Bravery.

It’s official: A federal judge has overturned Mississippi’s ban on same-sex couples adopting children. That means it’s finally legal in all 50 states for a same-sex couple to adopt. 

Mississippi’s law banning same-sex adoption went into effect in 2000. Alabama, Florida, Nebraska and Michigan all had similar bans in place, but while theirs were all overturned, Mississippi’s remained. Until now. 

This is an incredible moment, y’all. Families are families, no matter what we look like. Congratulations especially to you, Mississippi. <3

Justice Scalia’s final wishes being considered by millions of women

judge scalia is dead

You can absolutely disagree with the way someone lived their life or how they might’ve made certain decisions, but it’s another thing to glorify someone else’s death…

like and reblog to glorify scalia’s death

Are you shitting me? 

Death is a natural occurrence of life, number one. 

Two, Scalia didn’t do shit for me, he didn’t pay my bills, he didn’t leave an impact on my life. I have no obligation to mourn him or even respect his memory, especially since he was a fucking shit person with shit, archaic views and him being alive contributed to homophobic and racist ideologies.

So, to summarize how I feel about this bigoted politician dying and no longer being able to affect our country:

If you don't already hate Reagan, remember he appointed Justice Scalia.

SCOTUS Justice Scalia Dead

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35571868

Can we talk about the implications this has for the Supreme Court? Can we please? Because this is actually a big fucking deal. 

AND it happened while Pres. Obama was still in office. DUDE.

my brother and I were just talking about this. I wonder if they’re going to wait to put a new justice in for the next president :/

Depends on how aggressive the Senate’s gonna be about it. I’m REALLY hoping that the Dems actually get their shit together and rally behind Pres. Obama’s nomination.

I’m about to sound like a real asshole but seriously the only good thing Scala has done for the US is die while Obama is still in office. I’m REALLY hoping Obama has a come to jesus talk with dem leadership and they can Make It Happen.

You need to know 4 numbers.

78, 80, 80, and 83. These are what the ages of four supreme court justices will be in 2016, which means the next president very well could choose the next four supreme court justices when those four retire within the next eight years. Why does this matter? Because the supreme court control all our laws, and we need supreme court justices that will be on the right side of the history. Who picks the supreme court justices? The president.

Who would pick the justices the best? Bernie Sanders, who has a track record stemming back to marching with MLK with civil rights, has been a supporter of LGBT+ rights since before the 60′s, been against the war on drugs, against going to war for profit gain, isn’t owned by any one (he will not take any donations from corporations), believes in womens rights, believes that free higher education is a right, advocates for single payer healthcare, and is against big banks (wants to break them up into smaller entities). This is the president who we need to choose the next four supreme court justices.

This is the president who owes no one, but the people who voted for him. This is the president who hasn’t swayed from their beliefs for over 40 years.

This is the president who has always been on the right side of the history against all odds.

This is the president we need.

PLS READ.

Finally

it’s also worth mentioning that those four justices are Scalia (80), Kennedy (80), Ginsberg (83) & Breyer (78) - Scalia & Kennedy are both Reagan appointed justices who’ve been the main momentum behind most of the regressive decisions by the supreme court. Breyer is part of the liberal wing & Ginsberg is our Lord & Savior

so the point being is that the next president will have the opportunity to fundamentally shift the balance of power for the american judicial system. 

if bernie is that president we could be looking forward to a liberal political climate for another 20-30 years.

Imagine the power and growth of individual rights and equality of 20-30 years of liberal politics. This is why we need Bernie Sanders to be the one to choose.

While progressives are justifiably celebrating the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, the Court made another decision that spells the beginning of the end of the Prison Industrial Complex. The Court decided that the Federal three-strikes law is unconstitutionally vague.

That’s been the problem all along, hasn’t it? California courts sentenced a man to life imprisonment for stealing a pair of socks worth $2.50. When bankers steal hundreds of millions of dollars and get no jail time at all, ordinary people have to believe the legal system makes no sense at all.

Republican president Richard Nixon started this off by declaring a War on Drugs in 1971. Prosecutors everywhere used this so-called War as an excuse to put black Americans in prison. As a result, while blacks in California comprise only 3% of the population, the prison population convicted of a third strike offense is 45% black. It doesn’t help the black population that most of them can’t afford a decent lawyer, but still, police concentrate on rousting and arresting young black men.

