Daily Archives: December 7, 2009

LifeNews: “A collection of pro-abortion religious groups authored a letter today to members of the Senate that essentially places them on record supporting taxpayer funding of abortions.”

Catholic legal theory blog Mirror of Justice features a lengthy back-and-forth between Professor Ira (Chip) Lupu (George Washington University Law School) and Robert P. George on “conscience protection” in the context of same-sex “marriage” and abortion.

Christian Science Monitor: “As the United States engages in a heated debate over gay marriage, European Union countries are rapidly striding toward total recognition of same-sex civil unions, if not marriage. The most recent example is Ireland.Last Thursday saw Ireland become the latest country to edge toward marriage equality for homosexual couples . . . ”

A Canadian court issued a strong ruling Friday upholding the free speech of a pastor punished by the Alberta Human Rights Commission for letters-to-the-editor published in a newspaper regarding his Christian views about homosexual behavior.

Christian Newswire: “It is nonsensical for the Baltimore City Council to undermine local efforts to provide free support to pregnant women in their city, but that’s exactly what they’ve accomplished with this legislation,” said Care Net President Melinda Delahoyde. “It’s particularly alarming when abortions are decreasing nationwide, but increasing in the state of Maryland.”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at National Review’s Phi Beta Cons blog: “At campus after campus, administrators have ‘derecognized’ student groups, and perhaps no student First Amendment controversy has spawned more litigation. A quick survey of ADF Center for Academic Freedom and FIRE cases demonstrates how dominant this issue has been . . . This morning, the Supreme Court announced its plans to step in. It granted the Christian Legal Society’s cert petition and will hear the group’s appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling.”

Radio Iowa: “Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller is supporting a bill to change Iowa law on sexual exploitation of minors so that possession of a single pornographic image, not just possession of the computer, is a crime. The bill stalled in the Iowa House last year. Brammer says the law needs to be changed.”

“Is the Obama administration so afraid to offend people of other beliefs that they will seriously consider obliterating basic American traditions?”

Politico: “Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch today filed their amendment to tighten restrictions on federal funding for abortion. The amendment is likely to be debated on the floor tomorrow. Most observers expect it to fail, which could put the future of reform in doubt as Nelson has threatened to filibuster a bill that doesn’t include the provision.”

Mercury News (AP): “The materials would include a list of to-be-drafted books intended to tackle bullying issues based on race and ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality and sexual orientation.”

Associated Press: “The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a California law school must force a Christian group to admit gays, lesbians and nonbelievers to gain stature as an official campus organization.”

Telegraph: “A disabled campaigner will launch an 11th hour challenge to plans to relax the laws on assisted suicide at the Supreme Court today.”

CNA: “Bishop of San Sebastian in Spain, Bishop Jose Ignacio Munilla, has called for the respect of parental rights in the education of their children as the government considers a proposal to remove crucifixes from public schools.”

NY Times: “With the New Jersey Legislature preparing to take a key vote on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, hundreds of gay rights advocates and opponents of the proposal descended on the State Capitol on Monday for what will be an emotional debate.”

Breitbart (AP): “A transgender teenager says a McDonald’s restaurant in Florida discriminated against her when managers refused to interview her for a job, according to a complaint filed Monday . . . The New York-based Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, which filed the complaint on Bellamy’s behalf . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “However, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 stipulates that new laws must be promulgated by the king, who is head of state, but who now faces possible excommunication if he gives royal assent to the bill. Prominent Spanish Catholics are calling on the king to refuse to sign the law.”

Janice Shaw Crouse writes at Townhall: “On the one hand, the nanny state, with its ever increasing regulations and handouts, encourages the development of weak, immature, self-indulgent people who expect the government to care for them. Marriage, on the other, helps to build a strong nation by encouraging the development of morally strong and thus self-sufficient people who are capable of making their own choices and who expect to earn their own way. In a very brief time we shall see whether today’s generation will succumb and heedlessly go down the path of ‘bread and circuses.’”

Steven H. Aden writes The Church Report: “The recent report of 46-year-old Rom Houben’s 23-year agony as a sufferer of what neurologists call ‘locked-in syndrome’ should make would-be regulators of the American health care system sit up and take notice . . . There was a time in American health care when all available means – even so-called ‘extraordinary’ or ‘heroic’ means – would be deployed to save a life, with no regard to the cost. That era began to pass away some time ago, before the shadow of government bureaucratization of the health care system – with the threat of ‘death panels’ and rationing – loomed.”

Pacific Justice Institute: “PJI President Brad Dacus noted, ‘We have been waiting so long on a decision in the national motto and Pledge of Allegiance cases that Michael Newdow has filed more lawsuits in the meantime—one attacking prayer at presidential inaugurations and the other attacking the longstanding tax exemption for ministers’ housing allowances.’”

CNSNews: “Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) repeated their opposition to a ‘public option’ in a final Senate health care bill when CNSNews.com asked if there were any circumstances in which they would vote for cloture on the bill if it includes a government-run insurance program . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: :The upcoming Senate vote on the pro-life Hatch-Nelson amendment to the health care bill has been called into question as an audio recording has surfaced with a Senator with a 100% rating from the pro-abortion group NARAL Pro-Choice America vowing to vote against abortion in the health care bill.”

