John Bonifaz
John C. Bonifaz (born 22, June 1966, in Wilmington, DE) is an Amherst-based attorney and political activist specializing in constitutional law and voting rights. He is the president and co-founder of Free Speech for People. He is also the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute and a former candidate for Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth. In 1999, he received a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the "genius award." Constitutional challenge and hearings on 2003 invasion of Iraq In February and March 2003, Mr. Bonifaz served as lead counsel for a coalition of US soldiers, parents of US soldiers, and members of Congress in '' John Doe I v. President Bush'', a constitutional challenge to President Bush's authority to wage war against Iraq absent a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action. He argued that the President's planned first-strike invasion of Iraq violated the War Powers Clause of the US Constitution. The lawsuit was initially dismi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'right' bracket or, alternatively, an "opening bracket" or "closing bracket", respectively, depending on the Writing system#Directionality, directionality of the context. Specific forms of the mark include parentheses (also called "rounded brackets"), square brackets, curly brackets (also called 'braces'), and angle brackets (also called 'chevrons'), as well as various less common pairs of symbols. As well as signifying the overall class of punctuation, the word "bracket" is commonly used to refer to a specific form of bracket, which varies from region to region. In most English-speaking countries, an unqualified word "bracket" refers to the parenthesis (round bracket); in the United States, the square bracket. Glossary of mathematical sym ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River.''i.e.'', including water that is part of state territory. Georgia is the largest state by land area alone east of the Mississippi and Michigan the second-largest. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. Its name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word (), meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan consists of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula resembles the shape of a mitten, and comprises a majority of the state's land area. The Upper Peninsula (often called "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a channel that joins Lak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Secretary Of The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the Secretary of State (U.S. state government), principal public information officer of the Government of Massachusetts, government of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The Secretary of the Commonwealth oversees the Corporations Division, the Elections Division, the Massachusetts Archives, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the Public Records Division, the Securities Division, as well as the State Records Center. William F. Galvin has held the office since 1995. List of secretaries of the Commonwealth (1780 to present) See also * List of company registers * Political party strength in Massachusetts References * * External links Official site * . (Various documents). {{U.S. State Secretaries of State Secretaries of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, * Massachusetts-related lists ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.M. Philip Lucas, "Martin Van Buren as Party Leader and at Andrew Jackson's Right Hand." in ''A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents 1837–1861'' (2014): 107–129."The Democratic Party, founded in 1828, is the world's oldest political party" states Its main political rival has been the Republican Party since the 1850s. The party is a big tent, and though it is often described as liberal, it is less ideologically uniform than the Republican Party (with major individuals within it frequently holding widely different political views) due to the broader list of unique voting blocs that compose it. The historical predecessor of the Democratic Party is considered to be th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Americas, with a recognized history dating to the establishment of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature in 1692 under the charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Although it was historically composed of four associate justices and one chief justice, the court is currently composed of six associate justices and one chief justice. History The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court traces its history back to the high court of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay, which was chartered in 1692. Under the terms of that charter, Governor Sir William Phips established the Superior Court of Judicature as the province's local court of last resort (some o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Warren Tolman
Warren Eugene Tolman (born October 23, 1959 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American politician who has served as a member of both houses of the Massachusetts General Court. He was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1998, and was a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, and Massachusetts Attorney General in 2014. Legal and political career The seventh of eight children and first in his family to graduate from college, Tolman received a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Amherst College and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. Between college and law school, Tolman worked as a United Parcel Service driver and as a substitute teacher in the Watertown Public Schools. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1990 and the Massachusetts Senate in 1994. As a lawmaker, Tolman worked on tightening campaign finance laws and ethics statutes and was a leader in the 1990s movement to curb tobacco use and oppose th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when the colonial assembly, in addition to making laws, sat as a judicial court of appeals. Before the adoption of the state constitution in 1780, it was called the ''Great and General Court'', but the official title was shortened by John Adams, author of the state constitution. It is a bicameral body. The upper house is the Massachusetts Senate which is composed of 40 members. The lower body, the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has 160 members. (Until 1978, it had 240 members.) It meets in the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston. The current President of the Senate is Karen Spilka, and the Speaker of the House is Ronald Mariano. Since 1959, Democrats have controlled both houses of the Massachusetts General Court ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Often considered as one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by the states of the defeated Confederacy, which were forced to ratify it in order to regain representation in Congress. The amendment, particularly its first section, is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution, forming the basis for landmark Supreme Court decisions such as ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (1954) regarding racial segregation, ''Roe v. Wade'' (1973) regarding abortion ( overturned in 2022), ''Bush v. Gore'' (2000) regarding the 2000 presidential election, and ''Obergefell v. Hodges'' (2015) regarding same-sex marriage. The amendment ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
First Amendment To The United States Constitution
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was proposed to assuage Anti-Federalist opposition to Constitutional ratification. Initially, the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the Congress, and many of its provisions were interpreted more narrowly than they are today. Beginning with ''Gitlow v. New York'' (1925), the Supreme Court applied the First Amendment to states—a process known as incorporation—through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In '' Everson v. Board of Education'' (1947), the Court drew on Thomas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and provides approximately $260 million annually in grants and impact investments. It is based in Chicago, and in 2014 it was the 12th-largest private foundation in the United States. It has awarded more than US$6.8 billion since its first grants in 1978. The foundation's stated purpose is to support "creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world". MacArthur's grant-making priorities include mitigating climate change, reducing jail populations, decreasing nuclear threats, supporting nonprofit journalism, and funding local needs in its hometown of Chicago. According to the OECD, the foundation's financing for 2019 development increased by 27% to US$109 million. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Demos (US Think Tank)
Demos is a liberal think tank based in the United States. Founded in 2000, Demos' stated mission is to "power the movement for a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy." The organization's president is Taifa Smith Butler, formerly of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. History Founding Demos was conceptualized in the late 1990s by Charles Halpern, President of the Nathan Cummings Foundation (1989–2000). Halpern wanted to create a counter-force to the growing influence of the many right-wing think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and establish a multi-issue organization that would focus on progressive policy development and advocacy. David Callahan, a Fellow at the Century Foundation, and Stephen B. Heintz, Vice-President of the EastWest Institute, joined Halpern in helping to found Demos. Founding board members included Arnie Miller, of Isaacson Miller, an executive search firm; David Skaggs, a Colorado Congressman; and future President Barack Obama, then an Illi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Ray McGovern
Raymond McGovern (born August 25, 1939) is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer turned political Activism, activist. McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, and in the 1980s chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief. He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, returning it in 2006 to protest the CIA's involvement in torture. McGovern's post-retirement work includes commenting for Russian Government-funded RT (TV network), RT and Sputnik (news agency), Sputnik News, among other outlets, on intelligence and foreign policy issues. In 2003 he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Personal life Ray McGovern was born and grew up in the Bronx, New York City. With a scholarship he earned a M.A. with honours in Russian Language, Literature and History at Fordham University, and in the early 1960s served as a U.S. Army infantry/intelligence officer and in the analysis division on Sov ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |