Daily Archives: November 12, 2009

ABA: “Would-be law students could better evaluate law schools if they knew more about graduates’ jobs, salaries and debt loads, a law professor says.”

Europe News: “In a debate article priest Helene Sturefelt titled ‘Don’t be so naive about Islam’ she argues that not all religions are acceptable, just as not all political parties are acceptable. In the name of democracy, parties have to follow Swedish law.”

dBusiness News: “Planned Parenthood Arizona, the state’s largest non-profit sexual health organization, announces 10 new board members . . . Emily Chang was named the Notre Dame Law School Woman Graduate of the Year in 2001 . . . ”

Reuters: “The scandal-hit liberal grass-roots group ACORN sued the U.S. government on Thursday, saying it did not have the right to cut off ACORN’s federal funding because the group had not been convicted of a crime.”

CNA: “A number of Italian officials have responded to the ruling by the European Human Rights Court that ordered schools in Italy to remove crucifixes from the classrooms by taking unprecedented measures to preserve the Christian symbol.”

Washington Blade: “U.S. House committee has set Wednesday as the day it will vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act . . . ”

Google News (AP): “Sweden’s Lutheran church said Monday it had ordained its first openly gay bishop, just two weeks after it gave priests the right to wed same-sex couples.”

AP: “Millions of American women will face tough choices about abortion coverage if restrictions in the House health care bill become law, both sides in the abortion debate agree.”

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union today demanded that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) release all records in its possession related to attempts by prison officials to purge from federal prison chapel libraries any religious material arbitrarily deemed to be unacceptable.”

LifeSiteNews: “OutRage!, a militant U.K. homosexual ‘rights’ group, is insisting that homosexual sex in public places, a practice known as ‘cruising,’ should be tolerated by police.”

LifeSiteNews: “A gym owner in St. Catharines, Ontario, spoke out against the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) yesterday, complaining that, after he had been dragged through the system for three years and spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting a complaint brought against him by a gender-confused man, the case was ultimately dropped.”

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on AFA Focal Point Radio with Bryan Fischer to discuss this: Maine churches threatened with IRS complaints for supporting marriage.

The MP3 runs just under 13 minutes.

The Hill: “Abortion-rights groups are threatening to withhold their support from lawmakers who supported the Stupak amendment.”

The Hill: “The new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, has been the primary driver behind the rulemaking process for net neutrality, which is designed to prevent discriminatory practices by Internet providers that may limit Web traffic to online applications or websites.”

WJLA.com: “Montgomery County (web | news) officials have proposed a regulation that would require anti-abortion pregnancy centers to give women a disclaimer.”

LifeSiteNews: “The father of a one year-old seriously ill boy has given up his legal battle to prevent doctors from removing his son’s life support. At a High Court hearing yesterday, the boy’s father accepted the judgment that it would be in the child’s ‘best interests’ to die.”

LifeSiteNews: “Five years after Michigan voters embedded true marriage in the state constitution, a Democrat representative has introduced a bill to overturn the ban on same-sex ‘marriage.’”

DomaWatch: Michigan

Peter Tatchell writes at the Global Post: “In much of the world, homophobia is still rampant. About 80 countries continue to outlaw homosexuality, with penalties ranging from one year’s jail to life imprisonment. More than half of these countries were former British colonies. Their anti-gay laws were originally imposed by the British in the 19th century, during the period of colonial rule. These homophobic laws, which were retained after independence, are wrecking the lives of LGBT people.”

Associated Content: “. . . a recanvassing of the New York 23rd District shows that Bill Owens lead has shrunk to 3,026 votes, with ten thousand absentee and military ballots yet to be counted.”

LifeSiteNews “. . . In a public letter released in the diocesan newspaper on Monday – just two days after Kennedy voted in the House against adding the Pitts-Stupak amendment to the health-care bill – the Catholic prelate made clear that disagreeing with the bishops on a ‘grave matter’ like abortion “certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church.”

LifeNews: “Now, former NARAL president Kate Michelman and former ‘Catholics for Choice’ president Frances Kissling have issued a stark challenge to leading Democrats: defend abortion or risk an inter-party revolt.”

