Daily Archives: July 16, 2010

Blog of the Legal Times: “Caitlin Halligan, a top lawyer in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, may be headed to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.”

Yahoo News (AP): “A judge on Friday declined to force the state controller to comply with an order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pay state workers minimum wage while the state remains without a budget . . . Deputy Controller Hallye Jordan said the decision means state workers will continue to receive their full wages in July and August.”

ADF attorney Greg Baylor will be on Hannity on Fox News Channel tonight, Friday July 16th, live at 9:30 PM Eastern. He will be in studio discussing the situation involving Arizona students prohibited from praying outside SCOTUS.

Linda Greenhouse writes at the NY Times: “But during this past term, Justice Kennedy was in dissent in 5 of the 18 cases decided by five-vote majorities (a figure that amounts to one-quarter of the 73 cases decided with signed opinions, down from 31 percent in the previous term and 40 percent in the term before that.) Three justices to Justice Kennedy’s right, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., all cast fewer dissenting votes in those close cases (three, three and four, respectively) and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was tied with Justice Kennedy at five.”

InfoRegion (Google Translation): The General Peace Judge Covello Marta Pico that he does not marry a same-sex couples because this contrary to their religious convictions: “Nobody is going to change my thinking. Someone is going to marry those couples, if they have orders, but not me, “said the magistrate.

Reuters: “Governor Joe Manchin on Tuesday appointed his former general counsel, Carte Goodwin, as interim successor to Senator Robert Byrd, who died last month at age 92 after 57 years in Congress.”

Fox News: “President Obama has not fulfilled his pledge to close the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, but he has brought Skype, Playstation3 and “life skills” classes to the detainees at the island facility.” (Notably: This report, dated July 13th, is not showing up in Google News. It is in Yahoo News.)

CNN (includes video): “In Islam, a mosque means ‘We have conquered this country,’” one man told CNN affiliate WTVF. “And where are they? They’re in the center of Tennessee. They’re going to say, ‘We have conquered Tennessee.’”

CNSNews: “We are gravely disappointed that the University would succumb to such a ‘heckler’s veto,’ jettison principles of academic freedom, and violate Dr. Howell’s First Amendment freedoms.  And we insist that he be reinstated to his teaching position immediately,” the letter said. “We are seriously going to consider a lawsuit if they do not back down from this.  It was clear cut censorship of a professor simply for expressing a politically incorrect view in the classroom on the subject that the class was about,” Jordan L[aw]rence, the Alliance Defense Fund attorney representing Howell, told CNSNews.com.

ADF attorney Matt Bowman appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss this: Patients’ health, pharmacists’ conscience protected in Wash., court agrees to halt trial. | MP3 11 mins

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Drew Mariani Show to discuss Ill. Prof. fired for teaching Catholic position against homosexual behavior | MP3 24:55 mins

Bob Ellis writing at Dakota Voice: “Some days (too many days) my heart just aches for how upside-down and off course our nation has become. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) says Maureen Rigo, a Christian private school teacher, went to the U.S. Supreme Court with her students. Outside the building, she and her students went over to one side out of the way and prayed. They soon found that, in front of the building where judges are charged with upholding the U.S. Constitution (including the First Amendment right to free speech and freedom of religious expression), prayer is not allowed. From the ADF release . . . ”

NBCAugusta.com: “For us to do a prayer, I think it should refer to a higher power and that’s what other government entities like Congress use. ‘As long as we don’t focus on a specific region or religious figure we’re legally okay,’ Moore said.”

Christian Newswire: “The deposition of the former Director of Residential Life, whose job included the direct supervision of the campus police and the protest policies on campus, intends to reveal whether pro-gay rights and anti-military protesters were treated more leniently than the ND88 in the University’s reaction to the different groups’ protesting activities. The court may eventually hear testimony that Notre Dame allegedly engaged in viewpoint discrimination by prosecuting only pro-lifers while allowing others without allegedly requisite written permits to demonstrate without penalty. ND88 lawyers allege selective enforcement of the trespass law in violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights.”

Washington Post: “The silence is by design, activists with the loosely affiliated movement said, because it is held together by an exclusive focus on fiscal matters and its avoidance of divisive social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Privately, though, many said they back the decision because it emphasizes the legal philosophy of states’ rights.”

Christian Post (Compass Direct News): “Suspected Islamic extremists fired bullets into the car of a Christian evangelist with impunity last month, while in another Punjab Province town stray gunfire led to two Christians being falsely accused of murder.”

UPI: “But the plan would allow European Council President Herman Van Rompuy the privilege of addressing the General Assembly like heads of state. The EU would also be able to submit resolutions and amendments, to reply and to make points of order.”

