Judge Slaps Down Bevin On Abortion Case

"Abortion is legal, you motherfucker, and women are human beings. Now fuck off and die in a fire."

Or words to that effect.

Linda Blackford at the Herald:

A judge has denied a request by Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration to temporarily close a Lexington abortion clinic that the state claims is operating illegally.

Fayette Circuit Judge Ernesto Scorsone ruled Friday against the state’s request for an injunction to close EMW Women’s Clinic on Burt Road. He said the Cabinet for Health and Family Services failed to present adequate evidence during a hearing Wednesday that it will eventually prevail in the lawsuit or that allowing the clinic to remain open as the lawsuit proceeds would cause “irreparable injury.”

“In addition to the evidence indicating that EMW is operating legally and in conformity with the most important regulations of a licensed abortion facility, closing the clinic is against the public interest,” Scorsone wrote. “EMW is the only physician’s office that routinely provides abortion services in the Eastern half of the state, and both parties agree that a right to an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy is constitutionally protected. Closing EMW would have a severe, adverse impact on the women in the Eastern part of the state.”

The state sued the clinic two weeks ago, alleging that it lacked a required state license. The clinic stopped performing abortions on March 9 pending a judge’s ruling.

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Scott White, an attorney representing the clinic, said it would reopen next week.

Judge Scorsone, who spent decades in the General Assembly being routinely disrespected for his liberal principles before coming out as gay in 2003, knows from motherfuckers who try to deny human rights to people who aren't white and male and straight.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article66921142.html#storylink=cpy

Sky Still Overhead After Gay Couples Marry in Kentucky

The best part of this story for me:

Shive and Roland, who have been together for 16 years and have a daughter, Piper, were married at 2 p.m. by Fayette Circuit Judge Ernesto Scorsone, who also is gay.

Scorsone endured years of disrespect and abuse in the Kentucky State Senate from his homophobic asshole "colleagues."

I hope they are reading this story this morning and choking to death on their biscuits.

In Louisville, they had champagne delivered by the Mayor.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/06/26/3919693/first-same-sex-couples-marry-in.html?sp=/99/164/#storylink=cpy

"These arguments are not those of serious people."

Judge Heyburn did not let us down; he wordsmithed a homophobe slapdown decision as good as any yet to appear from federal district courts legalizing gay marriage faster than you can wave a rainbow flag at them.

Seriously, whether Steve Beshear sincerely thinks these lawyers know what they are doing or whether he is deliberately throwing the case, he needs to pay their fees out of his own pocket, not the taxpayers', because this is just pathetic.

Wonkette, which calls the decision "the best thing to from Kentucky since Hunter Thompson":

If it’s Tuesday, this must be another post about a federal judge throwing out a state law banning same-sex marriage. The lucky winner this time around is Kentucky, where U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II overturned the state’s 2004 constitutional amendment against gay unions, writing another of those decisions (PDF link) that aim for a memorable turn of phrase:

In America, even sincere and long-hold religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted.

Yep, that’s pretty good. But is there more? There is more.

Judge Heyburn put the ruling on hold, since there are several other marriage equality cases at the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, so sorry, no rushing off to the county courthouse just yet. Except maybe to wave a sign that mostly says hooray for our side.

As you may recall, Kentucky’s anti-gay amendment was so lousy that the state’s hot Attorney General, Democrat Jack Conway, announced that he would not defend the thing, so Gov. Steve Beshear, also a Democrat, hired an outside firm to defend the law.

And now the Money Quote for this case: the only defense that the state presented for keeping the law was that “traditional” marriages keep the birth rate stable and help to ensure the state’s long-term economic stability, claims that Heyburn almost seemed irked by, saying, “These arguments are not those of serious people”:

Even assuming the state has a legitimate interest in promoting procreation, the Court fails to see, and Defendant never explains, how the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage has any effect whatsoever on procreation among heterosexual spouses.  

Excluding same-sex couples from marriage does not change the number of heterosexual couples who choose to get married, the number who choose to have children, or the number of children they have … The Court finds no rational relation between the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the Commonwealth’s asserted interest in promoting naturally procreative marriages

And if he was unconvinced by the “stable birth rate” argument, Heyburn seems almost irritated that the state wastes his time with by the “economic stability” claim:

The state’s attempts to connect the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage to its interest in economic stability and in “ensuring humanity’s continued existence” are at best illogical and even bewildering. These arguments fail for the precise reasons that Defendant’s procreation argument fails.  

Numerous courts have repeatedly debunked all other reasons for enacting such laws. The Court can think of no other conceivable legitimate reason for Kentucky’s laws excluding same-sex couples from marriage.

Once again, Yr Wonkette is compelled to note that Kentucky appears to have escaped the day without a single thunderbolt, meteor, seismic event, or plague of boils being visited upon the state by a vengeful Jehovah. This brings to 21 the number of federal courts that have thrown out state bans on marriage equality, and even though Yr Wonkette hasn’t covered every single one of them, it is getting increasingly difficult to say anything new or creative about them. Isn’t that terrific?

Yeah, of course Beshear is appealing, because no amount of money is too much to waste when it comes to appeasing hateful, homophobic freakazoids.

Also, Fuck You Dan Mongiardo and let's all lift our glasses to Ernesto Scorsone.*

*Then state senator Mongiardo sponsored the hate amendment.  There is a famous picture of him laughing in the background as fellow state Senator Scorsone, who later came out as gay, spoke passionately against the bill on the floor of the Senate in 2004.

Progressive Steps Forward in Kentucky

Two small but positive signs of political and social progress here in the still-red Bluegrass State:

DINO Rep. Ben Chandler, D-KY6, has bolstered his pre-primary endorsement of Barack Obama with a post-Iraq-trip endorsement of withdrawing troops.

