaring a little girl with same ending line as if the apocalypse is upon us, March 2015

3. “You always have to be worried about something that is considered a so-called scientific theory that fits every scenario. Climate change, as they have defined it, can never be disproved, because whether it gets hotter or whether it gets colder, whatever happens, they’ll say, well, it’s changing, so it proves our theory.”
~Ted Cruz bashing science and denying the reality of climate change, January 2015

4. “I think it’s an enormous blessing to be the child of an immigrant who fled oppression, because you realize how fragile liberty is and how easily it can be taken away.”
~Ted Cruz being a hypocrite on immigrants, June 2011

5. “No man who doesn’t begin every day on his knees is fit to stand in the Oval Office.”
~Ted Cruz saying atheists should are unqualified to be president, August 2015

6. “Let me say something to the school-aged kids here. When Heidi’s first lady, French fries are coming back to the cafeteria… The last I checked the cardboard was supposed to be on the tray and not in the food!”
~Ted Cruz tries to pander to kids by promising them unhealthy food for lunch, January 2016

7. “If I am elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need health care reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles: Number 1, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That’ll create a true 50-state national marketplace while will drive down the cost of low-cost catastropic health insurance. Number 2, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine health care needs. And Number 3, we should work to delink health insurance from employment, so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you, and it is personal, portable, and affordable, and I tell you, Bret I think that’s a much more attractive vision for health care than the Washington-driven, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions to hurt.”
~Ted Cruz stating that only the rich and healthy will have health insurance if he is president, January 2016

8. “Listen on the question of tithing, all of us are on a faith journey, and I will readily admit that I have not been as faithful in this aspect of my walk as I should have been. That article focuses on ten years ago. We don’t have the ability to go back and change what occurred ten years ago when Heidi and I were newly married and we’d just started a family. But at the end of the day, being a Christian is not about holding yourself out as righteous. It’s about beginning with the understanding that we are flawed sinners and we are saved not by deeds but by Christ’s redemption. I am grateful that God is a patient and forgiving God and this area, as in many areas of my life I am working to do a better job walking in my faith.”
~Ted Cruz lying to a Christian reporter about how much he tithes, January 2016

9. “Well my aspiration is to, uh, oh I don’t know, be in a teen tit film like that guy who played Horatio. You know he was in Malibu Bikini Beach Shop. Well, other than that, take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything. Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff.”
~Ted Cruz admitting at the age of 18 that he wants to achieve world domination in a video released in January 2016

10. “I’ll tell you, you know who one of those millions of Americans is who’s lost their health care because of Obamacare? That would be me. I don’t have health care right now.”
~Ted Cruz lies about not having health insurance and blames President Obama for it, January 2016

11. “JFK campaigned on tax cuts, limiting government and standing up and defeating Soviet communists. JFK would be a Republican today. He stood for religious liberty, and he would be tarred and feathered by the modern Democratic Party.”
~Ted Cruz claiming JFK would be in the GOP today only to then be smacked down by JFK’s grandson, January 2016

12. “I believe in the death penalty.”
~Ted Cruz in his book as dug up by the New York Times in January 2016

13. “We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion. I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out!”
~Ted Cruz stating his willingness to kill everyone and everything in the Middle East to beat ISIS even though carpet bombing is a war crime, December 2015

14. “If you’re a DACA recipient, you were brought here illegally, and violating the law has consequences. One of the problems of our broken immigration system is that it is creating human tragedies and there are human tragedies when people break the law.”
~Ted Cruz tells a woman to her face that he will deport her and her family if elected president, January 2016

15. “What happened in Benghazi is a national disgrace. Four Americans were murdered. We lost the first ambassador in the line of duty since the Carter administration. The immediate response of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the entire administration was to engage in deception, obstruction and cover up. They began by falsely blaming it on some ridiculous internet video, but even before that was the question that everyone should ask is why was security not there in the first place when the ambassador said over and over again, keep us safe. We do know Hillary told her daughter Chelsea, well gosh, I knew it was a terrorist attack, while we were out telling the American people it wasn’t. You know I’ll tell you, in my house, if my daughter Catherine, the five-year-old, says something she knows to be false, she gets a spanking.”
~Ted Cruz lies about Benghazi before saying he wants to physically discipline Hillary Clinton for it, January 2016

