Full 4th Circuit Unanimously Rejects Cuccinelli’s Bid To Reinstate Anti-Sodomy Law

A week or so ago this blog looked at the petition files by Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit - one of the most conservative circuit courts - requesting a rehearing en banc after a three judge panel of the Court struck down Virginia's sodomy statute as unconstitutional.  The statute, which was indirectly ruled unconstitutional in the context of consensual gay sex by the decision in Lawrence v. Texas, basically makes anything other than "missionary position" sex between opposite gender individuals a felony.   It goes without saying that the Christofascists and the hate merchants at The Family Foundation LOVE the sodomy statute.  This reality, combined with Kookinelli's obsession with regulating other people's sexual activity and gay sex in particular, are the likely reason for his petition for a rehearing en banc - a hearing by all of the judges on the 4th Circuit rather than a mere three judge panel.  Now, the 4th Circuit has responded and basically told Kookinelli to take a hike.  Here are excerpts from Think Progress: 

Late last month, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) filed a petition asking the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reinstate Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” law, which makes oral and anal sex a felony. A three-judge panel of that same court had struck down the law, noting that it cannot be squared the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which prohibits laws criminalizing non-commercial sexual activity between consenting adults. Yesterday, the Fourth Circuit issued an order rejecting Cuccinelli’s request. Notably, not one of the court’s judges requested a poll of the court to consider Cuccinelli’s petition, so his petition received no support whatsoever from the court’s members.

As ThinkProgress noted last week, this case involved a felony prosecution of a 47 year-old man charged with soliciting oral sex from a 17 year-old girl. While a blanket ban on oral sex is unconstitutional under Lawrence, Virginia is permitted to pass laws criminalizing sex with people who are underage. Indeed, the Virginia legislature considered a bill which would have done exactly that, by bringing the “Crimes Against Nature” law in compliance with Lawrence, in 2004. Cuccinelli voted against that bill because he wanted to keep an outright ban on gay sex on the books, even if that ban was unconstitutional.

In other words, if Cuccinelli had not refused to bring state law into compliance with the Constitution, he wouldn’t have lost his case before the Fourth Circuit.

The question now becomes whether or not Kookinelli files an appeal with the U. S. Supreme Court and squanders more tax payer  money.  Given his pattern of filing losing lawsuits, I suspect that he will now turn to the U. S. Supreme Court which hopefully likewise kick him to the curb.  The man, in my opinion, is certifiably insane.

Lawmakers Call on Cuccinelli to Resign Attorney General

First for some personal background: when he successfully ran for attorney general, Mark Earley and I were members of the same law firm and I saw first hand how running a statewide campaign meant that he was nearly never in the office or in court handling client matters.  It was campaign mode 24/7 and the rest of the firm carried his case load and we basically helped underwrite his campaign.  Ditto when he unsuccessfully ran for governor after resigning from the office of attorney general. Fast forward to 2013.  Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli to date has refused to resign his position as attorney general claiming he can do his job and campaign at the same time.  Excuse me, but that is simply something that is impossible and Kookinelli is a liar if he claims otherwise.  I have seen the reality first hand.

Let's be blunt: Kookinelli is simply trying to make Virginia taxpayers underwrite his campaign in an amount equal to his salary.  If Kookinelli is too insane and toxic to have any major law firm put him on its payroll as former gubernatorial candidates have had done, that should be his problem and not force many of us to underwrite his campaign by paying his salary while he campaigns full time.  In recognition of this reality that is obvious to anyone sentient, a dozen members of the Virginia General Assembly have sent Kookinelli a letter demanding that he resign his position.  One can only hope that the media gets all over this conflict of interest and inappropriate conduct on Cuccinelli's part (perhaps a petition need to be launched?).  Here are highlights from a Richmond Times-Dispatch column:

A dozen Democratic lawmakers on Friday sent a letter to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli asking him to resign his office because he is running for governor. The letter signed by four state senators and eighth members of the House of Delegates, argues that Virginia deserves a full-time attorney general and notes that the previous six attorneys general resigned before their terms expired in recognition that running for governor creates too many demands on fulfilling the duties of the office.

 

The letter even quotes current governor and former attorney general Bob McDonnell’s remarks in 2009 at the time of his resignation: ”The office is a very difficult job. It demands a full-time attorney general to do the hard work that’s required.”

Of course, in most cases, attorneys general typically slide into a comfortable jobs at politically connected major law firms — where they are given time to pursue their political ambitions while making salaries that far exceed their public service wages.

In a brief interview Friday, the Republican gubernatorial nominee he said he intended to keep his word and downplayed the difficulty in public service and political multi-tasking. . . . . “It’s not a tradition that I think ever should have developed in Virginia,” he added, referring to the practice of resigning. “I made a promise when I ran four years ago… and I’m going to do it.” 

As for his "promise" four years ago, Kookinelli assured voters he wasn't going to do what he is now doing.  His sole focus supposedly was going to be serving as attorney general.  As is always the case, Kookinelli believes he is above the laws and traditions that govern everyone else.  In that regard, he's a typical Christofascists.  This man needs to be defeated.  He is a clear and present danger to Virginia's future and the rights of many Virginians.  Should Bill Bolling mount an independent campaign, I might even make a contribution just to keep Kookinelli out of the Governor's Mansion.  The man is insane.

