Subject: Constitutional Law

• Manzanar Pilgrimage Exhibit

  February 5, 2009

• Beating around the Bush, or not, in Irvine

  Good news for those of us who have never seen the power of a monarchy in action, and the servility it demands of its subjects. President Bush is extending his weekend trip to California, and will be visiting scenic Irvine on Monday. According to the Register, "Bush will speak to the Orange County Business Council between 8 and 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Irvine". He'll be talking about immigration reform. So, if you want to get a look at the president... well, unless you're one of the preselect

  April 21, 2006

• Confused Voters, Stupid Congressmen

  How far do you have to go in trying to stomp on the huddled masses yearning to breathe free before even Congressman James Sensenbrenner, the man whose draconian immigration bill sparked all those protests, calls bullshit? As far as trying to gut part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. And unfortunately, three OC congressmen have decided to go that far. The Los Angeles Times reports that Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) is leading an effort to drop the provision in the 1965 act requiring some jurisdi

  May 6, 2006

• Putting the Right in Civil Rights

  Charlie Savage, the excellent Boston Globe reporter who broke the story of President Bush's governing-by-presidential-signing-statement trick, brings us more disturbing news. The Bush administration is quietly remaking the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, filling the permanent ranks with lawyers who have strong conservative credentials but little experience in civil rights, according to job application materials obtained by the Globe. The documents show that only 42 percent of the la

  July 23, 2006

• Provisional, Proschmivisional

  Bitching and moaning about having to cast a provisional ballot is one thing. Ladera Ranch resident Marcy Allen just ringy-dingy'd the Weekly to complain that she could not vote AT ALL! Like a good little citizen, Allen arrived at her polling place right when it opened so, like a good little employee, she could vote and still make it to work on time. But while the poll workers were pleasant and kind, Allen reports that they had no ballots. They called somebody, who called somebody, who called so

  June 6, 2006

• God Squad Blasts Congressman Royce

  No one ever criticizes Congressman Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) for the things he says because no one has ever heard him speak. But he apparently sends out emails that have caught the attention of a cross-denominational group of clergy folk who today sent Royce a letter asking him to stop using the phrase "Islamist terrorism." "As a diverse group of Southern California interfaith leaders, intellectuals and activists, we are deeply concerned by your continued use of inflammatory rhetoric linking Isl

  August 7, 2008

• Why I Hate Ho Chi Minh

  February 25, 1999

• Off Tran's Case

  May 20, 1999

• Sailor Suit

  January 11, 2001

• Nativo Lopez Organization Cowardly Stays "Neutral" on Propositions 8 and 4

  Remember Nativo Lopez? Guy called Larry who became radicalized during the 1960s, led renter strikes against SanTana slumlords during the 1980s, served on the SanTana Unified School Board during the 1990s, then was recalled for his conflict-of-influenza, amongst other sins in early 2004? He's spent the last couple of years trying to remake himself as the next great Chicano Movement leader by heading the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), a once-great group that now has the moral weigh

  October 14, 2008

• Video from Anti-Prop 8 March and Rally in Long Beach - Friday, Nov. 7

  I'm bad at guesstimating numbers, but considering how last-minute this anti-Prop 8 march was, I'd say around 5,000 must have turned out. The march began on the corner of Redondo and Broadway, and commenced down Broadway until it reached its final destination, Hamburger Mary's. At least three helicopters hovered overhead at various times, I'm sure at least one of them was the LBPD. Shouted slogans included: "Equal Rights!" "Shame On Hate!" "Hell No, We Won't Go!" -- because some folks didn't

  November 8, 2008

• When Anaheim Mayors First Hung with the Mexicans

  I had the pleasure of meeting former Anaheim mayor Bill Thom a couple of times at meetings of Los Amigos, the longtime Latino civil rights group he helped found in 1978. He always occupied a table near the front, a seat of honor unconsciously granted by other Los Amigos members for the gabacho politician who cared all along. Thom passed away last month during surgery, and the Orange County Register has a remembrance of him in today's issue. It's a nice gesture for one of the unsung heroes of civ

  December 3, 2008

• Rev. Rick Warren Loves Gay People

  He loves them so much that he offers them doughnuts and water! See, he's not a bad guy just because he wants to deny these loving, committed couples their equal rights. Listen to his heartfelt explanation to Ann Curry about why doughnuts water = not homophobic, during their interview set to air on Dateline NBC tomorrow night.

