Daily Archives: March 30, 2010

William C. Duncan writes at the Ruth Institute Blog: “A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently issued an opinion ordering the State of Louisiana to issue an amended birth certificate for a child born in Louisiana but listing as the child’s parents two men . . . The implications of these errors are significant. The decision clearly dilutes the crucial constitutional concept of ‘interstate pluralism, in Professor Jeffrey Rensberger’s phrase. It allows judges to substitute their judgments of law for the valid actions of legislators and administrative officials charged with making and enforcing a State’s law. It threatens to create a new national standard of parenting whereby a couple can force an unwilling State to participate in their project of acquiring a legally motherless or fatherless child.”

WQAD: “With the Lenten season winding down, Davenport is creating bad feelings about Good Friday. Bill Edmond and other city council members are upset over the city’s change to the religious holiday. ‘The civil rights commission has decided we can no longer call it Good Friday. We have to call it ‘Celebrating Spring’, and I was dumbfounded. I thought, ‘What?’”

Becket Fund: “Today, the UN Human Rights Council agreed to extend the mandate of the Ad Hoc Committee, a UN body that is working on a binding treaty on the ‘defamation of religions’ by adopting the motion without a vote. However, support for the flawed concept is dwindling as attempts to fast-track the drafting of a formal treaty were defeated.”

Compass Direct News: “An Islamic mob stopped construction of Santa Maria Immaculata Catholic Church in Citra Garden, West Jakarta earlier this month even as government officials in Yasmin Park, Bogor, West Java halted work on an Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) building . . .”

Compass Direct News: “Four years after Nepal became officially secular, fear is growing that the country could revert to the Hindu state it was till 2006, when proclaiming Christ was a punishable offense and many churches functioned clandestinely to avoid being shut down . . .”

Freedom from Religion Foundation: “How can a public charter school be housed at a Lutheran church? Should its students be required to attend 12-step recovery sessions that are religious in nature? Those are questions a resident of the School District of Janesville, Wis., asked the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which has filed a complaint with the district for violating the U.S. Constitution and state law. ”

Read Freedom from Religion Foundation’s press release here. “While Terra hasn’t responded officially, the changes requested by FFRF have been made. The Christian Fellowship’s ‘Student Life’ tab has been removed and it’s listed with the other clubs on the ‘Student Clubs’ page.”

USA Today: “A private prom organized for a local high school has been canceled, weeks after a same-sex controversy led to cancellation of the school-sponsored prom, an organizer said Tuesday . . . ”

Breitbart (AP): “Yahoo e-mail accounts belonging to foreign journalists appeared to have been hacked and Google’s Chinese search engine was intermittently blocked Tuesday, the latest troubles in China’s heavily censored Internet market.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has filed a legal challenge to the city of Baltimore’s ordinance that requires pro-life pregnancy centers to post on their doors that they do not offer or refer for abortions or birth control services . . . ”

Citizen Link: “The New Hampshire Senate approved SB 489 last week, which would legalize 17,000 highly addictive slot machines at horseracing tracks throughout the state . . . ”

AP: “Beginning in 2014, most Americans will be required to buy insurance or pay a tax penalty. That’s when premiums for young adults seeking coverage on the individual market would likely climb by 17 percent on average, or roughly $42 a month, according to an analysis of the plan conducted for The Associated Press.”

Kansas City Star: “Legislation in Kansas to impose new restrictions on strip clubs, adult stores and other sexually oriented businesses faces an uncertain future.” SB 514 | Supplemental note on House substitute bill | HB 2633

Toronto Sun: “Any global plan to enhance maternal health must include strategies to boost access to birth control, says U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Christian Post: “A more than 95-year-old church in Atlanta may be ousted from the Southern Baptist Convention over a woman pastor . . . ”

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund representing New Jersey legislators filed a motion to intervene Monday to defend against a recently filed motion in a long-ago-resolved lawsuit that seeks to force the Legislature to redefine marriage.

David L. Hudson, Jr. writes in the ABA Journal: “Law professor Erwin Chemerinsky is monitoring the case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez with a keen eye. One reason is substantive: The case features a clash between the rights of schools to enforce their nondiscrimination policies and student religious groups’ rights of freedom of association. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments April 19 . . . ‘The court has respected association rights, particularly where the choice of leaders and members affects the group’s message,’ says Gregory Baylor, senior litigation counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund in D.C. and one of the attorneys representing the Christian Legal Society. ‘When Hastings forces CLS to have an atheist lead a Bible study, it undoubtedly impairs CLS’s message. In our view, the Constitution protects the right of students to associate around shared beliefs,” Baylor says. ‘This is a right that other student groups at Hastings have and that they exercise. It is discriminatory for Hastings to deny that right to CLS while respecting it for other groups.’ Baylor adds that ‘Hastings is putting the rights of every student group in jeopardy. A win for CLS would be a win for all student groups.’

ADF attorney Casey Mattox appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss how the new healthcare legislation might impact rights of conscience.

