Daily Archives: December 4, 2009

CatholicCulture.org: “Before voting to approve the Lisbon Treaty in an October referendum, the Irish voters were assured that the new powers of the European Union—established by that treaty—would not affect the Irish constitution, with guarantees legal protection for the life of unborn children. But that constitutional guarantee is already being challenged . . . ”

The Reasons Why Originalism Provides a Weak Foundation for Interpreting Constitutional Provisions Relating to Religion
Alan Brownstein, 2009 Cardozo L. Rev. de novo 196

“I suggest that whatever may be the justifications for, and utility of, employing originalism as a methodology for interpreting other constitutional provisions, it is a particularly poor approach to adopt for determining the meaning of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. I do not suggest that an historical analysis is irrelevant to understanding what the religion clauses mean. It certainly sets a foundation for further discussion. I argue simply that there are important reasons why originalism is particularly ill suited for resolving a great many constitutional disputes relating to church-state relationships in our society today.”

Christian Post: “The Association for Church Renewal, an alliance of leaders representing conservative ministries within mainline Protestant churches, made the appeal Wednesday . . . On the Web: http://manhattandeclaration.org/”

. . . Monday’s vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee will be closely watched because the 13-member panel — and the larger 40-member Senate — are the two major hurdles for the bill . . .

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: “The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. ran afoul of the law by inviting the Fellowship of the Christian Centurions, a group that seeks to evangelize law-enforcement officers in its religious doctrines, to give proselytizing talks at meetings that deputy sheriffs were required to attend.”

Milwaukee Deputy Sheriffs’ Association v. Clarke, No. 08-1515 (7th Cir. Dec. 4, 2009)

LifeNews: “And, in a look ahead, it urged states to renew their commitment to the program, calling for over $200 billion (US) in funding for ‘sexual and reproductive health and family planning’ alone.”

CanWest News Service: “Local health officials will provide up to 100,000 free condoms to athletes and officials housed in the Vancouver and Whistler athletes villages during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Insurance & Financial Advisor Web News: “With weeks left in his tenure as the state’s governor, Tim Kaine is moving forward with a plan to add same-sex partners under Virginia’s employee health plan.”

CNA: “Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece said that the European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) had ignored the role of Christianity in Europe’s history. According to the BBC, he added that majorities, not only minorities, have rights.”

Blog of the Legal Times: “A federal appeals court today revived a suit filed by the owner of a Virginia security company who was targeted, but not arrested, for prosecution in the District of Columbia on an unregistered firearms charge . . .”

LifeSiteNews: “A new study released yesterday by the Canadian Centre for Home Education (CCHE) reveals that home-educated adults in Canada excel in all measured areas of adult life, including education level, religious observance, civic and community participation, life satisfaction, and income.”

Study: Fifteen Years Later: Home-Educated Canadian Adults

Telegraph: “To understand if the difference was genetic, resesearchers in Japan created mice using only female genetic material, so the offspring effectively had two mothers and no father. These mice lived one third longer than ordinary mice with one mother and one father. The finding provides the first evidence that male sperm genes may have a detrimental effect on the lifespan.”

“Durbin didn’t specify what kind of compromise would bring Nelson on board. On Thursday, Nelson again threatened to filibuster a bill that doesn’t include Stupak-like language.”

“Advocates for GLBT businesses are hoping that an executive order, similar to the one that established contracting goals for women-owned businesses in 2000, could change that.”

CNSNews Audio (runs just over 5 mins): “Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) declined to say whether he agreed with Cardinal Rigali that the Senate health care bill cannot be supported as long as it permits abortion funding.” Casey did say there was a consensus for two decades that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion and he expects pro-life amendments pertaining to abortion which he will likely support.

NCPA Policy Digest: “Mutaa is a form of ‘temporary marriage’ only acceptable within Shiite communities, one that allows couples to have religiously sanctioned sex for a limited period of time, without any commitments, and without the obligatory involvement of religious figures. ”

Law.com (Texas Lawyer): “Linda Thomas, the 5th Court’s chief justice until Oct. 31, confirms that Williams has been the court’s only African-American staff attorney since 1999. But Thomas says she received an application from only one other African-American during the 10-year period.”

USA Today: “Helfand says data from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy suggests that 15% of wives and 25% of husbands have experienced extramarital intercourse.”

NY Times: “While many people have a story about a secret cousin crush or kiss, most Americans find the idea of cousins marrying and having children disturbing or even repulsive . . . Although it is still a long way from being widely accepted, in recent years cousin marriage has been drawing increased attention, as researchers study the potential health risks to children of cousins.”

Hat tip: Institute for Marriage and Public Policy

The Hill: “The Senate will hold votes on amendments to its healthcare reform bill on Saturday and Sunday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday.”

How Appealing reports on the ruling by the Canadian Supreme court in the case of R. v. Legare, 2009 SCC 56.

Excerpts from the opinion’s introduction . . .

“‘This is an incredible victory for freedom of speech and for all Albertans who want to share their opinions on the social and moral issues of our day,’ said Boissoin.”

LifeSiteNews: “A bill that would legally establish the human rights of unborn children, but would not alter abortion laws, has been introduced into the Italian Senate, the Italian news agency ANSA reports.”

On Wednesday, incumbent Speaker Karen Bass endorsed Perez. She said she expects the full Assembly Democratic Caucus to vote on a new speaker on December 10 . . .

On closer scrutiny, Prof. Kaveny’s melodramatic analogy falls apart. Opposing government funding of abortion is not like opposing government funding of Christian social service agencies and churches. And the difference isn’t just that abortion is wrong and Christian social service is right. These apples and oranges are actually not the same.