Daily Mail: “More abortions are carried out in Britain than any other country in Europe, research has shown . . . Abortion numbers are rising fastest in Spain, but from a much lower base than in Britain.”

. . . Gates said, ‘If we repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,”’ — and the next day he said, ‘When we repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,”’” said Frank. “That’s because Rahm called him up. The White House has been consistently committed.

CNSNews: “Catholic bishops did nothing wrong in pressing Congress to bar federal funding of abortion in the Democrats’ health care reform bills, and any IRS investigation resulting from the bishops’ stance would be construed as harassment, the Catholic League said on Wednesday.”

Law Professor Marci A. Hamilton writes at Findlaw: “Although many have attacked the Amendment as a policy matter, the constitutional arguments against have been underplayed. That is a shame, because under any reasonable reading of the Constitution, the Stupak Amendment is unconstitutional: Indeed, it violates three different constitutional principle . . . First, the Amendment violates the Constitution’s separation of church and state . . . The Stupak Amendment also discriminates on the basis of gender . . . Finally, the Stupak Amendment attempts to curtail — across the board – the privacy rights that Roe v. Wade and its progeny secured for women.”

The Olympian: “Nampa Classical Academy declined the public records request from the state Public Charter School Commission because attorneys advised it could jeopardize an ongoing lawsuit, said Michael Moffett, the school’s acting board chairman.” Related ADF Media Information page

Religion Clause Blog: “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom yesterday issued a new Policy Focus publication titled: The Dangerous Idea of Protecting Religions from “Defamation”: A Threat to Universal Human Rights Standards.”

WHNT: “A north Alabama school district has reversed itself and may allow a high school student to bring her girlfriend to the prom after initially saying the lesbian couple wouldn’t be permitted.”

Examiner.com: “As we and the Manchester Union-Leader noted earlier, the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, escaped any preventive action because of a politically-correct obsession with ‘diversity,’ which made officers reluctant to report Hasan’s extremist remarks in favor of terrorism and against non-Muslims, lest they be accused of discrimination or insensitivity.”

“The petition challenges a decision of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law to deny official recognition to the Christian student group because it does not conform to the school’s requirement that membership and leadership positions be open to all.”

Newsday: “Naval Academy leaders say they altered the composition of the color guard that performed at a World Series game last month so that the group would not be made up solely of white males.”

Power Line Blog: An Insufficiently Colorful Color Guard?
“How deep does the culture of political correctness run in the military and the service academies?”

Religion Clause Blog: “Today’s New York Times reports on the political opposition in Denmark to plans by for the building of two grand mosques in Copenhagen.”

SCOTUS Blog: “Bookstores today release American Original, Joan Biskupic’s new biography of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Joan gave Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog the first interview on the book, which you can listen to as a podcast here, or by clicking on the icon at the bottom of this post.”

Shreveport Times: “Students also heard from Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, who shifted his busy Veterans Day schedule to make it to the school, and Mike Johnson, an attorney with Alliance Defense Fund, a political group . . . Johnson finished where Edmonds’ message left off: ‘You can go to sleep tonight knowing that you did something.’”

CBN: “Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, gave a deposition Tuesday after being named in a suit claiming the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional . . . ‘Prayer proclamations are a long-established and cherished American tradition going back to the Founding Fathers,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. ‘This is simply a ridiculous lawsuit and an example of one radical organization’s allergic reaction to anything involving God.’”

Austin American-Statesman: “Gov. Rick Perry had some pretty strong comments about the Obama administration on Wednesday in Midland, saying, ‘This is an administration hell-bent on taking America towards a socialist country.’”

WorldNetDaily: “‘According to our information, the ASG and several college officials have engaged in a retaliatory and discriminatory campaign to recall Mr. Macias as ASG president simply because he refused to unlawfully censor an off-campus group who participated in the college’s Constitution Day,’ said a letter from the law firm’s litigation staff counsel, David J. Hacker.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘Christians shouldn’t be forced to violate their faith in order to gain U.S. citizenship,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. ‘Requiring a young girl to choose between her beliefs and legal citizenship is a clear violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prevents the government from putting a substantial burden on a person’s religious beliefs except under extreme circumstances.’”

