Daily Archives: February 22, 2010

NC Family Policy Council: “Nearly 60 percent of North Carolina’s colleges and universities have a speech policy, which seriously restricts students’ First Amendment rights to free speech and free expression, according to a new report.”

ABA Journal: “A proposed shift in ABA law school accreditation standards away from “input” measures—such student/faculty ratio or facilities—to student learning outcomes has law school deans talking; and worrying.”

Christian Post: “In a closed meeting, a regional body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Saturday voted to ordain a partnered homosexual.”

New York Times: “In the House, he needs 217 votes (the number is ordinarily 218, but two seats are vacant) — a number that could be difficult to muster, especially because Mr. Obama’s bill does not include the tighter restrictions on payments for abortions favored by abortion opponents among House Democrats.”

BBC News: “Members of the Isle of Man’s House of Keys will consider proposals to introduce civil partnerships on the island. The Civil Partnership Bill will have its first formal reading on Tuesday. If the bill is passed, gay and lesbian couples would be able to claim the same rights as those who are married.”

“A top state lawyer has confirmed that Attorney General Buddy Caldwell almost certainly will appeal a federal appeals court order requiring that Louisiana issue an amended birth certificate listing as parents two out-of-state men who, through a New York court, adopted a child born in Shreveport.”

CNBC: “Abortions wouldn’t be covered for any reason by South Carolina’s health insurance plan under a budget measure legislators have given an initial OK.”

Idaho Reporter: “A Senate committee has approved the proposal extending the freedom of conscience to pharmacists and other health care workers in circumstances involving emergency contraception and end of life care.”

A federal district court today extended the principle of the recent Supreme Court case, Citizens United, to enjoin a law barring corporations from making contributions to independent expenditure committees. The court had earlier ruled that contributions to IE PACs may be unlimited.

The Salt Lake Tribune: “After months of negotiations, a bill that would have changed sex education in Utah died with barely a whisper Monday morning after lawmakers chose not to talk about it. SB54 sought to change language in state law to clarify that Utah teachers are allowed to talk about contraception. The bill also would have directed the State Office of Education to develop materials on contraception for teachers to use and would have made those and any other materials available for parents to review.”

Catholic News Agency: “Various civil and religious associations of Mexico, united under the organization ‘Man+Woman=Marriage,’ are working to collect 50,000 online signatures from Mexican voters in order to stop the recently-approved law allowing homosexuals to marry and adopt children.”

Washington Times: “The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia hedged on recognizing same-sex unions Saturday, instead voting to form a committee to set standards for church-sanctioned blessings of such unions once they are approved by the entire 2-million-member Episcopal Church.”

AFP: “A landmark court ruling that decriminalised gay sex between consenting adults in the Indian capital Delhi is facing fresh opposition with new groups joining religious leaders, a lawyer said Sunday.”

Compass Direct News: “The four older Muslim brothers of a 26-year-old Christian beat him unconscious here earlier this month because he refused their enticements to convert to Islam, the victim told Compass.”

Bangor Daily News: “U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby in Portland overruled NOM’s objections to having to turn over donor lists and correspondence between NOM and Stand for Marriage Maine regarding the campaign to repeal Maine’s gay marriage law. The court has yet to rule on the larger case challenging Maine’s campaign reporting laws, however . . . The documents being sought — and what they say about who donated to NOM and why — are key to a Maine Ethics Commission investigation into whether the group’s failure to disclose donors violated state campaign finance laws.”

Sturgis Journal: “Five residents attended Tuesday’s meeting of the St. Joseph County Commissioners to voice their opposition to Planned Parenthood . . . ‘Many in our county and in Branch and Hillsdale counties were alarmed to learn a number of weeks ago of the presence of Planned Parenthood as an outsource for family planning through the tri-county health department,’ [Jim Goethals, president of St. Joseph County Right to Life] said.”

Family Policy Council of West Virginia: “If approved, the resolution, SJR 14, would allow West Virginians to settle the legal definition of marriage at a special election in 2010. It proposes a simple 19-word definition of marriage: ‘Only the union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as marriage in West Virginia.”

