Democracy Now! June 1, 2012

June 01, 2012 from Democracy Now! via Creative Commons License BY-NC-ND

The Justice Department has ordered Florida to end a controversial voter purge that has primarily targeted Latino and Democratic voters. New constitutional amendment aims to overturn the Citizens United decision by banning corporate campaign cash. In victory for marriage equality, appeals court rules Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against same-sex couples. And "Inside Job" director Charles Ferguson asks: where are the criminal prosecutions for the financial crisis? Plus headlines, and more.

(more) (less)

In This Video

Defense of Marriage Act

The Defense of Marriage Act is a United States federal law that restricts federal marriage benefits and required inter-state marriage recognition to only opposite-sex marriages in the United States. The law passed both houses of Congress by large majorities and was signed into... Explore this topic

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex and/or gender identity. Legal recognition of same-sex marriage is sometimes referred to as marriage equality or equal marriage, particularly by supporters. The first laws in modern times recognizing s... Explore this topic

United States courts of appeals

The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system. A court of appeals decides appeals from the district courts within its federal judicial circuit, and in some instances from other designated federal courts and ... Explore this topic

Appeal

In United States appellate procedure, an appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision. The specific procedures for appealing, including even w... Explore this topic

LGBT rights

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements are movements that advocate for the full acceptance of LGBT people in society. In these movements, LGBT people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is now generally called LGBT rights, sometimes a... Explore this topic

Same-sex relationship

A same-sex relationship is a relationship between two persons of the same sex and can take many forms, from romantic and sexual, to non-romantic close relationships. The term is mainly associated with homosexual people. In their essential psychological respects, these relation... Explore this topic

Freedom to Marry

Freedom to Marry is an organization which campaigns for the right of same-sex couples to marry in the United States. Freedom to Marry was founded in New York City in 2003 by Evan Wolfson, whom many consider to be the father of the modern marriage movement. According to its “Ro... Explore this topic

Massachusetts

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east ... Explore this topic

Constitutionality

Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable constitution. When one of these directly violates the constitution it is... Explore this topic

United States

The United States of America, commonly called the United States, or America, is a federal republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capi... Explore this topic

Also See

United States

Politics of the United States

Same-sex marriage

Watch Next

7:22

'Uncharted Waters': Inside US Supreme Court's Gay Marriage Hearing

Democracy Now! | Mar 27

For the second day in a row, the US Supreme Court is confronting the issue of same-sex marriage, hearing arguments today on the constitutionality o...