Eugene Volokh writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: ” . . . how are courts to determine whether the adult is mentally competent, especially when the refusal of treatment seems to be motivated by the person’s belief that God will save her and thus she won’t actually die? That’s the issue in In re Matter of J.M. (N.J. Super. Ct.), just released earlier this month. Here are some excerpts . . . ”

Human Events: “Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, met yesterday with Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life (AUL) to discuss evidence of Supreme Court Elena Kagan’s central role in defeating a ban on partial-birth abortion . . . ”

BBC: “Saturday’s protest was to highlight what they believe is an ‘ideological attack’ on Islam. Organiser Muhammad Abu Yaffir said: ‘Muslims feel very strongly about these laws being introduced across Europe’.”

Daily Mail: “It is a decision no parent ever wants to make. But as the Rudd family watched their 43-year-old son lying paralysed and comatose on a life support machine, they came to a terrible conclusion. Recalling a conversation where Richard told them he wouldn’t want to be trapped in a useless body, his relatives agreed it was time to let him go. Yet even as the Rudd family mentally prepared to say goodbye, his doctor made a startling discovery. Despite his devastating spinal injuries, Richard Rudd was still able to blink his eyes in response to simple questions . . . ”

AFP: “South Korean doctors will be allowed to remove life support from terminally ill patients after confirming their wish to die, under new medical guidelines on mercy killing, officials said Wednesday.”

CTV.ca: “One day after Health Minister Yves Bolduc’s announcement Quebec will fund in-vitro fertilization treatment, the reproductive centre at the Royal Victoria Hospital has been flooded with phone calls from prospective parents. The provincial government announced Tuesday it would foot the bill for three IVF treatments for Quebec women as of Aug. 5, growing to a potential 7,000 cycles by 2014, and costing up to $64 million annually”

John Corvino writes at 365Gay.com: Among the responses was a statement from Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Kentucky, chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage. ‘Marriage exists prior to the state and is not open to redefinition by the state,” Kurtz said. “The role of the state, instead, is to respect and reinforce marriage.’ . . . Archbishop Kurtz is right when he says that ‘Marriage exists prior to the state.’ He’s just wrong to think that it’s solely heterosexual.

AP: “Officials in Russia’s violent, largely Muslim republic of Dagestan say a Christian bishop has been shot to death by unknown attackers.”

Rasmussen: “. . . national telephone survey finds that just 23% of voters nationwide believe the federal government today has the consent of the governed. Sixty-two percent (62%) say it does not, and 15% are not sure . . . ”

Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr. writes at Townhall: “Same-sex marriage activists repeatedly declare that their victory is ‘inevitable.’ These declarations remind me of the threats youthful bullies made in my community when I was growing up. Taunting, jeering, and name-calling were all apart of their reign of intimidation.”

UPI: “Howell is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative group in Arizona that defends religious freedom. ‘The context is pretty clear. … He was trying to give clarity to what the Catholic position is,’ Jordan Lorence, a lawyer with the fund, said. ‘They had had a robust discussion in class. He felt this e-mail would give greater clarity.’”

Chuck Colson writes at Crosswalk (Breakpoint): “As you know, I am devoting my remaining years of ministry to equipping Christians to live out, defend, and apply their faith—their Christian worldview—in all areas of life. And that’s why I am deeply committed to movements—like-minded Christian organizations working together. So I purposely try to highlight the work of other organizations that are making a difference—helping Christians impact and shape culture. One of those organizations is the Alliance Defense Fund, which is on the front lines and in the court rooms, defending religious freedom. I recently received an email from Alan Sears, ADF’s president, pointing out some superb resources ADF has created on one of the most recent threats to religious liberty: the impending repeal of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.”

Christian Post: “A Christian legal firm has threatened U.S. Supreme Court officials with a lawsuit unless they state in writing that people can quietly pray on the court’s grounds. A letter was sent by the Alliance Defense Fund on Thursday on behalf of a Wickenburg, Ariz., teacher who was prohibited by a Supreme Court police officer in May from praying with her students on the steps of the court. ‘There is no reason to silence Mrs. Rigo’s activities since these activities do not attract attention, create a crowd, or give off the appearance of partiality,” ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum argues in the letter. “The ban on private prayers cannot hope to survive First Amendment scrutiny.’”

Fox News: “According to Nate Kellum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a police officer “abruptly” interrupted the prayer and ordered the group to cease and desist. ‘They were told to stop praying because they were violating the law and they had to take their prayer elsewhere,’ Kellum told FOX News Radio. A spokesperson for the Court said the Marshal of the Court will look into the events alleged by the ADF.”

