Daily Archives: September 14, 2009

“According to the hunter for justice blog, Feldman will become the ‘first openly gay Commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.’”

Associated Press: “Three teenagers who say they were tossed from a New Jersey ballpark over their refusal to stand during the song ‘God Bless America’ are suing the minor league Newark Bears.”

New York Times: “But, he said, other students had discovered through the Internet a game called ‘snap,’ in which the color of the bracelet denotes willingness in engage in a particular sexual activity. When a boy snaps the bracelet off a girl, that activity is ostensibly supposed to take place.

CNA: “Last Friday Bishop Jesus Moline Labarta presented 33,000 signatures from voters against abortion to the Peruvian Congress in an effort to promote the defense of life from conception to natural death as the Constitutional Tribunal debates the legality of the morning-after pill.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Bishop of Peterborough, Nicola De Angelis, . . . strongly redresses the OHRT’s encroachment, asserting his authority as bishop of his diocese and the autonomy of the Church from state control over internal Church matters.”

Kalamazoo Gazette: “This Nov. 3, Kalamazoo’s decision on providing specific discrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals is expected to top the ticket. Observers predict it will mean big spending, big volunteer ranks, unusual political dynamics and involvement by state and national groups digging in on both sides of the gay-rights debate.”

Sequoyah County Times: “A pornographic movie that was played in a Fort Smith, Ark., Walmart on six different television screens has two Muldrow men facing possible felony charges.”

LifeSiteNews: “India’s feminists and population control-pushing government are ‘stumped’ by the dramatic drop of female births among the wealthier classes due to sex-selective abortions, reports the Globe and Mail’s Indian correspondent Stephanie Nolen.”

BizJournals.com: “Planned Parenthood officials said the group is not challenging Arizona’s late-term abortion law but filed its suit regarding laws affecting parental consent, the ban on nurses performing abortions and 24-hour waiting period.”

Legal Blog Watch: “A year ago, I posted here about a group of law professors that decided to boycott the Association of American Law Schools’ annual meeting at the San Diego Manchester Grand Hyatt as a protest of hotel owner Douglas Manchester’s financial support of the Proposition 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriages.”

Jonathan Adler has this post on the Volokh Conspiracy. It begins: “The theory of evolution may face greater resistance in the United States than most of Europe, but creationist belief is strong in European nations than many might think.” The post has generated a slew of comments.

LifeNews: “In a weekend interview, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said President Barack Obama wants a change in the language of the main House health care ‘reform’ bill to ensure it doesn’t allow taxpayer-funded abortions. However, a pro-life group that has exposed the abortion funding is doubtful that will happen.”

Indianapolis Star: “Gay and lesbian couples from Indiana can get married in more places than ever, but they could face a legal dilemma after they return home. If the relationship sours, the lack of recognition for such unions in Indiana law presents couples with a classic Catch-22: They can’t obtain a divorce in their home state because their marriage is void here, and they can’t easily seek one where they were married because of residency requirements for divorce.”

George Will writes at Townhall: “Last March, during the Supreme Court argument concerning the Federal Election Commission’s banning of a political movie, several justices were aghast. Suddenly and belatedly they saw the abyss that could swallow the First Amendment.”

EdNews: “Three-quarters of teachers in Britain’s schools believe they should warn pupils about the dangers of patriotism – which some regard as a form of ‘brainwashing’, researchers have found.”

Politico: “Efforts by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act have suffered a setback with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) — the most powerful gay pol on the Hill — expressing opposition to Nadler’s tactics. ‘It’s not anything that’s achievable in the near term,’ Frank told the Washington Blade, echoing remarks made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in April.”

Reuters: “The ratio of boys born in Vietnam compared with girls has grown at an unusually rapid pace in recent years and could lead to a rise in sex work and trafficking, the United Nations said.”

EdNews: “President Obama’s choice to monitor school safety once boasted that he introduced homosexual advocacy into the school system in Massachusetts by manipulating the message presented to lawmakers.”