Republican front group and law-making syndicate ALEC added to the prison population by writing determinate sentencing laws and convincing state legislatures to pass them. These bills had the effect of forcing blacks to spend decades in prison for possession of what were erroneously defined as Schedule I drugs. Private prison corporations, who profit heavily when more people are sent to prison, also support ALEC.

With the Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. United States, support for imprisoning blacks comes full circle. By an 8 to 1 margin, the most conservative Supreme Court in US history decided that the Federal Law that authorized strict penalties for 3rd strike felonies is unconstitutional. This reverses decades of cases where the Court ruled that locking up people for minor crimes and throwing away the key is just fine.

The question now is, “Where do we go from here?” This decision only affects federal cases, but it does mean that thousands of federal prisoners will have their sentences reviewed. In California, which has already changed its 3rd-strike laws, the total number of prisoners dropped nearly 9.4% (15,493 people) between 2010 and 2011. But federal prisons hold twice as many prisoners serving drug-related terms, so it is possible as many as 15%, or 30,000 will be released in the first year.

Will legislatures be able to resist pressure to keep these laws on the books? Given the changed political landscape with regard to racial profiling (which is now outlawed in many jurisdictions) and Marijuana use (which is now legal in 3 states and the District of Columbia), we can hope that many legislatures will correct their racist laws. At least, we can all work to force them to do it by electing Democrats to state legislatures.

oh my god, this is big.

Holy shit.

Wait, what??????? Holy crap!!!

“Running of the interns outside the Supreme Court 6/26/2015″

RUN INTERNS, BRING THE GOOD NEWS TO THE PEOPLE, hol y shit i did nto fucking realize. this happens.,vine.

LET ME FURTHER ELABORATE ON THE HILARITY OF THE BEST AMERICAN POLITICAL PRACTICE TO EXIST, “THE ANNUAL RUNNING OF THE INTERNS”: 

RECORDINGS ARE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE THE U.S. SUPREME COURT. SO WHEN A DECISION IS MADE, COPIES ARE HANDED TO MEMBERS OF THE PRESS INSIDE THE BUILDING IN A PRESS ROOM WHO THEN LEAVE THEIR ROOM TO HAND THE COPIES OF THE RULING TO THEIR INTERNS (WHO AREN’T ALLOWED INSIDE THE PRESS ROOM) 

(PICTURED: INTERNS FROM 2013, WAITING FOR THEIR RUN)

AND THEN THE INTERNS HAVE TO DELIVER THE COURT RULINGS WHILE THE JUSTICES ARE ANNOUNCING THEIR DECISION INSIDE THE COURTROOM ITSELF. 

SO THE INTERNS RUN THROUGH THE SUPREME COURT BUILDING FROM OUTSIDE THE PRESS ROOM TO OUTSIDE, ACROSS THE PAVED WALKWAYS, AND DOWN THE STAIRS OF THE COURTHOUSE AREA INTO THE BROADCASTING PRESS PEN IN THE STREET.

(A PREVIOUS YEAR’S INTERN RUN WINNER)

INTERNS ARE TOLD THEY MAY TO THROW SOME ELBOWS IF NECESSARY.

 AND ALL ARE RACING TO BE THE FIRST TO DELIVER THE COURT RULINGS TO THEIR RESPECTIVE BROADCASTERS WHO ARE WAITING TO GO ON AIR

PICTURED IN FRONT IS YESTERDAY’S INTERN WINNER LAUREN WHO SAID SHE “JUST LIKED TO WIN” WHEN SHE PULLED CLEAR AHEAD TO DELIVER THE OBAMACARE RELATED DECISION. 

KEEP IN MIND THE DECISIONS READ ON THE BENCH ARE POSTED ONLINE A FEW MINUTES LATER SO THIS WHOLE PROCESS CURRENTLY EXISTS BECAUSE NO ONE WANTS TO WAIT THAT LONG. 

TRULY A GREAT AND HILARIOUS AMERICAN TRADITION. 

All I can see in my head are old fashioned paper boys shouting “EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT “