4:05pm ET - On April 28th
the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of state
laws that ban marriage equality, and this historic case has attracted a wide
array of amicus briefs; however one of these briefs filed by the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. stands out for its interesting historical
approach. The brief seeks to document
the decade’s long systematic discrimination against LGBT people by the federal
government and prove that a "culture of animus" permeated the U.S.
Civil Service Commission -- now known as the Office of Personnel Management
since its inception. Joining us today to
discuss this brief is Peter Montgomery,
an associate editor at Religion Dispatches and a senior fellow at People For the American Way who have also
joined other religious and civil rights groups on a brief urging the court to
reject discriminatory marriage bans and challenging "religious
liberty" arguments opposing marriage equality. You can also follow Peter on twitter.
4:35pm ET - Arresting and jailing people repeatedly for low level drug offenses put a tremendous strain on our law enforcement personnel, judicial systems, civil services, and tax revenue; and research has shown that drug-law enforcement is a major driver of racial inequality in the justice and law enforcement systems. However a new program has started in Seattle which seeks to help those struggling with addiction by putting them into treatment rather than jail, and it’s beginning to see results. Joining us today to discuss this program, which is called the Law-Enforcement Assisted Diversion or LEAD, and how it is beginning to spread to other US cities is Nicky Woolf of The Guardian. You can also follow Nicky on twitter.
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