Several cities across the United States have begun to break new ground in recent years by legally recognizing polyamorous relationships. Somerville, Massachusetts, led the way in 2020, becoming the first city to pass a domestic partnership ordinance that includes relationships among more than two adults, granting them many of the same rights and privileges as [...]
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This Day in History: The Law of Gobblers and Other Tasty Sides
It is Thanksgiving Day. The aroma of turkey; of dressing; candied sweet potatoes; green bean casserole; cranberry sauce; freshly baked yeast rolls; giblet gravy, and of pies emanating from the kitchen fills our nostrils. Home is the place to be today. But have you ever given thought to the law of the gobbler? This Day in [...]
US Supreme Court finds in favor of web designer who refused to create websites for LGBTQ+ couples
The US Supreme Court ruled Friday in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that a Colorado-based web designer cannot be compelled to create wedding websites for LGBTQ+ couples, despite the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) which protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in public accommodations. The Court determined that forcing the designer to comply with CADA would violate [...]
Supreme Court decision reversing Roe throws abortion rights in US states into chaos
Abortion policy is now in the hands of the states following the US Supreme Court’s Friday decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. President Joe Biden has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to make sure abortion and contraception [...]
Massachusetts, A Leader in Transgender Human Rights Protections
In the recent voting, Massachusetts heartily defeated a referendum that would have rolled back state transgender protections. In 2004, Massachusetts was the first state to recognize marriage equality. Subsequently, the Commonwealth enacted legislation to advance protections for members of the LGBTQ community. In 2011, Massachusetts passed legislation protecting those who identify as non-straight from discrimination [...]
The New York Times ran a front-page story on October 21, 2018 with the headline: “‘Transgender’ Could be Defined out of Existence under Trump Administration.” The story reported that “the Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” Other than Caitlyn Jenner, who had maintained a [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Allen Rostron of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law discusses policy and constitutional concerns about the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would expand the right to carry concealed guns outside one's home state...For years, liberals...
A federal judge in Louisiana ruled against the state on Tuesday in a constitutional challenge to a law that requires naturalized citizens who were born outside the US to present a valid birth certificate from their home...
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced his office has mandated immigration enforcement as a priority. In order to limit the number of undocumented immigrants in the country, the Department of Justice (DOJ) ...
Massachusetts top court extends parental rights to unmarried same-sex partner
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday ruled that same-sex couples that never marry are entitled to the same parental rights as heterosexual couples. This decision arose out of a suit seeking parental rights filed...