16. “I want to tell everyone to get ready, strap on the full armor of God, get ready for the attacks that are coming.”
~Ted Cruz tells his fanatical supporters to get ready to do battle on his behalf, January 2016

17. “We’ve seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world’s leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism…You’d better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal.”
~Ted Cruz vows not to honor the Iran nuclear deal, favoring war instead, September 2015

18. “The next president should announce that America is moving its embassy to Jerusalem. For decades political candidates, Republicans and Democrats, have talked about doing so. Enough talk! We need a leader who will act and respect the eternal capital of Israel.”
~Ted Cruz says he would inflame tensions in the Middle East and basically start World War III for Israel, June 2015

19. “Listen, absolutely, yes. I think the first obligation of everyone in public office is to protect life. Life is foundational. In fact, as you look at the Declaration, that ordering of unalienable rights — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — I think is a very deliberate ordering. I very much agree with the pope’s longstanding, and the prior popes’ before him, longstanding call to protect every human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child’s Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law.”
~Ted Cruz misreading the Constitution and declaring his intention to outlaw abortion despite Roe v. Wade, December 2015

20. “The simple and undeniable fact is the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats.”
~Ted Cruz says 43 percent of the American people are violent criminals, November 2015

21. “There is no doubt that millions of people are suffering from the rise of radical Islamic terrorists. Christians are suffering, Jews are suffering and other Muslims are suffering… What I’m saying is Syrian Muslim refugees should be resettled in the Middle East, in majority Muslim countries.”
~Ted Cruz says only Christians should be allowed to enter the United States, November 2015

22. “There is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror. If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation. But it is precisely the Obama administration’s unwillingness to recognize that or ask those questions that makes them so unable to fight this enemy. Because they pretend as if there is no religious aspect to this.”
~Ted Cruz falsely claiming that Christians do not commit acts of terrorism, November 2016

23. “Climate change is not science, it’s religion.”
~Ted Cruz claims climate science is a religious view, October 2015

24. “It’s wrong for Barack Obama to threaten to shut down the government over the issue. Under no circumstances should we spend $500 million … funding Planned Parenthood, which appears to be a criminal enterprise.”
~Ted Cruz attacks Planned Parenthood and blames President Obama for wanting a government shutdown when he’s the one really trying to shut it down again, September 2015

25. “I stand with Kim Davis.”
~Ted Cruz declaring his support of a religious anti-gay bigot, September 2015

26. “Nothing is more important in the next 18 months than that the body of Christ rise up and that Christians stand up, that pastors stand up and lead. In this last election, 54 million evangelical Christians stayed home … If we can simply bring Christians to the polls — is it any wonder we have the government we have, we have the leaders we have if believers stay home and leave electing our leaders to unbelievers. We get exactly what we deserve and nothing is more important than having people of faith stand up and just vote our values, vote biblical values and that’s how we turn the country around.”
~Ted Cruz openly planning to turn America into a Christian-ruled tyranny, August 2015

27. “Following the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama and Harry Reid lead an assault, not on going after violent criminals, which is what they should have done, but instead going after the Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. And I led the fight to protect the Second Amendment in the U.S. Senate and we defeated President Obama efforts to undermine our rights.”
~Ted Cruz bragging about ignoring the mass killing of 20 little kids to oppose gun control measures, August 2015

28. “We need a Commander-in-Chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ What we need is a Commander-in-Chief who makes clear: If you join ISIS, if you wage Jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.”
~Ted Cruz thinks merely shouting “radical Islam” will defeat ISIS, August 2015

29. “Our single vote in opposition is just and the abstentions of our friends are welcome, but at this point they are meaningless gestures. It is time to stop ceding moral authority to the UNHRC and tell the truth about this hopelessly biased and anti-Semitic institution. There is no equivalency between Israel’s right to self-defense and Hamas’ genocidal aggression against the Jewish people. There is no equivalence between Israel’s extraordinary efforts to protect civilians and Hamas’ use of the Palestinian people as human shields. Being party to any body that believes there is only perpetuates this injustice. The United States should stop legitimizing the UNHRC with our membership and withdraw now.”
~Ted Cruz declaring that he will remove America from the United Nations Human Rights Council, July 2015

