Daily Archives: August 26, 2009

The Blog of Legal Times: “The New Hampshire Historical Society has announced that retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter is donating his personal and professional papers to the society. But don’t book travel to New Hampshire quite yet to take a peek; Souter has placed an extraordinarily long restriction on public access to his papers, barring anyone — researchers, historians, friends, journalists — from viewing the material for 50 years. That’s a lengthier seal than any justice has placed on papers in recent memory.”

WQAD.com (AP): “The National Organization for Marriage has initiated the Reclaim Iowa Project, targeting legislative races in Iowa in an effort to elect candidates who support putting the gay marriage issue before voters.”

The Japan Times: “The nation’s gay and lesbian community, which has long been calling for an antidiscrimination law to protect their rights, has seen similar bills proposed and scrapped in the Diet for nearly a decade. The likelihood that the Democratic Party of Japan, the last party to submit such a bill, will dominate the powerful House of Representatives in an alliance with the Social Democratic Party, which speaks out for homosexual rights, has raised hopes that the inertia may at last be overcome.”

The Australiana: “NSW hospitals have threatened to start turning away abortion cases sent to them from boycotting Queensland hospitals within days, after three patients were sent over the border this week. The secretary of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Gino Pecoraro, said yesterday NSW hospitals had told the Royal Women’s Hospital in Brisbane they would review their willingness to carry out abortions on Queensland patients from next week.”

Christian Telegraph: ‘There is a problem here,’ Anglican Bishop Julius Kalu told Ecumenical News International from the coastal city of Mombasa. ‘Muslims want to own the existing schools under the sponsorship of Christians, especially Anglicans and Catholics.’”

AP: “China has launched a national organ donation system to try to reduce its dependence on body parts harvested from executed prisoners, who make up the majority of donors, state media reported Wednesday.”

Religion Link: “A contentious season of conventions, debates and votes on the role of gays and lesbians in the churches has left the American religious landscape altered in significant ways. This edition of ReligionLink provides an update on the state of the debate, with resources for covering what will remain a disputed issue.”

Free Market Foundation: “‘As government entities at all levels are looking to make responsible decisions, government resources should not be spent on organizations that stand to profit from failed sex education policies,’ said Jonathan Saenz, legislative director at Free Market Foundation, who testified in the public hearing. ‘We should not ‘bail out’ Planned Parenthood with public funds.’”

Jerzy Strzelecki writes at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute Blog: “The destruction of 97 percent of greenback purchasing power cannot but be considered Satan’s work. At least on this point, everyone can certainly agree!”

Gambling Review: “Barney Frank has been trying to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) for a while, introducing legislation as far back as 2007. UIGEA was passed in 2006. Frank currently has a bill in the House of Representatives that would legalize and regulate online gambling, but it has already been delayed and now, sources say, it will have to wait.”

Proposition 8 and the Right to Marry: “On August 21st, Wisconsin Attorney General J.B Van Hollen announced his decision not to defend Wisconsin’s new domestic registry law in Appling v. Doyle (Wis. Supreme Court Case No. 2009AP001860) . . . The nation’s leading Christian legal advocacy group, the Alliance Defense Fund, has defended super DOMA amendments against the perceived inroads that these laws represent. It represents Wisconsin Family Action in the Appling lawsuit, and recently filed a lawsuit to defend Ohio’s super DOMA amendment.”

Cal Thomas writes at Townhall: “Perhaps politicians think they will never be held accountable three generations from now because they won’t be around to explain to those not yet born why they refused to stop our financial hemorrhaging.”

ABA Journal: “Large law firms are hiring about half as many summer associates as usual, resulting in “the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years,” the New York Times reports.”

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union appeared before a Florida appellate court today to urge the court to let stand an earlier ruling striking down Florida’s law barring lesbians and gay men from adopting.”

“the [Master] nonetheless proposed that the Christian girl be ordered into a government-run school after considering ‘the impact of [her religious] beliefs on her interaction with others.’”

