Civil Rights News: King Hearings, DNA Testing Case, and the Civil War

Republicans Divided over Muslim Hearings
Politico

Republicans are experiencing a split over Rep. Peter King’s anti-Muslim hearings later this week. Majority leader Eric Cantor is backing King’s hearings as a highly relevant topic, while Speaker John Boehner has offered lukewarm support.

“What they’re saying here is all of the Muslims in America are subject to investigation and are under suspicion for some special class of investigation,” said Michael Macleod-Ball, legislative chief of staff for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Justices Allow Inmates to Sue for DNA Testing
New York Times

Death row inmate Hank Skinner was entitled to sue a prosecutor in Texas under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow testing of DNA evidence in a 6-to-3 vote in the Supreme Court on Monday. This ruling overturned several lower court decisions, and presented a move away from the 2009 decision District Attorney’s Office vs. Osborne, which severely limited prisoners’ claims in seeking DNA evidence.

Remembering the Civil War in the Tea Party Age
Huffington Post

The Tea Party’s touting of the “original” Constitution undermines the advancements made during the Civil War and afterward, including the abolition of slavery, argues Doug Kendall, founder and president of the Constitutional Accountability Center.

Compiled by Alice Thompson