30. “I like Donald Trump. I think he’s terrific, I think he’s brash, I think he speaks the truth…He has a way of speaking that gets attention. And I credit him for focusing on an issue that needs to be focused on.”
~Ted Cruz agreeing with Donald Trump that Mexicans are a bunch of rapists, June 2015

31. “You know, Vice President Joe Biden. You know the nice thing? You don’t need a punch line. (uproarious laughter) I promise you it works — the next party you’re at, just walk up to someone, say “Vice President Joe Biden” and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing. And Biden said, if anyone attacks your house, just go outside with a double-barrel shotgun, and fire both barrels. Now that is very very good advice… if it so happens you’re being attacked by a flock of geese.”
~Ted Cruz cruelly mocks Joe Biden after his son Beau died, June 2015

32. “This bill is symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington — an addiction to spending money we do not have. The United States Senate should not be in the business of exploiting victims of natural disasters to fund pork projects that further expand our debt.”
~Ted Cruz denying disaster relief funding to Hurricane Sandy victims in 2013.

33. “There are a series of federal statutory thresholds that have to be satisfied. Initially, it appears those thresholds are likely to be satisfied by the magnitude of the damage we’re seeing. Democrats and Republicans in the congressional delegation will stand as one in support of the federal government meeting its statutory obligations to provide the relief to help the Texans who are hurting.”
~Ted Cruz demanding federal disaster relief for his own state and being a hypocrite simultaneously, May 2015

34. “Instead of a tax code that crushes innovation and inflicts burdens on families struggling to make ends met, imagine a simple, flat tax that lets Americans fill out their taxes on a postcard. Imagine a tax code that is simple enough to abolish the IRS.”
~Ted Cruz saying he would abolish the IRS and lower taxes to the point where our government couldn’t function, April 2015

35. “We need a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.”
~Ted Cruz longing for the Senate to be dominated by pro-segregationist racists who oppose the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, March 2015

36. “I think when it comes to campaign finance reform it is one of the most misunderstood issues in terms of the debate. I am first and foremost a constitutionalist. I believe in the Constitution and I believe in the bill of rights. We saw last year, and you probably didn’t see it because it wasn’t covered in the local media, but Senate Democrats introduced and voted on an amendment to repeal the free speech protections of the first amendment.”
~Ted Cruz saying he support wealthy people buying elections, March 2015

37. “Net neutrality is Obamacare for the Internet. It would put the government in charge of determining Internet prices, terms of service and what types of products and services can be delivered, leading to fewer choices, fewer opportunities and higher prices. Government-regulated utilities invariably destroy innovation and freedom.”
~Ted Cruz opposing a free and open Internet, November 2014

38. “Of course we should have a surgeon general in place. And we don’t have one because President Obama, instead of nominating a health professional, he nominated someone who is an anti-gun activist and that individual didn’t have the votes in the Senate.”
~Ted Cruz keeping America from having a Surgeon General during the Ebola outbreak because the nominee supports gun control, October 2014

39. “If Harry Reid kills this bill in the Senate, I think the House should hold its ground, and should begin passing smaller continuing resolutions, one department at a time. It should start with a continuing resolution focused on the military. Fund the military, send it over, and let’s see if Harry Reid is willing to shut down the military just because he wants to force Obamacare on the American people.”
~Ted Cruz tries and succeeds in causing a government shutdown, September 2013

40. “Justice Scalia was an American hero. We owe it to him, and the Nation, for the Senate to ensure that the next President names his replacement.”
~Ted Cruz vowing on Twitter to help Senate Republicans block any Obama nominee to the Supreme Court in hope of a Republican like himself being able to do so in 2017, February 2016

And these 40 quotes, especially the final quote on this list, demonstrate precisely why Ted Cruz should never be allowed to become president.

Featured Image: Wikimedia

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/02/14/40-ted-cruz-quotes-that-prove-he-would-be-a-dangerous-president/

Antonin Scalia Quote

Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached.

AZQUOTES.COM

10 Of The Most Harmful And Disastrous

Opinions Of Antonin Scalia’s Career — With

Quotes

It’s the end of an era.

