Daily Archives: June 16, 2010

ADF Allied Attorney Piero Tozzi discusses Cenzon-DeCarlo v The Mount Sinai Hospital on Currents: “Six years ago, Catherina Cenzon de Carlo went to work at Mount Sinai hospital, and told her employers that – because of her religious beliefs — she could not assist with abortions. But last year, she says, Mt. Sinai violated her conscience rights, and ordered her to take part in an abortion. Now she’s suing the hospital. She’s being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, and last week her lawyer joined me to discuss her story.” | MP4 8:23

Congratulations to allied attorneys Philip Clarke, Kevin Clarkson, Michael Cork, Brad Dacus, Kevin Snider, Rita Dunaway, Leah Farish, and Dorothy Yeung for their recent accomplishments and successes listed below. Please take time to congratulate them!

LifeNews: “The world may never know how many thousands of women have been injured, or even killed, by the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. The best worldwide guess is that 13 women have been killed as a result of the mifepristone abortion pill, but the maker of the drug in Europe is saying 29 women have died . . . ”

Sex Offender Issues Blog: “Your son or daughter could be having sex and consenting to it with another teen. Fox 23’s Abbie Alford discovered about Oklahoma law may surprise parents who may end up with a teenager branded for life as a registered sex offender . . . ”

Christian Newswire: “In a new letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, said that its 2010 congressional scorecard would report a vote for the so-called ‘DISCLOSE Act’ (H.R. 5175) as ‘a blatant political attack on the First Amendment rights of NRLC, or state affiliates, and our members and donor . . .’”

Christian Newswire: “A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, June 17, to discuss if Ella, a drug that is similar to the abortion drug RU-486, should be available in the U.S. Ella blocks the hormone progesterone, interfering with the lining of the uterus so an embryo cannot implant or, if implanted, will not survive. Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), will testify at the hearing, making these points . . . ”

NY Times: “On Tuesday evening, the State Senate approved legislation that would permit no-fault divorce after a marriage has ‘irretrievably’ broken down for six months or more, without the need to identify a fault, like adultery or abandonment. The package must still pass the State Assembly, which is considering two bills that would adopt some version of no-fault divorce . . . ”

Mari Herreras writes at Tucson Weekly: “Gummere says that when couples come into her office, she recommends different packages of documents, depending on the couple: Are they just in the beginning of their relationship? Is it long-term? Do they have, or want to have, children together? . . . A domestic partnership agreement lays out what property and belongings are shared by the couple, and who gets what if they separate . . . ”

Ms. Magazine: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney, Jim Campbell, told OneNewsNow that the unusual method of issuing questions to be addressed in the closing arguments, ‘show us [that] the judge is carefully grappling with the issues raised in the case and that he is seriously considering the questions before him.’”

WorldNetDaily: “The mass deportation of Christians ordered by authorities in Morocco in recent weeks now is getting attention in Washington. Counsel Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund said a hearing is scheduled Thursday before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. ‘Christians shouldn’t be targeted for deportation simply because of their beliefs,’ Kiska stated. ‘None of the preconditions for lawful deportation under Moroccan law was met by the government officials in this case.’ ‘It is vital that no precedent be set that will lead to more human rights violations of this sort, where Christian volunteers can be mass expelled simply because they are Christian,’ he said.”

LA Times | L.A. Now: “Jeff Zarrillo, who came to court with his partner, Paul Katami, said: ‘All we’re asking the court to do is make sure we’re protected under our Constitution like everyone is supposed to be.’ But attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund, which supports Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage, argued in front of the courthouse that allowing same-sex marriage would be an ‘extreme interpretation of the Constitution.’ ‘The focus for it is whether we still live in a democracy,’ said [Austin R. Nimocks], senior legal counsel for the group, ‘whether a single judge is going to trump the voices of over 7 million Californians who heard both sides of the debate and cast their votes accordingly.’”