AP: “The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent. Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age . . . ”

NY Times: “The study, ‘Gays in Foreign Militaries 2010: A Global Primer,’ is to be released Tuesday by the Palm Center, a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara.”

Christianity Today: “Cohabitation is a less stable form of relationship today than it was 15 years ago and particularly for couples with children, says relationships charity The Jubilee Centre . . . Yet the analysis also showed that cohabitation does not serve as a ‘trial marriage’ but instead increases the odds of divorce.”

Tallahassee.com: “A legislator who has travelled the world as a Baptist minister wants Florida to ban abortion — inviting a U.S. Supreme Court rematch over law, morality and medicine . . . ”

National Day of Prayer: “The FFRF lawsuit is the first to challenge these annual proclamations, and ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, who headed up Mrs. Dobson’s defense (in coordination with those representing the other defendants and the government), called the suit against Mrs. Dobson ‘unprecedented.’ ‘Groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation make no secret of the fact that they think religion is a bad thing, and they want to get rid of it,’ he says. ‘They don’t just want to make prayer a private thing. They believe religion is bad for society as a whole, and they want to eliminate it from the public square. This is just one more attempt to do so.’”

CBN: “The organizers of the Virginia de-funding Planned Parenthood rally are confident it will become a reality, especially with a pro-life governor in office. They are also hopeful that their actions will send a strong message to other states to do the same.”

The Christian Institute: “A Government plan to centralise control of sex education in Whitehall will threaten parental choice and may squeeze Christian teachers out of their jobs, a top lawyer says.”

Christian Newswire: “We are excited to announce that another set of the ‘Foundations of American Law & Government Display’ has been placed in a government building. This time the documents go up in the new Sumter County Courthouse in Americus, Ga.”

“Americans United for Separation of Church and State today asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a pattern of partisan politics at Liberty University, asserting that Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. used school resources to intervene in a November House of Delegates election.”

“Pro-Life Wisconsin and the Alliance Defense Fund have filed an additional open records request for any recent records regarding payments made between UW and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.”

AP: “The nation’s largest federal employee union is moving ahead with efforts to represent about 40,000 airport screeners even though the government has not given them collective bargaining rights.”

Citizen Link: “A team of researchers has recommended that the National Institutes of Health change its ethics guidelines for embryonic stem-cell research to protect the rights of embryo donors.”

One News Now: “A conservative military watchdog says the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was ‘way out of line’ when he recently asked troops if they supported repealing the ban on homosexuals serving in the military.”

The Hill: “Senate Republicans are claiming Democrats lack the votes to pass healthcare reform through reconciliation rules, but their math appears a bit fuzzy.”

Family First has issued an email update that reports:

As of now, there is no state standard for these businesses. Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial, Nebraska – District 44 introduced and priotitized LB 443.

This bill would place statewide regulations on sexually oriented bookstores and strip clubs and would do the following:

• Require S.O.B.’s to close between midnight and 8 a.m.
• Prohibit full nudity
• Adopt a “No Touch” policy between dancers and patrons.
• Ban minors from visiting S.O.B.’s
• Requires that any S.O.B.’s be located at least 1,000 feet (approximately 1/5 mile) away from any school, daycare, playground, residence or church.

More information here.

LifeSiteNews: “A student has teamed up with the Alliance Defense Fund to file a lawsuit against a New York school district after school officials cancelled her once-flourishing Christian club . . . ‘Christian student groups in public schools shouldn’t be discriminated against simply because they are religious,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman.”

LifeSiteNews: “The B.C.-based pro-family group Parents for Democracy in Education (PDE) have released a set of answers that parents can provide to teachers who ignore their complaints about the spread of homosexualist “propaganda” through the curricula of Canada’s schools. The new document offers responses to a controversial new sheet that has been distributed to Canadian teachers, entitled ‘Objections to Anti-Homophobia Curriculum in Schools?’”

