Daily Archives: July 9, 2010

Nebraska.tv: “The state of Nebraska is defending its new law requiring mental health screenings for women seeking abortions.”

Lambda Legal:  ”Late Friday, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia ruled that the Georgia General Assembly discriminated against Lambda Legal client Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman who was fired from her job as Legislative Editor after she told her supervisor that she planned to transition from male to female.”

AP: “The Pentagon is at odds with gay rights groups after sending out a survey asking troops what they would do if gays were allowed to serve openly.”

Breitbart (AP): “The administration was silent Friday on whether it would appeal rulings by U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro. Spokespeople for the White House and the Justice Department said officials are still reviewing the rulings.”

RBB-online.de: (Google translation) “The state of Berlin will allow gay couples treated as a marriage.”

A federal judge granted summary judgment Thursday to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a decision against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which declares the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.

LifeSiteNews: The embassies of the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands have joined the United Nations to issue a declaration in favor of “gay rights” in Peru. ‘On the occasion of the celebrations of this year of Gay Pride in Peru, we express our support and solidarity with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in Peru,’ the signatories declare. ‘Transgender’ is a reference to those who claim that their “true” sex is different from their physical sex . . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “Mexico’s falling birth rate is a threat to its future, according to María Alejandra Tallabs, an educational psychologist at Mexico’s Panamerican University.”

la.Croix.com (Google translation): “Whether to recognize same-sex couples the right to share parental authority: this is the very thorny issue that will have to decide the Constitutional Council.”

Baptist Press: “Delegates to the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in Minneapolis voted July 8 to allow the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals but shelved a proposal to redefine marriage in a way that would include same-sex couples . . . ”

CentreDaily.com: Today, Liberty Institute filed an amicus brief in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the National Day of Prayer in Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Obama. Among those Liberty Institute represents in the brief include Dr. James Dobson, the Family Research Council (FRC), Focus on the Family Action (Citizenlink), the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU), Let Freedom Ring, and Liberty Counsel, along with 28 family policy councils located in states nationwide . . . View the brief online at http://tinyurl.com/2837gj5.

“The American Psychiatric Association strongly supports legislation recently approved by the Hawaii legislature that would have made Hawaii the 11th state, along with the District of Columbia, to recognize same-sex civil marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships.”

A Palm Center press release and the survey are available online.

Columbus Dispatch: “A Cleveland-based company that sells lingerie and adult novelties plans to expand into Columbus. Ambiance, which describes itself as ‘The Store for Lovers,’ anticipates opening three stores in central Ohio within the next year and a half, with the first opening before the end of the year. . . ”

LifeSiteNews: “For the last number of years American billionaire Warren Buffett, 79, has gradually been giving away his estimated $47 billion fortune – and much of it is going to support the work of abortion activists worldwide . . . ”

Christian Science Monitor: “Legalizing marijuana is on the November ballot in California. A RAND study says making pot legal will cut the drug’s cost and increase use. My parents intervened with me when I was a kid and it worked. Today’s parents must now take a stand against legalization.” | RAND press release and study

Blog of the Legal Times: “‘I am so glad that Elena is joining us,’ Ginsburg told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, according to this dispatch from the Aspen Daily News. Ginsburg was introduced by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and engaged in a dialogue with journalist and law professor Jeff Rosen.”

Hadley Arkes write at the National Review Bench Memos Blog: “Judge Joseph Tauro, in the federal district court in Boston, took it upon himself to strike down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). With that stroke he would remove one of the key barriers standing in the way of imposing same-sex marriage on the nation as a whole. And it would be done through the power of judges alone, without the need to agitate the community in any political controversy, and without citizens or legislators needing to do such unseemly things as voting. Judge Tauro accomplishes this task by essentially presupposing the most decisive points that he should have been obliged to establish in an argument . . . ”

Eugene Volokh writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: “The Washington Post reports on the post–Citizens United spending: ‘So far this year, $24.7 million in independent spending has been reported to the Federal Election Commission, campaign filings show. Unions have spent $9.7 million (or 39 percent of the total), compared with $6.4 million (26 percent) spent by individuals and $3.4 million spent by corporations.’ . . . ”

Dale Carpenter has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy discussing yesterday’s federal DOMA rulings.

“As much as liberals might applaud the result, they should be aware that the logic of his arguments, taken seriously, would undermine the constitutionality of wide swaths of federal regulatory programs and seriously constrict federal regulatory power . . . ”

Winston Salem-Journal: “Several religious and nonprofit organizations have lent their support to a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling that bans sectarian prayer before government meetings.”

