Brown Nominates Goodwin Liu To CA Sup Ct!

Charles Dharapak / AP Photo

Goodwin Liu, 40, was rejected by a Republican United States Senate filibuster for a coveted position on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals but has received a pretty nice consolation prize: a nomination by Governor Jerry Brown to the California State Supreme Court (from which he could still be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court before he's 50).

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Liu, a graduate of Yale Law School, is the son of Taiwanese immigrants. He was born in Georgia, grew up in Sacramento and has a history of public service.

“I’m deeply honored by Gov. Brown’s nomination and look forward to the opportunity to serve the people of California on our state’s highest court,” Liu said in a statement.

Before joining the Berkeley Law faculty in 2003, Liu was an appellate litigator at O'Melveny & Myers in Washington. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and for Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He also served as special assistant to the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and as senior program officer for higher education at the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps).

Brown has forwarded Liu’s name to the State Bar’s Commission of Judicial Nominees Evaluation. The appointment will not become final until the Commission on Judicial Appointments -- consisting of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and Justice Joan Dempsey Klein, senior presiding justice of the state Court of Appeal -- confirms the nomination.

Liu will replace Associate Justice Carlos Moreno, who retired from the court earlier this year.

Justice Moreno was a very strong advocate for the LGBT community, voting with 4-3 majority to end marriage discrimination in California's landmark In Re Marriage cases in 2008 and was the lone dissenter in 2009's California Supreme Court decision which upheld Proposition 8 as not violating the California constitution.

Goodwin Liu has previously expressed his belief that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional so it will be interesting to see if he can get confirmed in time to participate in the case now before the case as to whether the heterosexual supremacist supporters of Proposition 8 have legal standing to defend it in court when the elected representatives of the people of California have decided not to defend a voter-approved ballot measure.

Another interesting feature that Liu, if confirmed will produce a court with an Asian American majority and no Black or Latino members, in a state which has Latino plurality in the population. Things that make you go Hmmmmmm! That being said, Liu is a great choice, since he can't get through the Senate to a federal judgeship while Republicans have more than 40 votes and no compunctions about filibustering extremely qualified judges purely based on ideology, a state supreme court seat is fantastic.

Maryland Marriage Equality Bill Survives By 1 Vote

Tiffany Alston, a co-sponsor of the bill voted against marriage equality
after her amendment to create civil unions was defeated

Drama at today's Baltimore House Judiciary Committee vote on HB 175. The bill squeaked through to the House floor by a vote of 12-10 with wavering supporter Sam Arora voting yes while another fickle co-sponsor of the legislation, Del. Tiffany Alston, voted no. The measure was only saved from an 11-11 defeat by the House Judiciary Committee chair Joseph Valliaro,  Jr. voted in favor to send the measure to the whole body even though he does not support marriage equality!

Here's the vote tally on the legislation. People voting YES should be thanked by marriage equality supporters:

Joseph F. Vallario, Jr., Chair (410) 841-3488, (301) 858-3488 - YES
 Kathleen M. Dumais, Vice-Chair (410) 841-3052, (301) 858-3052  - YES

Tiffany T. Alston _ NOCurtis S. (Curt) Anderson _ YESSam Arora - YESJill P. Carter - YESLuke H. Clippinger _ YESJohn W. E. Cluster, Jr. _ NOFrank M. Conaway, Jr. - YESDon H. Dwyer, Jr. -NOMichael J. Hough - NOKevin Kelly - NOSusan C. Lee - YESSusan K. McComas - NOMichael A. McDermott - NOKeiffer J. Mitchell, Jr. - YESNeil C. Parrott - NOLuiz R. S. Simmons - YESMichael D. Smigiel, Sr. - NOKriselda Valderrama - YESGeraldine Valentino-Smith - NOJeffrey D. Waldstreicher  - YES

The bill now goes to the House floor where Democrats outnumber Republicans 98 to 43 but the Marriage Protection Act does not have 71 co-sponsors, and as we have seen, being a co-sponsor does not guarantee that you will actually vote YES on the legislation!

Even if the measure does become law, heterosexual supremacists like the National Organization for Marriage have vowed to collect signatures for a referendum on the measure in 2012. They'll need to collect 55,736 signatures by June 30 and 18,579 by May 31st. Thus would prevent HB 175/SB 116 from going into effect until after the vote, a similar situation to what happened in 2009 in Maine. Voters that November passed Question 1 by a vote of 52.8% to 42.2%

Celebrity Friday: Sam Arora Reneges On Marriage Equality Support

Maryland Delegate Sam Arora ran on a campaign of support
 for marriage equality and accepted thousands of dollars in LGBT donations

As the bill to legalize marriage equality in Maryland, HB 175/S 116, appears to have run into some very serious legislative hurdles in the lower House right before a key Judiciary Committee vote despite passing the Senate 25-21 last week.  LGBT activists are shocked and appalled by the shameful actions of a young progressive politician named Sam Arora who co-sponsored and ran for election on a platform of marriage equality but who has now indicated he will will vote against the bill if it reaches the house floor but will vote for it in the judiciary committee.

John Aravosis and other LGBT activists are perplexed by Arora's traitorous actions since as recently as a month ago, Arora had tweeted his support for marriage equality.

