Fla Court Rules Gays Get Equal Protection, Adoption Ban Unconstitutional

Has Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cindy S. Lederman been getting too much sun or is she seeing the light?

Judge Lederman ruled on a legal case challenging a Florida law that bans lesbians and gays from adopting, finding the statute unconstitutional.

The case raises the big question Republicans are pondering as they decide which way forward for their battered Party: Embracing ignorance and authoritarianism or some manner of qualified libertarianism.

[Pictured above-right is Martin Gill with the two brothers he hopes to adopt in Florida.] From the ACLU:

Judge Lederman "struck down a Florida law that bars lesbians and gay men from adopting. The court granted adoptions to a gay man, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, who has been raising two foster children since 2004," reads a ACLU press release.

"The court ruled that the ban violated the equal protection guarantees of the state constitution because it singles out for different treatment gay people and the children they raise for no rational reason. The court also found that the ban denies children the right to permanency provided by federal and state law under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997."

In 2005, the US Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to the Florida law. So, the US Supreme Court that ruled an equal protection violation in Bush v. Gore did not get to rule on a violation in this case.

The case will likely end up in the Florida Supreme Court where four of the seven members were appointed by the late Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles.

We'll get there.

Times are changing, ultimately, such discriminatory laws as Florida's adoption law and the many anti-gay marriage statutes and state constitutional amendments will go the way of laws banning inter-"racial" marriage that were struck down in Loving v. Virginia, (1967) on equal protection grounds by the the US Supreme Court.

Change is gonna come, and likely the GOP will be left behind.

See - Trial Court Decision and Order (11/25/2008) RE: [Frank Martin Gill] John Doe and James Doe for the language of the decision by Judge Lederman.

- via mal contends

Fighting Suppression in Swing States

If you can't convince them to vote for you: Stop as many as you can from voting.

That's the GOP's mantra, but Barack Obama and a coalition of groups are fighting back.

From the Brennan Center for Justice:

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Russell Simmons have teamed up with the Advancement Project and the Brennan Center for Justice on a voter education campaign in the key states of Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Colorado.

The campaign kicked-off Saturday, with the release of Public Service Announcements, released to radio, which gave voters important information to bring ID and to contact 1-866-OUR-VOTE with any problems.

Radio ads can be found here.

When voters show up at the polls and have their eligibility questioned, they may be asked to vote with 'provisional ballots.' Known as a fail-safe for voters who are being challenged or who are not on the rolls, provisional ballots should be treated skeptically.

Rules vary from state to state, but these ballots are often counted only if the voter appears in a voter registration database or if the voter can provide evidence of his eligibility in the days after the election. For this reason, many provisional ballots go uncounted. In the 2008 primaries, 40% of provisional ballots were ultimately rejected.

The bottom line is that provisional ballots are not counted like regular ballots and are easy to toss out, as the New York Times reported last week. In a close race, results can rest on how many provisional ballots are ultimately counted.

Our experts can talk about voter purges, challenges, provisional ballots, voting machines, registration problems, intimidation, judicial elections, and other election day issues.

Joe Lieberman Looking out for Terrorists

Via Crooks and Liars, The Havana Note reports that "Joe Lieberman will seek a pardon for a convicted terrorist who led a bombing spree across Manhattan."

From The Havana Note:

Cozying up to Cuban-American extremists in South Florida has been a part of American political culture for decades. It is an unseemly ritual that has nevertheless persisted because of the dysfunctional peculiarities of our Electoral College that grants Florida 27 votes, exactly 10 percent of the electors needed to win the White House.

Campaign Notes - Stephanopoulos Pushing the Clinton Spin, Again

Update: Stephanopoulos is holding a campaign event - 'townhall meeting' - for his former boss Hillary during his show on Sunday

Via MAL Contends

- On ABC's News's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, viewers were treated to a graphic comparing the two Democratic candidates' performance thus far in the primary.

Stephanopoulos, following the disingenuous Clinton spin that uses its logic of primary-election-state performance morphing into general-election state performance, displayed the electoral votes (general election) total of every primary state that the candidates have won.

Why are electoral votes important now? Does Stephanopoulos really believe performances in Democratic primary states are, even arguably, predictors of performance in general elections? If so, Bill Clinton would never have been president, because Clinton lost most of New England in the 1992 Democratic primary. The reason for displaying the graphic is clear.

Coming off his deplorable performance as a debate moderator, Stephanopoulos can be counted on to continue his preening for the Clinton campaign, buying every Clinton spin possible and framing the election for his old chums.

But gee maybe Stephanopoulos is right. And since John McCain won New York and California in the GOP primary, McCain can be counted on to win these states in the general election. But that really doesn't make any sense, does it?

- Just ran across this item below in Buzzflash linking to an ABC News item.

The Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee meets Saturday, May 31 in Washington, D.C., to consider whether DNC panel exceeded its authority when it stripped Florida and Michigan of all of its delegates for holding their primaries before Feb. 5th, 2008.

No word yet on the composition of the Committee or the deadlines and consequences of the Committee's deliberating. Will keep you posted.
Update: One take: Hillary Will Steal The Nomination on May 31 Owing to Composition of Committee