Daily Archives: November 19, 2009

“Because the existing parties will adequately represent the Campaign’s interests, we affirm the district court’s denial of intervention as of right.”

Tennessean: “The new adult store at 5329 Charlotte Ave., just past Bobbi’s Dairy Dip, has ignited commotion among residents and stakeholders in the modest West Nashville neighborhood who fear its presence will threaten revitalization in the area.”

Associated Press: “Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially, a ban on blasphemy.”

Wall Street Journal: “European Union leaders picked the low-key prime minister of Belgium and a British trade representative who’s never held elective office as the bloc’s first president and foreign minister.”

Associated Press: “‘In New York, the only relationship recognized as marriage is the committed union of a man and a woman,’ said Brian Raun, senior counsel for the group. ‘State and local officials should not attempt to use marriage laws from outside jurisdictions to place their political agendas ahead of the law.’”

Christian Telegraph: “Christmas could be cancelled by a bill being put forward by the Labour government, the Catholic bishops of England and Wales have said.”

“The Senate voted today 59-39 to confirm a pro-abortion federal judge President Barack Obama appointed to become a new appeals court justice.”

Chesterfield Observer: “Beginning next fall, county high school students will have the option of studying the best selling book of all time: the Bible. The Chesterfield School Board voted unanimously last week to approve the new elective course.”

Google News (AP): “State officials are facing a second lawsuit filed in as many weeks accusing them of shortchanging public schools in violation of a state constitutional provision requiring a ‘high quality’ education for Florida’s children . . . ”

Seattle Times: “Opponents of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pasco say they may appeal the city council’s decision approving a special permit.”

The Hill: “At a rally with supporters of the healthcare reform bill, Reid would not say he had secured commitments from all 60 members of the Democratic Conference to vote for the legislation — an absolute necessity given unanimous opposition from the 40 Senate Republicans.”

“The legislation makes available certain employment benefits, including health care, to the same-sex domestic partners of federal employees.”

Law.com (AP): “The American war crimes ambassador said Thursday in the Hague that the U.S. is committed to ending impunity for crimes against humanity, in a speech signaling a softening of hostility toward the International Criminal Court . . . ”

New York’s highest court did not address the central issue in a ruling Thursday on two lawsuits that challenged the state’s attempt to recognize out-of-state same-sex “marriages” by state and county officials, say attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund who brought the suits.

Jeffrey S. Flier write at the Wall Street Journal: “As the dean of Harvard Medical School I am frequently asked to comment on the health-reform debate. I’d give it a failing grade . . . Speeches and news reports can lead you to believe that proposed congressional legislation would tackle the problems of cost, access and quality. But that’s not true. The various bills do deal with access by expanding Medicaid and mandating subsidized insurance at substantial cost—and thus addresses an important social goal. However, there are no provisions to substantively control the growth of costs or raise the quality of care. So the overall effort will fail to qualify as reform.”

Christian Newswire: “Hoping to alleviate any confusion over the do’s and don’ts of celebrating Christmas in schools, workplaces and elsewhere, The Rutherford Institute has issued its ‘Twelve Rules of Christmas’ guidelines, which are available here.”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys sent a letter Thursday to the mayor, solicitor, and council members of the village of Amelia, urging them to reconsider cancelling this year’s 29th annual Christmas parade.

Breitbart (AFP): “Embryonic stem cell therapy got a step closer to the clinic Thursday after US researchers said they filed a request for government approval of human trials.”

Reuters: “‘Girls are gradually saying “no” to child marriage,’ said Anil Gulati, a spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which works with authorities to fight child marriage.”

LifeSiteNews: “But a German diplomat has dropped the biggest hint so far that the leaders will choose the little known Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy, as the first President of the European Union.”

LifeNews: “Two leading pro-life organizations that have analyzed the new 2,000-page government-run health care bill released by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late yesterday say the legislation contains massive abortion funding and a fake amendment that does not truly ban it.”

Nathaniel Persily writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: “It seems pretty clear that the public opinion trends concerning freedom of expression are pointing in a more libertarian direction. We can see that in responses to questions regarding flag burning, hate speech, and indecent speech. The State of the First Amendment (SOFA) Survey has been asking questions related to these issues for a decade . . . ” Results of the surveys available at the link.

Pew Research Center for People and the Press: “While most Americans oppose government funding of abortion, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that concern about abortion funding plays only a small role in driving opposition to the health care reform legislation under consideration by Congress. When health care opponents are asked in an open-ended question to describe their main reason for opposing the congressional proposals, just 3% raise the issue of abortion funding.”

