Trumpie "judge" orders KY doctors to rape their patients with foreign object

Penetrating a woman with a transvaginal ultrasound wand against her will is rape.  And that's before we get to the requirement of lying.

And of course this asshole is one of the wingnut freakazoid fanatics Mitch McConnell has been forcing through the Senate against the will of the people.

Straight-up authoritarian torture.

From the Courier:

A federal appeals panel has upheld a 2017 Kentucky law requiring doctors who perform abortions to first perform an ultrasound and attempt to show and describe the image to the patient, as well as play an audible heartbeat of the fetus.

In a 2-1 vote, with Judge John Bush writing for the majority, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down a lower court ruling that said the law known as House Bill 2 was unconstitutional because it violates the free speech rights of physicians.

Bush, in his opinion, rejected the opponents' argument that forcing the physician to perform an ultrasound that may not be necessary and describe in detail the results to the patient is a violation of free speech rights.

"We hold that HB 2 provides relevant information," Bush wrote. "The information conveyed by an ultrasound image, its description and the audible beating fetal heart gives a patient a greater knowledge of the unborn life inside her. This also inherently provides the patient with more knowledge about the effect of an abortion procedure: it shows her what or whom she is consenting to terminate."

Bush, of Louisville, was appointed by President Donald Trump.

But in a blistering dissent, Judge Bernice Bouie Donald, a Tennessee native appointed to the appeals court by former President Barack Obama, said she found the reasoning to be deeply flawed and a setback for the freedom of physicians and their patients.

More: Attorneys general across the US taking sides in Kentucky abortion case

"I am gravely concerned with the precedent the majority creates today," she said. "Its decision opens the floodgates to states in this Circuit to manipulate doctor-patient discourse solely for ideological reasons."

She added: "HB 2 is a restriction on speech that has no basis in the practice of medicine."

Gov. "What women?  They're just incubators" Bevin hailed the decision, of course, as "victory for life." Because the only lives that matter are white, straight, freakazoid, rich, repug men.

Homophobic Judge Forced Off Bench

Good on the state judicial commission for holding the freakazoid to account.

From the Courier:

A Kentucky Family Court judge who refuses to hear adoption cases involving gays and lesbians will resign amid an ethics and misconduct inquiry. 

Judge W. Mitchell Nance submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Matt Bevin on Wednesday, saying he will retire on Dec. 16, according to documents made public Thursday by the state's Judicial Conduct Commission. 

In April, Nance drew national attention when he said he would no longer hear adoption cases involving "homosexual parties" because he believes allowing a gay person to adopt could never be in the child's best interest.

The Barren and Metcalf county judge further said he would recuse himself from such cases because ethics rules require judges to do so when they have a personal bias or prejudice.

Last month the commission, which investigates complaints of judicial misconduct and wrongdoing, notified Nance that it was charging him with multiple violations of judicial ethics rules, including those banning bias or prejudice based on sexual orientation.

Bevin Must Be So Proud

Resign, motherfucker.  No sweet judgeships for practicing homophobic bigots.

From the AP:

A Kentucky family court judge says he won't hear any more adoption cases that involve gay adults.

The Courier-Journal reports Judge Mitchell Nance issued an order Thursday saying he believes that "under no circumstance" would "the best interest of the child be promoted by the adoption by a practicing homosexual."

Nance cited an ethical rule that says judges must disqualify themselves when they have a personal bias or prejudice.

Nance's order said lawyers representing gay people in adoptions in Barren and Metcalfe counties would have to request a special judge.

Don't bother sending Nance the dozens of studies showing that the vast majority of pedophiles and child abuses are heterosexual.  Or the hundreds showing that children thrive with gay parents

He's a trumpy.  He doesn't care about the facts. Fags make him feel icky in his bathing suit area, so no adoptions for them!

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/latest-news/article147409639.html#storylink=cpy

Treason Dead-Enders Defying Constitution Again. Still. Always.