Now that tweet has been deleted from Arora's twitter stream and he is telling associates he doesn't think his religious principles allow him to "redefine marriage," which is basically a right-wing talking point. marriage is not REDEFINED when discriminatory legal barriers to those who can access it are removed. It's about treating LGBT people equally regardless of the gender of the person they love and their sexual orientation.

For his traitorous actions is possibly assisting in the demise of Maryland's civil marriage protection act, Sam Arora is todays Celebrity Friday. Democrats hold a 98-43 advantage in the Maryland House of Delegates but the floor vote (if it happens) is now expected to be close.

UPDATE 03/04/2011 0943 PST
Arora has released a statement saying that even though he opposes marriage equality (he supports civil unions) he will vote for the bill on the floor:

"I have heard from constituents, friends, and advocates from across the spectrum of views and have thought about the issue of same-sex marriage extensively. I understand their concern--this is a very serious issue, and one that many people feel passionately about. As the vote drew nearer, I wrestled with this issue in a way I never had before, which led me to realize that I had some concerns about the bill. While I personally believe that Maryland should extend civil rights to same-sex couples through civil unions, I have come to the conclusion that this issue has such impact on the people of Maryland that they should have a direct say. I will vote to send the bill to the floor because it deserves an up-or-down vote. On the floor, I will vote to send the bill to the governor so that Marylanders can ultimately decide this issue at the polls. I think that is appropriate."

Hmmm, I guess online pressure works! Hat/tip to Gay.AmericaBlog

SD-28: Ted Lieu Wins Special Election

former Assemblymember Ted Lieu

Ted Lieu, a Democratic former 53rd District Assemblymember and strong LGBT ally, won Tuesday's special election in the 28th State Senate District to replace the late Jenny Oropeza. In the first election held under the state's open primary law, Lieu won 57.14% of the vote containing a field of 8 candidates from several parties.

In the 17th State Senate District Sharon Runner, the odious Republican co-author of numerous "tough on crime" ballot measures, won the special election to fill the seat formerly held by her husband George Runner, who was elected to the State Board of Equalization in November.

Maryland Lt. Gov. Brown Announces Support For Marriage Equality

Maryland Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown

The groundswell of support for marriage equality in Maryland continues to grow. The highest-ranked Black elected official in the state (and potential 2014 gubernatorial candidate), Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, has announced his support for the pending bill to legalize marriage equality, SB 116.

As a prominent black elected official, LGBT advocates for the marriage bill would likely seek Brown’s help in campaigning for the bill in a referendum fight in his home turf of majority black P.G. County. In California in 2008, exit polls showed that a majority of black voters supported overturning that state’s same-sex marriage law in the bitterly fought ballot measure known as Proposition 8.

“I think Prince George’s County, which is predominantly African American, should not be viewed as a monolithic entity or county or community,” Brown said. “I think we’re going to get varying degrees of support and varying degrees of opposition. We know from public comments that many of the traditional civil rights organizations have come out in support of it,” he said, referring to the same-sex marriage bill.

“We also know that a number of members of the clergy from the African-American churches have come out or spoke against it,” he said. “So there’s not a clear or I should say single voice in Prince George’s County on this issue as I suspect is true in most all of the large counties in Maryland.”

[...]

Brown’s official biography on the Maryland State website shows that he has served in the Army since 1984 both on active duty and currently in the reserves. He served a 10-month tour in Iraq as part of a Multi-National Force in 2004 that provided humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people. In 2007 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and, as an attorney with a degree from Harvard Law School, he currently commands a Pennsylvania-based Army Legal Support unit.

Brown is not the only prominent politician to announce his support for marriage equality this week. The former head of the Republican State Senate caucus Alan Kittleman released a statement on Tuesday expressing his support for SB 116.

I know that some may contend that since the Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, Maryland should continue to prohibit same sex marriage. First, let me state that I am a strong follower of Jesus Christ. I worked in youth ministries for many years. However, while my faith may teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, our government is not a theocracy. As the state senator from District 9, I represent everyone in my district, regardless of their faith. Therefore, while my spiritual life is extremely important to me, it cannot be the sole basis for my decisions as a state senator.

I know that some will be upset with my decision to support SB 116 and I respect the fact that people have differing opinions on this issue. I carefully considered my decision. I sought counsel from many people, including my family, clergy, advocates for both sides, fellow legislators and many others. These discussions were very helpful to me and I appreciate the time that those individuals took to talk with me. Ultimately, it was my strong feelings about civil rights that led me to decide to support SB 116.

 Wow! Bipartisan, diverse support for marriage equality in Maryland!

WATCH: Kid Of Lesbian Moms Defend Iowa Marriage Equality

The Iowa legislature is currently debating a constitutional amendment to overturn marriage equality and ban civil unions in that state. Today, they head testimony from Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old son of two teenage moms who were married in Iowa in 2009.

WATCH, it's riveting.





I have some qualms about the "we're just like you" assimilationist message communicated but there's no question his passionate defense of his family illustrates the impact of public policy discussions on the real lives of Iowans.

Afterwards, the Republican-dominated Iowa house passed the measure on to the state Senate by a  vote of 62-37. The majority leader Mike Gronstal has said that he will not allow any measure overturning Iowa marriage equality to come to a vote. In order to amend the Iowa constitution, a amendment has to pass both houses of the legislature in two consecutive legislative sessions and then be approved by a majority of voters. The earliest a vote on marriage equality could happen is 2013 (if the currently debated measure passed this year and next).

Hat/tip to TowleRoad.