Leonard Link: “New York City Civil Court Judge Laurie L. Lau ruled on June 2 that the owner of a four-apartment building in Brooklyn could not treat her former same-sex partner as a mere “licensee” who could be forced to vacate the apartment in which they had lived together at the owner’s option, since they were “family” members under the precedent of the 1989 New York Court of Appeals decision, Braschi v. Stahl Associates. Phelps v. Ray-Chaudhuri, No. 54177/10 (N.Y.City Civ. Ct., Kings Co., June 2, 2010) (NYLJ, 7/8/2010, p. 29).”

“The Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography today announced the launching of a new YouTube Channel in its efforts to educate the public on the harm from pornography. The site, http://www.youtube.com/user/PornHarms, provides a wide variety of educational videos on the harm from pornography to children, the extreme violence against women prominently depicted in popular porn today, the significant incidence of addiction to pornography, the links between sex trafficking and pornography and many other damaging effects of pornography.”

Hollywood Reporter: “NBC has agreed to change the rules of a “Today” show wedding contest after receiving complaints from gay activists slamming the annual event as discriminatory. The morning show’s “Modern Day Wedding” contest will be opened to allow same-sex couple after network executives met with Thursday with representatives from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).”

Pink News: “According to a study by LGBT lawyers’ network Interlaw, a perception of hostility to out gay judges, judicial culture and the isolation of the job puts gay and lesbian lawyers off becoming judges . . . A review of the judicial system by Liberal Democrat peer Lady Neuberger, released earlier this year, recommended the profession should strive for more sexual diversity . . . ”

Google News (AP): “One painting depicted Jesus Christ as Mickey Mouse, another as Vladimir Lenin. The 2007 exhibit was part of an effort to fight censorship of the arts, but the Russian Orthodox Church was horrified. Now, after a 14-month trial, the two prominent Moscow art curators who put on the show are facing the prospect of three years in prison. Artists and rights activists have appealed to the Kremlin to put a stop to the prosecution of Yury Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, warning of a return to Soviet-era cultural censorship with the rules now dictated by a conservative and politically powerful church . . . ”

Guardian: “Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned, the regime has said, but family fear she will be hanged instead.”

NC Family Policy Council: “After more than two hours of debate, and by a vote of 86–27, the North Carolina House gave final approval Wednesday night, July 7, to an enhanced ban on video gambling in the state. HB 80—Ban Electronic Sweepstakes now goes to Governor Perdue to be signed into law.”

The Hill: “Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John Cornyn (Texas) have sided with the state of Arizona in its battle with the Department of Justice over a controversial state immigration law . . . ”

Christian Newswire: “Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law, a religious liberties legal organization in Montgomery, Alabama, filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit today defending the federal statute creating the National Day of Prayer, 36 U.S.C. § 119 . . . ”

“But U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside, in her final pretrial ruling, said Wednesday that higher court rulings in recent years have raised the bar for the government to justify laws that single out gays and lesbians for harsher treatment.”

How Appealing links to several reports and the ruling in Hornbeck Offshore Services, L.L.C v. Salazar, No. 10-30585 (5th Cir. July 8, 2010)

Thomas More Law Center: “To the jeers and shouts of ‘Allah Akbar’ by the Muslim crowd, the four Christian missionaries were arrested and thrown in jail on June 18, 2010 by Dearborn Police officers at the Annual Arab International Festival held in Dearborn. One of the arrested missionaries was Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, MD, who was engaged in peaceful dialogue with several Muslim youths. The other three missionaries, who were merely videotaping the conversation, had their cameras and other equipment illegally seized before police arrested them as well . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “Yesterday, 29 state attorneys general joined together in filing an amicus brief (full text) with the 7th Circuit urging it to find that the National Day of Prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause. In a press release, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who led the effort said that the district court decision striking down the Day of Prayer statute (see prior posting) also threatens Memorial Day . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, California, continues to file lawsuits to reclaim property of break-away parishes. Episcopal Life reported today that the diocese has filed suit in state court against St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Visalia, one of the 40 congregations . . . ”

CCFON: “The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) has rejected calls for Dr. Jeffrey John to be made the next Bishop of Southwark, following pressure from those opposed to his appointment including CCFON.”

Michael Foust writes at Baptist Press: “‘Individual states shouldn’t have the right to impose a radical redefinition of marriage on the rest of America,’ said Brian Raum, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund. ‘This judge’s claim that there’s no reason whatsoever for marriage to be defined as one man and one woman should go down as one of the most outrageous rulings in court history.’ Raum noted that ‘it was a condition of statehood” that marriage be defined as one man, one woman “during the polygamy battle in the 19th century.’”

