14th Amendment

What the court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade could mean to New Mexico’s LGBTQIA+ community

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If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, as is now expected this summer, the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community will be thrown into jeopardy, advocates believe. In the leaked draft opinion that reveals the Supreme Court will likely overturn Roe v. Wade this summer, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito attacked the court’s arguments written into the Roe v. Wade decision affirming the right to abortion. He also took aim at Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed Roe. Roe v. Wade rests on the argument that individuals have a right to privacy and that the right can be found in the 14th Amendment and in other amendments. Subsequent rulings that effect LGBTQIA+ rights, such as Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision granting the right to same sex marriage, rests on a similar argument.

14th Amendment

How the Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion rights this term could affect LGBTQ+ rights

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This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on anti-abortion bans that some say could have the potential to impact LGBTQ+ constitutional rights. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this month for two cases filed over Texas SB 8, which prohibits abortion at six weeks. On December 1, the Supreme Court will hear another case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, over the right of Mississippi to ban abortion at 15 weeks. Many rights that involve bodily autonomy, such as the right to contraception, the right to abortion and the right for same sex couples to marry, rest on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 5th and 14th amendments. “In the due process clauses of the 5th and 14th amendments there’s this protection of process when the government deprives us of life, liberty and property.

civil asset forfeiture

Woman fights ABQ after city takes her car based on son’s arrest

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In April, the city of Albuquerque seized Arlene Harjo’s car after police charged her son for driving under the influence of alcohol. Harjo said she lent the car to her son after he asked to use it to go to the gym. Instead, he went to visit his girlfriend in Texas and was pulled over and arrested by police on his way back. To get her car back, the city told Harjo she had to pay $4,000. Plus, city law enforcement would keep a boot on her car for a year and half before she could drive it again.

Quick Reads

Richardson: Trump ‘addicted to attention’; says Clinton will be nominee

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Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appeared on a conservative cable TV show and said that the leading Republican presidential candidate’s remarks about immigrants and Mexicans won’t help in the general election. “He is addicted to attention,” Richardson said of businessman Donald Trump. Richardson said Trump was getting this attention from “outrageous positions like repealing the 14th amendment.” Richardson made the comments while appearing on the Steve Malberg Show on Newsmax TV, a politically conservative cable TV network. In particular, Richardson objected to Trump’s use of the term “anchor babies.”