Jeremy Dys of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia writes in the Charleston Gazette: “The fact is the Hyde Amendment, behind which Ms. Wright attempts to hide, depends on annual appropriations to be effective. But, in the current version of health reform, the appropriations for health care are self-appropriating. In other words, without the Stupak Amendment, the government can direct public monies to abortion services whether or not the Hyde Amendment is renewed annually.”

The Religion Clause Blog reports and the ceremony and the text of President Obama’s remarks.

In a Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel article, Stephen Lendman wonders about the actual effects of the 2009 Hate Crimes Prevention Act: “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative legal alliance partnered with over 300 ministries and organizations, fears that pastors calling homosexuality a sin may be linked to a hate crime if a parishioner harms someone for their sexual orientation . . . The new law, however, prosecutes ‘crimes of violence.’”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Geithner, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111776 (ED CA, Dec. 2, 2009), a California federal district court refused to permit a pastor to intervene in FFRF’s Establishment Clause challenge to the parsonage allowance provisions in the federal and California tax laws.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Conner v. Tilton, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111892 (ND CA, Dec. 2, 2009), in a decision unusually detailed in its analysis for a case brought by a prisoner pro se, a California federal district court held that the White supremacist Creativity Movement is not a ‘religion’ for purposes of the First Amendment or RLUIPA.”

This post may be updated.

One News Now: “An internationally recognized expert on stem cells and cloning says President Obama’s decision to lift restrictions on federal funding of human embryonic stem-cell research is wasting lives and taxpayer dollars when all resources should be going towards adult stem cells.”

“The three-judge appeals court panel said the sponsors ‘have made a strong showing that they are likely to succeed’ in their arguments.”

Pensacola News Journal: “Christian Educators said it would like to alter the agreement between the ACLU and the district that went into effect in May. The agreement ended the long-standing practice of prayer at public schools, including Pace High School.”

Jim Waters writes at the Kentucky Bluegrass Institute: “I’m sure it’s a coincidence that Stumbo and the governor seem much more energized about expanding gambling than about sound economic decisions, including eliminating the state’s prevailing-wage mandate. This policy sets artificially high wages on public construction projects, including those crumbling schools Stumbo used to seem so concerned about.”

Matt Bowman, from an email to Mirror of Justice’s Rob Vischer: “In a very similar fashion in the health care conscience context, Planned Parenthood, Alta Charo, et al. always want to require pro-life doctors to disclose that they don’t to abortions, but they will never even suggest much less agree to require all doctors to disclose whether they do or do not do abortions. Ironically, such one-sided disclosure is sold based on principles of neutrality and patient information. But on those concepts there is no principled reason to apply them only to pro-life providers. Instead they are based on non-neutral assumptions about the baseline of what proper health care is, meaning that pro-life pregnancy centers and pro-life Ob/Gyns are substandard and need correction by disclosure, whereas abortionists are already up to par.”

Mister-Info: “Erik Stanley, a legal adviser with the ADF, said the group would be sending copies of the sermons to the IRS and would be seeking a Supreme Court case. The law, he said, was unconstitutional because ‘being tax-exempt is part of freedom of religion; otherwise the government could tax churches out of existence.’”

AP: “Clergy and laypeople voting to replace two retiring assistant bishops in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles will choose Friday from a pool that includes two openly gay candidates . . .”

Wicked Local Chelmsford: “‘I’m simply advising the parents and they are leading the charge in this to change this extreme policy,” said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. “If the board would’ve let me speak, I would’ve said there is no court decision that I’m aware of that requires the level of suppression that the Byam has had . . . What they are saying is if you are offended by something that happens you are allowed to silence other people and basically sanitize anything that offends you,’ said Lorence.”

LifeSiteNews: “Third-party interveners Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the European Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defense Fund (on behalf of Family Research Council), contend that it is ‘Ireland’s sovereign right to determine when life begins’ and what rights attach to pre-natal life. They also claim that domestic remedies have not been exhausted, and that therefore the ECHR lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.”

Baptist Press: “‘Like so many Planned Parenthood lawsuits, this lawsuit was baseless, so we are pleased that it has been withdrawn,’ said Steven Aden, senior legal counsel for ADF.”

Pan-Protestantism and Proselytizing: Minority Religions in a Protestant Empire
Michael Newsom, 15 Widener L. Rev. 1 (2009)

“In the setting of the common schools, which this article will consider, proselytizing cannot be effected by the direct instrumental assistance of school officials, administrators, and teachers. But, of course, it can be affected with their indirect instrumental assistance. The critical actors, therefore, become, at least in light of the distinction just noted, students and others not affiliated with the public schools, such as parents and clergy, who wish to proselytize American public school children.”

Andre Nollkaemper, The Reception by the International Court of Justice of Decisions of Domestic Courts (November 30, 2009). Federalismi.it, Rivista di Diritto Pubblico Italiano, Comunitario e Comparato, n. 15/2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1515747

“This paper examines the practice of the ICJ in its reception of decisions of national courts. It demonstrates that while the ICJ continues to recognize the formal separation between international law and domestic law, the practice of the Court is not based on a rigid dichotomy between the international and the domestic spheres. In particular cases, decisions of domestic courts play a role in judgments of the Court, not only as fact but also in terms of legal effects. Indeed, the dominant ‘decisions of domestic courts as facts’ doctrine fails to capture the variety of the ways in which the Court treats such decisions.”