Fox News: “‘Happy Winter’ just doesn’t have the same ring as Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah, but in one Connecticut elementary school, that’s about all you’ll see and hear this holiday season.”

NewsMax: “Two of Congress’s three openly gay members say the U.S. House is poised to pass bills to provide health coverage for the same-sex partners of gay federal workers and to protect all gay employees from job discrimination.”

LifeSiteNews: “New research into the effects of pornography on men from a University of Montreal postdoctoral student has made waves worldwide over the last couple days. The interest stems from the researcher’s controversial conclusion that all men consume pornography and that such consumption has a negligible impact on men’s sexuality. US family issues expert Dr. Patrick Fagan severely criticized the credibility of this study stating the researcher ‘knows nothing about statistics. He knows nothing about sampling. So it’s not serious.’”

Conservative Blog Watch carries video and reports on the situation. Iran has apparently shut down one of the originating sources for these reports. (planet-iran.com)

First Things also reports on the situation.

Planet Gore, National Review: “Rushing to the front of the race for the prize of Most Vomit-Inducing Environmental Initiative Ever Devised, the UK’s Optimum Population Trust — which counts such grandees as David Attenborough and Jonathon Porritt among its supporters — has just launched PopOffsets. This quirkily named campaign is actually deeply sinister: It invites well-off Westerners to offset their carbon emissions by paying for poor people in the Third World to stop procreating.”

Liberty Counsel: “Trial testimony concluded this week in which Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) is seeking to intervene to overturn an ACLU court order that has already resulted in three school officials being charged with contempt. Liberty Counsel represents CEAI. Testimony revealed how this order has literally driven Christians to hide in closets to pray in order to avoid contempt charges.”

Winston-Salem Journal: “An appeal looks increasingly likely if the county loses a suit over sectarian references in public prayer . . . The county is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, which is covering the county’s legal expenses but won’t pay any legal expenses awarded to the plaintiffs should the county lose.”

The Recorder on Law.com:”The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals continued a stay of Walker’s order forcing the Yes on 8 campaign to turn over internal documents and e-mails to challengers of the measure. In its order, the court said the campaign had made a “strong showing” that it would succeed on the merits of the discovery issue.”

The November 2009 Marriage Law Digest, edited by Bill Duncan of the Marriage Law Foundation, is now at the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy website.

This month’s topics include:

• DAVIS V. DAVIS, D24407, New York Appellate Division, Second Department, November 17, 2009 (meaning of abandonment in divorce law).
• GODFREY V. SPANO, No. 147, New York Court of Appeals, November 19, 2009) (recognition of same-sex marriages contracted in other states).
• Recent Law Review Articles (topics: economic analysis of marriage debate, divorce disputes over frozen embryos, constitutional analysis of marriage laws, religious liberty and marriage, taxes and same-sex couples).
• News Stories (topics: same-sex couple adoption; babysitter custody).

Religion Clause Blog: “In Tajikistan’s capital of Dushanbe, a District Court has ordered a Baptist congregation to stop meeting for worship in an apartment of one of the congregation’s leaders . . . ”

Daily Mail: “More than 5,000 teenagers had an abortion last year that was at least their second termination. This means that one in 20 of the teenagers who became pregnant ended it with their second or further abortion.”

EdNews.org: “The 48 state Governors signed the Common Core standards adoption agreements before the public was told about the national tests. U. S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan waited until the state contracts were signed before he made the rest of the plan clear . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “Thursday’s Pensacola News Journal reports on the testimony of third-grade teacher, Vicki Kirsch, who said: ‘My Christian beliefs are under attack and … I wasn’t able to do the things that I could do before the consent decree.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Britain, Catholic Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has turned down an invitation to become the first Catholic bishop to sit in the House of Lords.”

Franklin E. Zimring writes at The National Law Journal: “Not all the important turning points in America’s epic struggle over the death penalty get noticed immediately by the mass media and the public. A quiet blockbuster this year was the decision of the American Law Institute, a little-known but prestigious organization of lawyers and judges, to withdraw its approval for the standards created by the institute’s 1963 Model Penal Code to guide juries in the choice between long prison terms and execution.”

LifeNews: “Army officials have filed more charges against Nidal Malik Hasan, who stands accused of killing 12 soldiers and one civilian in last month’s shooting. However, the charges do not include any for killing soldier Francheska Velez’s unborn child, despite requests from pro-life groups . . . ‘All murder victims–born and pre-born–deserve equal justice,’ ADF senior legal counsel Steven Aden told LifeNews.com at the time. ‘Women who volunteer to protect our country deserve to know that the government will enforce the laws that protect their children.’”

Barna Group: “A new report issued by The Barna Group focuses upon changes in the mainline churches during the past decade. The report examines shifts in both the adults who attend those churches and the pastors who lead them.”

