“Human rights and civil liberties” on The Daily Caller

WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates of a bill that would overturn the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy say their fight for repeal this year is far from over despite a failing Senate vote this week and only days left in the lame-duck session. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The conservative-dominated U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has published a report criticizing the Justice Department for its handling of voting rights accusations against the New Black Panther Party. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon study that argues that gay troops could serve openly without hurting the military’s ability to fight is expected to re-ignite debate this month on Capitol Hill over repealing the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to referee a $290 million dispute between Microsoft Corp. and a Canadian technology company over complaints that a tool used in the popular Microsoft Word program violated patent protections. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican senator on Sunday played down the chances that the ban on gays serving openly in the military would be lifted during the lame-duck session of Congress that resumes this week. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats on Thursday pressured Majority Leader Harry Reid to strike a deal with Republicans to aid passage of a bill that would let gays serve openly in the military. (more)

MARION, Ala. (AP) — A former state trooper took a plea deal Monday in the 1965 slaying of a black man that prompted the “Bloody Sunday” march at Selma and helped galvanize America’s civil rights movement. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cindy McCain appeared to very publicly differ with her husband, 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, over the ban on gays serving openly in the military, opposing the policy in a new video while her husband works to maintain it for now. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Following a survey of U.S. troops and their families, a Pentagon study group has concluded the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. (more)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress should act quickly, before new members take their seats, to repeal the military’s ban on gays serving openly in the military. (more)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — With American troops in the thick of the fighting in Afghanistan, the new commandant of the Marines Corps says now is not the time to overturn the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy prohibiting gays from openly serving in the military. (more)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Republican gay rights group on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a California trial judge’s order barring enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military to go back into effect. (more)

ROME (AP) — Premier Silvio Berlusconi dismissed calls Tuesday to resign over his involvement with an underage Moroccan runaway – and even created a new uproar by claiming it was better to love beautiful girls than gays. (more)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Connecticut’s top election official to allow voters to wear World Wrestling Entertainment garb to the polls, ruling that it could not be considered political advertising for Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon, the company’s former CEO. (more)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The U.N.’s cultural and education agency on Thursday suspended plans to grant a prize named after Equatorial Guinea’s longtime dictator, after human rights groups slammed the award by citing the leader’s poor human rights record. (more)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has frozen a judge’s order halting the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, even as the Pentagon has announced it will accept openly gay recruits. (more)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Beyond the courtroom arguments about “disrupting the troops” and “unit cohesion” are the nitty gritty details behind the Pentagon’s fight to go slow on allowing openly gay troops. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that abruptly ending the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as a federal judge has ordered would have enormous consequences. (more)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — An EU official said Monday that Serbia’s failure to prevent an anti-gay riot could hurt its bid to join the European Union, but the U.S. Embassy praised police for doing all they could to protect the gay pride march from far-right activists. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod pleaded with officials to hear her out after she was ousted from the USDA during a racial firestorm in July, internal e-mails show. (more)