Washington Post: “Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been battling gay unions, said: ‘The decision from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals today means that those living in our nation’s capital are being denied their most fundamental freedom — the right to vote. We are considering our options to right this wrong, which include asking the Supreme Court of the United States to consider this case.’”

Liberty Counsel: “The case involving controversial protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers is raising concerns about the future of First Amendment protections for all Americans. Liberty Counsel is concerned about the effects this case could have on First Amendment rights and has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, warning of the potential for serious harm to the First Amendment.”

“Whether in China’s prudish culture the pulling down of an 18-year-old girl’s pants by officers who were using force to try to extract urine from her, jailing her until her family paid a fine equal to a third of her year’s wages, and feeding her tainted food in the jail amounted to persecution is an issue in the first instance for the Board to decide.”

Michael Foust of Townhall (Baptist Press): “The suit was brought by D.C.-area pastor Harry Jackson, former D.C. delegate Walter Fauntroy and others who were represented by attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund and StandforMarriageDC.com . . . Austin R. Nimocks, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney who argued the case before the court in May, called the decision a blow to the ‘right to vote.’ ‘The citizens of the District of Columbia should not have their voices suppressed by the government, but that is exactly what is happening here,’ Nimocks said. ‘The decision from the D.C. Court of Appeals means that those living in our nation’s capitol are being denied their most fundamental freedom: the right to vote. We are considering our options to right this wrong, which include asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider this case . . . ”

Windy City Times: “While Bishop Harry Jackson, a pastor in Maryland, has been the public face of this litigation, the truth is that outside groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund are the driving force behind these anti-equality measures.”

Charisma: “This case involves the fundamental right of individual Americans to vote,” said Byron Babione, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and a member of its Marriage Litigation Center. “It is an extremely important issue and one which could be very attractive to the Supreme Court. We are weighing our options about whether to appeal, and we feel like our case would be very strong.”

One News Now: “A major pornography trial involving an adult film producer who has criticized the prosecution of obscenity cases is under way in Washington, DC. Pat Trueman, special counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and former chief prosecutor of Department of Justice obscenity cases, tells OneNewsNow the case is a holdover from the Bush administration . . . ‘Any obscenity case is critical because it’s going to send a signal on whether or not these cases are winnable,’ Trueman notes. ‘So far in the whole history of the Department of Justice, virtually every case has been won.’ . . . “But believe me, if it isn’t, the pornography industry and some in government will cheer that the case is lost,” he adds. The ADF special counsel, who recently launched the website PornHarms.com . . . ”

National Catholic Register: “The Supreme Court has given a California public law school the go-ahead to defund a Christian student club for restricting membership to Christians willing to abstain from sex until marriage . . . ‘It seems self-evidently nonsensical,’ agreed Greg Baylor, chief counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund. The ruling could do real damage, he told the Register, if other colleges anxious to crack down on free religious expression establish their own all-comers policies . . . ”

Christian Science Monitor: “The DC Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Washington was within its rights to block a popular vote on same-sex marriage because the results could violate its human rights law. The city legalized gay marriage in March . . . ‘Individual states shouldn’t have the right to impose a radical redefinition of marriage on the rest of the country,’ Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, said in response to Judge Tauro’s decision in Massachusetts.”

Spero News: The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to U.S. Supreme Court officials on July 15 that urges them to stop their police officers from prohibiting people from quietly praying outside the court building . . . “Christians shouldn’t be silenced for exercising their beliefs through quiet prayer on public property,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “The last place you’d expect this kind of obvious disregard for the First Amendment would be on the grounds of the U.S. Supreme Court itself, but that’s what happened.”

Plaintiffs are three nightclubs where women give erotic dance performances wearing only g-strings and pasties. The clubs brought First Amendment, vagueness, and overbreadth challenges to Virginia’s alcohol licensing program, which allows the clubs to serve beer and wine but not mixed beverages.

AP: “China is the largest foreign holder of Treasury securities. The 3.6 percent drop in China’s holdings in May will likely raise concerns that China could shift money away from Treasury securities. That could raise the cost of financing America’s soaring budget deficit.”

Emily Beza has this lengthy article in the NY Tims Mag titled: “The New Abortion Providers” (July 12, 2010)

Compare Catholic Culture article written by ADF attorney Matt Bowman and Daniel Allott of American Values: More “Access” Means Less Care

Michael Barone writes at the NY Post: “One interesting thing about the Obama administration is the strange domi nance of labor unions. Yes, President Obama and other Democratic leaders owe the unions something: Unions gave $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle, and expect to get something in return . . . Unions now represent only 7 percent of private-sector workers . . . ”

“Specter seemed not particularly impressed with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, whose nomination as solicitor general Specter opposed last year. This week, he announced support for her Supreme Court nomination.”