Voice of the Martyrs Blog: “ChinaAid learned the Chinese government recently issued a secret directive calling the government agencies to dismantle at least six major house churches before the end of August. ChinaAid believes these actions have been taken in preparation for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the CPC’s rule in China.”

Free Market Foundation Blog: “Recently, the City of North Richland Hills (near Fort Worth) received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an organization whose goal is to remove religious expression from the public square.”

Yahoo News (AP): “An experimental procedure that someday may enable women to avoid passing certain genetic diseases on to their children has gained an early success, with the birth of four healthy monkeys, scientists report . . . ”

Chuck Colson at Break Point: “When will this end? The more serious question is, however, when does the next round of government regulation against religious freedom begin? We’ll see soon enough in the current health care debate . . . Congress, after all, has rejected every attempt to include language to protect the consciences of medical professionals in the health care debate. Pro-life groups have warned about the very real possibility of religiously based hospitals shutting down before being forced to provide services that violate their religious principles.”

LifeSiteNews: “The government of Medellin, Colombia, is being inundated with email protests in response to plans to build an abortion center with millions of dollars in public money, according to the Catholic Spanish-language news agency ACI Prensa.”

The two-hour National Geographic documentary ‘In the Womb’ is now available on YouTube in 9 parts . . . 4-D ultrasounds . . . present stunning images of the developing embryo . . .

EdNews.org: “The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to adopt a controversial resolution that could turn a third of the schools in the nation’s second-largest school district over to private operators.”

WBZTV.com: “Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger . . . groups are contributing to the Stand for Marriage campaign without reporting the names of their donors.”

Boston Globe (AP): “Connecticut officials say two Indian tribes will pay the state $25 million in slot revenues to compensate for promotions that allowed gamblers to use slots for free.”

At The Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr links to the 9th Circuit’s decision in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, No. 05-10067 (9th Cir. Aug. 26, 2009) and writes: “The majority opinion, by Judge Alex Kozinski, announces a laundry list of brand-new rules, introduced with no citations to any authority, that henceforth the government must follow when executing warrants for digital information.”

Atlanta J. Constitution: “From the US DOE: Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced draft requirements for $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement grants to turn around the nation’s lowest performing schools.”

ACLJ: “The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has filed a petition with the United Nations asking the UN to urge Pakistan to prosecute acts of violence against Pakistani Christians after a series of attacks have claimed the lives of scores of Christians – including the most recent attack this month in Gojra where at least seven Christians were burned to death.”

Flathead Beacon: “The Montana Board of Pharmacy took no action Wednesday after hearing comment on the issue of pharmacists who refuse to dispense contraceptives because of religious beliefs. Montana currently has no rule or statute that requires pharmacies to stock every drug on the market, and ‘we decided to leave it at that,’ board President Jim Cloud of Stevensville said.”

Legal News Examiner: “Five men and one woman were arrested in Texas on Monday and Tuesday in a 16-count indictment alleging conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, and forced prostitution of adults. The arrests mark the single largest domestic sex trafficking case in the history of the Southern District of Texas.”

Stamford Advocate: “A 36-year-old Fairfield man was arrested Sunday after a technician at the Stamford Town Center Apple store allegedly found child pornography on a computer he brought in for repairs, police said.”

Canadian Press: “The panel’s report recommends that the Ontario Health Insurance Plan cover three cycles of expensive in vitro treatments, bringing infertility clinics, which would require accreditation, into the public health system.”

Anchorage Daily News: “The first opportunity for the Anchorage Assembly to override Mayor Dan Sullivan’s veto of an ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation went by Tuesday night without action.”

Central Michigan Life: “Campus Conservatives is unable to meet as a registered student organization because of outstanding debt owed to Central Michigan University, officials from the Office of Student Life said . . . Campus Conservatives member Dennis Lennox II, a Topinabee senior, confirmed the outstanding charges in question are $220 in fees for uniformed police officers acting as security for David Horowitz when the conservative speaker appeared on campus Oct. 14, 2008. Lennox said Horowitz and his representation requested additional security because of previous threats and attempts at attacking Horowitz, but Campus Conservatives never authorized the security detail or agreed to pay for them.”

