LGBTQ Legal Issues

Parents of Matthew Shepard use DOJ speech to criticize Barr’s stance on gender identity protections

The parents of Matthew Shepard, a college student murdered because he was gay, criticized the Justice Department’s stance on LGBTQ workplace protections on Wednesday in a speech delivered at an event commemorating a hate-crime law named after their son.

Oct 17, 2019 10:39 AM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: FBI probes slaying of US lawyer overseas; liberal group’s SCOTUS short list released

FBI to aid probe into slaying of US lawyer in Micronesia The FBI is aiding the investigation into the Monday shooting death of U.S. lawyer Rachelle Bergeron, who was acting attorney general of Yap State in the Pacific nation of Micronesia. A friend, Amos Collins, said he doesn’t know who…

Oct 16, 2019 4:11 PM CDT

Kavanaugh keeps observers guessing in arguments on protections for LGBTQ workers

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh provided little clue to his thinking on Title VII protections for LGBTQ people during U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments Tuesday, while Justice Neil M. Gorsuch asked some questions that appeared to favor both sides.

Oct 9, 2019 12:13 PM CDT

SCOTUS opens new term with criminal law cases addressing insanity defense and unanimous juries

The U.S. Supreme Court has several blockbuster cases in its new term—on gay and transgender rights, federal immigration enforcement and gun regulation. But before it gets to any of those, the court on the first day of the term will take up two criminal law cases raising significant questions, even though only a handful of states are affected by each.

Oct 3, 2019 5:03 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: Weighty matters load the Supreme Court’s next term

The U.S. Supreme Court justices return from their summer recess Monday to a calendar filled with potential blockbuster cases. Typically, about half the docket is set before the justices’ recess at the end of June, with the remaining cases taken between the beginning of October and the middle of January. But just based on what already is on the docket, this term could be filled with cases of great significance.

Oct 3, 2019 6:00 AM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Murder charge against 9-year-old tossed; judge bans mystery proceedings

Judge tosses murder charge against 9-year-old boy A murder defendant cried and hugged his father after Michigan Judge David Tomlinson tossed a murder charge against him Friday. The defendant was 9 years old. He was accused of fatally shooting his adoptive mother. Tomlinson found the boy incompetent to stand trial…

Sep 30, 2019 4:25 PM CDT

On the Emmys’ red carpet, Laverne Cox and her ACLU date discuss pending Supreme Court cases

Orange is the New Black actress and LGBTQ advocate Laverne Cox wanted to deliver a message to viewers watching the Emmy Awards on Sunday. Cox’s date was an ACLU staff attorney, and her clutch was a specially designed rainbow handbag bearing the message “Oct. 8, Title VII Supreme Court.”

Sep 23, 2019 11:13 AM CDT

Federal judge tosses suit by gay lawyer who says his co-counsel outed him to al-Qaida client

A federal judge in Chicago has ruled that a mitigation specialist who worked on the defense team for accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed can’t sue a co-counsel accused of outing him as a gay man to the client.

Sep 17, 2019 2:05 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Actress sentenced in college admissions scandal; judge sides with transgender Ohioans

Actress Felicity Huffman gets 14 days in prison for college admissions scandal Actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for her involvement in the college admissions scandal. In May, Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay $15,000 to a fake charity to facilitate cheating when her…

Sep 13, 2019 4:51 PM CDT

Same-sex couples aren’t afforded equal abuse protections in this state

If the woman known as M.E. had lived with her girlfriend in North Carolina, she could have gotten significant legal protection once their relationship turned abusive. She would also have been eligible for that help—a domestic violence protective order—if her ex had been a man. But because she did not…

Aug 28, 2019 1:00 PM CDT

8th Circuit reinstates legal challenge by videographers who won’t make same-sex wedding videos

A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated a challenge to Minnesota’s anti-bias law by videographers who say they can’t be required to make same-sex wedding videos because it would violate their religious beliefs. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Carl and Angel Larsen, owners of…

Aug 26, 2019 12:11 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Judge says she’d castrate defendant if law permitted it; Schulte Roth sued for alleged bias

Judge says she would castrate man if law allowed it A judge in Oklahoma City sentenced a man who installed home security systems to life in prison for putting secret cameras in clients’ bedrooms and bathrooms to make videos of girls. Judge Amy Palumbo told the defendant, Ryan Alden, that…

Aug 23, 2019 4:58 PM CDT

Justice Department avoids gender pronouns in brief in transgender case

The U.S. Department of Justice and a funeral home that fired a transgender woman managed to avoid gender pronouns in Supreme Court briefs opposing her bias claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Aug 21, 2019 2:06 PM CDT

EEOC doesn’t sign US brief telling Supreme Court that transgender discrimination is legal

The general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission didn’t sign a Supreme Court brief filed on its behalf by the U.S. Justice Department on Friday in the case of a transgender funeral home employee. The EEOC had sued on behalf of funeral director and embalmer Aimee Stephens, who says…

Aug 19, 2019 2:10 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: Suit claims hijacking of state AG’s office; proposed rule called license to discriminate

• Is the Minnesota attorney general’s office being hijacked by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg? That’s the question being raised by the conservative-leaning Upper Midwest Law Center. It has sued for more information about a fellow working in the office. The fellow comes from a law school environmental…

Aug 16, 2019 4:38 PM CDT