LifeNews: “The Washington Times released an editorial column today on the nomination of pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. The Times says Kagan’s supporting partial-birth abortion (infanticide) should be the “kiss of death” for her nomination.”

LifeSiteNews: “Sweden’s parliament gave a crushing blow to parental rights two weeks ago, passing a law that makes homeschooling legal only in ‘extraordinary circumstances,’ reports the Home School Leal Defense Association (HSLDA). The law excludes religious or philosophical convictions as legitimate reasons for home education . . . the case Johansson v. Sweden is being litigated by Alliance Defense Fund and HSLDA attorneys . . . ”

Journal-Gazette.net: “Fort Wayne’s only abortion doctor said he received a death threat on his unpublished home phone after he filed a lawsuit against the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health. Klopfer is being represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights who declined to comment on the documents filed this week. The county commissioners last month appointed an attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund, a socially conservative league of attorneys that frequently takes up anti-abortion causes, to represent the county in the lawsuit.”

CNet News: “The measure, which arrived in the form of an 111-page amendment sponsored by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat, says on the second-to-last page: ‘None of the funds made available in this act may be used to maintain or establish a computer network unless such network blocks the viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography.’ . . .  Patrick Trueman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section who now does legal work for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, says the government can easily say that while working on a federal contract, there can be no porn surfing–or even card-playing–because taxpayers have a “right to get their money’s worth from contractors.”

Citizen Link:  The Obama administration and the congressional Democrat majority are closer than ever to repealing the 17-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy” policy, which disqualifies gay-identified men and women from openly serving in the armed services . . . ‘Congress, unfortunately, appears to be using the military as a political partisan tool,’ said Daniel Blomerg, litigation counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund . . . The Alliance Defense Fund has expanded its “Speak-Up Movement” website to help raise public awareness on the threat to chaplains, as well as the unintended cultural consequences . . . ”

ADF Attorney David Hacker writes at the Christian Post Advancing Religious Liberty Blog (cross posted at Speak Up Blog): “. . . the Chronicle reports that tenure may in fact be dead-or is at least dying. And while this news troubles those looking for job security, it has also raised questions about whether professors are free to say what they want inside and outside the classroom . . .’

One News Now: “A professor in North Carolina who claims he was denied a promotion because he wrote some religious and conservative-leaning opinion columns is receiving broad support from academic circles. After a judge ruled against Dr. Mike Adams in a lawsuit he filed against the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the criminology professor decided to appeal the decision. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is representing him, and litigation counsel Travis Barham more deeply explains the reason for the suit . . . ”

The News-Gazette: “Kenneth Howell was told after the spring semester ended that he would no longer be teaching in the UI’s Department of Religion. The decision came after a student complained about a discussion of homosexuality in the class in which Howell taught that the Catholic Church believes homosexual acts are morally wrong . . . Howell is working with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian-based organization that ‘provides the resources that will keep the door open for the spread of the Gospel through the legal defense and advocacy of religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and traditional family values,’ . . . The Alliance Defense Fund has just begun looking into Howell’s situation, according to a spokesman. Senior counsel David French provided a written statement, saying ‘A university cannot censor professors’ speech – including classroom speech related to the topic of the class – merely because some students find that speech ‘offensive.’ Professors have the freedom to challenge students and to educate them by exposing them to different views. The Alliance Defense Fund is working with Professor Howell because the defense of academic freedom is essential on the university campus.’”

One News Now: “A conservative political activist says President Obama’s pro-Islamic leanings are to blame for radical Islamic groups becoming so emboldened that they are openly holding conferences on U.S. soil calling for the establishment of a global Islamic empire.”

Ed Whelan writes at National Review Bench Memos: “Here’s a high-level summary of yesterday’s anti-DOMA rulings by federal district judge Joseph L. Tauro (of Massachusetts).”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday in support of the federal government’s appeal of a federal judge’s ruling declaring the observance of the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional.

AP: “Delegates to the Presbyterian church’s convention in Minneapolis voted Thursday for a more liberal policy on gay clergy but decided not to redefine marriage in their church constitution to include same-sex couples. Approval of both measures could have made the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one of the most gay-friendly major Christian churches in the U.S.”

John Fund writes at WSJ: “As expected, he claimed that Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, an Obama appointee, overruled a unanimous recommendation by six career Justice attorneys for continued prosecution of members of the New Black Panther Party on charges of voter intimidation in an incident I detailed here yesterday. But Mr. Adams leveled an even more explosive charge beyond the Panther case. He testified that last year Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes made a jaw-dropping announcement to attorneys in Justice’s Voting Rights section. She said she would not support any enforcement of a key section of the federal “Motor Voter” law — Section 8, which requires states to periodically purge their voter rolls of dead people, felons, illegal voters and those who have moved out of state.”

