Daily Archives: July 30, 2010

Rita Diller writing in the Washington Times: “Where’s the money? That’s the question on everyone’s mind after reading the recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The GAO numbers on money paid out to Planned Parenthood between 2002 and 2008 reveal an unaccounted-for $1.3 billion. No answers have been forthcoming. In typical Planned Parenthood style, the abortion giant has done nothing to shed light on the question. In fact, it has done just the opposite.”

“The brief asks that the suit be dismissed because the opponents have not proven that they have suffered any legal injury that would give them standing to sue over the state’s tuition tax credit program.”

Associated Press: “If Greene gets the Democratic nomination, the poll shows Crist with 37 percent, Rubio with 32 percent and Greene with 17 percent. If U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is the Democratic nominee, Crist receives 39 percent, Rubio 33 percent and Meek 13 percent. A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday showed Greene with a 10-point lead over Meek leading up to the Aug. 24 primary.”

LifeNews: “Senate Democrats plan a vote next week on the nomination of abortion advocate Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. They also plan to severely limit the amount of debate and discussion about Kagan’s nomination on the Senate floor, which is prompting an outcry from Republicans.”

Washington Post / 44 Politics and Policy: “Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced his opposition Friday to the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan, becoming the first Democrat to declare a ‘no’ vote on President Obama’s second nominee to the highest court in the nation.”

Associated Press: “Republican Sen. Judd Gregg says he plans to vote to confirm Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice.”

Dallas Morning News / Trail Blazers Blog: “Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced today that she will vote against confirming Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination when it comes before the Senate likely next week.”

Ministry of Justice: “The Government is proposing new rules about how courts in England and Wales deal with people accused of serious human rights violations . . . ‘The Government has concluded, after careful consideration, that it would be appropriate to require the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions before an arrest warrant can be issued to a private prosecutor in respect of an offence of universal jurisdiction.’”

Associated Press: “Ginsburg told a meeting of international lawyers Friday that American judges can learn from their foreign counterparts when seeking solutions to ‘trying questions.’”

LifeNews: “Carly Fiorina, the pro-life Senate candidate in California, is presenting pro-abortion Sen. Barbara such a tough challenge that Planned Parenthood says it plans to raise and spend $1 million attempting to save the seat of its closest ally in the Senate.”

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly: “In a July 28 roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill with religion reporters, Democratic senators acknowledged the involvement of faith communities in debating moral and social issues such as health care reform and economic recovery, but they also questioned whether there are limits to the role religious groups can play when it comes to what Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar called ‘dealing with the nitty gritty’ of partisan politics.”

Telegraph: “The investigation into Howard Martin, the disgraced GP who admitted hastening the deaths of some of his patients, has taken a new turn as two more families have come forward to claim that he had shortened the lives of their loved ones as long as 32 years ago.”

BBC: “A lively evening of debate is expected at a future meeting of the Positive Action Group in the Isle of Man.”

Baptist Press: “Churches could face six-figure fines if they continue to use wireless microphones that operate within a spectrum the Federal Communications Commission has set aside for public safety entities. ‘Certain wireless microphones have operated in frequencies that are needed for public safety. When these microphones were first designed, the frequencies they used were in between the frequencies that television stations used to broadcast television programs,’ the FCC explained.”

Irish Times: “Gay marriage is a goal of the Green Party, Minister for the Environment John Gormley told an event in Dublin to mark the passing of the civil partnership legislation.”

The Christian Institute: “Tens of thousands of school pupils were suspended from English schools last year for attacking their teachers or classmates, according to shocking new statistics. Almost 17,000 of these suspensions involved primary school pupils aged 11 and under, and over 63,000 of them involved children in secondary schools.”

Christian Institute: “A Scottish police force has launched a campaign to clamp down on ‘hate crimes’ and ‘hate incidents’. But critics are concerned that ‘hate crime’ initiatives are straying into issues of civil liberty by confusing disagreement with hatred. Earlier this month a report by the Civitas think-tank warned that Christians are being unfairly targeted for hate crime prosecutions.”