The Gainesville Sun: “More children from the Dove World Outreach Center arrived Tuesday at area public schools with shirts bearing the message ‘Islam is of the Devil’ and were sent home for violation of the school district’s dress code when they declined to change clothes or cover the anti-Muslim statement on their clothing.”

Washington Post: “Obama nominated New York State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith in March to the third-ranking job at the Labor Department. If confirmed, she will serve as general counsel to Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis after more than 30 years of work on labor issues.”

The Local (AFP): “The Federal Constitutional Court decided in favour of a woman in the southern city of Schweinfurt who wanted to adopt the now three-year-old child of her female partner, with the consent of the father and social services. The lower court had argued that such a move would be unconstitutional because it placed the rights of the partner of a parent above those of a biological parent. The constitutional court rejected this argument on Tuesday, saying that life partners who assume the role of a parent to a child have the right to formalise that role.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Sunday’s Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle carries a lengthy investigative report on tax exemptions for local property held for religious use. It says that in 2008, the value of properties exempted from taxes for religious purposes in Monroe Count (NY) was almost $756 million.”

CNSNews: “In his famous ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail,’ King expressed his classical belief, based on the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas as well as the Founding Fathers, that a just law is a law that comports with the law of God and an unjust law is a law that does not comport with the law of God.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Detroit News reports that the Michigan chapter of CAIR today will file suit against Wayne County Circuit Judge J. William Callahan.”

Salt Lake Tribune: “For more than a year, Salt Lake City leaders have cataloged cases of discrimination against gay and transgender residents who lost their jobs or their homes — simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. But if the city passes an anti-discrimination ordinance to outlaw such prejudice, state lawmakers are signaling they may shred it when the Legislature convenes in five months.”

CNSNews: “Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a ‘confrontational movement’ to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC.”

The Hill: “The Obama administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to keep the Internet free of increased user fees based on heavy Web traffic and slow downloads. Julius Genachowski, the FCC chairman, told The Hill that his agency will support “net neutrality” and go after anyone who violates its tenets.”

KXMB.com: “Days after a judge ruled on a 2005 informed consent abortion law, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota has submitted a plan on how it will comply at its Sioux Falls clinic.”

Courthouse News Service: “Abortion protesters can’t gather on the handicapped entrance ramp to a Planned Parenthood clinic, the 3rd Circuit ruled, because the protest would block access to the ramp.”

McTernan v. York, No. 07-2670 (3rd Cir. Aug. 24, 2009)

EurActiv: A pro-abstinence sex education programme used in many Croatian schools is legally acceptable, the European Committee for Social Rights (ECSR) has found . . . Hailing the decision, Roger Kiska, a legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, an alliance of Christian attorneys, said ‘we are pleased that the European Committee for Social Rights has upheld the right for parents to choose an option that does not violate [their] core religious and moral beliefs.’ ‘Parents should be the ones responsible for making educational choices for their children – not leftist activist groups,’ added Kiska, who represented the organisation which drafted Croatia’s curriculum in the case.”

LifeSiteNews: “The body that polices compliance with the European Social Charter, a human rights document binding on all states within the Council of Europe, has deemed a pro-abstinence sex education program used in many Croatian schools to be acceptable. Alliance Defense Fund Legal Counsel Roger Kiska represented the organization that produced the curriculum, which provided his briefs to the government of Croatia to aid in its defense of the program, preferred by the vast majority of Croatian families over a radically leftist option. ‘Parents should be the ones responsible for making educational choices for their children – not leftist activist groups,’ said Kriska. ‘We are pleased that the European Committee for Social Rights has upheld the right for parents to choose an option that does not violate the core religious and moral beliefs of these families.’”

