Daily Archives: February 19, 2010

Washington Post: “Another Superior Court judge has denied a request by same-sex marriage opponents to overturn a D.C. Board of Elections rulings against a referendum on the issue . . . Holeman’s ruling will not be official until Monday, said Austin Nimocks, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund. Once it is, opponents plan to file an immediate appeal.”

KTUU (AP): “Members of the gay-straight alliance at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have again asked the Board of Regents to add sexual orientation to the UA nondiscrimination policy.”

CNSNews: “In a speech on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) earned a standing ovation when he said the United States has a moral obligation to the unborn, and that the time has come to stop funding Planned Parenthood with money from pro-life American taxpayers . . . ”

“District Judge Daniel Owens said Friday that the measure dealt with multiple subjects and violated the Oklahoma Constitution’s ban on such legislation.”

Newsweek: “Gosling’s admission and his ensuing arrest was certainly shocking. But it also confirmed what assisted-suicide experts already knew: legal issues of hastening death have long plagued AIDS patients and their doctors. ‘Certainly, we know it’s a community where this type of bootleg assisted suicide occurred throughout the 1990s,’ says Ian Dowbiggin, the author of A Concise History of Euthanasia and an expert on the right-to-die movement. ‘This specific example of assisted suicide, I don’t know how common it is, but it is likely more common in this particular community than elsewhere.’”

Guardian: “Campaigners today accused the government of performing a U-turn over sex education in faith schools, after changes to a bill they said would allow the schools to discourage the use of contraception and teach that homosexuality is wrong . . . an amendment tabled by the schools secretary, Ed Balls, last week, says these rules should not be read as preventing governing bodies or heads from letting the subject be taught in a way that reflects the school’s religious ethos.”

North Carolina Family Policy Council: “The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to decide this Monday, February 22 whether or not to appeal a federal district court ruling that declared the Board’s public prayer policy unconstitutional . . . The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF)—the public interest law firm that is leading the county’s defense of the policy free-of-charge—is urging the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to appeal Judge Beaty’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.”

ADF attorney Kevin Theriot appeared on AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fischer to discuss the issue of open homosexual behavior in the military.

The MP3 runs appox. 12 minutes.

Related ADF Media: ADF: Change in military policy on homosexual behavior could affect chaplains

The guidelines will require schools to allow transgendered students access to facilities of the opposite sex, including bathrooms and locker rooms.

Christian Today: “All 12 of the released Christians are members of the Kale-Hiwot Church and were high school students at the time of their arrest. Upon their release, authorities warned the believers not to participate in any Christian activities or risk execution, according to the watchdog.”

OneIndia: “Rajan Zed, acclaimed Hindu statesman, delivered invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Carson City Board of Supervisors on February 18. After Sanskrit delivery, he then read the English translation of the prayer.”

Politico: “‘While the substantive debate has been resolved, the only real chance for Congress to actually get repeal in the next three years is for [President Barack] Obama to put repeal into the must-pass 2011 Authorization bill,’ said Nathaniel Frank, a senior researcher at the Palm Center, who is pressing for immediate action rather than delaying for a year while the Pentagon studies the logistical issues involved in ending the ban.”

“The Bible Society has reported a growing demand for copies of the Bible in China where an estimated 500,000 people converted to Christianity in 2009 alone . . . ”

Christian Post: “While trying to dismiss the image of a federal fund distributor passed down from the Bush administration, the current office is seeking to portray itself as a community organizer of sorts. DuBois says the office’s vision is to connect faith-based and neighborhood organizations to tackle specific community problems. In this sense, the office measures its success not on how much federal money goes into faith-based organizations, but on the impact of the partnerships between faith-based and neighborhood groups.”

LifeSiteNews: “Canada will not include abortion and contraception in its maternal and child health care initiative, confirmed International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda, who oversees Canada’s international development program.”

Lexington Herald Leader: “One state senator cast a vote of ‘amen’ Thursday when the Senate Education Committee unanimously approved a bill to give public schools guidelines for teaching the Bible as an elective social studies course.”

Minnesota Independent: “Three measures will be discussed: a bill to make marriage gender neutral (the Marriage and Family Protection Act), a bill to establish civil unions, and a bill to allow for the recognition of same-sex marriage performed outside Minnesota.”

MyWay (AP):”For all of its talk about transparency, the White House shut out the press Thursday when President Barack Obama met with the Dalai Lama.”

WBUR.org: “In court papers filed Thursday, Coakley asked the judge for a summary judgment (PDF), which would rule the law unconstitutional without holding a full trial.”

LifeNews: “Southern California abortion practitioner Andrew Rutland faced a court hearing yesterday, but a judge allowed him to keep his medical license despite violating a court order and the state medical board.”

Ruth Bettelheim writes at the NY Times: “Given that reducing family conflict is good for children, the best way to protect them during divorce would be to minimize the acrimony of the proceedings. No-fault divorce, now practiced in every state except New York, has been one step toward this goal.”

Mark Durie writing at First Things, On The Square: “It would be inconceivable for nations with Christian majorities to band together to form an intergovernmental organization devoted to advancing Christianity and the global interests of the Christian Church. The existence of the OIC is testimony to the reality that mainstream Islam recognizes no distinction between politics and religion.”

The Hill: “Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, his office announced Friday.”

“This is a practice so morally questionable, and in virtue of that fact so fraught with policy difficulties, that both its persistence and its apparent lack of controversy fairly beg for explanation. It is past time to ask the question: Why?”

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears appeared on Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson and John Fuller to discuss the work of the Alliance Defense Fund.

First MP3 (28 mins. approx.)
Second MP3 (28 mins. approx.)

