At the beginning of Day 3 of the government’s case against Dan Choi, the defense filed a motion to compel production of certain documents. Among them was a Secret Service email sent the day before Choi’s arrest on November 15, 2010 for chaining himself to the fence of the White House with 12 others in order to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Defense attorneys Robert Feldman and Norman Kent asserted that there was a coordinated effort among federal agencies to use the power of the government to single out Choi and persecute him in order to silence him. Judge John Facciola decided in favor of the defense, saying that he believed a prima facie case had been made that the government was engaging in “vindictive prosecution” of Choi.

Assistant US Attorney Angela George asked for a recess while she conferred with her supervisors at the Department of Justice. Following a 2 hour break, the trial resumed. There were four Supervising US Attorneys present as George informed the Judge that she was filing a writ of mandamus to prevent him from allowing Choi’s attorneys to present a defense of “defensive prosecution” or “vindictive prosecution.”

TRANSCRIPT:

In a remarkable turn of events, the Department of Justice has elected to file a writ of mandamus to prevent Judge John Facciola from allowing Dan Choi from offering a “selective prosecution” or “vindictive prosecution” defense. The government elected to pursue federal charges against Choi and 12 others for chaining themselves to the White House fence on November 15, 2010 to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

There were several jaw-dropping moments from the Dan Choi trial today, but none more dramatic than the moment Lt. LaChance of the Park Police admitted he was advised by Solicitor Randolph Myers of the Department of Interior to press federal charges against the DADT protesters on November 15 — three hours before they began protesting.

The defense authorization bill containing a repeal of the discriminative “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy failed today in the Senate for a second time this year because it could only secure a majority of 57 votes. Once again, the shameful history of the filibuster being mainly a tool of bigots used to crush the rights [...]

I love Bill Clinton, but we all make mistakes. Sometimes we even are forced to do things we don’t want to. That’s why I was prepared to ask Bill Clinton a tough question last night as he delivered the opening keynote address at Netroots Nation 2009.

While a number of institutional LGBT rights organizations (that have made significant progress at the state level) today cautioned against federal action, John Dean, appearing on Wednesday’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, makes the case that regardless of state decisions and citizens’ votes, marriage equality has become a national, federal civil rights issue, just as was Loving v. Virginia in 1967, in which the US Supreme Court ruled against interracial marriage bans.

My visual pun on “dragging things out” (get it? nyuk nyuk nyuk) has drawn some fire in the belief that I was trying to imply that a) Norm was a cross-dresser and/or gay, and b) that being a cross-dresser and/or gay was somehow the absolute worst thing in the world to be. Before I had a chance to respond, longtime commenter Sara responded herself with her take on Norm’s past — and the possible reason why he couldn’t advance beyond being the mayor of Saint Paul as a Democrat.

A new study, out today from Freedom to Marry, shows that across America state legislators who vote for marriage equality get re-elected. More importantly, legislators who then seek higher office win after a pro-marriage-equality vote.

Rachel Maddow and Katha Pollitt take Rev. Rick Warren to the woodshed.

 Ouch.  

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has reversed his earlier opinion and urged the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Brown filed a brief today saying Proposiiton 8 is unconstitutional because it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right. Intiially after Prop 8 passed, Brown said in his role as attorney general he would fight [...]