Nuke South Carolina. Do it now.

Jack Jacobs at Think Progress:

A South Carolina lawmaker is fielding accusations of violating the U.S. Constitution after sending judicial candidates a questionnaire asking their legal opinions on controversial topics and the nature of their relationship to God.

According to The State, Republican state representative Jonathon Hill issued a 30-question survey last week to candidates currently campaigning to become judges in South Carolina. Judges are elected by legislators in the Palmetto State, and while the survey itself was enough to raise eyebrows, Hill has garnered staunch criticism for the nature of his questions: among other controversial inquiries, the survey asked candidates how they would approach a case where a woman sued for equal pay, whether or not they would perform a same-sex marriage, and whether they have a “personal relationship” to God.

“Do you believe in the ‘Supreme Being’ (SC Constitution, Article VI, Section 2)?” one of the questions read. “What is the nature of this being? What is your personal relationship to this being? What relevance does this being have on the position of judge? Please be specific.”

Another question asked candidates how they would respond to attacks on LGBT people in South Carolina, where there are currently no hate crimes laws on the books.

“In a case where someone was assaulted because he was gay, would you consider it a ‘hate crime’ and increase the penalty?” the question read.

None of the candidates responded to the survey, and representatives from the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, which oversees the election that will be held this Wednesday, reportedly contacted Hill to tell him that the Code of Judicial Conduct bans judges from answering several of his questions. This is primarily because doing so would functionally amount to a promise to decide future cases a certain way, as opposed to taking each case on its merits.

Also, since the would-be judges are candidates in an election, asking them specific questions about their faith and spiritual affiliations effectively amounts to a “religious test.” Such tests are explicitly forbidden in Article VI, paragraph 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which reads “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

The Birthplace of Treason in Defense of Slavery should have been carved off the continent and set adrift in the Atlantic 150 years ago.

KY Ruling Big "Fuck You" to the Sixth Circuit

Freakazoid deniers of human rights to human beings are pissing into the wind. It's game over, morons. It might take a year for the Supreme Court to put it in writing, but it's over. Teh Gheys won, and you motherfuckers lost. LOST.

Bruce Schreiner, AP:

A Kentucky judge has granted a divorce to a same-sex couple — even though the state does not recognize gay marriage.

Kentucky law says that same-sex marriages performed elsewhere are void in the state, and any rights granted by virtue of the marriage, or its termination, are unenforceable in Kentucky courts. But in his recent ruling in Louisville, Judge Joseph O'Reilly said that denying same-sex couples the right to divorce would run counter to constitutional protections.

"The Bill of Rights of the Kentucky Constitution recognizes and provides that all persons are equal," wrote O'Reilly, a Jefferson County Family Court judge. "That includes same-sex couples. ... To permit legally married heterosexual couples to dissolve their marriages and deny legally married same-sex couples the right to dissolve their marriages constitutes the grant of separate privileges to legally married heterosexual couples in violation of the Bill of Rights of the Kentucky Constitution."

Both attorneys in the case said they believe the judge's action was a first in the state, and said their clients were satisfied with the outcome. It was first reported by The Courier-Journal.

"I'm thrilled that Judge O'Reilly had the courage to do what he did," said Louis Waterman, who represented Alysha Romero in the divorce from Rebecca Romero. The ruling will not face an appeal because the only parties who could have sought one were the Romeros, Waterman said.

SNIP

Chris Hartman, director of the Louisville-based Fairness Campaign, a gay-advocacy group, said the judge's ruling was historic.

"Even divorce is a fundamental right if we're going to afford LGBT couples all the legal rights of marriage," he said. "So it simply is one more step in the direction of LGBT couples having the same legal rights.

Thank You, Ted Cruz

President Obama's nominees are not, of course, the far-left liberals needed to just begin to offset the far-right wingnut extremist crazies appointed by Reagan and both Bushes who now dominate the federal courts.

But they are a slight improvement over vacancies.

