U.S. Supreme Court

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Freedom to marry

New York's inspiring move. Plus, gaming.
At last, good news. After demoralizing reversals in California, Oregon, Maine, and Rhode Island, New York's stunning decision to legalize same-sex marriage rekindles hope in the hearts of decent folk across the nation who are working and waiting for the day when gender becomes irrelevant for all who wish to celebrate their mutual love and commitment by enrolling in the ranks of the legally married.
By EDITORIAL | June 30, 2011

Pregnant pause

Maine Republicans on abortion
The Maine Republican Party has a death wish. Over giving birth.
By AL DIAMON | January 26, 2011

Theology class

Letters to the Phoenix editor, July 2, 2010
My religion teaches me that I have a responsibility to work to create a better world for humanity and for all living beings in the world that God created.
By PHOENIX LETTERS | June 29, 2010

The 13th Annual Muzzle Awards

A look at the dishonorable enemies of free speech and personal liberty in New England
A year and a half into the Age of Obama, we are learning a lesson we should have figured out long ago — that repression, once in place, is rarely rolled back all the way, and that liberals no less than conservatives are reluctant to give up power.
By DAN KENNEDY | July 05, 2010

Holy war

How an unholy alliance of Catholics, Mormons, and evangelicals seeks to control our lives
And so it came to pass, Roman Catholics, Mormons, and evangelical Protestants have banded together to battle, well, the rest of us — the heathens, the godless liberals, the Hitchens-reading progressives.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 28, 2010

Fighting back

Two cases in federal court here in Massachusetts could help turn the national tide against DOMA
Thanks to a federal law that codifies discrimination against same-sex couples, more than 15,000 legally married couples (and an untold number of children) are being denied basic benefits, such as the right to file their taxes jointly, or Social Security payments and health-insurance subsidies.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 04, 2010

Marriage and the Supremes

What will the highest court say about same-sex matrimony?
It's a given that, at some point — whether in these DOMA challenges or some other future cases — the US Supreme Court will hear a case relating to same-sex marriage. Can we read any tea leaves for indications of how they will rule?
By JEFF INGLIS | June 02, 2010

Considering Kagan

She’s weak on free speech, but doesn’t deserve her ‘Seinfeld moment’
Elena Kagan, onetime dean of Harvard Law School and current US solicitor general, is a less than perfect candidate to sit on the Supreme Court.
By EDITORIAL | May 12, 2010

Elena Kagan’s shaky record

What a Kagan appointment to the Supreme Court could mean for civil liberties
As a potential Obama nominee for Supreme Court justice, Elena Kagan has liberal bona fides and the likely support of the right. But if her record is any indication, she’s more likely to side with the conservative bloc on matters of executive power and war-time presidential authority.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE AND KYLE SMEALLIE | April 16, 2010

Friartown, redux

PC players foul out. Plus, helping Johnny Mac, a Supreme shift, and ‘Monbo Time’
Phillipe and Jorge have always had a problem with Providence College basketball’s advertising campaign, which refers to the area as “Friartown” in a delusional suggestion that the squad has support throughout the local community.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 14, 2010

Murderabilia

A serial killer seeks a payoff
Incarcerated in a maximum-security prison in Cranston, Rhode Island, Jeff Mailhot grabbed a pen and a sheet of stationery and traced an outline of his beefy left hand.
By JOHN LARRABEE | April 05, 2010

Hallelujah!

Health-care reform is a new high-water mark
The Democrats won and the Republicans lost. That, in a nutshell, is the bottom line.
By EDITORIAL | March 24, 2010

Noodle Cup-Elect!

Idiot Box
The long struggle for corporate equality continues
By MATT BORS | February 10, 2010

Clearing the air

Letters to the Boston editor, February 12, 2010
Adam Reilly’s analysis of right-wing talk radio’s support of Scott Brown was nearly perfect.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | February 10, 2010

The US Supreme Court has saved us from financial ruin

Not a modest proposal
There has been powerful criticism of the recent US Supreme Court ruling that corporations are truly people, and deserve all the rights people have, including the right to spend as much as they wish to support or oppose candidates in elections.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 10, 2010

Impeach John Roberts

The Chief Justice lied
It is time for an enterprising and courageous member of the US House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts. The charge: lying under oath.
By EDITORIAL | February 08, 2010

Rainbow Nation

The US isn't the only country exploring its complex racial history. South Africa prepares for its moment in the sun.
After a torturous history of being treated like second-class citizens, the black population in this country stunned the world by pulling off the unimaginable: voting a black man in as president.
By LANCE GOULD | January 28, 2010

Free speech for me, but not for thee

Freedom Watch
Last Thursday's Supreme Court opinion striking down corporate campaign advertising restrictions might as well have been divorce papers in the rocky marriage between the political left and the First Amendment.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | January 29, 2010

Booked solid

A hefty season of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry
The holidays are over — time to hit the books.
By BARBARA HOFFERT | January 04, 2010

How is Obama doing?

Not as well as he thinks
In response to a question from Oprah Winfrey about how he would grade his time in office, President Barack Obama gave himself a "solid B-plus."
By EDITORIAL | December 16, 2009

Catching up with FairPoint’s decline

On the Ropes Dept.
We've been telling you for ages how bad the FairPoint deal was for residents of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
By JEFF INGLIS | November 24, 2009

Governor Ghoul

Sinking to new lows
Phillipe and Jorge are coming late to this fight, as last week’s column was already filed when the announcement was made that Governor Donald Carcieri — Governor Ghoul to you — had vetoed a bill giving domestic partners the right to claim the bodies of and make funeral arrangements for the people with whom they shared their lives.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 18, 2009

ACLU, fighting the good fight

Honoring the past
If the Rhode Island ACLU could tap any two figures to headline its 50th anniversary event, it might choose Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. And so it has.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 17, 2009

10 years later, we told you so

Ten years of being right (well, mostly)
Like many in the alternative press, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the game. Sometimes, of course, that means we're wrong about what might be coming down the pike — that's part of the risk of being "out front" and not just reacting to the news as it happens.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 16, 2009

Labor of Love

No rest for these union activists
Most of us will sleep in on Labor Day. Not the Southern Maine Labor Council, who will be working hard to remind us what the holiday's actually all about.
By JEFF INGLIS | September 02, 2009

Labor of Love

Review: Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

The woman behind the big heart
The Goldbergs debuted in 1929 as radio's first domestic sit-com; it moved to TV in 1949. As part of her series on Jewish heroes, Aviva Kempner ( The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg ) spotlights the show's star, Gertrude Berg, who few realized was its writer/producer.
By BETSY SHERMAN | August 04, 2009

The 12th Annual Muzzle Awards

A look at the dishonorable enemies of free speech and personal liberty in New England.
With the era of repression and secrecy fostered by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney finally over, this should be the best of times for freedom of expression, open government, and civil liberties. Yet change comes slowly.
By DAN KENNEDY | July 10, 2009

Patrick's patchwork

Plus, Massachusetts needs a DNA-testing law
The folks on Beacon Hill deserve credit for crafting a budget in this extraordinarily challenging fiscal climate that will hopefully sustain services at a level just short of disastrous.
By EDITORIAL | July 02, 2009

In the same boat

Diverse City
It's summertime in Maine, a sweet and all-too-short season that generally makes living here the other nine or 10 months worth it. Except that this year, sun and warmth have apparently decided that, like access to the credit markets, they won't be available to the masses.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | June 24, 2009