Salon.com > Judges

Judge tells lesbian couple to separate — or lose kids

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:45:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, Dallas Judge John Roach told Page Price she had to move out of her partner’s house in 30 days -- or else that partner of three years, Carolyn Compton, would lose custody of her children. The judge's reasoning? They aren’t married.

Compton’s ex-husband, Joshua, who had once been charged with stalking her (he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge) had asked for enforcement of a "morality clause" in the couple’s original divorce decree, which bars overnight guests who aren’t related by blood or marriage while the children are there. Of course, as a lesbian couple in Texas, they can’t be married. Never mind the fact that their children “are all happy and well adjusted,” according to Price.

Faced with the choice between Compton's children and sharing a home, the couple has said they will reluctantly follow the order, though they believe it to be unconstitutional.

Judge overrules Obama to protect women’s health

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:50:00 +0000

Today, a federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan did for women's health what the Obama administration was too politically cowardly to do: Make safe, time-sensitive emergency contraception available to everyone, regardless of age. The shameful thing is that it had to come to this.

The administration, said 2nd Circuit District Judge Edward Korman, acted in "bad faith" -- a phrase that arises again and again in the stinging decision. And Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius acted in a fashion that "was politically motivated, scientifically unjustified, and contrary to agency precedent."

NRA uses shady law enforcement group to target judges

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 18:01:00 +0000

With a boatload of funding from the NRA, the Law Enforcement Alliance of America has been working at the state level to push pro-gun judicial candidates and prosecutors.

The LEAA is a conservative nonprofit that on its website purports to advocate for law enforcement and crime victims, and has, among other things, brought several lawsuits opposing federal background checks for gun buyers.

Though the LEAA is not required to reveal its donors, as Bloomberg News writes, its efforts are heavily funded by the NRA:

The group’s activities at the state level promoting judicial candidates are legal and not unusual in U.S. politics. What has been less known is the extent of its financial backing from the NRA, the nation’s leading gun-rights lobby.

The LEAA got at least $2 million from the NRA from 2004 to 2010, according to a report based on tax records to be released today by the Washington-based Center for American Progress. During many of those years, NRA donations accounted for about a quarter of LEAA’s funds, and in 2009 NRA money represented at least a third of the group’s revenue, according to the report.