Steve Benen at Maddowblog:

Thanks to Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) blunder, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was able to move 12 more judicial nominees towards confirmation this week, which may ultimately bring the overall total for the year to 88 -- more than double last year's tally, and the most since Bill Clinton's second year in office.

As of this minute, 291 of Obama's judicial nominees have been confirmed to the federal bench -- one more than Reagan at this point in his sixth year, 37 more than W. Bush, and just seven fewer than Clinton. If, however, the 12 pending nominees are approved this week, Obama will be outpacing them all.

Brookings' Russell Wheeler told the AP that Obama and the Democratic-led Senate have "changed the face of the judiciary."

The rest of the AP article makes clear just how true that is:

Of Obama’s judges confirmed so far, 42 percent have been women, 19 percent black and 11 percent Hispanic, the White House said. That exceeded the percentages of his immediate predecessors, George W. Bush and Clinton, the White House said.

Another measure of Obama’s impact is on federal appeals courts, which have enormous influence on their regions of the country and can be conduits for cases to reach the Supreme Court. When he took office, 10 of the 13 appeals courts had more judges appointed by Republican than Democratic presidents. Now the balance has switched, with Democratic-appointed majorities on nine of the courts.

Most significantly, that includes the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia, considered the nation’s second-most powerful court because its jurisdiction includes actions by the White House and federal agencies.

Of course, for the White House, Senate Democrats, or anyone else who wants to see the courts move in a more progressive direction, the good news is poised to come to a screeching halt. Dems have controlled the Senate for each of the last eight years – and for all of the Obama presidency – which generally made it possible to advance many of the White House’s preferred jurists. A Republican-led Senate begins next month, at which point, the confirmation process will slow to crawl, if not a complete stop.

In the meantime, though, this is the part of a president’s legacy that will matter long after he or she has left office.

Same-Sex Marriages Now Recognized in KY: Fake Democratic AG Objects

Everybody who still wonders why repug-lite Jack Conway couldn't muster up enough Democratic votes to beat the Tribble-Toupeed One in 2010, stand on your head.

John Cheves at the Herald:

Same-sex marriages performed in other states are legal in Kentucky under a final order issued Thursday by a federal judge in Louisville.

U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II issued an order early Thursday afternoon that strikes down portions of a 1998 state law and a 2004 state constitutional amendment defining marriage in Kentucky as between one man and one woman, and that prohibited the state from recognizing same-sex marriages legally performed in other states.

"To the extent (that state laws) deny validly married same-sex couples equal recognition and benefits under Kentucky and federal law, those laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and they are void and unenforceable," Heyburn wrote in his two-sentence order.

Under the ruling, same-sex couples married in other states are now entitled to the legal benefits all other married couples in Kentucky receive, such as the ability to file joint tax returns.

Earlier Thursday, Attorney General Jack Conway asked Heyburn for a stay to delay for 90 days the implementation of his order.

I'm sure Allison Lundergan Grimes has something mushy and meaningless to say, but I really can't be bothered.

Forget the ACA; If Obama Doesn't Fill the Courts With Lefties, He'll Have No Legacy At All

Don't be fooled by the recent decisions by federal district judges to make states stop discriminating: the federal judiciary is infested with reich-wing corporatists hell-bent on reversing a century of economic and social progress.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of vacancies in the federal court system, all of them begging for far, far, FAR left judges to counteract the anti-democratic drag of Smirky-Darth appointees.

Unfortunately, President Obama has no interest in correcting the right-wing judicial threat to the Constitution.

Digby:

I wrote about the Michael Boggs nomination to the Federal bench earlier, but it's worth revisiting today as it seems likely to go forward. Remember, it isn't just him, it's three more totally unacceptable neanderthal wingnuts on the federal courts in exchange for a couple of moderates. This is a result of a "painstaking process of negotiations" --- which the president obviously lost.