Wall Street Journal (paid subscription only): “A backlash against ObamaCare is moving beyond the Tea Parties and has now arrived in state capitals. In more than 30 states, legislators are proceeding to pass statutes or ballot initiatives that would guarantee the right to choose medical services and insurance.”

Forum 18: “Uzbekistan continues to attack the country’s registered Baptist Union, local Baptists have told Forum 18 News Service. One Baptist, Valery Konovalov, has been forced to pay a fine imposed in his absence, after he was forced to appear as a witness in the trial of three leaders of the Baptist Union. The three have themselves been forced to pay what the same court claimed was unpaid tax and two were removed from their posts.”

CNA: “The government of Mexico City noted in a report this week that abortion has become a ‘plague’ in the capital, as 7 out of every 10 women who inquire about the procedure end up choosing abortion.”

Washington Times: “Abortion rights advocates have been unable to halt the ‘Choose Life’ license plate variations in nearly two dozen states, so now they’re working to balance the bumper debate.”

Catholic Culture: “In a victory for North Carolina’s bishops, officials of the state’s Department of Public Instruction have altered a draft civics and economic curriculum that compared pro-life laws to segregation.”

Omaha.com: “Nebraska could reshape national abortion policy if lawmakers embrace a proposal to ban almost all abortions after a fetus reaches 20 weeks.”

David Waters writes at the Washington Post: “So now the Salvation Army has to sublimate its religious purpose to fulfill its religious purpose. Or does it? Aren’t there ways to ‘preach the gospel’ and ‘meet human needs’ without proselytizing? To act like Jesus rather than talk about him?”

Ashley Samelson, who works in International Programs for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, writing at First Things, On The Square: “Recently, both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been caught using the phrase ‘freedom of worship’ in prominent speeches, rather than the ‘freedom of religion’ the President called for in Cairo . . . Given that a fundamental element of any religion are truth claims that by nature may conflict with or offend those of another faith, the efforts of international institutions to restrict expression of these claims go right for the religious jugular. And in reducing freedom of religion to ‘freedom of worship’ in its political and diplomatic pronouncements, the United States can no longer invoke the First Amendment and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, thus weakening its ability to combat the international movement to criminalize religious speech.”

Religion Clause Blog: “On Thursday, Joshua DuBois, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships gave a speech (full text) at the Brookings Institute on the broad vision of the Office and its work over its first year . . . ”

Salt Lake Tribune: “Pleasant Grove on Friday asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit by a Salt Lake City religious group seeking equal space for its own marker in a city park that has a Ten Commandments monument.”

LifeNews: “In a new interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised Democrats will attempt to railroad the pro-abortion health care bill through Congress. He promised Democrats will employ the controversial reconciliation process to push through the bill on a majority vote denying a filibuster.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Uganda earlier this month, the women’s rights organization Mifumi Uganda Ltd. filed a petition in the country’s Constitutional Court seeking to have laws that permit men to practice polygamy, but do not permit women to have more than one husband, declared unconstitutional.”

One News Now (AP): “Lawmakers this week will press the military’s top uniformed officers for the first time on whether they think repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ makes sense or would be too disruptive.”

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at the Academic Freedom File: “Ms. Lauter suggests that if CLS prevails, public universities will be rendered utterly unable to address actual invidious discrimination. I continue to find it amusing that opponents of CLS’s position, finding themselves unable to mount a persuasive case against CLS itself, must resort to parades of hypothetical horribles. Her remark reflects a conflation of real discrimination (invidiously taking irrelevant characteristics into account) and the means by which a bona fide religious group legitimately maintains its religious character over time.”

Letter to the Editor in the Augusta Chronicle: “In their book, The ACLU vs. America, authors Alan Sears and Craig Osten quote Baldwin as saying: ‘I am for socialism, disarmament, and ultimately for abolishing the state itself … . I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control by those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal!’ There is nothing in the history of America that suggests that our Founding Fathers and the framers of the Constitution had anything like that in mind.”

