Daily Archives: November 17, 2009

“. . . The 70-29 vote limited debate over the qualifications of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton of Indiana, and assured his elevation to the Chicago-based appeals court . . . ”

Lancaster Online: “National abortion-rights groups are targeting Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts in next year’s election, saying the health-care amendment he co-authored threatens women’s ‘fundamental right’ to have the procedure.”

Las Vegas Review Journal: “The leader of a Nevada organization that wants to outlaw abortion acknowledged Monday that passage of its Personhood amendment would prohibit women from using pills that induce abortion.”

Burlington Times-News: “The settlement came after Barbour met with County Attorney Clyde Albright on June 16 and ‘expressed a desire to compromise and settle any and all civil disputes arising out of or in any way connected with the matters …. and the issues involved’ in the civil action, the agreement states.”

TheBostonChannel.com: “The victims of school-aged bullies may be getting some help from Beacon Hill, where legislators are considering several proposals that would crack down on students who threaten other kids.”

AP: “The bishops say they are disturbed that a growing number of people view marriage as a private or individual matter, instead of an issue critical to building a healthy society.”

USCCB press release: Bishops To Debate, Vote On Pastoral Letter On Marriage At November Meeting

Updated USCCB press release appear here.

Mercury News (AP): “Leaders of Nevada Life and Nevada Eagle Forum on Tuesday said while the Nevada Personhood initiative may have been filed with good intent, it is vague and won’t stop abortion because of existing federal law.”

Miami Herald: “Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer and the leading Democratic candidate for governor, told the state’s largest gay rights group Sunday that homosexuals should be allowed to adopt if it’s in the children’s ‘best interest.’”

Church Report: “‘This is an all-too-obvious attempt to use the IRS to intimidate pastors and churches as a means of punishment and to get them to be quiet,’ said [Erik] Stanley. ‘We encourage the churches of Maine not to be intimidated and to contact us if they are contacted by the IRS.’”

Associated Press: “A New Jersey high school student claims in a federal lawsuit that administrators violated her religious and free-speech rights by prohibiting her participation in a silent abortion protest . . . Her lawsuit was filed Friday by a lawyer hired by the Alliance Defense Fund in Scottsdale, Ariz.”

Breitbar (AP): “Iran has sentenced five people to death over the unrest that followed the country’s disputed June presidential election, state television reported Tuesday.”

Breitbart (AP): “Researcher Margaret Smith from John Jay College of Criminal Justice said the study so far has found no connection between being gay and an increased likelihood of abuse.”

USCCB press release (doesn’t mention homosexuality): John Jay Researchers Offer Update On Causes And Context Study; Early Findings Confirm Steep Decline In Sexual Abuse Cases After 1985, Emphasizethe Importance Of Seminary Training

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at National Review’s Phi Beta Cons blog: “Student activists — working with allied administrators — removed Steve from office and launched an illegal recall effort after he refused to censor a pro-life display on Constitution Day. David Hacker, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund’s Center for Academic Freedom, sent the college a cease-and-desist letter. On Friday afternoon, the university responded.”

“A measure to let voters decide whether to ban same-sex marriages in D.C. cannot go on the ballot because it would violate a city human rights law, the Board of Elections and Ethics ruled Tuesday.”

AP: “Democrats, with a bit of Republican help, are expected to exceed the 60 votes needed to limit debate on U.S. District Judge David Hamilton, assuring his confirmation to the Chicago-based appeals court by a simple majority of the 100-member Senate.”

Boston Herald (AP): “In court documents filed Tuesday, the couples say the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it denies them access to federal benefits given to other married couples . . .”

“The D.C. Council officially agreed today to vote on the bill legalizing same-sex marriage on Dec. 1, clearing the way for the measure to head to Congress for its review around New Year’s.”

Law.coma: “The White House said late Monday that President Barack Obama has made two choices for the Federal Trade Commission: a business litigator from Los Angeles who worked on his presidential campaign and a consumer protection regulator who spent most of her career in Vermont.”

A Baylor University economics professor told lawmakers on Monday that Arizona’s private-school tax-credit scholarship program saved the state $44 million to $186 million last year.”

