GovBlog: UC Berkeley » Human Rights

Same-Sex Marriages Begin in Vermont Today

Jesse Silva — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:09:53 +0000

Vermont began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples today, becoming one of five states to allow same-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, and Maine are the others. New Hampshire will begin allowing same-sex couples to marry beginning January 1, 2010. California briefly allowed same-sex marriages, but stopped after the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008.

CA Supreme Court to Rule on Prop 8 Tues, May 26, 2009

Jesse Silva — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:41:59 +0000

The California Supreme Court has just announced it will issue its ruling on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, May 26th at 10am. The opinion of the court will be found here on Tuesday: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/.

Maine Legalizes Same-Sex Marriages

Jesse Silva — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:26:41 +0000

Maine’s Governor, John E. Baldacci, signed into law LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom. Maine becomes the 5th state to recognize same-sex marriages. More details can be found at the Governor’s website and the San Francisco Chronicle.

United States Congressional Serial Set Now Available through LexisNexis Congressional

Jesse Silva — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:38:56 +0000

UC Berkeley has recently acquired full-text access to the United States Congressional Serial Set (1789-1969) through LexisNexis Congressional. The Serial Set contains the legislative history of United States, and also includes many historic agency annual reports, House and Senate Reports, and many other official government documents (for a more complete summary of what is contained in the Serial Set, click here). Prior to this acquisition, citations to the Serial Set found in LexisNexis Congressional had to be searched in the Readex United States Congressional Serial Set database. With this purchase, you can now search LexisNexis Congressional for all your congressional research needs. Off-campus access to LexisNexis Congressional is restricted to current UCB student, faculty and staff, though anyone in the Library may access the database.

National Security Archive Posts Declassified Evidence Used in Fujimori Trial

Susana Hinojosa — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:39:42 +0000

The National Security Archive recently posted key declassified U.S. documents that were submitted as evidence in the former President Fujimori’s trial which began on December 10, 2007, in Peru. Fujimori was Peru’s president from 1990 to 2000 when he was forced to resign. The declassified records contain intelligence gathered by U.S. officials on the secret creation of “assassination teams” that were part of Fujimori’s counterterrorism operations. Six of the 21 declassified U.S. records are provided on the NSA website. These were originally obtained through the Freedome of Information Act (FOIA).

Iowa Supreme Court Legalizes Same Sex Marriage

Jesse Silva — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:49:36 +0000

In an opinion released today, the Iowa Supreme Court declared a state statute defining marriage as only between and man and women as violating the Iowa State Constitution. The full opinion can be read here:

http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Supreme_Court/Recent_Opinions/20090403/07-1499.pdf

or here:

http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/wfData/files/Varnum/07-1499.pdf

Watch the Oral Arguments on Proposition 8–March 5, 2009

Jesse Silva — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:13:51 +0000

Beginning at 9am on March 5 (this Thursday), you can watch the California Supreme Court hear the oral arguments on Proposition 8 through the California Channel’s Website. Much like CSPAN, the California Channel covers the California state legislature, the governor and state agency press conferences. Many of their videos are available for free on this website.

Obama Signs Executive Order to Close Gitmo!

Jesse Silva — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:01:32 +0000

This morning, President Barack Obama signed executive orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods. At the time of this posting, the orders are not available on the White House website. When they are available, they will be located on the executive orders page.

New Database: LexisNexis Statistical Datasets

Jesse Silva — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:25:29 +0000

The Library has just subscribed to LexisNexis Statistical Datasets. The database provides fast and easy one-stop shopping to more than 5.3 billion (and growing) data points from licensed and public domain datasets. Sources of data include local, state and international governments and organizations. Datasets allows you to customize the data by selecting subjects, variable(s) of interest, and the ability to view your data in side-by-side tables, charts and even maps. Datasets also provides quick graphs and chats for statistics in the news, and when you download or print, you are given citation information from where the data originated. Anyone may access LexisNexis Statistical Datasets from the public computers in the Library, however, off-campus access to is restricted to current UCB faculty, staff and students through the proxy server or VPN.

Connecticut Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage

Jesse Silva — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:22:24 +0000

The Connecticut Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to marry in a 4-3 ruling issued today. Connecticut is the 3rd state to allow same-sex couples the right to marry, following Massachusetts in 2004 and California earlier this year. The decision will take effect on October 28.