The Bay Citizen: “The federal trial over the state ban on same-sex marriage resumed this morning in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. . . . [Jordan Lorence], of the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group of Christian lawyers helping to defend Prop 8, said that the sole purpose of marriage is to produce children. ‘That is a reasonable and in fact compelling public policy decision for 7 million California voters to make,’ he said.” [ADF Alliance Alert Editor:  Neither ADF nor Jordan Lorence believe or advocate that the "SOLE" purpose of marriage is to produce children. Something was lost in the translation here.]

Philadelphia Inquirer: “[A] recent graduate in northeastern Pennsylvania has filed a federal law suit claiming her former high school principal seized her cell phone and turned it over to prosecutors when he found ‘explicit’ photographs of her on it. . . . The former student – who was never charged with any crime – claims she was subject to unreasonable search and seizure, invasion of privacy, and that her First Amendment right to free expression was violated. by the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit was filed Thursday on behalf of the former student, identified as N.N., by the American Civil Liberties Union.” | For more on the initial case, see these two ADF Alliance Alert case tags: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/zz-miller-v-skumanick/ | http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/zz-miller-v-mitchell/

San Francisco Chronicle: “‘If I am elected, I would be the first openly LGBT superior court judge elected in Alameda County, the first openly LGBT person elected countywide, and the first transgender trial court judge in the United States,’ it states.”

Christian Post: “’When the woman’s family found out that she converted to Christianity, she was beaten badly but insisted on her new-found religion,’ said the source on condition of anonymity.”

David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey write at USA Today: “In fact, former Justice David Souter set the discussion in motion last month in a Harvard commencement address — arguing that seeking to resolve difficult constitutional questions based on an honest effort to construe that document’s words (whether broadly or narrowly) “has only a tenuous connection to reality” and leads to bad decisions. Souter’s candor is commendable but also genuinely troubling — the practical equivalent of a retired cardinal announcing that religion is an opiate for the masses . . . ”

LA Times: “The ACLU of Southern California sued the federal government Wednesday for denying the citizenship application of a 50-year-old Egyptian Muslim man based on what the civil rights group calls ‘misleading FBI files and questionable tactics.’”

New Zealand Herald: “The Sikh Council of New Zealand is taking legal action against the Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club after the club voted against changing a policy that effectively ban’s turban-wearing Sikhs from its premises.”

Reno Gazette-Journal: “Nevada’s teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the United States, and Lyon County’s is among the highest in Nevada. . . . the Lyon County School Trustees voted on June 8 meeting to form a new committee to re-evaluate the district’s sex education program. . . . The LCSD requires students to have active permission from their parents each year in order to take sex education courses. The District’s current sex education program is an abstinence-only program called ‘Worth the Wait.’”

The Globe and Mail: “Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is suing Kyle Freeman, a sexually active gay man, for lying about his sexual history in order to donate blood. Mr. Freeman is counter-suing, saying the policy is discriminatory. If the judge rules that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to CBS, and the policy restricts the rights of gay men, the service will have to change it. All public policies fall under the jurisdiction of the Charter, but CBS argues that as a non-government agency, the Charter does not apply. Mr. Freeman and his lawyers maintain it does. While the Charter ensures the right to equality, it also allows the federal government to limit rights where it is demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. In the case of Freeman versus CBS, these two provisions clash.”

The Christian Institute: “Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang, the Christian couple who were put on trial for defending their faith, have said they hold no bitterness towards the Muslim woman who brought the case against them. . . . In December the couple faced a criminal trial in Liverpool Magistrates’ Court following a complaint over a conversation about Christianity and Islam.”

TIME: “Plans for a mandatory Internet filter have been a long-term subject of controversy since they were first announced by Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in May 2008 as part of an $106 million ‘cybersafety plan.’ The plan’s stated purpose is to protect children when they go online by preventing them from stumbling on illegal material like child pornography . . . ”

Christian Newswire: “Passage of such evil legislation would expedite our hurdling towards Sodom and Gommorah. It would also threaten to repel Divine Grace from our military’s struggles, and beyond. We call upon the Senate to unapologetically filibuster this legislation. We also ask all people of faith to adhere to our previous declaration that it is forbidden to vote for office-seekers who support the homosexual agenda.”

