The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union told a D.C. Superior Court judge last night that Dan Snyder's lawsuit against Washington City Paper and staff writer Dave McKenna is a nuisance that must be thrown out because it violates a new law that keeps powerful public figures from harassing people—or newspapers—that write about them.

"The facts on the public record suggest that [Snyder] is as likely to prevail on the merits here as Voldemort is to prevail over Harry Potter in their final battle," says an amicus brief filed by the ACLU, D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh (who sponsored the District's law against what are known as "strategic lawsuits against public participation"), and 14 media and public interest organizations. "For what it will cost him to pursue this lawsuit, plaintiff probably could have purchased full-page advertisements telling his side of the story in every issue of the City Paper for a year, if not a decade. His decision to pursue litigation rather than 'more speech,' and his not-even-thinly-veiled threat to make the defense of this lawsuit financially untenable for City Paper’s owners, make clear that this case fits the mold of SLAPP suits as articulated by the Council."

Snyder sued City Paper and McKenna in D.C. Superior Court in April, after dropping an earlier complaint filed in New York courts against the investment company that owns Creative Loafing Inc., our parent company, and against Creative Loafing. (Creative Loafing was also dropped from the D.C. complaint this spring.) He claims a cover story about him that ran last November, "The Cranky Redskins Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder," defamed him. City Paper and McKenna responded last month, asking the court to throw out Snyder's lawsuit under D.C.'s anti-SLAPP law, which requires the case to be dismissed unless Snyder can persuade a judge that he is likely to succeed on the merits of his claims.

The amicus brief supports the argument City Paper and McKenna made last month. Besides the ACLU and Cheh, the other parties who joined the brief are: the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, the Maryland-District of Columbia-Delaware Broadcasters Association, the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, National Public Radio, Allbritton Communications (publisher of TBD and Politico), Atlantic Media Inc. (publisher of National Journal and The Atlantic), WUSA-TV (Channel 9), the Public Access Corporation of the District of Columbia, Politico, the Public Participation Project, the Environmental Working Group, and Public Citizen.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Their marriage violated Virginia laws designed to prevent "the corruption of blood" and "a mongrel breed of citizens,” as stated in the 1955 Virginia case Naim v. Naim.

Caroline County Circuit Court Judge Leon M. Bazile sentenced the Lovings to a year in prison, with the option of having that jail term suspended if they both left the state for 25 years. Bazile wrote in his opinion: “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

The Lovings chose banishment over jail time and moved back to the District. As profiled in the new documentary, The Loving Story, the rural couple's time in urban D.C. was not a happy one. Fed up and put out, they filed suit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. Nearly a decade later, on June 12, 1967, their case finally reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state of Virginia argued that its law complied with the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, because it could be applied equally to all races. (The clause prohibits states to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.") The Old Dominion was not alone; at the time, 15 other states, mostly in the South, prohibited interracial marriages.

The court ruled unanimously in the Lovings' favor, deeming the Virginia law and others like it unconstitutional. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in his opinion: "The freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides within the individual and cannot be infringed on by the State."

In Mildred Jeter Loving’s 2008 obituary, The Washington Post wrote that she had once said: "The preacher at my church classified me with Rosa Parks. I don't feel like that. Not at all. What happened, we really didn't intend for it to happen. What we wanted, we wanted to come home."

Loving v. Virginia became a landmark case, and these days, one that often comes up in the ongoing debate over same-sex marriage. On June 12, people across the country celebrate the informal holiday, appropriately named “Loving Day,” in honor of the court’s decision to erase one of the last lines of segregation. Today, one in seven new marriages are interracial or interethnic, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the latest census data. Thanks to the trailblazing couple's wedding in D.C., this year marks the country’s 44th anniversary of the legalization of interracial marriages.

Photo by Flickr user Nathan Laurell using an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

The Metro system, once a reliable point of pride for D.C.'s boosters, has had a rough few years: Safety problems, escalator outages, and rising prices have made the subway a regular subject of local griping. At times, it can be hard to keep up with the torrent of unflattering Metro-related scoops. As a public service,

• That House of Representatives measure endangering $150 million for Metro could also strip the system of funds for improving security
• Some Metrobus drivers are said to have taken to carrying guns to protect themselves against assault.
• The ACLU is going to sue Metro over bag searches
• A man at Suitland Station was attacked by a “teen mob”
• WMATA closed a staircase at Branch Avenue, apparently for maintenance
• More disruptions this weekend—try not to miss the last train
• A station manager at Twinbrook responded to a series of questions about broken gates by yelling at customers
• The watchdog group Guardian Angels has responded to rising violence by increasing their own patrols of the transit system

In Metro good news, Green Mountain Coffee finally fixed their ads. Before, their ads were suggesting people drink their coffee inside the Metro—eating and drinking is, of course, a big no-no.

