Kristi Conatzer said the governor has created an unneeded public debate over keeping children safe based on comments she made opposing an initiative petition. Conatzer’s daughter, Emily, was one of the seven children who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School. “There shouldn’t be an argument over this,” she said. “We lost something on May 20 […]
Supreme Court
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Poor logic on Hobby Lobby decision
According to a majority of the 10th Circuit, the businesses owned by the Green family are religious “persons,” and, therefore, can have the benefit of RFRA. But the court’s reasoning is utterly divorced from RFRA’s history and the larger context of federal law generally. It is critical to understand that due to the doctrine of […]
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Hobby Lobby deserves protection
After the U.S. Supreme Court decided to no longer strictly scrutinize most laws that substantially burden religious liberty, outraged people of all ideological hues vowed to restore the legal protection refused by the court. The Senate passed the bill 97-3. The House passed it unanimously. RFRA instructs courts to invalidate any law or government action […]
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Remembering segregation
In those days, I was a teenager working as a waitress in the bus station in Checotah. When African Americans got off a bus and came up front to the restaurant section of the bus station for food, I had to tell them, “No.” They had to eat at a counter in back, behind the […]
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Common sense needed on the court
Unfortunately, the result is a backdoor attack on the Legislature’s attempt to limit frivolous and expensive litigation and to improve our business climate. It is interesting to note the two dissenting justices — reviewing the exact same facts and legal theories as the majority — reached the opposite conclusion. This is significant. Judicial philosophy is […]
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Judging the judges
Credit: Brad Gregg The State Chamber of Oklahoma, a key backer of tort reform, quickly fired off an outraged news release. “Regrettably, the activist judges on this court have shown they will continue to anoint themselves the ultimate arbiter of the state’s social, moral and legal values,” said Fred Morgan, chamber president and CEO. “It […]
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Marriage equality is up for grabs
The Supreme Court justices (in that very same Supreme Court building) are presently considering California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. They are also considering the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Interestingly, attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies jointly filed the federal lawsuit that brought […]
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How appealing
Credit: Brad Gregg “We have an obligation to protect our citizens and to make sure a life-altering abortion is held to the highest medical standards,” Pruitt said in a written statement. The lead plaintiff in challenging the ultrasound law, Nova Health Systems, was represented by the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights. “This last-ditch effort […]
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Blue moon
Credit: Brad Gregg Moon has had several allegedly drunken run-ins with the law. In 2008, he was arrested by Warr Acres police and, in a tirade captured on video, demanded to be taken to county lockup. Four years later, he was accused of assaulting and threatening another lawyer at an OKC bar. Those threats, according […]
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Playing snow day roulette
It seems our Republican “leadership” has opted for a similar strategy regarding the establishment of a health care exchange. Rather than taking federal funds to establish the exchange, the governor, under right-wing pressure and the hope that the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down the entire law, rejected the funds. This risky move did not […]