Daily Archives: June 17, 2010

East Valley Tribune: “A Phoenix church has reached a deal with the city that ends a pending federal court battle over the church’s pancake breakfast service . . . ”

ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared [MP4 1:56] on KRON-4 prior to closing arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The station also excerpted, in a later broadcast [MP4 2:15], Austin’s comments at the news conference following closing arguments.

CBS: “‘President Obama has spoken out against the law because he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy,’ she said in an interview with an Ecuadorean television station flagged by The Right Scoop. ‘And the Justice Department, under his direction, will be bringing a lawsuit against the act.’”

Business Wire: “At its annual meeting this week, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to support a public health effort by AIDS advocates including the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) that would require actors to use condoms during the production of adult films. During the meeting, which was held in Chicago, the AMA’s House of Delegates voted ‘to support legislation to require porn actors to use condoms on-screen.’”

Politico: “In February, the military began requiring all of its hospitals to stock emergency contraceptives. And now, a Senate amendment to the defense authorization bill would authorize military hospitals to perform elective abortions.”

Politics Daily: “You might think that donating $1.5 billion to global maternal and infant health would beget global cheering. Perhaps a small island named after you. Children given your name. Songs sung in your honor. ‘The foundation specifically doesn’t take a stance on abortion for exactly this reason, is we don’t want to be part of the controversy . . ,’ said Gates . . . ”

Blog of the Legal Times: “The two nominees, D.C. Superior Court Judge James Boasberg and Trout Cacheris partner Amy Berman Jackson, have been mentioned as possibilities for more than a year. They are the second and third Obama nominees to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which has jurisdiction over such high-profile areas as Guantanamo Bay detainees and disputes involving Congress.”

CNA: “In a world where the ‘now’ of the present and tangible seems good enough, ‘celibacy is a great scandal, because it shows precisely that God is considered and lived as a reality,’ Pope Benedict told the gathered priests. ‘With the eschatological life of celibacy, the future world of God enters into the realities of our time,’ even though the material world would have any hint of the transcendent vanish. The Pope contrasted celibacy with the modern notion of not getting married . . . ”

Christian Post: “On the closing day of their annual meeting, Southern Baptists approved resolutions denouncing those responsible for the massive gulf oil spill, opposing pro-gay legislations, and lamenting the ‘scandal of Southern Baptist divorce.’ . . . ‘The Bible describes homosexual behavior as both a contributing cause and a consequence of God’s judgment on nations and individuals,’ it states, according to Associated Baptist Press.”

Greenville Online: “Lawmakers have approved a bill in a last-minute compromise to extend the waiting period for abortions from one hour to 24 hours.”

Life News: “Congressman Mike Pence has introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 614), a bill prohibiting the distribution of Title X family planning money to entities that use abortion as a method of family planning.”

“Michael Anthony Marcavage, founder of Repent America ministries, led a group of about 20 protesters holding signs depicting graphic images of aborted fetuses.”

Kcautv.com: “Iowa Governor Chet Culver is planning on women’s vote in the November election. On Wednesday, he met with Planned Parenthood, who has come out in his support.”

Diogenes reports at Catholic Culture: “When he introduced John Garvey as the new president of Catholic University, Archbishop Allen Vigneron, the chairman of the board of trustees, told the Washington Post that he expected Garvey to continue the work begun by his predecessor “to reclaim a Catholic identity” for the school. That sounds good. But what does it mean, in concrete terms?”

MetroNews.ca: “Members of Parliament are calling on the federal government to put $1.4 billion toward maternal and child health at the G8 summit — and to include access to safe abortion.”

ACLU-KY: In cooperation with the national ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, the ACLU of KY submitted an Amicus brief to the Kentucky Supreme Court outlining the constitutional limitations on criminal prosecutions against pregnant women in Cochran v. Commonwealth. The KY Supreme Court granted us a legal victory today. See the story below reprinted from the Bluegrass Politics Blog.