“For the first time in nearly eight years, the United States will participate in a conference with members of the International Criminal Court, a decision that signals growing U.S. support for a war crimes tribunal the Bush administration once shunned.”

TIME: “Debbie Purdy plans on going to Switzerland to end her life. But the Swiss government wants to tighten restrictions on assisted suicide in an attempt to reduce ‘suicide tourism.’”

CBC: “Israel has threatened to void past accords if the Palestinians act on their own.”

HTRNews.com: “After Thanksgiving, the Manitowoc County Catholic Women’s Club will erect its annual nativity scene at the St. Francis of Assisi Faith Formation Center, 1001 Marshall St., club member Pat Korlesky said Tuesday . . . A lawsuit filed last December by the Freedom From Religion objecting . . . has not been settled.”

LifeNews: “Total revenues from 2007 to 2008 rose nearly 11 percent as Planned Parenthood raked in almost $3 million more . . . Total revenues from government funds increased 21% . . . ”

Houston Chronicle: “The group is motivated by concerns about a “gay takeover” of City Hall, given that two other candidates in the five remaining City Council races are also openly gay, as well as national interest driven by the possibility that Houston could become the first major U.S. city to elect an openly gay woman.”

ACLU: “Over the past several weeks when the student has declined to take part in the Pledge, the supervising teacher sends her to the assistant principal’s office. She has been repeatedly written up by administrators and threatened with disciplinary action if she continues to refuse to stand up during the Pledge.”

“If the pro-life movement has any chance of stopping abortion funding in the Senate version of the health care bill, they need Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson and Bob Casey to help lead the fight.”

ACLU: “An individual woman, a pharmacist and an obstetrician-gynecologist today asked the court to block the “Personhood Nevada” petition, an attempt to pass an initiative which seeks to ban a range of reproductive health services.”

Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit to protect domestic partner benefits for “gay and lesbian Arizona state employees” instituted by former Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, but subsequently revoked by the state legislature.

Chicago Tribune: “The ACLU says the Illinois Department of Vital Records has changed its policies and now allows transgender people who had sex changes overseas to get new documents.”

ACLU press release

“Fortunately, there are plenty of economic reasons for being against this lifestyle and I think as conservatives we need to be able to articulate why our nation cannot afford the extremely high financial costs of this lifestyle . . . ”

CNSNews: “A conservative civil liberties group is urging the dismissal of a lawsuit by an atheist group that wants to remove engravings of ‘In God We Trust’ (the national motto) and ‘under God’ (from the Pledge of Allegiance) from a display in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center.”

OneNewsNow: “Some congressional Republicans are threatening a filibuster to block confirmation of a federal appeals court nominee because of his religious rulings. But they won’t get the support of Indiana GOP Senator, Richard Lugar.”

ADF attorney Jim Campbell appeared on Point of View Radio with Penna Dexter to discuss the marriage battles in Maine and California.

The MP3 runs just over 21 minutes.

ABA Journal: “Want to know more about a 9th Circuit opinion on the First Amendment rights of a citizen ejected from a city council meeting for giving a Nazi salute? Or the 5th Circuit opinion allowing a Halliburton employee to sue over her alleged rape in Iraq? You can find those opinions summarized on a revamped Media Alerts on Federal Courts of Appeals page on ABAnet.org.”

SCOTUS Blog: “With a strong plea to revive the Constitution’s ill-fated Privileges or Immunities Clause, lawyers for four Chicagoans told the Supreme Court on Monday that history shows clearly that the Second Amendment’s protection of personal gun rights applies to state and local laws as fully as to those at the federal level. The brief is dominated by a wide-ranging survey of the meaning and origins of the privileges clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, only seven pages of the 73-page brief are devoted to another provision of that Amendment: the Due Process Clause.”

Religion Clause Blog: “On May 31, 2009, Azerbaijan’s new religion law and related amendments took effect. The law requires re-registration of all religious groups by Jan. 1, 2010 . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “In NM v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [Word.doc], (Asylum & Immigration Tribunal, Nov. 13, 2009), a British immigration tribunal, in an appeal from a decision by the Home Department, granted asylum to an Afghan national who had come to Britain aboard a hijacked airliner in 2000 and subsequently converted from Islam to Christianity in Britain.”