  December 18, 2008

• Sign From God? Rick Warren Shouted Down at MLK Service

  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that protesters interrupted pastor Rick Warren's speech to a packed house for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta today--one day before the leader of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest is to deliver a controversy-seeped invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration in D.C.Several dozen gay activists critical of Warren's opposition to same-sex marriage had gathered outside Ebenezer before the service. Some hoisted

  January 19, 2009

• Muslim Groups Consider Breaking FBI Ties Over Irvine Case

  Citing the highly publicized case involving an undercover informant who spied on an Irvine mosque, a coalition of U.S. Muslim organizations has announced it may suspend relations with the FBI."Muslim communities throughout the United States have made significant advances in promoting and contributing to a fair, free and pluralistic society," reads the statement from the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT). "Through civil rights advocacy, civic and political engagement,

  March 18, 2009

• FBI Spying on Mosques Draws Senate Attention; Rights Workshop Helps Local Muslims Deal With the Feds

  A Senate Judiciary Committee questioned FBI Director Robert Mueller Wednesday about a Muslim coalition's consideration of breaking ties with the bureau following the highly publicized federal government spying on an Irvine mosque.Meanwhile, a workshop has been organized for this Sunday to help local American Muslims deal with this frightening new twist in the "Global War on Terror." Details on that in a bit.  First, as mentioned here last week, the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights

  March 26, 2009

• See the "Supe Snoop" Footage for Yourself

  Surely by now you've heard about the latest scandal to rock the Orange County Sheriff's Department: "Supe Snoop." If you haven't heard about it, you owe it to yourself to read R. Scott Moxley's cover story on Sheriff Sandra Hutchens this week. The footage above that opens over the shoulder of county Supervisor Chris Norby is referenced in this paragraph:On Jan. 13, Hutchens sent more than 20 armed deputies to a Board of Supervisors public meeting, reasoning that protesters of her CCW policy po

  March 26, 2009

• Protect the Children, Sign Church's Petition to Ban Mormon Marriage

  When California's gay marriage legal debate gets tough, the tough get weirder: Universal Free Church has now launched a national petition drive to ban Mormon marriage.Mary Cristos, leader of the new, St. Louis-based "Free" religious denomination, says the UFC believes in "religious freedom and religious free speech for everyone, but religious fascism for no one." The church is all about personal freedom in one's own private life, with its lone Commandment stipulating, "At age 18 every UFC member

  March 27, 2009

• We Can Do It!

  January 29, 2009

• Waterbored

  It’s not torture, but Mideast thriller Rendition is as conventional as they come

  October 18, 2007

• Aussie and Hairy It

  March 28, 2002

• Special Screenings

  Movie of the Week: The U.S. vs. John Lennon
  

  January 11, 2007

• Eviction Blues

  Homeless musician vows crusade against landlords

  February 8, 2007

• 'The Bus Driver Is God'

  September 14, 2006

• The Knightly News

  George Clooney tips his hat to Edward R. Murrow

  October 13, 2005

• The Mommy Party

  October 13, 2005

• Who Dunn It?

  July 21, 2005

• F. Yoo!

  February 10, 2005

• Spiritual Justice

  November 18, 2004

• Affirmative Action for Whites

  July 10, 2003

• Suspicious Minds

  April 10, 2003

• Casting lott

  December 26, 2002

• The Martian Plan

  August 1, 2002

• Hate Sells

  January 11, 2001

• Boy Scouts Like It Both Ways

  October 12, 2000

• Party Pooper

  August 3, 2000

• Browser Beware

  March 2, 2000

• Constitutional Cuisinart

  February 25, 1999

• The Year in Cyberspace

  January 7, 1999

• Judge Finds Both For and Against OC Teacher of "Jesus Glasses" Fame

  Keith MayThe headline-grabbing lawsuit filed in 2007 by Chad Farnan, a senior at Capistrano Valley High, against history teacher James Corbett for allegedly expressing hostility towards Christianity in class, came to a close today, and it's still a little unclear who really won. The federal judge who issued the ruling found that there were dozens of instances where Farnan's First Amendment rights were not violated by Corbett's statements, and one instance in which they were. So essentially, Judg

  May 1, 2009

• Chapman Law Dean Shifts From One Controversy to Another

  Photo by Christopher VictorioJohn C. Eastman (right) listens as John Yoo debates at Chapman last month.The last time you read a Navel Gazing post that mentioned John C. Eastman, dean of Chapman University's School of Law, it was in reference to him teaming with the university's visiting law professor and Bush White House "torture memo" author John Yoo in April to debate two other Chapman law profs in Memorial Hall about presidential power in wartime. One thing Eastman rejected that day was a gov

  May 7, 2009

• Is the DA's Office Losing the Battle for an Orange Gang Injunction?