The White House has not backed down from the nominations, arguing that the deal was part of a long, painstaking process of negotiations that they don’t want to toss out the window. According to The Hill, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told the Congressional Black Caucus at a meeting in early February that the administration wouldn’t be withdrawing the nominations. The Obama administration is also frustrated with what they see as inadequate recognition of the fact that the administration has nominated the most diverse slate of candidates for the federal bench in history — including one who would be the first openly gay black nominee —and that the Georgia delegation failed to weigh in on the process before the deal over the Georgia nominees was cut.

Just a reminder: Clarence Thomas is black. (Also, apropos of nothing, from Georgia.) Choosing more racial minorities, women and gays alone, while a worthy goal, is not enough for a Democratic president. This is especially true of one who has inexplicably failed to even nominate  enough judges to fill the available vacancies. It's just inexplicable that he would agree to "deals" in which Republicans get to put more far right ideologues on the court after the previous president already packed it with them to the fullest extent he possibly could. If there is one area in which ideology, temperament and political philosophy simply must be taken seriously, it's this one. If he can't do any better than this, he should leave the seats unfilled and hope his successor is a Democrat who has better negotiating skills.

Now it must be recognized that the Senate, especially judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy, are clinging to their Senatorial prerogatives and that's a problem. They don't get a pass. But the administration should recognize that a major component of any president's legacy is his federal court appointments and should not be so cavalier as to allow such far right ideologues to obtain lifetime appointment under his auspices.

Why should repugs get all the obstruction fun? I'd like to see Senator Bernie Sanders block any judicial nominee to the right of  Elizabeth Warren.

In Reality World, This Is Known As Suicidal Ideation

jesusfuckingchocolatecoveredchristonapogostick.

Think Progress:

Last November, Senate Democrats invoked a procedural maneuver that allowed them to confirm judicial nominees by a simple majority vote, thus cutting off the GOP’s ability to maintain control over a key federal appeals court by simply refusing to permit anyone to be confirmed. So it’s a bit odd that, just over a month after Senate Republicans effectively lost their ability to veto nominees from the minority. President Obama decided to outsource selecting nominees to most of the open judicial seats in Georgia to two Republican senators.

Presently, five judicial vacancies need to be filled in Georgia. Yet, 2013 wound down, Obama agreed to a deal that would place most of these seats in Republican hands.

There is no excuse.


Every liberal accomplishment of the last 70 years, from Social Security and workers' rights to abortion and voting rights are on the verge of elimination by the thousands of conservative judges appointed by repug presidents. They far outnumber liberal or even moderate judges.

To save a democratic society, we have to fill every single judicial vacancy with the far-leftiest judges we can shove down repugs' throats.

But Obama is giving them away to repugs, and killing democracy in the process.

Nothing - nothing - is worth this.

This Is How You Talk to Repug and Freakazoid Motherfuckers

Ian Millhiser at Think Progress:

Texas federal Judge Fred Biery is a key villain in GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s narrative about why federal judges are out of control and must be intimidated into submission. Gingrich routinely cites a previous decision by Biery holding that the Constitution does not permit a public school district to sponsor a student-led prayer at graduation to justify eliminating courts that displease Gingrich.

Fortunately, the actual parties to this lawsuit were not nearly as unreasonable as Mr. Gingrich, and they eventually agreed to settle the case after mediation. In his order approving the settlement, Biery includes an unusual “personal statement” directed at the many lawmakers who, like Gingrich, have painted him as some kind of enemy of religion:

To the United States Marshal Service and local police who have provided heightened security: Thank you.

To those Christians who have venomously and vomitously cursed the Court family and threatened bodily harm and assassination: In His name, I forgive you.

To those who have prayed for my death: Your prayers will someday be answered, as inevitably trumps probability.

To those in the executive and legislative branches of government who have demagogued this case for their own political goals: You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Biery also includes a clever dig and the many Christian right groups that have attacked him: “Any American can pray, silently or verbally, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day, in private as Jesus taught or in large public events as Mohammed instructed.”

The Rude Pundit has more details and snark.