Rebecca Hagelin writes at Townhall: “As Carrie Prejean continues to suffer, ‘grow up’, fall and stand back up in front of the entire world, parents should discuss with our own children the many truths that Carrie’s drama reveals. Among them: 1) If you dare to challenge what is ‘politically correct’, you will become a target. 2) In today’s high-tech world, ‘Be sure, your sins will find you out.’ 3) If your life is marked by modesty, honesty, and decency, your enemies’ attacks will be far less effective.”

John Fund writes at the Wall Street Journal: “Says Mr. McCarthy: ‘The continuing investigations of Bush-era counterterrorism policies coupled with the obsession to disclose classified national-defense information from that period, enable Holder to give the hard Left the ‘reckoning’ that he and Obama promised during the 2008 campaign . . .’”

“Starting Dec. 14, the HPV, or human papillomavirus vaccine will no longer be on the list of immunizations female immigrants ages 11 to 26 must receive before becoming legal permanent residents.”

ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on Reality Check Live with Mike and Clairie Monokian to discuss this: Teen should not be denied citizenship for saying no to HPV vaccine.

The MP3 runs just over 9 minutes.

Jennifer S. Bryson reports at Public Discourse: “To practice what he preaches, to respect laws passed by Congress, and to support Muslims who advocate for peaceful pluralism, President Obama needs to take action in support of religious freedom. Here are specific suggestions to move this effort forward.”

Monterey County Herald: “Two staff attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union’s San Francisco office are scheduled to talk to the Monterey City Council today about the Del Monte Beach cross.”

Associated Press: “A New Jersey high school student has sued her school claiming administrators kept her from participating in a day of silent protest against abortion . . . Her lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court by a lawyer hired by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., organization.”

OneNewsNow: “A Florida teenager could be denied citizenship for rejecting the HPV vaccine which helps prevent an STD that leads to one form of cervical cancer . . . ‘The facts of the case are that a 17-year-old British girl who has been adopted by her mother who is a U.S. citizen, they live in Florida, is now being required to get the HPV vaccination in order to receive full U.S. citizenship,’ [Daniel] Blomberg explains. ‘Miss Davis doesn’t believe that she should have to do that, and it’s a violation of her religious beliefs to be vaccinated against something that she can only contract through immoral activity.’”

LSU Daily Reveille: “Davis has met nearly all requirements for U.S. citizenship, but has yet to receive full status because of her refusal to take Gardasil, which has been a required vaccination for female immigrants since 2008. Gardasil is designed to inoculate women against cervical cancer . . . The Alliance Defense Fund agrees with Davis. The organization believes the vaccine would force her to choose between “her beliefs and legal citizenship,” according to the brief filed in support of Davis.”

LifeNews: “‘Pro-life students shouldn’t be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. ‘The Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity is a non-disruptive, student-led event occurring outside of instructional time,’ he told LifeNews.com. ‘The event provides the opportunity for students to exercise their constitutional right to express their viewpoint on abortion, just as other students have the right to express their views.’”

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of a student against the Bridgeton Board of Education after officials at Bridgeton High School prohibited her from expressing a religious viewpoint . . .

ADF attorney Steven H. Aden appeared on the Bob Dutko Show to discuss the unborn victim of the Fort Hood shooting.

The MP3 runs just over 5 minutes.

ADF Media Information: ADF urges prosecution for death of 14th Fort Hood victim

NY Daily News: “Think the worst is over? Wrong. Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening. While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2% and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.”

Gadsden Times: “Rep. DuWayne Bridges, R-Valley, said he has prepared a bill for the legislative session beginning in January. The bill would prohibit public universities from receiving state funds if they offer benefits to same-sex partners.”

The Hill: “Hoffman conceded the race on Election Night after learning he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported last week that the margin had shrunk to 3,026 votes after recanvassing.”

Reuters: “Guess what? It turns out the Chinese are kind of curious about how President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plans would impact America’s huge fiscal deficit. Government officials are using his Asian trip as an opportunity to ask the White House questions. Detailed questions.”