Cochran v. Commonwealth, No. 2006-CA-001561-MR

Casey Maddox writes at the Speak Up Movement Blog (Christian Post Advancing Liberty Blog): “After this morning’s decisions, 4 of the 8 April cases have now been decided. Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Thomas had previously written April opinions. Justice Kennedy announced the Court’s decision today in Quon, the text messaging case. This leaves four cases, including CLS v Martinez, and 5 justices: Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Stevens, and Ginsburg. Notably, Justice Stevens has already issued two opinions from the March sitting (which had 11 cases, one of which was later dismissed as improvidently granted) making him a candidate to sit out April . . . ”

ABC News (video includes ADF attorney Jordan Lorence): “A federal judge in California heard closing arguments today in the landmark legal case that will determine the constitutionality of California’s same-sex marriage ban , first approved by voters as Proposition 8 in November 2008.” | MP4 2:24 mins

Play Pride: “Alliance 90/The Greens have proposed a new bill for a contemporary transgender law. Our bill puts the self-determination and human dignity of transsexual and transgendered people in the center. In future, the parties themselves decide on their gender.” [Google Translation]

“Federal health experts say a new type of morning-after pill that works longer than existing products is safe and effective . . . ”

Nashua Telegraph: “Attorney General Michael Delaney’s office denied Wednesday that two right-wing attack ads against Gov. John Lynch were in violation of state campaign finance laws, a claim made by ex-Democratic Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan . . . ” | NH AG Letter, June 16, 2010

On a daily basis, we receive email alerts from numerous pro-family organizations. Many of these emails contain excellent information. Unfortunately, many of them also fail to provide a web link to the contents of the email. Web links are invaluable to bloggers, reporters, researchers, and others who would like to cite or further report on the material in question. Please include web links to the content in your emails.

Standard Newswire: “I want to applaud Congressman Pence for his tireless leadership in the fight to stop Planned Parenthood from misusing taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. The GAO’s stunning revelation that nearly $660 million in taxpayer dollars have recently been appropriated to the nation’s largest abortion provider is cause for alarm. Congress needs to listen to the people, not the abortion lobby, and pass The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act immediately.” — Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life Action . . . ”

Irish Times: “Rights groups criticised the Catholic Church today after bishops called for TDs to be allowed a free vote on new civil partnership laws. The senior clergy called for the Bill, which stops short of full gay marriage, to have a so-called faith opt-out for registrars who refuse to carry out ceremonies.”

EurActiv: “International couples living in 14 EU countries will be able to choose which country’s jurisdiction should apply to their divorce as the European Parliament finally backed proposals tabled by the EU executive four years ago.” | Related: [6.11.2010] European nations seal divorce law pact

Assyrian International News Agency: “The number of Christians in the Middle East is swiftly declining, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir warned Nicholas Sarkozy during a meeting with the French president at the Elysee Palace.”

Asia News: “In a unanimous decision, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Turkey must return the former Greek Orphanage on Büyükada Island, the largest of the Princes’ Islands, back to Fener Greek Patriarchate. This concludes the long legal case between the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Turkish authorities. The case had begun in 1997 when Turkey tried to use various legal means to take the building away from the Patriarchate in order to upgrade the area without compensation.”

C-FAM: “The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched a new campaign this week called ‘A Promise is A Promise,’ demanding that states implement policies and programs to achieve the controversial Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target 5b on ‘universal access to reproductive health by 2015.’”

Canwest News Service: “A strong selling point of the Church of the Universe is the use of marijuana as a sacrament – so assuming someone is inclined to indulge, the church is a godsend. . . . Now the case, which began in April, is in one of the more unusual phases to ever take place in a Canadian court room: A debate over what exactly constitutes a religion and even whether such a definition is even possible.”

Jacksonville Daily News: “A Senate judiciary committee recommended Thursday a bill that would bar electronic and computer-based devices springing up at new ‘sweepstakes cafes’ or ‘business centers’ where customers buy Internet or phone time. Customers can play games and win cash and prizes.”

The Christian Institute: “Five-year-olds should be taught about sex, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is controversially claiming. Only weeks after the previous Government failed in its attempt to force schools to teach Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) to children as young as five, NICE says sex education is important for children’s ‘wellbeing’.”

The Christian Institute: “Homosexual couples should be able to register civil partnerships in churches which wish to hold them, according to the Prime Minister. Mr Cameron revealed his stance on the controversial issue last night as he became the first Conservative Prime Minster to host a Gay Pride reception.”

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “Pastor Paul Blair recently spoke at an ADF event about his participation in ADF’s Pulpit Initiative. We have posted video of his remarks on our website. Pastor Blair is pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma, and was one of the 33 courageous pastors who stood boldly and spoke Biblical truth from his pulpit about the 2008 elections and the candidates running for office during that election.”

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared in various TV news outlets to discuss the case. Clips from some of those appearances: CLAS CBS 8 MP4 1:14 mins | WITN MP4 1:30 mins | WPBF ABC 25 News MP4 48 seconds

ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss equal access and eradication of religion from the public square | MP3 24:42 mins | ADF Media: ADF seeks to end religious discrimination policies at more than 750 government-run facilities

ADF attorney David Hacker appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss Idaho’s censorship of the Great Books in charter schools. | MP3 7:18 mins | ADF Media: ADF files appeal over Western Civilization book ban in Idaho public schools, universities

ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared on Secure Freedom Radio with Frank Gaffney to discuss efforts to normalize homosexual behavior in the military and potential impact on the chaplain corps. | MP3 9:23 mins

ADF attorney Travis Barham appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discussion the controversy over a graduation prayer at Montana State University Northern. | MP3 8:55 mins | Related ADF Media

LifeSiteNews: “The move has sparked concerns among some Catholics, primarily due to Garvey’s record of support for pro-abortion politicians.”

NCPA Policy Digest: “Under the new rides, any individual seeking to start a personal website, such as a blog or photo-sharing page, must apply in person at their local Internet service provider’s offices. Website operators would have to show identification and allow the service provider to take their photo.”

Rasmussen: “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of Republican voters continue to believe that GOP members of Congress have lost touch with the party base throughout the nation over the past several years . . . Most voters continue to believe it would be better for the country if the majority of Congress is thrown out this November, but they also remain unconvinced that a Republican takeover will make a noticeable difference.”

One News Now: “During the campaign, he spoke openly of both his Muslim upbringing and his adult conversion to Christianity. But now two major Middle East media outlets — Nile TV International and Israel Today Magazine — are reporting that the president has admitted in recent months that he is a Muslim.”

LifeNews: “The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Friday on a bill that would place more limits on pro-life and other political groups when it comes to communicating with supporters about legislative and political activities.”

“Americans United for Life has turned up a copy of the thesis Kagan wrote in 1983 at Oxford University that praises agenda-driven judges.”

The transcript is available online here.

In addressing Olson, Walker seemed concerned about the courts overstepping their role . . . ‘Isn’t the danger in your position, not that you’re going to lose this case — either here, at the 9th Circuit or at the Supreme Court — but that you’re going to win it?’ Walker asked.”

Providence Journal: “On the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s debate on the McConnell nomination, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce alerted senators that their votes on whether to seat him could become part of the organization’s influential scorecard on members of Congress. . . . The consideration of McConnell’s nomination is playing out against a partisan backdrop. The Providence lawyer, 51, is a longtime state Democratic official, a major contributor to the party and a leading plaintiffs’ lawyer. He has given more than $432,000 to federal election campaigns over the years, including those of Whitehouse and Jack Reed.” | Via Instapundit.