Wall Street Journal: “We commissioned Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins to respond independently to the question “Where does evolution leave God?” Neither knew what the other would say. Here are the results . . . Karen Armstrong says we need God to grasp the wonder of our existence . . . Richard Dawkins argues that evolution leaves God with nothing to do . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog reports: “. . . The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has joined the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Circuits in holding that while RLUIPA’s prisoner provisions are an appropriate use of Congress’ spending power, states do not waive their sovereign immunity from damage claims under the Act by accepting federal prison funds. The 11th Circuit has taken the opposite position. In Van Wyhe v. Reisch, (8th Cir., Sept. 10, 2009) . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Smith v. Roberts, (IN Ct. App., Sept. 8, 2009), an Indiana state Court of Appeals rather easily dismissed as frivolus an unusual lawsuit filed by an Indiana resident against U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Intermountain Fair Housing Council v. Boise Rescue Mission Ministries, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82459 (D ID, Sept. 10, 2009) . . . also held that both in the homeless shelter and in the Rescue Mission’s second component– a residential recovery program for individuals with drug or alcohol dependency– the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars application of the Fair Housing Act to prohibit the Rescue Mission’s religious activities or religious favoritism of certain participants.”

Sherry F. Colb writes at Findlaw: “In this column, I will consider the “organ removal” position that Sunstein has articulated and then evaluate the views of those who would challenge his suitability for public office on the basis of the position.”

Courier Mail: “Almost two-thirds of Queenslanders support the decriminalisation of abortion, according to an exclusive Galaxy opinion poll.”

Michael Paulson reporting in the Boston Globe: “There have been reductions in the number of reporters who write about religion full-time at all of the nation’s biggest newspapers — the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times (and even at the Globe, where for a brief period we had two religion writers) – and the religion news beat has disappeared from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Orlando Sentinel, the Palm Beach Post, the Grand Rapids Press, the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Newsday, according to Debra Mason, the executive director of the Religion Newswriters Association.”

Mark Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University, writing at The Chronicle of Higher Education: “The unfortunate fact is that American academics have until recently shown little curiosity about conservative ideas, even though those ideas have utterly transformed American (and British) politics over the past 30 years.”

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway writing in the Wall Street Journal: “Now that Mr. Bush is gone, however, no one seems particularly worried about the entanglement of the federal government with religious organizations . . . Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, was a vocal critic of Mr. Bush’s faith-based office. Now, under Mr. Obama, he serves on the advisory council’s task force to improve the functioning of the office. Explaining his turnaround, he said he doesn’t view Mr. Obama’s office as partisan—the way Mr. Bush’s was.”

Independent Online: “COSATU has called for prostitution to be decriminalised and unionised in a draft document due to be discussed at the union’s 10th conference in Midrand on September 21. The union even went so far as to say that sex work should be ‘part of the broader campaign of job creation.’”

London Evening Standard: “Sir Elton John’s plans to adopt a Ukrainian baby were shot down by the country’s government today . . . Yuriy Pavlenko stated that under Ukaianian law adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage even though Sir Elton and Furnish have undergone a civil partnership in Britain.”

MSNBC (AP): “[Personhood] Amendment language has been cleared, with petition drives under way, in Colorado, Mississippi, Montana and Nevada. Amendment language will be filed later this month in California and Florida.”

Dallas Morning News (AP): “A proposal for new social studies curriculum in Texas public schools removes a mention of Christmas in a sixth-grade lesson, replacing it with a Hindu religious festival, a change that has riled conservatives who say it’s another battle in the ‘war’ against the Christian holiday.”

Des Moines Register: “Republican candidates for governor denounced same-sex marriage Saturday at a conservative fundraising dinner in Des Moines.”

Chicago Tribune: “Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and other leaders in the legal community will be examining the integrity of the state’s judicial elections on Thursday.”