Star-Telegram: “Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state . . . ‘It’s a silly argument,’ said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Legal Institute in Plano.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Political Research Associates, a Massachusetts-based progressive think tank, yesterday released a 42-page report titled Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches and Homophobia.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Interfax reported yesterday that a member of the Russian State Duma representing the Communist Party has introduced a bill to change one line in the Russian Federation’s national anthem.”

West Palm Beach Children’s Health Examiner: “Ms. Tucci is also an Instructor at South University, teaching an ABA-Approved Paralegal Program since 2004. She is a member of the Florida Bar, the Palm Beach County Bar Association. She is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center. In 2002, Ms. Tucci attained the honor of Blackstone Fellow through the Alliance Defense Fund. She was also the recipient of a Florida Bar Fellowship, focused on ProBono work.”

NJ.com: “The poll, conducted between Nov. 6 and 10, found 46 percent of adult residents want to extend the right to gay couples while 42 percent oppose it. Still undecided were 12 percent of respondents.”

ADF attorney Gary McCaleb appeared on the Bott Radio Network with Dick Bott to discuss this: S.D. pro-life group no longer denied access to school campus.

The MP3 runs about 27 minutes.

AP: “A Philippine gay rights group is waging a legal battle to be allowed to run in next year’s polls after the Elections Commission ruled it cannot register as a political party on grounds that it advocates immorality . . . ”

Paul Belien writing at Hudson New York: “The new European superstate, however, is not a democracy. It has an elected parliament, but the European Parliament has no legislative powers, nor does it control the EU’s executive bodies. The latter, who also have legislative power overriding national legislation, are made up of “commissioners.” These are appointed by the governments of the member states (although no longer with one commissioner per member state, as was the case so far, but with a total number capped at two-thirds of the number of member states). The EU is basically a cartel, consisting of the 27 governments of the member states, who have concluded that it is easier to pass laws in the secret EU meetings with their colleagues than through their own national parliaments in the glare of public criticism.”

Associated Press: “The lawsuit challenged the granting of those benefits by the state Civil Service Department and Westchester County, and was upheld in a lower court. The lower court’s ruling was challenged by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has challenged similar decisions nationwide.”

USA Today (AP): “New York’s top court on Thursday rejected a Christian legal group’s challenge to some government benefits provided to same-sex couples legally married elsewhere and now living in New York . . . There was no immediate comment from the Alliance Defense Fund or Empire State Pride Agenda, a leading advocate for gay rights in New York.”

“New York’s top court today upheld the rights of Westchester County and the state to legally extend benefits to same-sex couples married in other states . . . The Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz. argued that since same-sex marriage is not legal in New York, state and local governments should not extend equal benefits to gay couples . . . The Court of Appeals rejected the challenges by the Alliance Defense Fund, but was split on their reasons why.”

dcist: “Totally expected, but Bishop Harry Jackson and conservative legal outfit Alliance Defense Fund have gone ahead and filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court to try to force a ballot measure on same-sex marriage, as the Post reports.”

OneNewsNow: “‘That’s what this is about, is appealing to the Court in order to vindicate the people’s right to vote on what is probably the biggest social issue of our time, and that is the definition of marriage,’ contends Tim Tracey of ADF.”

Catholic News Agency: “On November 18, the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance which seeks to defend religious liberty, filed suit against the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics on behalf of Stand4MarriageDC, saying that the board precluded the right of citizens in the district to vote for or against the definition of marriage.”

OneNewsNow: “‘We learned by letter from the college that the recall election has in fact been voided and violated state law and that Mr. Macias is no longer threatened with being recalled by the students,’ [David Hacker] reports.”

James Taranto writes at the Wall Street Journal: “. . . there is reason to doubt whether ‘diversity,’ as practiced by American higher education today, has any educational benefits at all–never mind whether those benefits are sufficient to justify discrimination. Whatever its benefits in theory, diversity in practice is often anti-intellectual, replacing reasoned debate with ritualized expressions of phony emotion.”

WorldNetDailya: “More topically, the activist group Alliance Defense Fund is agitating for a 14th murder charge against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Islamist terrorist who “allegedly” killed 13 people during the shooting at Fort Hood that left 30 other people wounded. One of Hasan’s victims was a pregnant woman; the ADF wants Hasan held culpable for that unborn child’s death . . . There is a common thread to all of these news stories . . . all discussion of abortion revolves around the implication, the begged question and conclusion, that an unborn baby is a baby.”

Washington Post: “‘The people of D.C. have a right to vote on the definition of marriage,’ said Austin R. Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, the conservative legal group representing Jackson. ‘The D.C. Charter guarantees the people the right to vote, and the council cannot amend the charter for any reason, much less to deny citizens the right to vote.’”