CitizenLink: “On Monday, a U.S. District judge threw out a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on a technicality. DOMA defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman . . . Brian Raum, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said he’s confident, no matter what happens, that DOMA will stand. ‘Marriage is not just any two people in a committed relationship,’ he said. ‘Americans understand and believe that there’s more to marriage than that.’”

Christianity Today: “A judge dismissed a California gay couple’s lawsuit claiming that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, a week after U.S. Justice Department lawyers defended the law . . . Brian Raum, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group that has joined the government in defending the federal marriage law, said Carter was right to dismiss the case on procedural grounds. The federal government cannot be sued in state courts, Raum said.”

AP: “The debate over whether to allow a lesbian couple to marry in Russia sparked an angry exchange inside a Moscow courtroom Wednesday, while outside the women locked lips to protest a holdup in proceedings.”

AP: “A lawyer for a north Florida school district says a handful of students have been sent home from Alachua County schools this week for wearing shirts that read ‘Islam is of the Devil.’”

AP: “Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick supports changing state law to allow him to appoint an interim successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat.”

AP: “A Florida appeals court is being urged to affirm a judge’s ruling that the state’s strict ban on adoptions by gay people is unconstitutional.”

The Hill: “Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the last surviving brother in one of America’s most famous political families, died at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., late Tuesday at the age of 77.”

NY Times: “The commission is planning two days of workshops in December — titled “From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?” — to examine the state of the news industry.”

Catherine A. Rogers, Gulliver’s Troubled Travels, or the Conundrum of Comparative Law (August, 25 2009). George Washington International Law Review, Vol. 67, No. 149, 1998. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1461646

“this Review Essay argues that Ugo Matttei’s “Comparative Law and Economics” and Yves Dezalay and Bryant Garth’s “Dealing in Virtue: International Commercial Arbitration and the Construction of a Transnational Legal Order,” offer a meaningful response to these critiques. By employing the methods and theories of Law and Economics and Law and Sociology, respectively, these books introduce to their comparative law analysis a degree of objectivity that critics argue has been lacking from traditional approaches to comparative law. Finally, the Review Essay argues for the utility of testing hypotheses developed through “Law and …” methodologies by comparisons with other legal systems.”

Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Needs, Rights, and the Human Family: Human Vulnerability and the Concept of Needs-Based Rights (August 25, 2009). Emory Law and Economics Research Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1461459

“This paper contrasts the constitutional jurisprudence of the United States regarding positive or welfare rights with their broader acceptance in other peer nations and in international law. It focuses particularly on resistance within the U.S. to ratification of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by every other nation except Somalia. The author concludes that shared human vulnerability, which is present throughout life but especially salient in childhood, is the essential reality that undergirds the concept of needs-based rights and is a more useful starting point for thinking about rights than the notion of autonomy or individualism.”

William D. Araiza, New Groups and Old Doctrine: Rethinking Congressional Power to Enforce the Equal Protection Clause (August, 25 2009). Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 159. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1461447

This Article considers the Supreme Court’s current approach to judicial review of federal legislation enforcing the Equal Protection Clause. It starts from the assumption that the Court will not abandon the judicial supremacy principle it expressed in City of Boerne v. Flores; thus, any approach to congressional enforcement power must accommodate that supremacy.

Thomas Burrell, Judicial Regimes and Same-Sex Marriage: Enforcing Judicially Determined Personal Autonomy at the Expense of Majoritarian Democracy (May 31, 2009). Ohio Northern University Law Review, Vol. 35, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1374077

“In this article, the author discusses the Marriage Cases opinion issued by the California Supreme Court in May of 2008. In that decision, a majority of the justices of the California Supreme Court concluded that the California Constitution requires affording the designation of marriage to same-sex couples. Though the article focuses on California, the article is equally applicable to other opinions discussing same-sex marriage. The paper is quite timely in light of the recent decision concerning the validity of Proposition 8 and the federal challenge to Proposition 8. (The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the agency or the U.S.)”