By now you’ve likely watched (or heard about) the ABC News interview with President Obama in which he affirmed his support for family equality and the freedom to marry of same-sex couples.

The President gave us new momentum for passing the Respective for Marriage Act and dumping DOMA. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY08), the bill’s sponsor:

Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Arizona v. United States, a case that will examine key provisions of Arizona’s infamous and draconian immigration law, SB 1070. Sponsored by ALEC member and former Senate President Russell Pearce, and several others with ALEC ties, SB 1070 was developed in close consultation with ALEC and now stands as one of its model bills.

The Department of Justice argues that Arizona unconstitutionally usurped the federal government’s role in enforcing immigration law. PFAW and other opponents cite evidence of wrongful arrests, racial profiling, and discrimination, especially against Latinos and other minorities.

Now efforts are being made in to block court challenges to SB 1070 and similar laws in other states. On May 9, the US House passed Amendment 1063 by a 238-173 vote.

By now you’ve likely watched (or heard about) the ABC News interview with President Obama in which he affirmed his support for the freedom to marry of same-sex couples.

The President said that his daughters, and their friends with same-sex couples as parents, helped his views to evolve. The President also said:

Last night, the tide went out. North Carolinians voted 61% to 39% in favor of an anti-gay constitutional amendment that not only deals another blow to gay and lesbian couples in the state, who are already prohibited by law from marrying, but also endangers protections for all unmarried couples, including domestic violence protections and health insurance coverage.

Just hours ago, the tide came in. President Barack Obama affirmed his support for the freedom to marry of same-sex couples.

POLITICO’s Matt Wuerker, 2012 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, recently provided pointed commentary on the state of our electoral system.

You heard the good news from Connecticut and Louisiana. Now it’s Wisconsin’s turn.

Voter ID is likely off the table for the recall election!

UPDATE: Representative Scott Schwab, an ALEC member who chairs the Committee on Elections, brought H Sub SB 17 to the House floor. It passed by a 67-53 vote on May 8, and now goes to the Senate, which supports delayed enactment. Representative Ann Mah, a voting rights supporter: “Putting this before them and asking them to vote on it gives them one more chance to be the hero and act like the adults in the room.” Regardless of the date, the law could be vulnerable following the ruling against proof of citizenship in Arizona. Click here for more from the Topeka Capital-Journal.

I just shared with you that Connecticut is on the verge of enacting same-day registration, but there’s more good news where that came from – a strong stand taken on behalf of public assistance clients in Ferrand v. Schedler.

On May 3, Judge Jane Milazzo of the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled in Ferrand that the National Voter Registration Act requires public assistance agencies to offer all clients the opportunity to register to vote, including those that have remote contact, not just those that seek services in-person. Now the Court must decide whether Louisiana is in violation of the law.

The Right to Vote under Attack: The Campaign to Keep Millions of Americans from the Ballot Box, a Right Wing Watch: In Focus report by PFAW Foundation, details the worst of the worst of the Right’s fight to suppress the vote. Many states have indeed taken up this fight with voter ID, proof of citizenship, and other suppressive legislation.

This weekend it was refreshing to see Connecticut buck that trend.

At the end of March, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Pat Joyce struck down Missouri’s proposed voter ID constitutional amendment (SJR 2) on the grounds that the ballot summary is “insufficient and unfair.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorialized, “In a perverted, poetic justice kind of way, it's pitch perfect that in their alleged attempt to stop voter fraud, Missouri Republicans committed, well, fraud.”

Prospects for an appeal are unclear, but the legislature immediately began working on contingency plans.