Regis routinely held afternoon faculty meetings in the school's auditorium. These often turned into one-man bitch sessions, in which Regis would hammer his teachers for various misdeeds. If he found that teachers weren't moving around their classroom enough, they got a lecture. If the objective for the day wasn't posted in each and every classroom, they got a lecture. If a teacher didn't want to volunteer their free time at the afternoon daycare center, they got a lecture. But nothing got the attention of eighth-grade teacher Glenn Campbell more than an idea Regis floated during a staff meeting last April.

Regis wanted to search all students. Or at least threaten to do so.

"At an afternoon faculty meeting, he told all of us to spread the rumor that there would be random mass searches at the school," Campbell recalls. "He wanted this to be used as a deterrent. I wasn't really sure what the state of the law was... I didn't think random, mass searches were legal."

Campbell says he didn't pass on the rumor. The student body had enough stress. The school is comprised, Campbell says, of special-needs students—kids with learning disabilities, motor-skills or vision problems.

But in early May, the rumor became reality. Regis, Campbell says, barged into his classroom and ordered all of the male students to get up against a wall. He told the two or three female students to exit into the hallway where they would be searched by a female security guard.

About 10 male students lined the wall. Regis patted each of them down, making them empty their pockets and pull their pocket lining out for inspection, Campbell says. Regis then went into every student's backpack.

Campbell recalls one student asking Regis: "Why are you doing this?"

Regis, who has been described as 6'2 with the build of a linebacker, told everyone in the room that as principal, he had the authority to perform his one-man jumpout. "Because you could be potentially carrying something that's harmful to another student," Regis added, according to Campbell.

All 30 of the eighth-grade students would be searched that day by either Regis or female staff. One student, Campbell says, was found with a handful of very small fireworks. That student was suspended for a couple days.

"I think it's completely wrong," Campbell says. "[Regis] doesn't belong in that position of authority."

Whether Regis thinks he acted appropriately, he won't say. When asked about the incident, he refused to comment. "I have no comment in regards to that," he explained. "I'm going to redirect you to the central office. Have a good day, sir." Regis then hung up on me.

But it isn't just Campbell who is questioning Regis' mass search. This week, ACLU staff attorney Fritz Mulhauser sent a letter to Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee inquiring about the incident and demanding a full investigation. In his letter, Mulhauser describes the search as "unlawful, intrusive and demeaning."

Mulhauser goes on to write:

"The Constitution prohibits searches in school by school staff unless particular conditions are met, which from the facts as we know them were not present in this situation... The principal's remarks and actions show an intolerable misunderstanding of the law. The law is clear that the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure applies in schools and that any search by school officials must be justified at its inception and reasonable in scope."

Campbell says a DCPS administrator did come to Prospect Learning Center to investigate the search. Apparently, that investigation from last May has yet to be completed.

"Upon learning of the allegation, DCPS initiated an investigation," says Safiya Simmons, a DCPS spokesperson. "That investigation is nearing completion, but we cannot comment on it any further."

Campbell says he received a solid teacher evaluation—netting a 4.0 in student performance and a 2.36 in administrator's opinions—and could have returned to the school. But he chose not to come back to Prospect. Regis remains the school's principal.

Today, the D.C. Council unanimously approved a bill legalizing medical marijuana. Wayne Turner, a former leader with the D.C. Chapter of ACT UP, made sure to be on hand. For him, the legislative victory had been a deeply personal one. It was Turner, along with his partner Steve Michael, who first began the effort to legalize medical marijuana more than a decade ago. The two had led a petition drive to get a medical-marijuana initiative on the ballot in 1998. Michael died of complications from AIDS only weeks before the signatures were turned in.

The initiative, led by Turner and Michael, did gain enough signatures to get on the ballot. Then Congress intervened and attached a rider to a D.C. appropriations bill that effectively barred the District from counting the votes for the initiative. With the help of the ACLU of the National Capital Area, a federal court challenge was mounted. It took 11 months before a federal judge ruled in favor of D.C. voters. The delayed count showed that District residents overwhelmingly supported legalizing medical marijuana; 69 percent approved the measure. This did not stop Congress—particularly Rep. Bob Barr—from continuing to freeze the measure through amendments.

"It just brought up all of that very, very horrible time in my life when Steve was getting sicker and sicker," Turner tells City Desk today. "He was hospitalized, and we were still trying to get the signatures. And then he died. And then people got together and... people pulled together to make that happen and I'm really proud of that. It brought back those raw emotions. We made a commitment. Yeah, we did that. I haven't really felt until now that we accomplished that goal. Here it is on the council. Now I feel like mission accomplished."

