Wake Up To Politics - October 8, 2014
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Wednesday, October 8, 2014
27 Days Until Election Day 2014
762 Days Until Election Day 2016
Federal Court legalizes gay marriage in 2 more states; Obama to Pentagon for Ebola, Islamic State meetings; This day in history; and trivia: It's Wednesday, October 8, 2014, I'm Gabe Fleisher for Wake Up To Politics, and reporting from WUTP world HQ in my bedroom - Good morning: THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!!
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Court Report
- Federal Court Declares Gay Marriage Legal in Idaho, Nevada The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco became the latest court Tuesday to declare a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
- In a unanimous three-judge decision, the court struck down bans on gay marriage, and ruled such marriages legal in Idaho and Nevada. Same-sex weddings across both states will begin today, including in Las Vegas, Nevada, the “wedding capital of the world”.
- With the 9th circuit’s ruling, same-sex marriage is legal in about 30 states, with five more possible after a Monday Supreme Court action effectively allowing same-sex marriage in 11 states.
White House Watch
- The President’s Schedule Today, President Obama will be focusing on two of the key issues facing him as President: the Ebola virus and the Islamic State group.
- Obama will take part in a conference call with state and local officials on Ebola, a week after the first case of the disease surfaced in the U.S.
- Afterwards, the President heads to the Pentagon for a talk with military leadership on Ebola, before switching gears and meeting with his top generals on military efforts in Iraq and Syria to combat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Today In...
- 1869 At the age of 64, former President Franklin Pierce dies in Concord, New Hampshire.
- 2001 Not even a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge is appointed director of the newly-created Office of Homeland Security. The new office would soon become an executive department, the Department of Homeland Security; Ridge would become Secretary of the department upon its creation.
- 1991 With the all-male Senate Judiciary on the verge of voting on Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination, ignoring sexual harassment charges, Democratic congresswomen march to the Senate to “demand justice”. The congresswomen, along with feminist groups, were successful in procuring a delay, although Thomas would be confirmed as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court a week later.
- Of the female Democratic House members who marched to the Senate, Barbara Boxer is now a U.S. Senator from California herself; Louise Slaughter and Nita Lowey, both of New York, remain in the House; and Eleanor Holmes Norton is still the District of Columbia’s non-voting delegate in Congress. The other three congresswomen have since retired.
Question of the Day
- Today’s Question When Clarence Thomas was eventually confirmed, it was by the closest vote of any successful Supreme Court nominee. Who is the most recent Supreme Court Justice to have been unanimously confirmed?
