As Big Tent wrote earlier ,the California Supreme Court Thursday overturned a law banning gay marriage (opinion here, pdf). Glenn Greenwald has some terrific analysis on what the decision means and doesn't mean. In a nutshell, from the Washington Post,

Marriage is a "basic civil right" guaranteed to all Californians, "whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples," Chief Justice Ronald M. George wrote in a 121-page ruling. He repeatedly said the ruling was based on the California court's first-in-the-nation decision in 1948 to end the state's prohibition on interracial marriage, nearly 20 years before the U.S. Supreme Court took the same action.

The ruling becomes effective in 30 days unless a stay is granted.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama issued similar bland statements on today's decision: [More...]

Twelve Montana prosecutors have endorsed Barack Obama:

These leaders from across Montana cited Senator Obama’s strong record of supporting law enforcement as well as his commitment to protecting individual rights that are important to the lives of all Montanans.

The Mayor of Kalispell, MT endorsed Hillary Clinton yesterday:

"Hillary Clinton has been standing up for women and families throughout her long career in public service," Kennedy said. "She is the candidate who best understands the issues facing Montana families."

Previously, Hillary was endorsed by State Sen. Ken Hansen, Harlem; Rep. Norma Bixby, Lame Deer; Rep. Julie French, Scobey; Rep. Veronica Smalls Eastman, Lodge Grass; Julia Doney, Democratic Activist, Fort Belknap; Former Rep. Angela Russell, Lodge Grass; Former Rep. Bob Gervais, Browning; State Senator Vicki Cocchiarella (Missoula) and Rep. Franke Wilmer (Bozeman).

As a defense lawyer, I'm not impressed, and if anything, put off by the prosecutors' endorsement of Obama. It's not the first time Obama has been endorsed by law enforcement groups. When he was running for office in Illinois: [More...]

How about a late night open thread?

We've also got some new diaries up:

• Sensible Justice: Why This Election Matters by Scribe

• Your One-Stop Shop for Downticket Race Info! - Senate Edition by Dalton Hoffine [Note: The Washington Post says the Dems need to pick up 9 seats in November to have a filibuster proof Senate.]

• Obama's OTHER Forgotten Demographic : Older Voters by Paul Lukasiak (my post on that is here.)

And only in Texas, an HIV homeless man gets 35 years for spitting on a police officer. Now 42, he must serve half before being eligible for parole.

Have something else you want to talk about? Go right ahead.

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Do you suppose we'll ever have the pleasure of watching Karl Rove do the perp walk?

Via Politico's The Crypt:

Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers tell two other people: "We're closing in on Rove. Someone's got to kick his ass."

Asked a few minutes later for a more official explanation, Conyers told us that Rove has a week to appear before his committee. If he doesn't, said Conyers, "We'll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We'd hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested."

The bolded option would be a satisfying outcome.

While the degree of moral fault assignable to Lori Drew as the cause of Megan Meier's death is open to debate, it is unquestionable that Megan's suicide is tragic. That sad reality does not justify stretching federal laws against identity theft and computer-aided fraud in an effort to prosecute as a federal crime (in Los Angeles, no less) Drew's use of a fabricated MySpace account to send mean messages to Megan, her neighbor in O'Fallon, a suburb of St. Louis.

With the help of others, Drew allegedly created a MySpace account under the fictitious name of Josh Evans. "Josh" engaged in an email flirtation with 13-year-old Megan before telling her in a final message that the world would be better off without her. Megan hung herself shortly after reading that message and died the next day. More detailed background is available here and here.

The indictment (pdf) charges Drew with using a computer in O'Fallon to access the MySpace server in California, "without authorization and in excess of authorized access," to obtain information from the MySpace computer to further the tortious act of inflicting emotional distress upon Megan. The "without authorization" allegation is grounded in the claim that Drew violated her "Terms of Service" agreement by lying to MySpace when she created an account in a fictitious name.

Think about that one for a minute. (more...)

Via Politico. Senator Clinton said:

President Bush’s comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous on the face of it, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy. This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address and certainly to use an important moment like the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel to make a political point seems terribly misplaced. Unfortunately, this is what we’ve come to expect from President Bush.

Indeed.

This Saturday, the Democratic Convention in Denver will be 100 days away. How big an affair will it be? Check this out, from the DNCC's press release today:

• Nearly 200,000 square feet of media space has been allocated. Initial plans are complete for the media pavilions located outside the Pepsi Center that will provide workspace for many of the nearly 15,000 members of the media expected to attend the Convention.

• Space has been allocated for more than 100 production trucks, media workspace trailers and broadcast transmission vehicles.

• 17,000 hotel rooms in the Denver metro area are reserved....Meeting space reserved at 100+ hotels and the Colorado Convention Center

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved a bill that would create dozens of new federal judgeships.

The effective date of the bill is Jan. 20, 2009, which means we will have a new President. These are lifetime positions and the President makes the nominations.

The independence of our federal judiciary is one of the most important reasons we need a Democrat to be elected President. After 8 years of the appointment of conservative judges, the pendulum needs to swing back.

This is just another reason why when all is said and done with the presidential nomination, Democrats need to quickly come together to ensure that the party's candidate wins in November.

"Private Eye to the Stars" Anthony Pellicano and his co-defendants, including a former LAPD officer, were convicted of multiple counts of racketeering and other crimes related to illegal wiretapping today. (Background on the charges is here.)

The trial lasted 9 weeks. The jury began deliberating May 1. Pellicano, who had recently finished serving time on explosives charges when this case began, represented himself. He refused to provide information about his clients:

Pellicano told the jury he was just a P.I. trying to get information. But he never revealed his secrets.

After publicly toying with testifying, he told the judge he would never discuss his clients. "It's not going to happen ever, no matter what the consequence," he said.

Back in 2003, when the probe started, he said: [More...]

In praising John Edwards' excellent speech yesterday endorsing Barack Obama, Paul Rosenberg makes a case for John Edwards as the VP candidate. The case is a pretty good one. With one exception, the blithe disregard for the Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party. Paul writes:

I know that in terms of unifying the party, putting a woman on the ticket would be an excellent move. But putting Edwards on the ticket would put the election away. Because of the unique dynamics of this race, it would be one of the rare examples of when a Vice Presidential candidate really can sway an important, if not crucial demographic--the very "Regan Democrat" demographic that McCain cannot win without. . . . Most importantly, Edwards on the ticket would be a powerful figure for healing the deep rifts that have divided our party in the past, and that clearly still linger in hearts of many . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) More . . .

Like Marie Cocco, I could come up with my own list of Media Matters clips and offensive merchandise that I could use to argue definitively that racism is worse than sexism. But I'm not sure what that would prove, other than that I believe the prejudice I've faced is qualitatively worse than the prejudice I know nothing about.

Is is really impossible to just condemn sexism without comparing it to racism? As for making a list of examples of racism in the Media so that we can address that problem as well, I think that is a very worthy thing to do. I would support it. Serwer's attempt to trivialize Cocco's concerns is frankly, outrageous. When he writes:

The RCP OR and KY polling info. Tell me what it means.

This is an Open Thread.

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