Bloomberg Law’s Daily Labor Report Story on CLDEF Brief
After the Second Circuit’s unfortunate decision yesterday in Zarda v. Altitude Express, Bloomberg Law published a story about CLDEF’s brief opposing the right of a homosexuals to sue employers for employment discrimination based on the 1964 Civil Rights Act,
Trump v. Hawaii
President Trump’s efforts to have the Supreme Court support his efforts to protect the nation from potentially dangerous persons has finally reached the Supreme Court. CLDEF has been ther all along the way supporting President Trump in Court — this is the eight brief filed by CLDEF supporting Trump presidential directives.
Asset Forfeiture
“No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.”
– Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
For most of the history of our nation, the government did not claim the right to seize personal property of its citizens — unless the government had a superior right to that property. In recent years, the government has assumed a power that had been developed by Oriental Potentates — the right to seize the property of those accused of crimes — even before conviction.
Giving the government the power to seize a person’s assets unconnected with a crime is bad enough after conviction. It is much worse when government seizes a person’s assets before trial, as now permitted by several federal laws. One of the benefits to the government of a pre-trial seizure is that a defendant is robbed of his ability to resist the will of federal prosecutors. A defendant is unable to hire defense counsel of his choice, and is forced to rely on already overburdened federal defenders, often leading to plea bargains, even when the defendant is not guilty. CLDEF is fighting against this dangerous power of pre-trial seziure.
Additionally, CLDEF has argued that the TSA’s intrusive body scanners constituted a warrantless search and violate citizens’ rights, including his right to travel as protected by the Fifth Amendment.
Below are some of the Asset Forfeiture matters in which CLDEF has been involved.
World Net Daily Describes CLDEF brief as Giving a Refresher Course to Court in Who Writes Laws
CLDEF’s Brief in the Zarda v. Altitude Express was the focus of an article in World Net Daily. The article begins: “It’s Congress that writes the laws; the courts only interpret them. So suggests a brief in a court fight that is quickly heating up over whether a 1960s law, Title VII, protects employees from gender-orientation discrimination.”
CLDEF General Counsel on NPR Radio Show “To the Point”
This afternoon, CLDEF General Counsel Bill Olson was a guest of Warren Olney, host of “To the Point.” The topic of the radio show was the “Politics and the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender Americans.” Bill’s comments focused on CLDEF’s amicus brief opposing judicial usurpation of legislative power in Zarda v. Altitude Express. He also defended President Trump’s recent Tweet about “transgendered” persons serving in the military. The show is archived at: KCRW.com