Bay Windows: “Now, opponents are before the elections board [in D.C.] seeking an initiative to establish a statute limiting the definition of marriage to straight couples. The board is expected to rule on that request in the next two weeks, says Human Rights Campaign regional field director Sultan Shakir. Those opponents are being aided by the aid of the National Organization of Marriage and have the legal aid of another staunch conservative anti-gay group, the Alliance Defense Fund.”

OneNewsNow: “‘Planned Parenthood got its temporary restraining order against Abby Johnson thrown out because the judge said they had no evidence that this former director of Planned Parenthood’s College Station clinic had absconded with any confidential information regarding its employees or patients,’ [Steven H. Aden] reports.”

CitizenLink: “A judge has thrown out Planned Parenthood’s request for a restraining order against Abby Johnson, the former director of an abortion clinic in Bryan, Texas . . . ‘This is just another example of a Planned Parenthood bullying tactic,’ [Steven Aden] said, ‘trying to silence those who speak out and expose their lies and fraud to women.’”

2theadvocate.com: “At its Aug. 18 meeting, the School Board unanimously adopted a policy change that allows for residents who live in Tangipahoa Parish but attend services outside of the parish to request in writing that their minister, rabbi, imam or other religious leader be added to the board’s invitation list. Because of this change, the trial is moot, Johnson said. ‘The board has shown good faith in following the law,’ [Mike] Johnson said.”

AP: “The health overhaul bill that narrowly passed the House on Saturday includes a provision to nudge more people to confront such choices: It would pay for end-of-life counseling for Medicare patients.”

Question 1 opponents encourage frivolous attempts to revoke tax-exempt status;
ADF standing ready with free legal assistance.

Washington Post (2009.11.10): “A DC Council Committee voted 4 to 1 this afternoon to send a bill legalizing same-sex marriage to the full council for debate.”

The Star-Ledger: “. . . the state Legislature has 10 weeks to get a gay marriage bill on the governor’s desk— or give up for at least the next four years . . . ”

“. . . it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn’t change a proposed same-sex marriage law . . . ”

NewsMax: “Imams preach jihad and extremism in 10 percent of the 2,000 mosques in the United States, the FBI estimates . . . About a quarter of the Muslims in America ages 18 through 29 believe that suicide bombings can be justified, according to a Pew Research Center poll. ”

AP: “Nearly 200 million children in poor countries have stunted growth because of insufficient nutrition, according to a new report published by UNICEF Wednesday before a three-day international summit on the problem of world hunger.”

George Delgado, M.D. writes at the Ruth Institute Blog: “No one likes the feeling that something has been shoved down his or her throat. Merck, the pharmaceutical giant is looking like a bully in how it thrust Gardasil, the first genital human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, on the US market.”

Law.com (The National Law Journal): “The ABA wants the government to let unemployed graduates convert private loans into federal ones. The change could allow them to defer repaying those loans for as long as three years.”

BBC: “Scientists are a step closer to producing a controversial ‘three parent baby’ after they successfully fertilised an egg with two biological mothers.”

Carol Sanger, Decisional Dignity: Teenage Abortion, Bypass Hearings, and the Misuse of Law (October 24, 2009). Columbia Journal of Gender & Law, Vol. 18, p. 409, 2009 . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1493768

“This Article considers the harms to dignity inflicted on one category of women – pregnant minors – by virtue of their participation the judicial bypass process. Thirty four states now requirement that a minor wants an abortion without first involving her parents must petition a judge and participate in a hearing at which the judge decides if she is mature and informed enough to make an abortion decision herself.”

Elaine Craig, Laws of Desire: The Political Morality of Public Sex (October 4, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1482750

“In indecency cases, Canadian courts historically employed a communitarian model of sexual morality based on the community’s standard of tolerance. However, the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent jurisprudence affirms a harm-based test, which relies upon and protects the fundamental values enshrined in the Canadian constitution. This article analyzes the Court’s decisions in R. v. Labaye and R. v. Kouri and demonstrates that these cases represent a shift in the relationship between law and sexuality.”