Christian Post: “After nearly two hours of debate, Southern Baptists on Tuesday overwhelmingly adopted major changes to tackle shrinking membership and to penetrate the ‘lostness’ of the world . . . ‘We are at a critical point, with an aging and declining membership, and I think this whole conversation is birthed because Southern Baptists want to be faithful in evangelism and church planting for decades to come.’ . . .”

Christian Post: “Atlanta-area pastor Bryant Wright was elected Tuesday to serve as the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country . . . After his election, he said he wants to see every Southern Baptist pastor and church take at least one mission trip and experience what it’s like to be in another culture, sharing the Gospel, according to Florida Baptist Witness.”

Breitbart (AP): “More than 100 members of a Christian religious sect have barricaded themselves in an abandoned building in southern Malawi over their refusal to give their children the measles vaccine, a regional health official said Wednesday. Members of Seventh Day Apostolic Church say their doctrine forbids them from taking medication when they fall sick, as they believe prayer will bring divine healing.”

Home Office Press Release: “Theresa May today announced the start of an ambitious cross-government programme to tackle prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB and T) people. . . . [They include] a commitment to remove historical convictions for consensual gay sex from criminal records; new work to end the blight of homophobic bullying in schools’ work to allow same-sex couples to register their relationships in a religious setting; lobbying other countries to repeal homophobic legislation and recognise UK civil partnerships; ending the removal of asylum seekers who have had to leave particular countries because their sexual orientation or gender identification puts them at proven risk of imprisonment, torture or execution.”

NDTV: “Sambhavi was proclaimed and celebrated as a child goddess. Her parents claimed she was Dalai Lama’s friend in an earlier incarnation, but the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission has ordered that the eight-year-old child from Kurnool district must go to school so her right to education is not violated. . . . ‘She knows English, French, Vedas and astrology. Merely mechanically sending the girl to a school does not mean she will be educated,’ said P Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Sambhavi’s lawyer.”

Kai Möller, The Right to Life between Absolute and Proportional Protection (June 4, 2010). LSE Legal Studies Working Paper No. 13/2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1620377

“One of the puzzles of human and constitutional rights law is whether there are any rights which are absolute. The question is important not only for practical purposes but also for the theory of human and constitutional rights: an absolute right presents a departure from what is now the ‘default’ in constitutional and human rights law around the world, namely the proportionality approach according to which an interference with a right is justified if it serves a legitimate goal and is proportionate to that goal. This paper tries to shed some light on the issue by focusing on the right to life. It proceeds by first presenting an account of the leading case in this area, namely the judgment of the German Federal Constitutional Court in the Aviation Security Act case, where the Court held that shooting down an airplane which was likely to be used as a terrorist weapon was a violation of the right to life in conjunction with the human dignity of the innocent passengers aboard. It then offers a few thoughts on the Court’s reasoning, specifically with regard to what it has to say about the idea of absolute rights. Having concluded that the judgment offers little help in illuminating this problem, it presents some approaches to absolute rights from moral philosophy and applies them to human and constitutional rights law. The conclusion is that the right to life will under certain circumstances be absolute or near-absolute, but that these circumstances occur less frequently than is sometimes assumed.”

“Olson, as much as any one man, is responsible for the idea that there is no real debate to be had about gay marriage, that all the legitimacy, all the arguments, all the good will and good reasons are on his side . . . ”

“The report outlines the almost $1 billion in taxpayer dollars directed to these organizations. According to GAO, ‘expenditures in this report may understate the actual amount of federal funds the selected organizations and their affiliates spent . . . ”

“Translation: Religous Americans with traditional views of marriage and/or sexual morality have no right to organize or vote to advance their beliefs . . . ‘

The National Organization for Marriage is live blogging the closing arguments Prop8Case.com.