George Will has this post at Townhall discussing various ways in which states could challenge a federal healthcare takover. His discussion begins with a discussion of a pending measure on the Arizona ballot.

The Hill: “Hoekstra formally introduced a discharge petition to force Democrats to hold a vote on GOP-sponsored legislation that effectlvely would bar the administration from transferring more than 200 prisoner detainees held at Gitmo to the United States. Bypassing Democratic leaders, however, would require all 177 House GOP lawmakers to sign onto the petition, as well as 41 Democrats, in order to reach the 218 signatures, a majority of the House.”

The Hill: “We are supposed to be the land of prosperity, but now a new Department of Agriculture study finds that 25 percent of our children can’t count on getting enough to eat. One in four faces the possibility every night of going to bed hungry . . . ”

NJ.com: “As lawmakers prepare for the lame-duck session beginning Monday, top Senate Democrats remain split on whether the issue of gay marriage should be taken up before Governor-elect Chris Christie takes office in January.”

The FRC Action Cloakroom Blog provides this report on today’s Congressional calendar and activities.

Catholic League: “In 2006, Feldblum signed a statement, ‘Beyond Same-Sex Marriage,’ that was the most radical, irresponsible assault on marriage and the family ever written . . . Feldblum, however, sensing that her nomination is in trouble, announced just days ago that she wants her name taken off the anti-marriage and anti-family document.”

Pacific Justice Institute: “At a packed school board meeting last night, the San Juan Unified School District reversed course and voted 3-2 not to go forward with a proposal to hide information from parents about student absences for so-called ‘confidential medical services,’ such as abortions.”

“Senate Majority Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) late Wednesday published the final text of a Senate health care bill that would mandate federally subsidized abortion.”

The American Lawyer: “The legal industry loves its traditions, and one of the most entrenched — embraced by virtually every Am Law 100 firm — is lockstep associate compensation. But over time, even the best traditions can become anachronisms, and that is the case with lockstep. For several years, the Law Firm Group (LFG) at Citi Private Bank has been urging firms to get rid of lockstep, in which associates receive an automatic annual pay raise, promotion and bonus. In its place, the LFG advocates a performance-based program, in which associates are paid and promoted according to their mastery of skills and competencies, and receive bonuses based on individual and firm performance.”

Law.com (Legal Intelligencer): “As another class of law school graduates begins their careers as practicing attorneys, we started to reflect upon our early days as lawyers. Looking back, we realized just how much we didn’t know then, and we commented that we wish someone had given us better advice prior to starting our new positions. With that in mind, here are our top 10 tips to transition seamlessly a successful legal career.”

Law.com (National Law Journal): “The legal job market is dismal for third-year law students — even those at Harvard Law School. And so administrators at the school have created something of a job safety net in the form of a fellowship program for students who have exhausted other job options.”

Education Tax Credits: School Choice Initiatives Capable of Surmounting Blaine Amendments
Jonathan D. Boyer, 43 Colum. J.L. & Soc. Probs. 117 (2009)

“While voucher programs have recently gained constitutional favor at the federal level, another more significant legal battleground resides at the state level, where constitutional provisions restricting government aid to religious schools (called “Blaine Amendments”) continue to present formidable legal obstacles. This Note contends that education tax credit programs, in contrast to school vouchers, are a viable option for school-choice advocates hoping to push their initiatives past Blaine Amendment scrutiny. Additionally, this Note proposes that a voluntary association among states would effectively consolidate and legitimize these initiatives.”

Theocracy in America: Should Core First Amendment Values be Permanent?
Miriam Galston, 37 Hastings Const. L.Q. 65 (2009)

“Although ostensibly less sweeping than the earlier proposals of the Christian amendment movement, the recent efforts to constitutionalize the practices or beliefs of certain religious denominations could propel the United States toward theocracy in significant ways. Specifically, if ratified, some of these amendments will deny the free exercise of religion to those who do not share those beliefs by preventing them from acting in accordance with their own religious beliefs. Although the protection afforded by the religion clauses is not absolute, restricting it in the name of one population’s religious beliefs, rather than a compelling state interest, would be contrary to the nation’s longstanding commitment to freedom of conscience. Thus, on a theoretical level, the adoption of such amendments would redefine a core feature of the nation’s constitutional identity–namely, the conception of religious liberty embodied in the religion clauses of the First Amendment.”

Azhar Majeed, Defying the Constitution: The Rise, Persistence, and Prevalence of Campus Speech Codes (November 17, 2009). Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1508047

“In this article, I examine institutional policy and practice to illustrate that speech codes are often enforced against clearly protected speech and additionally chill expression by their very existence.”