ADF allied attorney John Anthony Simmons writing in the Nashua Telegraph: “What this case boils down to is a judge’s intolerance of a 10-year-old girl’s Christian faith. It’s about the limited role of courts, the expansive rights of parents, and the constitutional protection of religious liberties . . . So it should not be surprising to anyone that one of the foremost defenders of religious liberties, the Alliance Defense Fund, would be interested and involved in this case.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is expanding its program to declare college and university campuses free-speech zones . . . ‘There has been an unprecedented $9.2 million gift to ADF that ADF is committed to matching for a total number of just under $20 million to restore the marketplace of ideas to campus, to roll back censorship against Christian students and Christian professors on campus,’ [David] French says.”

LifeNews: “Steven H. Aden, the senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, represented Pouillon in the case. ‘Jim Pouillon was a courageous friend of both unborn children and the First Amendment right to speak up on their behalf, and he will be sorely missed,’ Aden told LifeNews.com today.”

“This past week I spoke with my friend, Kelly Shackelford of the Free Market Foundation about my desire to abolish no-fault divorce and the FMF’s ongoing efforts to do the same in the Texas state legislature.”

“. . . the sponsors expect to get over 100 sponsors and hope the sheer volume of support will force leadership to change tack, staffers say.”

The Lindenhurst Union Free School District has granted official recognition to a student-led Christian club following a settlement with the Alliance Defense Fund.

The Record: “From the East Coast to the West, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has fired off letter after letter, with more in the works, disputing the legality of those invocations – and specifically their frequent appeals to Jesus Christ . . . ‘I’m not surprised by what is an apparent nationwide strategy to wipe out public prayer by this radical organization, but it certainly does concern us,’ said Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund . . .”

AP: “One apology is enough, a digging-in-his-heels Rep. Joe Wilson said Sunday, challenging Democratic leaders who want him to say on the House floor that he’s sorry for yelling ‘You lie!’ during President Barack Obama’s health care speech to Congress.”

AP: “President Barack Obama on Sunday condemned the killing of an anti-abortion activist in Michigan as activists and others gathered for vigil near the site where he was fatally shot.”

AP: “We are the unacknowledged victims of the victims of homophobia,” said Amity Pierce Buxton, the founder of the Straight Spouse Network, a New Jersey-based support and advocacy group with 52 U.S. chapters. “When gays and lesbians feel they have to get married to be accepted and to have kids, that hurts not only gays and lesbians, but straight spouses and kids.”

The AP reports on the new law that covers adultery, pedophilia, homosexuality, and rape.

AP: “The United States attended its first formal meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, saying it will try to promote dialogue at a body it once avoided and heavily criticized.”

Lee Epstein, William M. Landes, and Richard A. Posner, Inferring the Winning Party in the Supreme Court from the Pattern of Questioning at Oral Argument (May 7, 2009). University of Chicago Law & Economics, Olin Working Paper No. 466. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1414317

“Chief Justice John Roberts, and others, have noticed that the lawyer in an oral argument in the Supreme Court who is asked more questions than his opponent is likely to lose the case. This paper provides rigorous statistical tests of that hypothesis and of the related hypothesis that the number of words per question asked, as distinct from just the number of questions asked, also predicts the outcome of the case. We explore the theoretical basis for these hypotheses. Our analysis casts light on competing theories of judicial behavior, which we call the ‘legalistic’ and the ‘realistic.’ In the former, the questioning of counsel is a search for truth; in the latter, it is a strategy for influencing colleagues. Our analysis helps to distinguish between these hypotheses by relating questioning practices to the individual Justice’s ideology and to the role of a ‘swing’ Justice.”