The MP3 runs approximately 24 mins.

The Church Report: “Alliance Defense Fund attorneys will appeal a judge’s ruling against a licensed counselor fired after she referred a person seeking same-sex relationship counseling to a colleague . . . ‘A counselor who is a Christian shouldn’t lose her job for upholding the highest professional standards,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Brian Raum. ‘It is unlawful to punish Marcia for following her Christian faith, particularly when she made every effort to accommodate the needs of a potential client. Referring her to another competent counselor instead of attempting to offer her own counsel in such a situation was the ethical thing to do for the person seeking help. It’s egregious to be fired for honoring professional and ethical obligations, and we regret the court didn’t see this. We will certainly appeal.’”

“Advocates for Life and Columbia University’s Law Students for Life present a daylong legal symposium on Friday, April 9, 2010 which will dissect some of the most dynamic and evolving areas of abortion law to offer an in-depth look on how current controversies fit into pro-life jurisprudence and how their resolution will impact the pro-life movement.” The agenda is here and registration is here.

Thomas More Law Center: “The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, yesterday filed a petition in the United States Supreme Court, requesting the Court review the constitutionality of a New Jersey school district policy that banned the performance of traditional Christmas music in the district’s public schools.”

A lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Wisconsin challenging the same portions of that state’s campaign finance laws that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional in similar circumstances in 2009. The suit surrounds a another local referendum in the town of Whitewater that will be voted on April 6. The plaintiff, Charles G. Hatchett, a resident of Whitewater, wants to send post cards and flyers urging his fellow residents to vote against the referendum

One News Now: “The bill would force adoption agencies to consider placing children in same-gender households, even it if violates that group’s moral and religious beliefs.”

KTNV.com: “Governor Gibbons is threatening to side-step Nevada’s attorney general if she fails to act on his request to sue the federal government over health care reform.”

NY Times: “Ohio’s attorney general says he won’t join other states in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s sweeping new health care law.”

NY Times: “Republican lawmakers on Monday introduced legislation that would allow Arizona to participate in a lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul, a move that was criticized by Democrats who said the Legislature should instead focus on restoring cuts to children’s health care.”

The Hill: “Republican senators say they can work with Democrats, despite dire predictions that the healthcare fight would make cooperation impossible . . .”

Citizen Link (3/29): “Parents are one step closer to being notified if their underage daughter is considering terminating her pregnancy, after a judge dismissed a challenge to the Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act today.”

San Antonio Express: “A group of students at Trinity University is lobbying trustees to drop a reference to ‘Our Lord’ on their diplomas, arguing it does not respect the diversity of religions on campus.”

NPR: “Federal prosecutors have used a novel interpretation of the Title IX statute, which prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of gender, to help broker a settlement in a lawsuit brought by a gay teen against his upstate New York school district, NPR’s Ari Shapiro tells us . . . ”

Google News (AFP): ” An ex-US general has apologised after saying Dutch UN troops failed to prevent the Srebrenica genocide partly because their ranks included openly gay soldiers, the Dutch defence ministry said on Tuesday . . .”

Baltimore Sun: But instead of using the [AG] opinion to launch a renewed effort to legalize gay marriage in Maryland, advocates are taking a different, counterintuitive tack: Stalling.

Christian Post: “A retired Presbyterian minister who was cleared of wrongdoing two years ago for performing same-sex ceremonies for two lesbian couples is facing new charges and again awaiting trial.”

Wall Street Journal (subscription)(full access thru Google): “President Barack Obama’s decision to circumvent the Senate in filling 15 administration posts marked another step in the administration’s turn toward a more-combative approach toward congressional Republicans, provoking a volley of protests from GOP lawmakers. Citing months of ‘Republican obstruction,” Mr. Obama on Saturday said he would use recess appointments to put union lawyer Craig Becker on the National Labor Relations Board and fill 14 other administration posts that were vacant because of stalled Senate confirmations.”

LA Times: “On Monday afternoon, they won. U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet ruled that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office never should have granted the patents in the first place because the genes are ‘a law of nature.’ The Patent and Trademark Office has granted patents for roughly 20% of human genes. The office’s rationale was that the patents can be earned by isolating and purifying genes from their ‘natural state.’”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Forty-two of California’s 58 county district attorneys are opposing President Obama’s nomination of Goodwin Liu to the federal appeals court in San Francisco, saying they believe the UC Berkeley law professor is hostile to the death penalty.”

Pacific Justice Institute: “A city northeast of Los Angeles that sparked national outrage for its attempts to shut down a home Bible study has conceded defeat while hinting that it might try to shutter similar groups . . . ”

Family agrees to seek transfer to new medical facility by April 9 when hospital may discontinue life-sustaining treatment

Kathleen Parker writes at the Washington Post: “Now, the president’s executive order purports to address this gap by extending the Hyde Amendment to these dollars as well. The problem is that, regardless of Obama’s stated intentions, he can’t actually do this without an act of Congress. As Dorinda Bordlee, an attorney with the Bioethics Defense Fund, wrote: “If a president could do that, there would be no need to have a majority of Congress pass the Hyde Amendment each and every year to prevent abortion funding using Medicaid dollars for low-income government health care . . . It is telling that the nation’s largest abortion provider — Planned Parenthood — is claiming ‘victory.’”