NewsMax: “At a news conference in Washington, D.C. last Thursday, Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, argued against repeal of the current military eligibility law known as DADT that has been in effect since 1993 . . . Others speaking out against Obama’s plan to promote gays in the military included David Keene, President of the American Conservative Union; Frank Gaffney, President of the Center for Security Policy; retired Admiral James A. Lyons, former Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet; Jordan Lorence, Senior Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund; Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America; and Mathew Staver, Dean of the Liberty University School of Law.”

OneNewsNow: “Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel with ADF, faced off against Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which argues that ‘pulpit-based electioneering’ violates federal law and corrupts the true mission of faith communities . . . ‘It is not for the government to decide who gets to be involved and who gets to speak and who doesn’t,’ says Stanley. ‘It is for the churches of America and the pastors of America to decide what they want to speak about.’”

OneNewsNow: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has filed suit to end the housing tax break provided to ministers . . . The FFRF is arguing that since others are not afforded that accommodation, it represents a government endorsement of religion. But [Kevin] Theriot contends the Constitution has a special protection for religious freedom — so religion can get special attention. He further adds that the housing allowance is an accommodation, not an endorsement.”

AlterNet: “Throughout [CPAC], there were special youth-targeted events. In the exhibit hall, a quick pass yielded a treasure trove of college-focused literature from the likes of the Alliance Defense Fund, Students for Liberty, Young Americans for Liberty, the Young Americans for Freedom, and a very jazzy-looking booklet, complete with CD-ROM, for elders called, ‘Reaching Millennials’ from Focus on the Family Action. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my years of reporting on the right is that they’re in it for the long haul.”

Winston-Salem Journal: “With the board split 3-3, the decision will come down to how board Chairman Dave Plyler votes. Plyler was in negotiations late last week with the Rev. Steve Corts, the leader of a local organization that is encouraging the county to appeal the prayer decision. The N.C. Partnership for Religious Liberty, which Corts heads, recently pledged $100,000 to help the county appeal the case. The group had earlier banked $55,000 to help the county . . . . the ADF won’t pay any legal expenses awarded to the plaintiffs if the county ultimately loses, and for Plyler, that’s the catch.”

NJ Dept. of Health and Senior Services: “In observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Sunday, the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services awarded the African American Office of Gay Concerns in Newark $250,000 in federal funds support of its campaign ‘Status is Everything.’”

OneNewsNow: “A Florida library slammed the door on a Christian organization and now faces a federal court suit . . . ‘The time has passed — pastors and churches should not live in fear of being punished by the government simply because of their religious speech and their religious message,’ [Joel Oster] emphasizes. ‘Our country is best served when churches are allowed to be the church in our communities — and their speech should not be silenced simply because they are the church.’”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund attorney Austin R. Nimocks was there for the verdict. ‘The judge gave us a preliminary ruling which he will memorialize in writing, denying the relief that we were requesting, denying stopping the same-sex marriage legislation from going into effect until the citizens have had a right to vote,’ he summarizes.”

Washington Post: “A third Superior Court judge has denied a request by opponents of same-sex marriage to overturn 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.”

LA Times: “The Pew Forum reports that fewer than 20% of people age 18 to 29 attend church services regularly, but about three-quarters of them believe in an afterlife — about the same rate as older generations . . . ”

Tung Yin writes in the Oregonian: “Should public schoolteachers be allowed to wear religious garbs such as head scarves and turbans while teaching? Right now, Oregon law says no, but the Legislature is considering House Bill 3686, which would repeal that prohibition . . . Yet, the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon is on record as opposing House Bill 3686, which has passed the House and is pending in the Senate . . . ”

NY Magazine: “This news, combined with polls that increasingly show the majority of Americans back a DADT repeal, should make it all the less surprising that far-right Democrat (of sorts) Joe Lieberman plans to become the chief sponsor of such a bill in the Senate . . . ”

San Francisco Chronicle: “The National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity estimates that 6 to 8 percent of Americans – or 18 million to 24 million people – are sex addicts. And 70 percent of sex addicts report having a problem with online sexual behavior.”