After making his first whirlwind trip through Iraq over the weekend, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler said the United States should begin to withdraw troops now and force the Iraqi government to stand on its own.

”As long as we continue to fund this thing and as long as we continue to provide security, there is less incentive for the Iraqi government to do the things they need to do to control the country,“ Chandler told the Herald-Leader. ”I think we need to leave them with as stable a situation as we can but we need to lift off from the country as soon as possible."

What, didn't Chandler rate the everything's-hunky-dory tour treatment that McBush gets?

As Media Czech says:

I feel it is the responsibility of all grassroots activists and KY bloggers to criticize our own when we let us down, and praise our own when they stand up for us. To do otherwise is not only dishonest, it greatly hurts our own cause. (ahem!)

PS- I'm personally taking time out of my day to call Ben's office and thank him for these words on Iraq and the way he's conducted himself this year. I strongly encourage you to do the same.

D.C.- Phone: (202)-225-4706
Lex- Phone: (859) 219-1366

The same day as Ben's epiphany, repug tool Governor Steve Beshear appointed Progressive Icon Ernesto Scorsone to a Circuit Judgeship.

Scorsone said he was honored by the appointment.

"Lexington has a strong tradition of an excellent bench and I hope to continue that," he said.

Scorsone, a Lexington attorney, will serve until the Nov. 4 general election to replace Sheila Isaac, who stepped down to enter the senior judge program.

Scorsone, 56, is the only person thus far to file papers to run in November for the circuit court seat. The deadline to file is Aug. 12.

It'll be interesting to see if the repugs put anyone up to run against Ernesto. They failed to challenge him for reelection either this year or in 2004, even though he was the most liberal member of the General Assembly. His freedom from opposition could be because his Lexington senate district is heavily Democratic and liberal and its voters revere Scorsone.

But the Circuit Court District in Lexington encompasses all of Fayette County, including the republican southern suburbs. If the repugs let Judge Scorsone run unchallenged, it'll be the strongest sign yet that republicans are as endangered in Kentucky as they are nationally.

The Herald neglects to mention that Ernesto Scorsone was the only openly gay member of the Kentucky General Assembly, and is apparently the only openly gay Circuit Judge in Kentucky.

I hope the reason the Herald chose not to mention this significant facet of Sen. Scorsone's biography is because it is irrelevant to his qualifications for Circuit Judge.

It is, however, highly relevant to the state of civil liberties and tolerance in the Commonwealth.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.

The Last Real Democrat in the Kentucky Senate

UPDATE Below

One and only one of the 16 Democrats in the Kentucky State Senate had the integrity, courage and balls to stand up to Big Coal and Admitted Criminal Governor Ernie Fletcher today.

Senator Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, cast the sole Senate vote against the Bankrupt The Commonwealth And Destroy the Environment At The Same Time Act of 2007

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Scorsone said the bill is not the state's energy policy, but that of (coal giant) Peabody Energy Co.

The bill, which passed the Democratic House on Wednesday, now goes to Ernie for his signature. Ernie, lagging 18 points behind in the governor's race, called this totally unnecessary legislative special session and demanded approval of this bill because he's desperate to show an accomplishment - any accomplishment, no matter how destructive - to voters.

Not going to be easy for Democrats to call him on this boondoggle since so many of them voted for it.

Ernesto, as all of his admirers call him, admittedly risked very little with his No vote. He represents a Senate District that is by far the most liberal in the state. Someday when we country liberals grow up, we want to move to Lexington so we can have Ernesto as our senator.

In 1998, Ernesto ran against then-state-representative Ernie Fletcher for the Sixth Congressional seat, in the Battle of the Erns. Ernie won on the strength of a whisper campaign about the single Ernesto's probable sexuality.

Ernesto had never denied being gay, mostly because no one had ever been rude enough to ask him about it. He ignored the whispers, and lost to Ernie by seven points.

Five years later in 2003, Ernesto made a speech in Lexington in which he referred obliquely to his homosexuality. The Lexington Herald-Leader put it on the front page, but everybody yawned.

Here's how incredibly popular Ernesto is in Lexington: In 2004, the year after he became the only openly gay member of the Kentucky General Assembly, the year republicans nationwide ran on gay-bashing, the Kentucky GOP did not even attempt to field a challenger to Ernesto.

Kentucky Democrats, however, made up for that lack. Also in 2004, the flat-on-its-ass Kentucky Democratic Party was desperately searching for someone to take charge as chair. Ernesto's name was mentioned, and the panicked party honchos lashed out by choosing corrupt, antediluvian hack Jerry Lundergan. Several Central Committee members, including current Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Steve Beshear, resigned in protest.

Ernesto quietly returned to his Senate seat, and continues today to serve as the lonely - and sometimes lone - voice of liberal values in the General Assembly.

He's also the only Democrat in the Senate who grasps the criminal obscenity of handing billions of tax dollars to the destructive and inhumane coal industry at a time when, as the Herald-Leader noted, the state's economy, public education, infrastructure and just about every measure of civilized life rank in the bottom 10 states nationally.

UPDATE, 6:27 p.m.: Steve Beshear's Lite Guv running mate, Dan Mongiardo, is a current member of the State Senate. Does that mean he voted for the Bend Over For The Coal Industry, One More Time Act of 2007? No, thank goodness. He was not present for the vote, presumably because he's on the campaign trail. Still, what a chicken.

Historical note: Democrat Dan Mongiardo earned the everlasting enmity of thousands of Kentucky Democrats in 2004 when he sponsored the anti-gay marriage amendment to the Kentucky Constitution. Keep in mind he did so months AFTER his fellow Democratic Senator Ernesto Scorsone had come out as gay.