Via Leonard Link, I learned that Judges Reinhardt and Kozinski of the 9th Circuit each issued opinions last week protecting their gay employees’ rights to obtain federal employee benefits after Office of Personnel Management’s interference.
As Professor Leonard explains, Reinhardt held that a federal public offender should be compensated for obtaining equivalent health insurance for his husband, while Kozinski held that Karen Golinski’s wife should be enrolled in the federal employee benefits program itself. Reinhardt wrote again that he considers DOMA unconstitutional, and Kozinski simply chose to interpret the statute governing federal employee benefits as allowing benefits for the same-sex spouse of a court employee.
You can access 9th Circuit opinions here.
And via Simple Justice, you can read about the New York Court of Appeals decision on the Lynne Stewart appeal. I first learned of the decision by email this past Wednesday, as the National Lawyers Guild sent out the call for lawyers to meet in Foley Square to help escort Lynne to surrender herself at 500 Pearl Street on Thursday afternoon. I was stuck in Family Court a bit too late to make it, unfortunately – I would have liked to go out there and support an attorney who, as far as I can tell, spent her career trying to keep everyone else honest.
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