ADDICTINGINFO.ORG

10 Of The Most Harmful And Disastrous Opinions Of Antonin Scalia’s Career — With Quotes

February 14, 2016

Justice Antonin Scalia had an impressive career. In his decades-long appointment as a Supreme Court Justice, he has worked diligently against the forces of social justice. Scalia’s insane originalist philosophy has had a major impact on modern conservatism. Luckily, President Obama will now have the opportunity to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice, which will tip the scales in favor of a liberal court.

Here is a look back on ten of the worst Supreme Court Decisions of Scalia’s career. Sometimes his opinions were in the majority. The ones that were in dissent were oftentimes vicious.

Bush v. Gore, 2000:

In Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court decided to stop recounting ballots in Florida. This decision is considered by many to be the reason George W. Bush became the president, with everything that came after. Scalia voted in concurrence with majority, and wrote:

“The issue is not, as the dissent puts it, whether “[c]ounting every legally cast vote ca[n] constitute irreparable harm.” One of the principal issues in the appeal we have accepted is precisely whether the votes that have been ordered to be counted are, under a reasonable interpretation of Florida law, “legally cast vote[s].” The counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner, and to the country, by casting a cloud upon what he claims to be the legitimacy of his election. Count first, and rule upon legality afterwards, is not a recipe for producing election results that have the public acceptance democratic stability requires.”

2. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 2010:

In Citizen United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court decided that corporations are people. This created the situation we are in now, where corporations can donate unlimited amounts of money to SuperPACS, which are used to influence political elections. Scalia voted in concurrence with the majority, and wrote:

“Even if we thought it proper to apply the dissent’s approach of excluding from First Amendment coverage what the Founders disliked, and even if we agreed that the Founders disliked founding-era corporations; modern corporations might not qualify for exclusion. Most of the Founders’ resentment towards corporations was directed at the state-granted monopoly privileges that individually chartered corporations enjoyed. Modern corporations do not have such privileges, and would probably have been favored by most of our enterprising Founders—excluding, perhaps, Thomas Jefferson and others favoring perpetuation of an agrarian society.”

3. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, 2014:

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court decided that private businesses can be exempted from certain laws on religious grounds. Justice Scalia voted with the opinion of the court. During the case’s oral argument, Scalia said:

“Well, religious beliefs aren’t reasonable. I mean, religious beliefs are categorical. You know, it’s God tells you. It’s not a matter of being reasonable. God be reasonable? He’s supposed to have a full beard.”

4. King v. Burwell, 2015:

In King v. Burwell, the Supreme Court decided that subsidies under Obamacare could be used through the federal exchange program. Scalia dissented, saying:

“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare … [T]his Court’s two decisions on the Act will surely be remembered through the years … And the cases will publish forever the discouraging truth that the Supreme Court of the United States favors some laws over others, and is prepared to do whatever it takes to uphold and assist its favorites.”

5. Shelby County v. Holder, 2013:

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court decided to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This weakened the Voting Rights Act and is considered by many an attack on the civil liberties of black voters. Scalia said, in 2013 in a speech at the University of California Washington Center, the following:

“Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes. Even the name of it is wonderful, the Voting Rights Act. Who’s going to vote against that?”

6. Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015:

In Obergrefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decided that same-sex couples have the right to get married. Scalia dissented from the opinion of the court, saying:

“Those civil consequences—and the public approval that conferring the name of marriage evidences—can perhaps have adverse social effects, but no more adverse than the effects of many other controversial laws. So it is not of special importance to me what the law says about marriage. It is of overwhelming importance, however, who it is that rules me. Today’s decree says that my Ruler, and the Ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court.”

7. Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992:

In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, challenges were made to Pennsylvania law that required women to meet certain provisions in order to have an abortion. The court found that the provisions were unconstitutional, except for one that required women to notify their husband. Justice Scalia dissented gainst the opinion of the court, saying:

“The States may, if they wish, permit abortion on demand, but the Constitution does not require them to do so. The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.”

8. Lawrence v. Texas, 2003:

In this Supreme Court decision, a law that banned sodomy was struck down. Scalia dissented from the opinion of the court. He wrote:

“Many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children’s schools, or as boarders in their home,” he wrote. “They view this as protecting themselves and their families from a lifestyle that they believe to be immoral and destructive.”

9. Romer v. Evans, 1996:

In Romer v. Evans, the Supreme Court decided that the state of Colorado could not prevent local jurisdictions from creating laws that prohibit discrimination against LGBT people, Scalia dissented, saying:

“[Colorado’s ban] prohibits special treatment of homosexuals, and nothing more. [I]t would prevent the State or any municipality from making death benefit payments to the ‘life partner’ of a homosexual when it does not make such payments to the long time roommate of a nonhomosexual employee.”

10. Wal-Mart v. Dukes, 2011:

In Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the Supreme court made the decision that ended one of the largest class-action suits in history. More than 1.5 million women filed a class action suit against Wal-Mart claiming gender discrimination. Scalia voted with the majority of the court and delivered their opinion. Scalia said:

“Respondents have not identified a common mode of exercising discretion that pervades the entire company—aside from their reliance on Dr. Bielby’s social frameworks analysis that we have rejected. In a company of Wal-Mart’s size and geographical scope, it is quite unbelievable that all managers would exercise their discretion in a common way without some common direction. Respondents attempt to make that showing by means of statistical and anecdotal evidence, but their evidence falls well short.”

Republicans are already hard at work trying to prevent President Obama from appointing Scalia’s replacement. Their efforts are in vain. There is no legitimate reason President Obama should not appoint Scalia’s replacement. Luckily for everyone, it is likely that President Obama’s replacement can undo much of the harm that Scalia has done during his career.

Featured image from Donkey Hotey via Flickr

BREAKING: Donald Trump Just Exposed THIS Jeb Bush Hypocrisy, Jeb is Finished!

During last Saturday’s debate, Jeb Bush delivered some blistering attacks to the front-runner Donald Trump. He called Trump out on the practice of eminent domain and discussed his perception of how Donald Trump misused it. However, Trump is now exposing Jeb Bush’s hypocrisy in the matter.

According to The Hill, during a recent interview on ABC’s This Week, Trump exposed the fact the Bush family utilized eminent domain in order to build Texas Stadium.

“I just found this out about five minutes ago,” Trump told George Stephanopoulos.

Apparently, Donald Trump says, Jeb Bush does not know what the term “eminent domain” means. This gives credence to the fact that Jeb Bush is not the leader that we as a country need at this time.

While nobody truly likes eminent domain, the reality of the world is we would not have infrastructure without it. However, as Trump pointed out during the debate, even though people are uprooted, they often benefit because they receive at least full market value for their homes.

Actually, in many cases, those holding out are able to get several times the value simply so the project can be completed.

For me, it became apparent very early Jeb Bush likes to throw jabs out for a quick audience reaction, but he ends up lying just as much as Hillary Clinton. And I don’t think anyone wants another Clinton in the White House!

http://www.angrypatriotmovement.com/jeb-bush-hypocrisy/

Trump Booed For Saying Bush ‘Lied’ About WMD In Iraq

BY ZACK FORD

FEB 13, 2016

During Saturday night’s debate, Donald Trump attacked President George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, calling it a “mistake.” He avoided a question from CBS moderate John Dickerson about whether Bush should’ve been impeached, but insisted, “They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction and there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons mass destruction.”

Trump’s comments elicited boos from the audience:

VIDEO ON LINK

A 2005 report from United Nations inspectors found that by the time Bush sent U.S. soldiers to disarm Saddam Hussein, all evidence indicated there was nothing to support claims of nuclear or biological weapons. The Bush administration apparently dismissed the inspectors and their intel routinely in the run-up to the war.

In 2006, Tyler Drumheller, former chief of the CIA’s Europe division, revealed that in 2002, Bush, Vice President Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice were informed that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction program.

Gov. Jeb Bush took umbrage at the comments. “I’m sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problem that he’s had,” he responded, “and frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It’s a blood sport for him. He enjoys it.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/02/13/3749514/trump-wmds-debate/

Middleboro Review

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Trump Booed For Saying Bush ‘Lied’ About WMD In Iraq, North Carolina: Democracy Sold & Gerrymandered