“. . . the sponsors aren’t asking Walker to nullify the 18,000 marriages, but only to rule that government agencies, courts and businesses no longer have to recognize the couples as married . . . ”

LifeNews: he new telemed abortion process Planned Parenthood has started so far in Iowa and it has pro-life advocates up in arms because it puts women at risk by now allowing them a chance to visit with a physician before getting the dangerous drug. Now, there’s concern the process may be coming to Wisconsin.”

“The Louisiana House gave final legislative passage Wednesday morning to a bill that would require a woman to receive an obstetrics ultrasound prior to an abortion.”

“‘Our efforts today are not partisan because the protection of children, violence against women, addiction and sexual trafficking are not partisan issues. Nor are we here today to quarrel with Attorney General Holder,’ said Patrick A. Trueman, former chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, U.S. Department of Justice.”

AP: “Cuba and a top Vatican official expressed optimism Wednesday that landmark negotiations between the church and Raul Castro’s government will continue and indicated they could produce more breakthroughs on the treatment of dissidents and political prisoners.”

Bruce Bawer writing at Pajamas Media: “I’ve now been singled out, in a report commissioned and funded by the government of the country in which I live, as a perpetrator of Islamophobia. The items about me appear under the heading ‘Prohibit and Eliminate All Forms of Racial Discrimination and To Ensure All Equality before the Law.’ Exactly how does the Ministry of Children, Equality, and Social Inclusion propose to ‘eliminate’ the supposed ‘racial discrimination’ on my part? Will I be arrested and prosecuted under the Discrimination Law of 2005? Am I about to join the company of those who have been hauled into court for daring to speak the truth about Islam, Muhammed, and the Koran?” | Via Mark Steyn at The Corner.

KFYI: “The situation with cross-border violence and drug smuggling has gotten so bad along Arizona’s southern border with Mexico, that the U.S. Government has set up warnings in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge miles from the border, in effect, closing that part of the park to tourists . . . ”

Washington Post: “An e-mail message sent Tuesday from Equality Maryland, the state’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights group says it is assembling “Action Teams” to mobilize pro- same-sex marriage voters to get to the polls in November . . . ‘Maryland is Next!’ That is what we heard from literally hundreds of Pride-goers in DC last weekend. We couldn’t agree more!” begins the e-mail to supporters . . . ”

(Warning graphic images, descriptions, and language)

Stephanie Mencimer writing at Mother Jones: “On Tuesday, a group of anti-porn activists and scholars arrived on Capitol Hill to brief members of Congress and their staffs and to call for beefed-up federal enforcement of obscenity laws. . . . Christian-right groups have been complaining about porn forever, of course, and Trueman, a lawyer with the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund, falls within that camp. But technology has made the right’s argument far more compelling, as the Internet has brought pornography to a far bigger and more vulnerable audience than ever before. . . . [A]ccording to Trueman, much of the explicit material found on the Internet these days isn’t protected speech but obscenity, which is prosecutable.”

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on CBN news to discuss the California marriage litigation.| MP4 1:07

“Am I crazy, or is an overweight man with a thick New Jersey accent the most effective communicator of commonsense conservative principles in America today?”

Wesley Smith writes at the First Things Blog: “So, we see IVF leading, at least in some cases, to objectification of the life created, as it furthers the contemporary sense of entitlement: I want to be pregnant–make it so! I don’t want to be pregnant, make it not so!”

Hans A. von Spakovsky writes at Townhall: “Dissatisfied with this logical and accepted definition, liberals have been striving to redefine judicial activism downward. Under one formulation, judicial activism occurs anytime that a statute is struck down, like the federal ban on independent political expenditures in Citizens United v. FEC. ”

Catholic Online: “Even if peace is slowly returning to the District of Kandhamal, the State of Orissa continues to be the scene of anti-Christian violence. A young Christian was recently beaten, tortured and dragged into the middle of his village, where his tormentors forced him to undergo a ceremony of reconversion to Hinduism.”

Reuters: “A giant “sausage and wine” party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday.”