Public Discourse Editorial: “We’re hardly happy with our assessment of the new health care law’s treatment of abortion. It would indeed be nice if the claims advanced by Commonweal and Jost were true and the position held by Alvaré and every major pro-life group was false. But the law speaks for itself. There is nothing we can do except change it. One way to do so would be through the Protect Life Act, which was recently introduced into Congress. Here, surely, is a place where the pro-life movement can stand together. If Commonweal and Jost take protecting life as seriously as they took the imperative to pass the health care bill, they will stop sniping from the sideline and join us in the effort to restore the protections they helped destroy.”

Helen Alvaré writing at Public Discourse: “In a new twin set of pieces in Commonweal, legal scholar Timothy Jost and the magazine’s editors have responded to my Public Discourse essay on abortion and health care. Reasonable people can disagree, but the repeated refusal or inability of Professor Jost and Commonweal to acknowledge the basic facts of the case is enough to arouse suspicion.”

Michael J. New writing at National Review Online: “One unheralded success of the pro-life movement is that it has convinced many Americans that abortion is wrong. Now, obviously, not everyone wants to see abortion banned. Some individuals see abortion as a necessary evil; others think that keeping abortion legal reduces the amount of misery and suffering in the country. But the fact that many Americans think abortion is immoral has paid some important dividends.”

Star Advertiser: “A major opponent of a civil unions bill is considering its next move after a lawsuit was filed yesterday challenging the governor’s veto of the controversial legislation. ‘We’re formulating that (plan) right now,’ said Francis Oda, chairman of the Hawaii Family Forum, which was vocal in objecting to House Bill 444 throughout the legislative session.”

Politico: “Planned Parenthood and NARAL didn’t publicly petition HHS until after the new ban was imposed. And it took sympathetic Democrats on the Hill a full 10 days to write a letter expressing disappointment with the HHS — and even then, they were so squeamish about the issue that they never even used the word ‘abortion’ in their protest.”

LifeNews: “The Obama administration has approved the bid by cloning company Geron to undertake the first trial involving the use of embryonic stem cells in humans. They have never been used before in people because the cells cause tumors and have immune system rejection issues when tried in animals.”

CNBC: “China has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.”

Manila Standard Today: “The legal battle over the Education Department’s plan to introduce sex education in public schools is over, at least for now, after Church-based oppositors withdrew their suit Thursday.”

Telegraph: “Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, near Bristol, which supports the view that life was created by a divine force, is among a series of attractions to be awarded an official education kitemark. The zoo’s website says science has attempted to ‘remove any notion of God from our understanding of life’.”

New Jersey Jewish News: “New Jersey’s first Hebrew-language charter school has been given the final go-ahead by the state to open in September.”

Wisconsin Rapids Tribune: “Members of the Grand Rapids Legislative Committee are drafting an ordinance to regulate adult entertainment and adult-oriented businesses, Town Board Chairman Don Bohn said.”

The Charleston Gazette: “On Tuesday, Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster upheld a 2009 ruling by the Kanawha County Board of Zoning Appeals, which denied the club’s efforts to get its liquor license reinstated.”

First Coast News: “A Texas mother is outraged after her 11-year-old son was sent pornography by an online gamer he met while playing his Xbox.”

Timothy Larsen writing at Inside Higher Ed: “[S]cholars ought to be concerned that Christians often report that the academy is a hostile environment. Are academics generally glad that such a perception exists? If not, how might it be dispelled? If it is based on genuine experiences, what can be done about a climate that tolerates religious discrimination? If the two stories presented here are merely assailable, anecdotal evidence, then why not gather information on this issue more systematically? Do academic institutions ever try to discover if their Christian students or scholars experience discrimination?”

ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: “Yesterday afternoon, the University of Illinois reinstated Prof. Kenneth Howell and made clear that he could teach the same class, Introduction to Catholicism, that he taught before he was fired. NRO readers will recall that the university fired Professor Howell after he taught his class about Catholic beliefs regarding sexual morality.”

