Civil Rights News: AIDS Vaccine; Judge Rejects WI Anti-Union Law; SCOTUS Upholds AZ Anti-Immigrant Law

AIDS Researchers Eye Flurry of Promising Vaccine Developments
Color Lines News for Action

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently donated $23.4 million to continue the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine’s work on an HIV/AIDS vaccine. “Researchers there are exploring a novel HIV-vaccine candidate that would neutralize many different strains of HIV. Previous vaccine candidates responded only to a single type of the disease.” Of course, the fight against HIV is a world effort; clinics in Kenya and South Africa have been working on HIV/AIDS vaccines as well.

Judge Voids Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law
The New York Times

A Dane County Circuit judge has struck down a state law that eliminates state worker’s bargaining rights except for negotiating the base salary for teachers and other public workers. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court will hear arguments on June 6 to consider whether it will take the case.

Supreme Court upholds Ariz. law punishing employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants
The Washington Post

In a 5-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Arizona 2007 law “that penalizes businesses for hiring workers who are in the United States illegally, rejecting arguments that states have no role in immigration matters.” Justice Elena Kagan withdrew herself from the case because she had worked on it as President Obama’s solicitor general before joining the court. “Employers found to have violated the law can have their business licenses suspended or revoked.”

Compiled by Sergio Azcona, a Spring intern