Michael had gone into the hospital 12 years ago this month. He died on May 25, 1998. The deadline for the signature gathering was the first week in July. After Micheal's death, Turner and others worked tirelessly to reach their goal of 30,000 signatures. They did not hire a signature-gathering company. They went out and did it themselves. Even at his sickest, Michael had encouraged Turner to leave his bedside and keep working on the initiative. "Until the end, he wanted the campaign to go on," Turner recalls.

Towards the end, Michael was transferred to the ICU and put on a ventilator. He could no longer communicate without a struggle. He could only nod. Turner, in some ways, says he resented having to work on the initiative. "I was out gathering signatures when my partner was in the hospital. The day before he died, he wanted me to go out. And the next day Steve took a huge plunge downward and we had him disconnected. This initiative stole those hours that I could have spent with him. But Steve wouldn't have had it any other way. His life was about the work."

The work took another 12 years. The court battle inspired Turner to go to UDC's public interest law school and to work with other leaders to wipe out all of the notorious Congressional riders. He summed up the strategy in a WaPo op-ed in Feb.: "Congress's medical marijuana prohibition was nothing new. The District's domestic partnership law took nearly a decade to implement because of a similar "social rider." Local funding for needle exchange programs and abortion services for low-income women were also blocked by congressional fiat. It would take a concerted, multiyear effort by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and local democracy activists to finally secure passage of a clean budget bill — a rare victory for D.C. voting rights advocates."

With the help and support of the Fenty administration, and two key leaders on the D.C. Council, David Catania and Phil Mendelson, a medical-marijuana bill finally gained approval today. Twelve years ago, Catania visited Michael and Turner in the hospital, and gave one of the eulogies at Michael's funeral. Mendelson was campaigning for his at-large council seat and had endorsed the initiative. "Some of us are still around," Turner says, "and we have a history."

Prepare yourselves for all kinds of anti-Islam vitriol in the coming days and weeks; stuff that will likely dwarf anti-teabagger sentiments and provide some sort of twisted justification for prolonging our military's stay in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-On a more upbeat note, Will Wilkinson maintains that Maine was just a hiccup:

"My new dog groomer has a husband. He told me so Tuesday afternoon. We live in Iowa where, since April of this year, a man can legally marry a man. Since May, it has been possible in Maine to do the same. Or it was until Tuesday, when a slim majority of Maine voters chose to repeal their state’s new same-sex marriage law. Some conservatives are elated. Over at National Review, Maggie Gallagher was dancing a jig. "The People have exercized [sic] their veto. This is huge. I am so happy," she gushed. But traditionalists shouldn’t be so happy. Because this is not so huge. My dog groomer still has a husband. And marriage equality is coming back to Maine."

-Erik Wemple's "Final Thoughts on Allen v. Roig-Franzia" is a worthwhile read, and not just for the gratuitous cock-sucking references.

- The National Journal reports that the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a leading conservative think tank which prides itself on rejecting any sort of government approach to environmental preservation, is in the red:

But this year, amidst economic turmoil, contributions are down 15 per cent and the group is running a deficit of roughly 10 per cent, Smith told National Journal's Under The Influence. That comes to about $450,000 worth of red-ink–though some sources suggest the hole may be deeper. Smith says the group's reserves have cushioned the loss and that he has seen an uptick in fundraising recently.

This kind of financial upset isn't just common in the think tank community–the American Enterprise Institute, home of the Iraq War, faced calamity earlier this year–it also gives layers of meaning to the phrase "currency of ideas."

-To bring us back full circle, The Agitator has the link to a series of ACLU video profiles of "Gitmo prisoners detained, tortured, and then released without charge." Proving, once again, that sick shit begets sick shit.

David Schroer had already accepted an offer to become the Congressional Research Service’s terrorism specialist when he revealed plans to begin the new post as Diane Schroer. Library officials swiftly rescinded their offer. Schroer teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union and filed a sex discrimination lawsuit in 2005. A federal judge in Washington awarded Schroer $491,190 earlier this year. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice let the deadline pass for appealing the decision.

Despite U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s willingness to talk about race in America and his pledge to end racial profiling, his Department of Justice hasn’t done much to dismantle Bush-era guidelines on national security; Those guidelines not only promote racial profiling by the Federal Bureau of Investigation but create justification for state and local law enforcement agents to do it too, the ACLU charges.

"Racial profiling remains a widespread and pervasive problem throughout the U.S., impacting the lives of millions of people in the African American, Asian, Latino, South Asian, Arab and Muslim communities," Chandra Bhatnagar, staff attorney with the ACLU Human Rights Program and the main author of the report said in a press release. "The U.S. government must take urgent, direct action to rid the nation of the scourge of racial and ethnic profiling and bring this country into conformity with both the Constitution and international human rights obligations."

The ACLU made the charges in a report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. To read the press release or the entire report, click here.