Heritage Foundation, The Foundry: “In the closing days of the Congressional health care debate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the National Association of Counties: ‘We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.’ Today marks the end of just the first week of life under Obamacare and Speaker Pelosi has been proven right: we are just now finding out what is in it. This past Friday, AT&T, the biggest U.S. telephone company, announced that it would take a $1 billion charge against earnings thanks to tax changes buried in the 2,300+ page bill. $1 billion. That is a full third of AT&T’s $3 billion earnings for the fourth quarter of 2009 . . . ”

Pete DuPont writes at the Wall Street Journal: “Late Sunday night America made its largest public-policy course change since the 1930s: Congress moved 17% of our national economy from the market place to full regulation and control by the federal government. The vote in the House was close, 219-212, but our country’s health care system will now be organized, operated and regulated by the federal government.”

AP: “The bodies of 21 babies, believed dumped by hospitals, have washed ashore on a riverbank in eastern China, state media reported Tuesday. ideo footage showed that the bodies – stashed in yellow plastic bags, at least one of which was marked ‘medical waste’ – included some infants several months old. Some wore identification tags with their mothers’ names, birth dates, measurements and weights . . . ”

The Wichita Eagle: “The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters from Kansas was ordered to pay the protesters’ appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday.”

Reuters: “The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea risks becoming a drug-resistant ‘superbug’ if doctors do not devise new ways of treating it, a leading sexual health expert said.”

USA Today: “Larry Stickney speaks passionately as he tries to explain why the names of people who signed a 2009 Washington state ballot measure against gay rights should be kept secret. ‘I had been in the political game for 16 years, but we had no idea the viciousness that we would come under,’ . . . ‘Every angry homosexual in the world, I am telling you, was sending hate mail’ . . . The ACLU, a strong supporter of free speech, is siding with Hastings, echoing the school’s interest in prohibiting discrimination . . . Many of the groups siding with the conservative speakers represent conservative religious interests, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in the Hastings case and Alliance Defense Fund, in the Washington state case . . . ”

AP: “President Barack Obama is signing a bill Tuesday that finalizes his big health care overhaul and revamps the U.S. student loan system.”

Arizona Republic: “An annexation bill that could help Glendale stop the construction of a tribal casino near its sports district has stalled in the Senate. Senate President Bob Burns said [House Bill 2297], which two weeks ago passed in the House, will not be taken up in the Senate. He said the state should not wade into the issue, Senate spokesman Mike Philipsen said Monday.”

Arizona Republic: “Senate Republicans beat back a flurry of Democratic amendments to [Senate Bill 1199] and gave voice-vote approval to the measure, which would extend the time it takes to become divorced.”

OneNewsNow: “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Professionals for Ethics have filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of more than 300 parents and children opposing the mandatory ‘Education in Citizenship’ program. ‘The curriculum promotes radical sexuality, homosexual behavior, [and] abortion and it openly bashes Christianity,’ explains [Roger Kiska], a Europe-based ADF attorney.”

OneNewsNow: “The Massachusetts Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to a ‘bubble zone’ law that requires pro-life counselors to stay 35 feet away from abortion clinics . . . [Tim Chandler], an attorney with Alliance Defense Fund, laments that that the state’s highest court now has turned away McCullen v. Coakley . . . ‘As far as a ban on speech around abortion clinics, this is the most sweeping law that has ever been approved by a court and [it] effectively eliminates the ability of people to communicate with these mothers.’” | Ed Whelan at Bench Memos: Cert Denied in McCullen v. Coakley

USA Today: “‘The shift in the nature of the free-speech plaintiffs has been going on for some time,’ adds Stanford law professor Michael McConnell, who represents a group of Christian students in a separate case. The students are challenging a decision by a California state law school to deny their group campus privileges because it excludes gay men and lesbians. ‘It has to do with who has power,’ McConnell says. ‘Certainly universities and a lot of state and local governments are dominated by leftists.’ Many of the groups siding with the conservative speakers represent conservative religious interests, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in the Hastings case, and Alliance Defense Fund, in the Washington state case.”

NPR: “NPR News is revising the terms we use to describe people and groups involved in the abortion debate . . . On the air, we should use ‘abortion rights supporter(s)/advocate(s)’ and ‘abortion rights opponent(s)’ or derivations thereof (for example: ‘advocates of abortion rights’). It is acceptable to use the phrase ‘anti-abortion’, but do not use the term ‘pro-abortion rights’.”

USA Today: “Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the health care overhaul signed into law last week costs too much and expands the government’s role in health care too far, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, underscoring an uphill selling job ahead for President Obama and congressional Democrats . . . ”