Candace Chellew-Hodge writing at Religion Dispatches (a “diversity of progressive voices” on religion): “I thought about Naboth as I read through the transcripts from the Prop 8 closing arguments. Those arguing to keep same-sex marriage illegal in California are like old Naboth—arguing from worn traditions that a growing number of people find ridiculous—if not quaint. A case in point: attorney Charles Cooper, arguing in support of Proposition 8 for the Alliance Defense Fund, who made his entire closing argument from tradition. He told the judge that marriage is intended for procreation and specifically for the control of unintended pregnancies. He argued (seriously) that the state has an interest in marriage between heterosexuals because they have the ability to produce unintended children—so the state has to have a role in making sure those little mistakes are cared for. Gays and lesbians don’t have this problem since they need considerably more than low light and bottle of wine to conceive.”

Religious Clause Blog: “On Tuesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote Attorney General Eric Holder (full text of letter) complaining about cases of U.S. citizens who, while traveling abroad, have been placed on the U.S. no-fly list and have been delayed or prevented from returning home.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Grzelak v. Poland, (ECHR, June 15, 2010), the European Court of Human Rights by a vote of 6-1 held that a Polish school violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it failed to offer an ethics class for a student who opted out of the school’s religious education class.”

AP: “It’s a refrain long sounded by Arabs citizens of Israel, who argue they face widespread discrimination in the workplace. The Israeli government says it now wants to do something about it, with a $250 million initiative with local venture capitalists to boost the Arab sector.”

AP: “The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the search of a police officer’s personal, sometimes sexually explicit, messages on a government-owned pager, saying it did not violate his constitutional rights.” | City of Ontario v. Quon (08-1332)

AP: “Tens of thousands of black-clad ultra-Orthodox Jews staged mass demonstrations on Thursday to protest a Supreme Court ruling forcing the integration of a religious girls’ school.”

AP on MyWay: “Federal regulators are reconsidering the rules that govern high-speed Internet connections – wading into a bitter policy dispute that could be tied up in court for years . . . ”

PrisonPlanet.com: “The federal government would have ‘absolute power’ to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative “kill switch” to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive.”

KEYC (Fox): “Wednesday in federal court lawyers for proposition 8 argued that the will of the people should be the last word. [Jordan Lorence] says, ‘That was a legitimate decision, a public policy decision that the constitution allows them to make.’” | Video at link.

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund attorney [Austin R. Nimocks] was on hand for the arguments in the latest attempt to invalidate the vote on Prop. 8. ‘This is a question over whether our most basic and important fundamental right — the right to vote — is going to be trumped by the courts,’ states the attorney. ‘No right is more important in this country than the right of a free society to express their will at the ballot box.’”

CBN: “‘The 7 million voters in California voted for Prop 8,’ said [Jordan Lorence], an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. “They made a reasonable, legitimate public policy decision that the Constitution permits, and that the federal judge should just defer to their decision.’” | Video at link.

NPR: “[Austin Nimocks] of the Alliance Defense Fund, a group opposing gay marriage, said his side remains confident that they made their case. ‘Defending Prop 8 is playing defense,’ Nimocks said. ‘It’s the burden of proof which Judge Walker made abundantly clear that belongs to the plaintiffs to have to prove that Prop 8 is unconstitutional.’”

The Journal Gazette: “The lawsuit pitting Fort Wayne’s lone surgical abortion provider against the county health department moved to federal court Wednesday. . . . Last week, the parties agreed that the ordinance will not be enforced until July 15. And the Allen County commissioners . . . voted to appoint an attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund as the county’s primary legal counsel at no cost to the county.”

WorldNetDaily: “‘Censoring classical books, including religious books, does not improve a student’s education; it harms it,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [David Cortman] of the filing this week. ‘A wholesale ban on books with religious content conflicts with established U.S. Supreme Court precedent stating that even “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.”‘”

CitizenLink: “[Austin Nimocks], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said it boils down to whether we still live in a democracy. ‘(If) 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,’ he said.”

