The Senate confirmed Allison Jones Rushing to the 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals, making the 37-year-old one of the youngest federal judges in history. Rushing's qualifications were questioned, but her greatest sin was her association with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a public interest law firm that has opposed redefining marriage on religious freedom grounds and defended businesses and individuals who ran afoul of the various local and state gay rights statutes. Rushing never worked for ADF but did intern with the group in 2005.  Do you think that stopped her detractors from trying to smear her as a hateful bigot and ADF as a "hate group"? NBCNews: "Throughout her brief legal career, Allison Rushing has supported and closely associated herself with one of the most extreme anti-LGBT organizations operating in this country today, the Alliance Defending Freedom," Ian Wilhite, a spokesperson for LGBTQ legal group Lambda Legal, said...(Read Full Post)