ADF Information Page: Alan Sears to Appear on Focus on the Family Broadcast

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at the Academic Freedom File: “Earlier this week, I participated in a debate regarding Christian Legal Society v. Martinez at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law in Dallas . . . In my prepared remarks, I shared my belief that Hastings’ disagreement with CLS’s counter-cultural positions on religious doctrine and sexual morality was at least in part behind the school’s treatment of the CLS chapter. Professor Eads essentially agreed with me, but then said something that truly surprised me – that Hastings should have the power to punish a counter-cultural group like CLS in order to promote ‘the culture it wants to foster.’”

Religion Clause: “A petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court (full text) was filed yesterday in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn . . . Alliance Defense Fund announced the filing of the cert. petition.”

Findlaw (AP): “Along with lifetime tenure and broad legal authority, federal judges decide for themselves whether they should step down from a case because of biases that might influence the outcome. Some in the legal community and lawmakers on Capitol Hill are now examining whether to take that power away . . . ”

ABA Journal: “A Chicago law student who took his 3-year-old daughter to Holy Name Cathedral as a television news crew recorded the event has been arraigned on charges of violating a court order. The unusual order, issued in a bitter custody battle, barred 35-year-old Joseph Reyes from exposing his daughter to any religion other than Judaism, ABC News reports. Reyes, a 2L at John Marshall Law School, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a charge of indirect criminal contempt.”

Metro Weekly: “A not insignificant focus of [CPAC} centered around the impact of a change in policy on military chaplains, in part because of the attention drawn to the issue in a 5-page letter sent by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) to the president and Secretary Gates on Wednesday. As Jordan Lorence, the senior vice president and senior counsel at the ADF, said at the news conference, ‘This change in policy will negatively affect military readiness by creating a conflict of conscience for military chaplains. One of the first times in American history, there will be an open conflict between the virtues taught by the chaplains and the moral message delivered by the military.’”

OneNewsNow: “Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness, which has been leading the charge against repealing the law. On Thursday she was joined by a number of other conservative organizations — including Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, The Center for Security Policy, and Alliance Defense Fund — in voicing strong opposition to repealing the law . . . ‘I said at the time [of] the president’s speech that . . . the statement that he wants to repeal this law was going to backfire,’ she stated yesterday.”

Catholic News Agency: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot said that if the military is forced to promote homosexual behavior there will be ‘open conflict between the virtues taught by chaplains and the moral message delivered by the military . . . In such a conflict, it’s obvious who will win and who will lose . . . If the state favors the demands of the homosexual activists over the First Amendment, it is only a matter of time before the military censors the religious expression of its chaplains and marginalizes denominations that teach what the Bible says about homosexual behavior.’”

WorldNetDaily: “A team of top-drawer civil and religious rights lawyers is accusing President Obama of establishing a religion for the U.S. military through his demand to promote open homosexuality in the ranks . . . The letter was signed by Gary McCaleb, senior vice president and senior counsel; Jordan Lorence, senior vice president and senior counsel; Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel; and Kevin Theriot; senior counsel . . . ‘Military chaplains who have volunteered to defend the liberties protected in our Constitution shouldn’t be denied those very same liberties,’ said Theriot. ‘Forcing chaplains to deny the teachings of their faith in order to serve in the armed forces is a grave threat to the First Amendment and to the spiritual health of Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen who depend on them.’”

“A federal appeals court Thursday ordered the state to issue a birth certificate to two men who adopted a Louisiana-born baby boy in 2006 only to have the registrar of vital statistics refuse to give them the document because they were unmarried.”

LifeNews: “Democrats in Washington are continuing to push for the controversial reconciliation strategy to railroad the pro-abortion government-run health care bill through Congress.”

ABA Journal: “Though many legal employers decline to address GLBT issues, a growing number are joining the inclusiveness movement . . . The difference between diversity and inclusiveness isn’t semantic. It marks a significant change in the approach toward GLBT and other minority employees.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Earlier this month, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell signed Executive Order No. 6 on Equal Opportunity in all facets of state government, superseding an Equal Opportunity executive order signed in 2006 by Gov. Tim Kaine.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Dozens of Virginia’s most influential Christian leaders, including Rev. Pat Robertson and Rev. Jonathan Falwell, have signed a petition to the state’s governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general asking them to take steps to cut off state funds that go to Planned Parenthood.”

AppleInsider: “Due to numerous complaints from customers, Apple has begun removing software from its App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch that has been deemed ‘overtly sexual.’”

Law.com (National Law Journal): “The reported paid circulation for the Harvard Law Review, Davies found, was 8,760 in 1979 but a mere 2,029 in 2009 — a decline of nearly 77%. Paid circulation for The Yale Law Journal dropped by more than 57% — from 4,051 in 1980 to 1,725 in 2009.”

“CBN News has learned exclusively that five Muslim soldiers at Fort Jackson in South Carolina were arrested just before Christmas. It is unclear whether the men are still in custody . . . The men are suspected of trying to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson.”

Mark Egerman, Avoiding Confrontation (February 15, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1553455

“This article takes seriously Justice Scalia’s facetious aside in Giles v. California and examines whether there should be a separate confrontation doctrine for domestic violence cases. The history of Confrontation is explored, starting with one of its predecessors, the judicial duel. Dueling was used as a judicial fact-finder for centuries and developed a complex series of regulations that focused not only on accuracy, but also on the status of the participants. As the doctrine of confrontation developed, it retained some of the substantive status-oriented elements of dueling. An analysis of major cases from the Common Law and the Supreme Court tracks these developments and uncovers these elements. Modern confrontation doctrine is shown to embody non-adjudicatory elements concerned with status and social power.”