CNN: “Somewhere in the world, a child dies of hunger every five seconds — even though the planet has more than enough food for all.”

The International Human Rights Movement Today
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, 24 Md. J. Int’l L. 56 (2009)

“I begin by asking: is there such a thing as an International Human Rights Movement? I would like to raise that as an issue that we need to address, whether there is one movement or multiple movements within the human rights tradition, and whether there are in fact movements that might be part of the human rights tradition but nevertheless do not use or rely on the discourse of international human rights. In other words, diversity and contradiction within the Human Rights Movement is a theme that I think we need to focus on and problematize. And we should also start by recognizing that ‘international human rights’ is a language, a language of both power and resistance. It is a language of hegemony and counter-hegemony, and we need to recognize the multiple uses to which it is put and the fact that it is a terrain of contestation, as I have argued before, for multiple deployments of both power and resistance.”

Religion and Law in France: Secularism, Separation, and State Intervention
T. Jeremy Gunn, 57 Drake L. Rev. 949 (2009)

“Indeed, American jurists across a broad ideological spectrum–from civil libertarians to the religious right–would likely agree that many actions routinely taken by the French state in the area of religion would violate core constitutional principles on the other side of the Atlantic.”

The Right to Wear Headscarves and Other Religious Symbols in French, Turkish, and American Schools: How Goverment Draws a Veil on Free Expression of Faith
Oriana Mazza, 48 J. Cath. Legal Stud. 303 (2009)

“Part IV shows that while the U.S. does not have a nationwide ban, this issue comes up in schools more than we might realize. This Section explains how the Supreme Court’s shift to the neutral and generally applicable test of Employment Division v. Smith in 1990, has left open the possibility of infringing on the right to wear headscarves and suggests the standard under which courts should scrutinize school policies that burden students’ freedom to wear religious symbols.”

Religious Freedom and Israeli Law
Frank S. Ravitch, 57 Drake L. Rev. 879 (2009)

“Part II of this Article provides a primer on Israeli law relevant to religious freedom and the nature of Israeli constitutional principles. Part III addresses the dynamics of the culture war that has evolved in Israel between Orthodox Jewish authorities and non-Orthodox Jews. Part III also explains why this dynamic has little impact on non-Jews in Israel, who surprisingly often enjoy greater religious freedom than non-Orthodox Jews. Part IV will suggest interpretive principles that may be highly relevant in regard to religious freedom issues in Israel. Part IV will also explore why the use of ebbing and flowing narrow principles of religious freedom may be better suited to religious freedom issues in Israel than reliance on broad overarching principles. Part V will provide a brief conclusion.”

Mt. Soledad in the Supreme Court’s Crosshairs: Why Legislative Recognition Should be Considered in Public Displays of Religion
Adrian R. Contreras, 40 McGeorge L. Rev. 973 (2009)

“This Comment addresses whether the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial satisfies the Establishment Clause in light of the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry. In the Van Orden case, a divided Court upheld the placement of a monolith of the Ten Commandments at the Texas State Capitol. In the plurality opinion, four Justices concluded that the monolith was ‘passive,’ focusing on the monolith’s nature and American history in finding no Establishment Clause violation. In his concurring opinion, Justice Breyer emphasized the physical nature of the monolith, its nonreligious purpose, and its forty-year presence at the site. Proponents of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial contend that Van Orden supports the view that certain religious displays are constitutional.”

Electing Judges, Judging Elections, and the Lessons of Caperton
Pamela S. Karlan, 123 Harv. L. Rev. 80 (2009)

“Across a variety of domains, a central problem in the law of democracy concerns articulating when and how courts should intervene. Caperton echoes several key elements of the Court’s prior decisions, such as the relationship between the justiciability of constitutional claims and the availability of clear-cut rules for adjudicating them; the salience of appearance and ‘expressive harms’ in the regulation of politics; and the effect of judicially announced rules on the broader political culture. Most fundamentally, Caperton continues the Court’s problematic insistence on addressing structural problems through the lens of protecting individual rights.”