Wibren Van der Burg and Frans W.A. Brom, In Defense of State Neutrality (August 28, 2009). ‘Eine Verteidigung der Staatlichen Neutralität’, in: K.P. Rippe (Hrsg.), Angewandte Ethik in der pluralistischen Gesellschaft, Freiburg, CH: Freiburger Universitätsverlag, 53-82.. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1463289

“Most discussions of neutrality focus on the liberal tradition as it has developed in the USA. In this article we defend an approach that finds its inspiration in the Dutch tradition. In one respect, our theory of neutrality is more restricted than the American liberal positions. Three categories of the good may be distinguished: goods, the good life, and the good society. In a liberal political theory the state cannot be neutral regarding conceptions of goods or regarding conceptions of the good society, but it should be neutral regarding conceptions of the good life. This form of neutrality is, however, only a derivative prima facie norm. In a second respect, our theory of neutrality is broader than the usual liberal positions. Neutrality may be seen as a standard not only for the input of the procedure, but for all aspects of the political process. We illustrate our approach with an analysis of the German discussion on crucifixes in classrooms.”

Zachary Chad Larsen, Discounting Foreign Imports: Foreign Authority in Constitutional Interpretation and the Curb of Popular Sovereignty (April 27, 2009). Willamette Law Review, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1346045

“This article explores the popular sovereignty argument in depth, arguing that invoking foreign authority to inform constitutional interpretation in judicial review is anathema to the shared value of democratic rule by the people. Using the analogy of the “dead hand,” the article argues that the invocation of foreign authority has a very similar problem, dubbed the “roaming hand” – the subjection of the American people to someone else’s standards – and thus the practice should be renounced by originalists and non-originalists alike.”

Marriage in Its Procreative Dimension: The Meaning of the Institution of Marriage Throughout the Ages
Dr. Charles J. Reid, Jr., 6 U. St. Thomas L.J. 454 (2009)

“I shall take the position that the institutional weight of marriage, for most of the last two thousand years, has been in favor of seeing marriage as the appropriate vehicle in which to give birth to and raise children. The procreative dimension of marriage has been the central core organizing principle of the institutional–that is, the legal–understanding of marriage from the time of pre-Christian Roman law to the present, although it is currently endangered by various shifts in legal norms and public philosophies.”

Roadblocks or Bypasses?: Religion, Science, and the Future of Genetic Engineering
June Carbone, 18-WTR Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 188 (2009)

“My argument incorporates insights from a number of disciplines. First, this paper attempts to draw on the two halves of biolaw. One half of biolaw–front and center in this presentation–is the legal regulation of biological innovation. The other half of biolaw, which lurks under the surface in understanding the role of religion, is the biology of law. This half considers how our perceptions, emotions, and use of reason shape legal developments. Religion, of course, has no single or fixed perspective. Nonetheless, political science research increasingly indicates that in the United States today the greatest variations are not between different religious groups (e.g., Protestants v. Catholics) but are between more fundamentalist versus more moderate positions, and that these divisions correspond to personality preferences that shape emotional commitments as well as beliefs.”

Passions We Like…And Those We Don’t: Anti-Gay Hate Crime Laws and the Discursive Construction of Sex, Gender, and the Body
Yvonne Zylan, 16 Mich. J. Gender & L. 1 (2009)

“I investigate the ways in which law helps define and delimit sexuality as a set of practices, experiences, and identifications. I do so by analyzing the discursive dimensions of anti-gay hate crime laws, demonstrating that such laws produce discrete discursive objects (doctrine and argument) within a specific set of institutional practices (the juridical field), and that these objects and practices in turn legitimate certain limiting narratives, instantiating them as social knowledge and as the ground of sexed and gendered performances.”

A defense of embryonic stem cell research
Gregory Dolin, M.D., 84 Ind. L.J. 1203 (2009)

“The purpose of this Article is twofold. First, the Article suggests that it is unnecessary to resolve the question of whether a fertilized egg is or is not a human life when deciding on the propriety and morality of embryonic stem cell research. Indeed, it may be conceded that life begins at conception . . . Secondly, the Article will attempt to give a justification for embryonic stem cell research while proceeding from the premise that the embryo is to be treated not as a commodity, but as an individual with human dignity.”