 

Ken Cuccinelli To Contraception Opponents: "Go to Jail'' Rather than Obey Law

In blog posts and VEER Magazine columns I have endeavored to educate people about the utter lunatic level extremism of Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli, the all but crowned GOP for Governor of Virginia.  Many still refuse to open their eyes to the fact that Kookinelli belongs in an insane asylum rather than the Governor's Mansion.  Now, Kookinelli has made statements that ought to underscore this reality - and the fact that Kookinelli needs to be removed from the office of Attorney General:  he is advising opponents of the contraception mandate provision of federal laws and regulations rather than obey the law.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Virginia's top law enforcement officer is encouraging citizens to defy the law and go to jail rather than comply with the law.  Politico looks at this latest batshitery from Cuccinelli.  Here are excerpts:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee and a rising national figure on the right, told an Iowa-based radio show Wednesday night that opponents of a federal mandate for contraception coverage should be willing to “go to jail” to fight the law.

Cuccinelli, who also addressed the Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner last spring, told conservative radio host Steve Deace that he strongly supports the lawsuit by Hobby Lobby Stores against the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for contraception coverage.

Cuccinelli recounted an exchange with his own bishop in which he counseled the cleric to embrace civil disobedience: “My local bishop said, ‘Well, you know I told a group I’m ready to go to jail.’ And I said, ‘Bishop, don’t take this personally: You need to go to jail.’”

Though Deace’s show is based in Iowa, it is syndicated nationally and has affiliates in Virginia. Deace endorsed Newt Gingrich in the 2012 primaries.

The Cuccinelli campaign said that the interview was totally unrelated to the attorney general’s unexpected absence at Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s Wednesday night State of the Commonwealth address. 

What makes the situation even more outrageous is that while he is gallivanting around the country and around Virginia, Cuccinelli is drawing his full salary as Attorney General.  Cuccinelli needs to either resign or be removed from office.

Virginia Pilot Slams Cuccinelli - Why Not Scott Rigell Too?

Today the Virginian Pilot has an editorial that slams Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli's anti-abortion agenda and his efforts to manipulate and intimidate the Virginia Board of Health.  While what the editorial says is true, it's ironic that the Pilot has condemned Cuccinelli after endorsing congressional GOP candidate Scott Rigell who is every bit as extreme as Kookinelli when it comes to pushing an anti-abortion/anti-woman agenda and seeking to inject Christian extremist religious beliefs into the civil laws.  Here are highlights from the column that focuses on Cuccinrlli's efforts to completely ban all abortion in Virginia:

Political power often tempts elected officials to overreach, but rarely does the abuse of authority cause the kind of injury Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's has inflicted on the state Board of Health.

The board is by law independent. It is authorized to draft regulations. Last month, however, it caved to Cuccinelli's demands to reverse a decision that would have exempted existing abortion clinics from a 2011 law that requires such facilities to meet hospital construction requirements.

The board's reversal will likely require most of the 20 clinics across the commonwealth to undertake expensive renovations to comply with new architectural standards or to be shut down. That is the real goal of Cuccinelli and the anti-abortion activists behind the law.

The 2011 standards aren't about patient safety; otherwise, clinics performing procedures more dangerous than abortion would have been required to meet them. Instead, the standards serve as a back-door strategy for shutting abortion clinics.

The board's reversal - which came after Cuccinelli's office suggested it wouldn't defend board members from lawsuits - inflicted lasting harm on the integrity of Virginia's regulatory system.

Last week, state Health Commissioner Karen Remley resigned in protest.  "That's the kind of collateral damage you get when you start fooling around with politics and not medicine," University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told The Pilot's Julian Walker and Amy Jeter last week.

Remley's departure is a devastating blow to the agency she has led since 2008. But it's also a blow to the people of Virginia. A pediatrician and former hospital administrator at Norfolk's Sentara Leigh, Remley has fulfilled her duties with distinction, pushing to reduce obesity and infant mortality rates, improve communication between public and private health interests and manage preparations for an array of other public health concerns.

Her mission - and her agency's - is designed to be purely nonpartisan. Cuccinelli's interference, however, made that impossible. The health of Virginia's body politic has suffered as a result.

As noted, Kookinelli's religious extremist agenda is shared by Scott Rigell.  Yet earlier in the week the Virginian Pilot endorsed Rigell in what can be best described as a fantasy fiction writing that ignored documented facts and sought to depict Rigell as a moderate.    One reader aptly laid out the truth about Rigell:

Rigell signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge two years ago when he was challenged by the Tea Party and then verbally renounced it when challenged by the moderate Hirschbiel. Both were politically expedient.

He “vowed to avoid blind devotion to partisan interests,” but has “a record of voting 92% of the time with his fellow Republicans,” including:

* For privatizing Medicare and replacing guaranteed benefits with a voucher.

* For repealing health reform, which will cut preventive care and prescription drug benefits for current retirees.

* For a bill that would have re-defined rape as “forcible rape” and restrict access to abortion for victims of statutory rape or incest.

* Against renewal of the Violence Against Women Act.

* Against the DREAM Act.

* For maintaining tax subsidies for oil corporations.

* Against environmental protection 83% of the time.

Does the Virginian-Pilot editorial board agree with Rep. Rigell on these issues? Or do issues not matter?

Oh, and let's not forget that Rigell - shown below laughing it up with a former GOP official who had to resign after circulating racist anti-black "jokes" - has been endorsed by two anti-gay hate groups.  Why the kid glove handling of Rigell?  Frank Batten, Jr., owner of the Virginian Pilot, is a far right Christian supporter who funds Christianist organizations.  Rigell has a history of being in bed with and/or funding such organizations.  Draw your own conclusions.