• Oct. 19 could be a critical day for Britain’s Labour Party. That’s the day pro-European Union members of UK’s Parliament may push for a second referendum on Brexit. It also comes the day after an EU Summit meeting and the date Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson must finalize his plan for Britain to leave the EU. At the end of October, Johnson pledged to leave the EU without a deal if he can’t negotiate an alternative, despite Parliament’s vote mandating an extension be sought for further negotiations. London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Kahn has called on his party to support a second referendum, rather than fudging its position during the next election campaign against the Conservative Party.
(“Labour’s Big Gamble on Brexit,” The Nation, Oct. 4, 2019; “Pro-Remain MPs Plan “Super Saturday” Vote on Second Referendum,” Guardian, Oct. 10, 2019; “Karie Murphy, Corbyn’s Chief of Staff Moved to Labour HQ After Strategy Spats,”Guardian, Oct. 8, 2019)
• The U.S. Supreme Court opened up its new term with a set of sex discrimination cases involving gay and transgender plaintiffs. The cases revolve around job discrimination against LGBTQ people involving Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The high court’s rulings will be an early test of the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court which includes new Trump-appointed justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. It will also gauge the impact of retired Justice Anthony Kennedy’s absence, who had held the center on earlier gay rights cases.
(“LGBTQ Rights Return to the Supreme Courts,” Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 8, 2019; “SCOTUS Is Back in Session and Cruelty Is on the Docket,” The Nation, Oct. 7, 2019)
• For years, families of “mixed” status immigrant households lived in public housing units paying market rents, providing stability for families and income for public housing authorities. Now, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is proposing a new rule that would evict an entire family from public housing if a single member of that household is undocumented.
(“HUD Is Planning a Bureaucratic Pogrom Against Public Housing Tenants,” The Nation, Oct. 1, 2019)
This week’s News Summary was narrated by Elaine Osowski.