Liberty Counsel: “Following Judge M. Casey Rodgers’ ruling late Friday evening, which denied the request for intervention by Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), Liberty Counsel will file a direct lawsuit against the Santa Rosa School District. When the ACLU originally filed its suit against the District, Liberty Counsel offered to represent the school at no cost, but the offer was rejected. The new District Superintendent, Tim Wryosdick, and the school board attorney decided to cave in to the ACLU’s demands and enter into a consent decree which Judge Rodgers approved . . . ”

The National Law carries this report coupled with this chart.

AFP: “Clinics that offer to “bank” stem cells from the umbilical cords of newborns for use later in life when illness strikes are fraudsters, a top US scientist said.”

Religious Liberty in British Courts: A Critique and Some Guidance
Robin Hopkins and Can V. Yeginsu, 49 Harv. Int’l L.J. Online 28 (2008)

“For centuries, religious liberty in Britain existed as a broad-ranging but principally negative freedom at common law. Individuals were permitted to do as they pleased in matters of faith, unless the law stated otherwise.[1] Religious liberty, thus conceived, was more passive toleration of religion than any active promotion of religious freedom as a fundamental right. All that changed on October 2, 2000 when the Human Rights Act 1998 (‘HRA’) – the United Kingdom’s de facto Bill of Rights – came into full force and brought with it Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights (‘ECHR’).”

Luc Reydams, The Rise and Fall of Universal Jurisdiction (February 16, 2010). HANDBOOK OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW, W. Schabas and N. Bernaz, eds., London: Routledge, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1553734

“The article considers the rise and fall of universal jurisdiction. I begin by revisiting the unique Zeitgeist of the 1990s and by broaching the actors behind the campaign for universal jurisdiction. Then I discuss how these actors, mainly non-governmental organizations, framed the issue and how policy-oriented international lawyers constructed the legal argument. Thereafter I review the (alleged) historical sources of universal jurisdiction and their contemporary (distorted) interpretation. My subsequent examination of post-World War II multilateral treaty practice finds little enthusiasm among states for universal jurisdiction. After that I assess cases of the last fifteen or so years, distinguishing between “hard” cases (in courts) and ‘virtual’ cases (in the media). Next I show in a brief post mortem how a backlash in Africa, the United States, Israel, and China against virtual trials in Europe caused the premature end of universal jurisdiction. In the final section I draw some lessons and ponder its future.”

Gregory P. Magarian, Religious Argument, Free Speech Theory, and Democratic Dynamism (February 18, 2010). Washington U. School of Law Working Paper No. 10-02-04. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1555193

“In this Article, Professor Magarian contends that normative insights from free speech theory have salience for this controversy and should ultimately lead us to reject any normative constraint on religious argument.”

Richard F. Storrow, Medical Conscience and the Policing of Parenthood (February 19, 2010). William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 369-393, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1555757

“This Article explores what medical ethics has to say about physicians who, for sincerely held religious reasons, refuse to treat patients for reasons of sexual orientation or marital status. The issue is explored through the lens of a case recently decided by the California Supreme Court in which infertility physicians refused to help a lesbian couple have a child with the aid of artificial insemination. Through a close examination of the provisions of medical ethics codes and the arguments based on those codes raised in the California case, this Article concludes that medical societies should not support carving out an exception from anti-discrimination laws for physicians who, for reasons of religious conscience, want to express their class-based biases in the clinic.”

Josh Goodman, Divine Judgment: Judicial Review of Religious Legal Systems in India and Israel (Summer 2009). Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, Vol. 32, No. 2, p. 379. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1551608

“his paper analyzes and compares how two democratic states, India and Israel, incorporate discrete areas of religious law into their secular legal systems. As religion has become an increasingly important political force in India and Israel, both countries have turned to constitutionalism and to civil courts to manage the role of religious law within the democratic system. This development represents the convergence of two global trends: an expansion in the power of courts and the growth of religious politics. This paper examines how the conflict of secular and religious legal norms has played out in the Israeli and Indian civil courts, and draws out lessons from these countries’ experiences with religious legal pluralism.”