A Phoenix, Arizona high school decided to sit out the Arizona Charter Athletic Association state championship baseball game rather than play a team fielding a female player. Freshman second baseman (basewoman?) Paige Sultzbach showed sportsmanship beyond her years by sitting out the two regular season games against Our Lady of Sorrows Academy out of respect for their beliefs. However, Our Lady of Sorrows was unable to show similar sportsmanship and simply forfeited the championship game rather than allow their beliefs to advance out of 19th century for even one game.
Think your state abolishing the death penalty means that you cannot be executed for crimes committed in your state? Think again. The First Circuit has ruled that federal prosecutors may try a Rhode Island inmate on capital murder charges over the objection of that state’s governor based on the fact that Rhode Island has abolished the death penalty.
Say what you will about free speech in the United States, shouting matches and public ridicule are generally preferable to being beaten for making an unpopular statement. Iranian cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraye has been sentenced to 25 lashes for publishing a satirical cartoon depicting a member of the Iranian parliament who took offense to the drawing. A member of the parliamentary committee on national security defended the sentence by saying that a cartoonist “should be persecuted if the cartoon is not ordinary and ridicules someone.” Think about that the next time you “like” a cartoon on facebook.
One New York public school is simply too overcrowded to allow any more children into its popular kindergarten classes. The clever solution the school came up with was to give parents a sales pitch for a nearby private school that would only cost them a meager $16,000 for the year. Public schools pushing parents to take their kids to private school is bad enough, but advertising a specific private school? If school administrators were smart, they at least got a hefty “donation” for running ads for their competitors.
Two recent articles highlight the limited clemency options for Arizona inmates. Arizona felons are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than granted clemency, even when a judge and unanimous clemency board recommend shortening a sentence. Governor Brewer is on track to grant the fewest clemency petitions in more than two decades, excluding inmates with a terminal illness. Even better, some clemency board members can’t even be bothered to attend the required four week training course before being granted the power to recommend whether inmates live or die.
Law Journal for Social Justice 