Marriage as Monopoly: History, Tradition, Incrementalism, and the Marriage/Civil Union Distinction
Suzanne B. Goldberg, 41 Conn. L. Rev. 1397 (2009)

“The central claim here is that governments invoke history and tradition to suggest that private actors, rather than the state, are responsible for marriage having a higher social status than civil unions. Yet this premise ignores the state’s monopoly over marriage and, therefore, over marriage’s socially valuable connotations. Consequently, even if private actors contribute to marriage’s special social value, state control over access to that value falls well within standard understandings of state action. Context-sensitive skepticism is similarly necessary toward state claims that unequal treatment should be sustained so long as the inequality is characterized as an incremental step in the direction of full equality.”

Dear God, Give Me Back My Books: The Standardized Chapel Library Project and Free Exercise Rights
Aamir Wyne, 11 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1135 (2009)

“This Comment examines the legal framework surrounding the First Amendment rights of individuals incarcerated in federal prisons. It aims to determine just what the government’s compelling interests are in initiating the Standardized Chapel Library Project, and whether such an undertaking is compatible with the constitutional rights afforded to inmates in federal prisons.”

Marc R. Poirier, Name Calling: Identifying Stigma and the ‘Civil Union’/'Marriage’ Distinction (June 11, 2009). Connecticut Law Review, Vol. 41, 2009; Seton Hall Public Law Research Paper No. 1421208. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1421208

“This Article elaborates some aspects of everyday naming practices involving social identity and kinship, in order to assist us in understanding the injury that comes from mandating two distinct names for the core family relationship.”

Freedom, Fate, and the Fear of Frankenstein: Due Process Protection for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Joshua W. Sussman, 11 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1077 (2009)

“This Comment argues that current substantive due process doctrine provides substantial support for the proposition that laws restricting embryonic stem cell research violate an individual’s right to therapeutic medical treatment, which protects against state interference with the development of prospective therapies derived from embryonic stem cells.”

Establishment and Exclusion: Why the Protection of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause Should be Applied to Adults
Daren C. Rich, 28 St. Louis U. Pub. L. Rev. 591 (2009)

“This comment argues that the protections of the Establishment Clause are not age-dependent but should be applicable to teachers and other adults in public schools. Extending the protection to adults is consistent with the central purpose of the Establishment Clause as espoused by the Supreme Court: to prevent religious divisiveness and persecution. In our increasingly pluralistic society, this purpose grows ever more important.”

The Liability of Clergy for the Acts of Their Congregants
Mark Herman, 98 Geo. L.J. 153 (2009)

“This Note argues that when clergy engage in relationships directly analogous to special relationships in tort law, they, too, have a duty to protect third parties. Because much clerical activity involves counseling, I argue that the familiar case of Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California imposes on clergy the same duty it imposes on therapists: the duty to warn foreseeable victims or otherwise to control the actions of their dangerous congregants. But my thesis is not so limited. Parents and custodians, among others, must also exercise a reasonable degree of control to prevent harm to third parties. Parents, for example, may be held liable to third parties when teenagers, who are not their children, become intoxicated at parties negligently held at their homes and then drive drunk, causing harm. In any case where the relationship between clergy and congregant resembles an established special relationship in tort law, this Note’s reasoning suggests that clergy will owe similar duties.”

Richard M. Esenberg. 2009. “Must God Be Dead or Irrelevant: Drawing a Circle That Lets Me In.” ExpressO. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/richard_esenberg/1

“The problem is that modern government is not – and probably cannot be – silent on [religious] matters. In addition, current doctrine is ambitious. It seeks to prevent even very subtle injury to dissidents. As a consequence, it cannot protect religious objectors to secular speech with religious implication in the same way it seeks to protect event secular objectors from even the most bland of religious speech. I argue that this asymmetry is not substantively neutral. Drawing, in part, on the insights of post-liberal theology, I suggest that it permits the precise expressive harm that Establishment Clause doctrine claims to seek to prevent, i.e., permits religious dissidents to feel they are disfavored members of the political community and allows the state to influence religious formation.”