WorldNetDaily: “ADF senior legal counsel [Austin Nimocks] spoke to WND as he left the courtroom today. ‘I think the closing arguments went very well, especially the arguments of Charles Cooper,’ Nimocks said. ‘All the legal bases were covered, and I think he did an excellent job articulating why the voices of more than 7 million Californians, in enacting Prop 8, were constitutional voices with the full entitlement to do exactly what they did.’ . . . U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker is presiding over the case. As WND reported, media outlets have reported Walker is homosexual. . . . Nimocks told WND today, ‘That certainly was not an issue that was raised in the court room.’”

KFSN (ABC): “‘When the 7 million voters of California voted for Prop 8, they made a reasonable legitimate public policy that the constitution permits, and that the federal judge should just defer to their decision,’ said [Jordan Lorence] with the Alliance Defense Fund. . . . ABC7 legal analyst Dean Johnson was struck by how hard the judge was on the supporters of Prop 8. He asked them repeatedly to cite specific evidence supporting their argument and questioned the validity of their witnesses.”

KPSP (CBS): “[Jordan Lorence], a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund said today that voters made a ‘public policy decision that the constitution allows them to make’.” | Video included at link.

Memphis Conservative Examiner: “In a daring test of the IRS, Rev. H. Wayne Williams of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle in Rapid City, South Dakota has answered Republican candidate Gordon Howie’s challenge to the pastors of South Dakota to defy the IRS regulation that denies churches the right to endorse political candidates and maintain their tax-exempt status. . . . Several organizations, chief among them the Alliance Defense Fund, have encouraged pastors in the past to challenge the IRS in the hopes that it might bring the 1954 amendment before the Supreme Court.”

WBKO (ABC): “Defendants of Prop 8 say the ban is what people wanted. [Jordan Lorence] of The Alliance Defense Fund says, ‘The 7 million voters in California voted for prop 8. They made a reasonable legit public policy decision that the Constitution permits.’”

Yahoo! News: “‘The case in Massachusetts is much more incremental and strategic,’ said [Jordan Lorence], a senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal firm helping to defend Prop. 8. ‘It’s like a rifle shot. The California case is much more massive in its magnitude. More than a rifle shot, it’s like a big bomb.’”

WCSH6 (NBC): “Lawyers in the landmark federal trial over the constitutionality of California’s gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, are presenting closing arguments in a San Francisco courtroom Wednesday. . . . ‘What we are hoping that he’s going to end up ruling is that what the 7- million California voters did was a legitimate public policy decision to define marriage as one man and one woman,’ says the Alliance Defense Fund’s [Jordan Lorence].” | Article includes video.

Reuters: “Delegates from Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Egypt, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that treatment of Muslims in Western countries amounted to racism and discrimination and must be fought. . . . Diplomats say the resolution, which also tells the investigator to make recommendations to the Human Rights Council on how its strictures might be implemented, is bound to pass given the majority the OIC and its allies have in the body.”

Homeschooling in Germany and the United States
Aaron T. Martin, Arizona Journal of International & Comparative Law, Vol. 27, No. 1

“This note provides a normative analysis of the constitutional implications of parental choices in education–specifically with regard to homeschooling–in the United States and Germany. This note argues against recent scholarship calling for more State intervention in education and shows how the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children must be preserved to further the goals of a liberal democracy. Part One discusses the historical situation of Germany in the 1930s that led to the adoption of compulsory attendance laws. It then moves on to consider Germany’s recent attacks on homeschooling families and the legal battles that have led to civil and criminal sanctions for parents. Part Two considers the constitutional history of parental rights in education in the United States. Part Three discusses the policy debates surrounding homeschooling and implications of policy decisions that may impact both the United States and Germany. There, this note argues that any infringement on parental rights to homeschool is inconsistent with the principles of a robust liberal political democracy. The note concludes by acknowledging the current problems in educational policy as well as future threats to homeschooling in the United States and Germany.”