“YNet News today reports on a study released last month by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) at Germany’s University of Bielefeld. The Study on Group-Focused Enmity in Europe revealed the following survey results . . . ”

Today’s Supreme Court Order list is here.

“The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to decide whether a public university can refuse to recognize a religious student group because the group requires its leaders to share its religious beliefs.”

ZENIT: “The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute reported the protest of third-party interveners, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, the European Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defense Fund (on behalf of Family Research Council), who claim that the European court does not have jurisdiction over this case, as ‘domestic remedies have not been exhausted.’”

AP: “The Anne Arundel County Council plans to vote on a proposal to build Maryland’s largest planned slots casino near Arundel Mills mall.”

AP: “The EPA will announced its findings at a news conference Monday. The announcement is timed to boost the Obama administration’s arguments at an international climate conference . . . ”

LifeNews: “Decades ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was once so pro-life that he co-sponsored a human life amendment in Congress that would have resulted in prohibiting abortions nationwide. Now, he is a shadow of his former pro-life self and won’t even commit to stopping taxpayer funded abortions.”

“A pep talk by President Obama wasn’t enough to give Senate Democrats the votes they needed to pass a massive health care overhaul, but a Monday vote on abortion funding could determine whether the legislation survives.”

Created in Its Image: The Race Analogy, Gay Identity, and Gay Litigation in the 1950s-1970s
Craig J. Konnoth, 119 Yale L.J. 316 (2009)

“Existing accounts of early gay rights litigation largely focus on how the suppression and liberation of gay identity affected early activism. This Note helps complicate these dynamics, arguing that gay identity was not just suppressed and then liberated, but substantially transformed by activist efforts during this period, and that this transformation fundamentally affected the nature of gay activism. Gay organizers in the 1950s and 1960s moved from avoiding identity-based claims to analogizing gays to African-Americans. By transforming themselves in the image of a successful black civil rights minority, activists attempted to win over skeptical courts in a period when equal protection doctrine was still quite fluid. Furthermore, through this attempted identity transformation, activists replaced stigmatizing medico-religious models of homosexuality with self-affirming civil rights-based models.”

Greene, Jamal, On the Origins of Originalism (August 16, 2009). Texas Law Review, Vol. 88; Columbia Public Law Research Paper No. 09-201. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1357541

“For all its proponents’ claims of its necessity as a means of constraining judges, originalism is remarkably unpopular outside the United States. Recommended responses to judicial activism in other countries more typically take the form of minimalism or textualism. This Article considers why.”

Legal Stories and the Promise of Problematizing Reproductive Rights
Pamela D. Bridgewater, 21 Law & Literature 402 (2009)

“Drawing on Rabinow’s Making PCR: A Story of Biotechnology, and on my earlier work on slavery, reproduction, and constitutional interpretation, this essay argues that supplementary narratives of the lived experiences of black women seeking reproductive rights, employed in the spirit of Rabinow’s “pedagogy of creativity, curiosity, and deviance,” make possible the transformation of available discourses on reproductive rights.”

Reconceptualizing Judicial Activism as Judicial Responsibility: A Tale of Two Justice Kennedys
Eric J. Segall, 41 Ariz. St. L.J. 709 (2009)

“Because of this indeterminacy, one person’s judicial activism is another’s appropriate exercise of judicial power, and there exists no metric for privileging a right answer to that debate. This baseline problem suggests that we need to change the terms of the conversation to be consistent with a realistic view of how the Supreme Court operates in constitutional cases, and that is the primary goal of this article.”

Aleksandar Slavkov Milanov, Legal Status of Humankind in International Law (December 3, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1517623

“This article investigates the international legal status of humankind. It briefly describe what is humankind and gives explanation of the bond between a human-being and humankind. The name of this bond is humanship. This new term is compared to another important bond of a human-being to the state – citizenship. In the article is articulated the arguments for the necessity of establishing an authority of humankind and future recognition of humankind as a supranational subject of law.”

Justin S. Murray, Exposing the Underground Establishment Clause in the Supreme Court’s Abortion Cases (November 14, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1506050

“In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court held that women have a constitutional right to abortion based on the Due Process Clause. To arrive at this conclusion, the Court implicitly relied on concepts that properly belong to the Establishment Clause – in particular, the Establishment Clause requirement that all laws must be supported by secular purposes, not religious ones. This Article is the first attempt to describe and critically evaluate the Court’s use of Establishment Clause ideas in Roe and later abortion cases.”

Robert Luther, “Unity Through Division”: Religious Liberty and the Virtue of Pluralism in the Context of Legislative Prayer Controversies (December, 04 2009). Creighton Law Review, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1518695

“[This] Article will first lay a theoretical foundation for the argument that the government may not censor non ‘proselytiz[ing] or disparage[ing]‘ religious speech during the delivery of legislative prayer by issuing an informal response to Professor Christopher C. Lund’s thought-provoking article on legislative prayer, Legislative Prayer and the Secret Costs of Religious Endorsements, forthcoming in 94 Minn. L. Rev. (February 2010).”