Daily Mail (pics available): “Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade by soldiers. Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such as ‘Butchers return’ and ‘What are you dying for? £18k’. They were soon confronted by 100 people, some wearing English Defence League T-shirts, who shouted ‘scum’ and ‘Muslim bombers off our streets’.”

Catholic Culture: “Police in India’s state of Orissa have arrested a Hindu extremist who was one of the men accused of raping a Catholic nun during a burst of violence in August 2008.”

Evangelical Examiner: “The Alliance Defense Fund and the Montana Family Foundation sent Montana State University-Northern officials a letter Monday assuring them that they can continue the school’s graduation prayer tradition, despite a contrary letter they received from the American Civil Liberties Union. . . . [ADF attorney Travis Barham said] ‘Contrary to the ACLU’s latest unfounded intimidation attempt, the First Amendment does not require universities to purge public ceremonies of all things religious.’”

Christian Post: “‘More than 7 million Californians decided that marriage should be preserved, not fundamentally changed,’ said [Brian Raum], senior counsel at Alliance Defense Fund. ‘If a handful of activists is allowed to void a constitutional amendment protecting marriage, we have gutted the core of the American democratic system and will deny more children the mom and the dad they deserve.’” | ADFmedia.org Perry v. Schwarzenegger resource page

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Late last week, we learned about a memo that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan wrote in 1997 while she worked in the Clinton White House. She urged the President to support the Supreme Court appeal of Evelyn Smith, a widow from Chico, California who lost her religious liberty case at the California Supreme Court. . . . represented Mrs. Smith in this case, so I was very interested to learn that Elena Kagan supported the legal arguments I made in the case for Mrs. Smith. . . . Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings begin June 28. I hope the senators ask her whether she still supports the point of view expressed in the memo. She may be much better on these First Amendment issues than Justice Stevens was, the justice she may be replacing.”

ADF Attorney Joe Martins writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “”[UC-Irvine's] is just the latest in a long line of campus incidents in which student organizations have disrupted or even assaulted speakers to silence their message. . . . What has not been characteristic of such disruptions however, is an appropriate university response. . . . But UCI distinguished itself by actually disciplining the Muslim Student Union for its planned and coordinated disruption of Ambassador Oren’s speech. UCI suspended the group for a year and imposed fifty hours of community service. In doing so, UCI sent a message that it will not tolerate a ‘heckler’s veto’ on free speech. The Muslim Student Union has—as do all student groups— the right to counter speech it abhors at an appropriate time, place and manner. But that right does not include the ability to disrupt and intimidate others into silence.”

OneNewsNow: “‘The people of California . . . decided through Proposition 8 to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman,’ says [Jim Campbell]. ‘That effort has now been brought under legal attack — and it is [the goal of] the legal team, which includes the Alliance Defense Fund . . . to do all we can to resist those efforts to redefine and undermine marriage.’”

Rasumussen Reports: “While the divorce rate in the United States is one of the highest in the world, 80% of Americans believe it’s Very Important for children to grow up in a home with both their parents . . . ”

Catholic Culture: “. . . there are these Islamic groups who would like to see Pakistan become a purely Islamic state. If Pakistan becomes a purely Islamic state with all Islamic laws, which we don’t have now– we only have some Islamic laws– if we have all the Islamic laws, then it means that as non-Muslims we would be something like second class citizens . . . ”

Catholic Culture: “The murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese in Turkey is a reminder of the dangers facing Christians in Turkey and elsewhere in Europe, said Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi at a Mass for the slain prelate in his native Milan. Cardinal Tettamanzi said that Italian Catholics need “to heed the cry—or better, the lament” from Turkey after the death of Bishop Padovese . . . ”

Brian Raum: “. . . Just imagine how our country would change if every state constitutional amendment could be eliminated by small groups of wealthy activists. It would no longer be America, but a tyranny of elitists. . .”

Catholic Culture: “Economy and finance are not ends unto themselves,” Pope Benedict XVI reminded a group of European bankers at a private audience on June 12. He stressed that economic systems must serve human persons and families, reminding the financiers that human capital is “the only capital worth saving.”