AP: “The Church of England’s governing body is opening a five-day meeting dominated by more arguments about allowing women to be bishops.”

Law Professor Robert K. Vischer has this post at Public Discourse: “If one has any doubt about the impoverished state of our public discourse regarding key social concepts such as “diversity” and “discrimination,” look no further than last week’s decision by the Supreme Court in Christian Legal Society (“CLS”) v. Martinez.”

ADF attorney Travis Barham appeared KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss student rights at graduation ceremonies. This was recorded last week and includes some discussion of the CLS v. Martinez ruling. | MP3 22:04 mins

Heritage Foundation Foundry Blog: The storyline began in The Washington Post, where columnist Fareed Zakaria endeavored to find out why America’s 500 largest nonfinancial companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion in cash, rather than spending it on expansion (which would mean new jobs). Business leaders told Zakaria that it comes down to economic uncertainty surrounding new laws, regulations and taxes; the expansion of federal agencies’ authority; and the unknown implications of Obamacare, financial reform and cap-and-trade. And the kicker? Zakaria notes that most of them had voted for Obama yet all of them now believe he is “at his core, anti-business.”

Findlaw (AP): “Cuba has promised the Roman Catholic Church it will free 52 political prisoners, slashing the number held by nearly a third in what would be the communist-led island’s largest release of dissidents since Pope John Paul II visited in 1998.”

Findlaw (AP): “The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said Thursday that troops could be accidentally outed by answering the survey. Also, the group says the Defense Department has not agreed to give immunity to anyone inadvertently identified as gay by the poll.”

Shannon P. Duffy writes at the Legal Intelligencer: ust five days after a federal jury handed up its verdict in favor of the local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America in its suit against the city of Philadelphia, a potentially game-changing twist came down from on high when the U.S. Supreme Court announced a decision that could ultimately cause the verdict to be overturned. In court papers filed this week, the city lawyers are arguing that the verdict cannot stand because the Boy Scouts’ theory of the case was rejected by the Supreme Court in its June 28 decision in Christian Legal Society Chapter of University of California v. Martinez. But lawyers for the Scouts filed a response late on Wednesday that said the Martinez decision simply doesn’t apply and that the city’s reliance on it is misguided . . . ”

Gary Palmer of the Alabama Policy Institute writes: “Activists such as Elena Kagan have an agenda to restrict our natural rights and force us to conform to the dictates of the government. Whether it is gun control, political speech or our right to decide about our own health care, activist federal judges and justices will take these rights from us when they can get a majority of Supreme Court justices who will go along. When Elena Kagan is confirmed, Americans will be just one Supreme Court justice away from losing some fundamental rights. Many voters are paying close attention to the Kagan confirmation process to see if the Republicans will have the will to fight or whether they will be the same party they tossed out of power in the last two elections.”

Bloomberg: “Google Inc. said the Chinese government has renewed its Internet license, after the company submitted a revised application to meet regulations in the world’s biggest Internet market by users.”

“Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, Inc., The Taxpayers League of Minnesota, and Coastal Travel Enterprises, LLC want to be able to make contributions to political parties and/or candidates, and also produce political ads supporting the candidates they like. The First Amendment says they have the right to do these things. But Minnesota law forbids it.”

“The simple fact is that the right of the federal government to define marriage for the purposes of its federal law and federal territories has been clear since the late 19th century, when Congress banned polygamy. Only an incompetent defense could have lost this case.”

WSJ: “China is not manipulating its currency, but it remains undervalued, the Treasury Department said Thursday. Treasury made the announcement in a sensitive report to Congress that had been delayed in April to give China more time to adjust the value of its currency. Lawmakers and business groups argue China keeps the value of its currency artificially low to reduce the price of its exports at the expense of U.S. jobs . . . ”

James Turner writes at the Wall Street Journal: “”8: The Mormon Proposition” chronicles the role the church played in enshrining a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in California by supporting the 2008 passage of Proposition 8. As a spotlight on the suffering of same-sex couples and individuals who are rejected by family and church leaders, the film succeeds . . . Indeed, the fact that small minorities—gay and Mormon—can influence public policy through their activism reflects the basic health of our democracy. Thousands of people, many of whom had not previously been politically active, wrote checks, called neighbors and protested at rallies. While such observations are no consolation to California gay couples aspiring to legally marry, Proposition 8 did much to further the most vital political value of all, civic engagement.”

WSJ: “China is blocking a United Nations Security Council move to condemn North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship, say diplomats familiar with the negotiations, marking a rankling divide on the issue between the Washington and Beijing.”