Jan 1 2007
March 2006 (continued)
March 30th:- The Supreme Court of Nepal strikes down the country's sexist divorce law, which had previously given men total control over the divorce process.
- My About.com mentor and colleague Austin Cline reports on widespread religious discrimination against atheists, agnostics, and other non-churchgoing folk in child custody cases.
March 31st:
- Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), a black woman, is accosted by DC police after they fail to recognize her as a member of the legislature. She describes the case as one of racial profiling; DC police counter that she struck an officer in the chest, and consider filing assault charges (then drop the idea). She is later defeated by another Democratic candidate in her district's primary.
- The Mississippi abortion ban dies in conference after passing the state House of Representatives by a 94-25 margin. The bill, which allows exceptions for rape and incest, will most likely come up for a vote again in 2007.
- A Michigan federal judge strikes down a bill restricting the sale of violent video games.
April 2006
April 3rd:- The Supreme Court case of Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen illegally detained as an "enemy combatant," is resolved on a technicality.
- The leader of a prominent "border enforcement" group sends an email attempting to recruit neo-Nazis to to beat, rob, and intimidate Latino immigrants. This comes as no surprise to civil rights activists who have been following the immigration debate closely, and are aware of the central role the white supremacist movement plays in the anti-immigration community.
April 4th:
- The Iraqi Tribunal charges Saddam Hussein with genocide in connection with the al-Anfal Campaign. He will be hanged on prior charges in December 2006, before a verdict in this case is rendered.
- In Kuwait, women vote for the first time in the country's history.
April 5th: A gay rights group organizes a protest of the FDA's anti-gay blood donation policies.
April 13th: The ACLU takes the case of Malia Fontana, a 15-year-old San Diego honors student who is disciplined for wearing an American flag in her back pocket. Wearing American flags is not generally a punishable offense, but Fontana is of Latin American ancestry, which--in the current racially charged debate over immigration policy--changes everything.
April 14th: The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression announces the "winners" of its 2006 Muzzle Awards.
April 21st: In Harper v. Poway, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rules that public schools may ban racist and anti-gay T-shirts.
April 22nd: The first post-Katrina New Orleans municipal election disenfranchises 30,000 black voters by refusing to allow satellite voting centers for (predominantly black and low-income) evacuees in Atlanta, Houston, and Jackson, while leaving voting accessible to (predominantly white) evacuees who had fled to the New Orleans suburbs. Civil rights groups charge that the refusal to establish satellite voting centers violates the Voting Rights Act. Although incumbent black mayor Ray Nagin defeated his white challenger, Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu (D-LA), the tainted election still leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many civil rights activists.
May 2006
May 1st: The ACLU challenges a Kentucky law banning protests outside funerals.May 10th: USA Today reveals that the Bush administration is attempting to establish a universal record of phone calls made within the United States, a project ostensibly created to intimidate government whistleblowers.
May 17th: A Mississippi judge finally overturns the false 1960 conviction of (long-deceased) civil rights activist Clyde Kennard.
May 25th: The U.S. Senate passes the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA) of 2006. Differences between House and Senate immigration reform legislation essentially render both bills dead in conference, which is probably a good thing given the racially charged atmosphere that dominated the immigration debate in 2006.