  Agapito MoralesSantiago Orange Growers Association, North Cypress Street, Orange, ca. 1950Senior Assistant DA John Anderson sat in the juror section of Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino's courtroom this morning with pursed lips. He listened closely to what Makino was going to say -- and how he would rule -- with regard to the preliminary gang injunction set to be imposed on some 20 alleged members of the Orange Varrio Cypress gang in Orange whose cases were being considered today. The last ti

  May 7, 2009

• James Corbett's Anti-Establishment Comment

  May 7, 2009

• John Yoo Stars in a Most Civilized Debate on Torture

  Photo by Christopher VictorioAs John Yoo makes his case, John C. Eastman is hard at think.Two days after Barack Obama's chief of staff said the administration was not inclined to back prosecutions against Bush lawyers who signed off on torture, the president backed off that statement today, saying he would leave that up to his attorney general. If this reversal bunched John Yoo's BVDs, he sure wasn't showing it inside Chapman University's Memorial Hall, where the controversial UC Berkeley law pr

  April 21, 2009

• Ward Connerly: Protector of High Asian Admissions at UC Irvine

  Connerly: Asian fetishWard Connerly, the African American crusader who has never met a government set-aside based on race that he's liked, believes the University of California is hellbent on reducing Asian-American admissions--and Asian-American rights groups are not doing enough to stop them.Writing in the Sacramento Bee, Connerly--who is president of the American Civil Rights Institute and author of the newly released Lessons From My Uncle James--begins his opinion piece by recalling an incid

  June 12, 2009

• Loretta Sanchez Will Defend a Kid in Vietnam But Refuses to Support Kids Here?

  Photo by Christopher VictorioWhat was Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez thinking today when she took to the floor in Congress to fight for the rights of a youth activist in Vietnam while she continues to ignore the youth activists pleading for her support in her own backyard? It's not that Nguyen Tien Trung, a well known youth and pro-democracy activist in Vietnam, shouldn't be released from prison, what nags here is yet another instance of Sanchez's blatant hypocrisy."The recent arrest of lawyer Le

  July 8, 2009

• Big Week for the ADA and the Disabled

  Eddie Rea, 21, an emerging disability rights leader from Fresno, is the youth speaker at the Sacramento forum's luncheon.​It's a big week for the disabled in Sacramento--and, no, that was not a timely dig at the governor and legislature.Well, not this time.The 18th annual Youth Leadership Forum for Students with Disabilities, which is "designed to help young people with disabilities reach their full personal and professional potential," hits its stride this morning under the Capitol dome. Ther

  July 29, 2009

• Resurrected, Boisterous OC Pride Festival "a Smashing Success"

  Photo by Christopher VictorioPark rangers talk with OC Pride participants about the noise at Mason Regional Park in Irvine on Saturday.​The crowd was small but boisterous, there was a minor issue with the noise and some participants did not know at first that the showy police presence was for their benefit, but otherwise the resurrected, family friendly OC Pride Festival at Mason Regional Park in Irvine Saturday was "a smashing success," according to organizers of the LGBT event. (See photogra

  August 17, 2009

• Judge: Capo Valley High Teacher Not Financially Liable for Anti-Christian Crack

  Photo by Keith May James CorbettA federal judge in Santa Ana has ruled that high school history teacher James Corbett--who former Weekly reporter Daffodil Altan wrote about here and here (with Gustavo Arellano on the latter)--is not financially liable for disparaging Christians in class. The scoop is in today's Orange County Register.

  September 16, 2009

• LGBT Groups Seek to Intervene in Prop. 8 Challenge

  This just in from the ACLU, which believes the action taken today will help a judge hearing a challenge of Prop. 8 understand the unequal rights inherent in the ballot initiative . . . SAN FRANCISCO -- Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to allow Our Family Coalition, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays to intervene in Pe

  July 8, 2009