The Boston Globe: “A children’s Bible study group can return to class in the Roxbury community center that banned religious study, reversing a decision that Christian rights lawyers called unconstitutional and Boston officials acknowledged was an error in enforcement. . . . ‘Luckily, we didn’t have to file a suit,’ [Joel Oster] said. ‘We’re very thankful that the City of Boston — even if it was at the 11th hour — changed this policy.’”

San Francisco Chronicle: “The warring sides in the 2008 battle over same-sex marriage in California may have spent a combined $83 million for nothing, according to an academic study released Tuesday. The study by Patrick Egan of New York University . . . ”

CitizenLink: “‘It goes to the heart of not only education, but the teaching of the history of our country and in fact western civilization indeed,’ said [David Cortman], senior legal counsel with ADF. ‘Does that mean students can no longer study the documents from our Founding Fathers? Many of these writings have religious basis to them.’”

Washington Times: “The Rev. H. Wayne Williams, pastor of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle in Rapid City, last month endorsed GOP state Sen. Gordon Howie in the South Dakota governor’s race . . . in hopes of producing a landmark constitutional test case. . . . The Rapid City pastor is working with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative-leaning group that defends religious freedom. . . . ‘This is your bread-and-butter civil rights case,’ [Erik Stanley] said.”

CBN: “Closing arguments in the landmark trial challenging California’s ban on same-sex marriage will begin Wednesday. . . . [Jordan Lorence] of the Alliance Defense Fund told CBN News there’s a possibility the case could end up in the Supreme Court. ‘I think that the legal theories are so far-fetched that they should be rejected by the lower court, but if it gets up the Supreme Court, there is a possibility of an adverse ruling,’ he explained.”

TIME: “No ruling is expected today, but already Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, a Republican appointee who is also gay, has tipped his hand at least this much: he’s determined to issue a ruling that will be as reversal-proof as possible. Last week, he issued a memo to lawyers on both sides filled with dozens of questions he wants them to be ready to answer when they appear today.”

Wesley Smith writes at First Things: “We are quickly becoming an entitlement culture that increasingly refuses to set self limits and presumes the right to harness technology to get us what we want–no matter how destructive to others and to the overall culture. Nothing epitomizes this anything goes, me-me/I-I mentality than the extreme uses of IVF.”

LifeSiteNews: “The poll results indicate that 51% of Brazilians oppose gay adoption, while only 39% favor it . . . Catholics were far more likely to support the practice than Evangelicals. The finding likely reflects the socialist inclinations of the Catholic bishops of the country, who tend to support the left-wing administration of President Luis Lula da Silva and deemphasize personal morality in favor of political ideology . . . ”

LifeNews: “In a meeting with President Obama last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner asked for an update about the implementation of the president’s Executive Order (EO), which purports to block abortion funding in the federal health care bill.”

USA Today: “President Obama came into office determined to stop the rightward shift of the federal courts — after eight years of appointments by President Bush — and to add more diversity to the bench. So far he is setting records for the number of women and minorities nominated to lifetime appointments. Nearly half of the 73 candidates he has tapped for the bench have been women. In all, 25% have been African Americans, 10% Hispanics and 11% Asian Americans.”

Maryland Reporter: “The state is proposing to relax its rules on political activity at transit stations, a move designed to help settle a three-year legal battle with the American Civil Liberties Union and ACORN that stemmed from the 2006 campaign.”

CBS3.com: “The American Civil Liberties Union says the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has agreed not to enforce a little-used regulation that it claims restricted free speech in all state parks.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Norway’s National Court Administration ruled yesterday that judges and other court officials can wear religious dress during court sessions. This includes the Muslim hijab (headscarf) and the national costume of the indigenous Sami people.”

“Two same-sex couples are suing to overturn Proposition 8, which voters passed in 2008. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco has set aside five hours for closing arguments after hearing 12 days of testimony in January.”

Alliance Defense Fund Legal Counsel Roger Kiska will be available for media interviews following a hearing Thursday before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission concerning the deportation of American Christians from Morocco.