Washington Examiner: “The District has become one of the first cities in the nation to distribute female condoms for free, and the Washington AIDS Partnership has rolled out a campaign to use the condoms as a way to combat the spread of HIV.”

Guardian: “The Confederation of Indian Industry predicts [surrogacy] will generate $2.3bn (£1.5bn) annually by 2012. A recent report by the Indian Law Commission described it as a ‘pot of gold’. Radical legislation is to be introduced to bring some order to this booming but almost unregulated sector.”

Associated Press: “A draft constitution that Kenya votes on next week guarantees women the same rights as men – unless a judge in a Muslim family court decrees otherwise.”

Associated Press: “A minority Islamic sect told followers Friday to prepare for war after rock-throwing mobs attacked one of their mosques in central Indonesia, calling its members heretics.”

Religion Clause: “The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday denied en banc review in ACLU of Kentucky v. McCreary County (full text of court order). In the case, a majority of a 6th Circuit panel (see prior posting) approved issuance of a permanent injunction against display of the 10 Commandments along with other historical documents that refer to God in two Kentucky county court houses.”

SDGLN: “A group of Christian lawyers helping to represent Ward, the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement on Tuesday that they plan to appeal the judge’s ruling. ‘Christian students shouldn’t be penalized for holding to their beliefs,’ ADF Senior Counsel David French said, according to AllianceDefenseFund.org.”

Peoria Catholicism Examiner: “The Alliance Defense Fund received a letter from University of Illinois officials Thursday confirming that Dr. Kenneth Howell will be reinstated as an adjunct professor for the Fall of 2010.”

The News Gazette: “‘We’re extremely pleased that Dr. Howell is back in the classroom,’ said [David Hacker], an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. ‘But we’ll be watching carefully to make sure his academic freedom is protected through this ongoing process.’”

OneNewsNow: “[Jordan Lorence], senior counsel with ADF, is disappointed by the federal judge’s decision [in Ward v. Eastern Michigan University] because, as he says, ‘it basically has no respect for the right of conscience of Christians or other people who have sincere beliefs about the proper definition of marriage and whether certain sexual behaviors can be immoral.’”

Chicago Sun-Times: “‘We’re extremely pleased that Dr. Howell is back in the classroom,’ [David Hacker] said. ‘But we’ll be watching carefully to make sure his academic freedom is protected through this ongoing process.’”

California Watch: “The Los Angeles Community College District is trying to use the Hastings ruling to bolster its defense in a speech code case, in which a college professor mocked a student who was speaking about his Christian faith in class . . . [David Hacker], an attorney for Alliance Defense Fund who is representing Jonathan Lopez, responded with a letter of his own, saying the college district had misinterpreted the Hastings ruling.”

Inside Higher Ed: “A lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that defends religious students and faculty members, and that is representing Howell, said that the organization was much more concerned about his continued teaching than about the link between the university and the Newman Center . . . [Jordan Lorence], senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said Thursday that he was “extremely pleased” that Howell would be ‘back in the classroom’ in the fall.”

First Things / First Thoughts: “Dr. Kenneth Howell, the professor from the University of Illinois who lost his job for his explanation to his Introduction to Catholicism class of the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality, will be allowed to continue teaching the course this fall, according to a letter, dated July 28, from the University to the Alliance Defense Fund.”

Daily Illini: “‘We’re extremely pleased that Dr. Howell is back in the classroom and will be teaching this fall,’ said [David Hacker], litigation staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which has been providing support for Howell since his dismissal.”

Chicago Tribune: “[Jordan Lorence], an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal consortium representing Howell, commended university officials for reconsidering their actions and reinstating the associate professor. ‘The university has righted the wrong by letting Ken Howell back into the classroom,’ Lorence said. ‘They should never have removed him in the first place.’”

The Chronicle of Higher Education: “The Alliance Defense Fund, a coalition of Christian lawyers that has represented Mr. Howell, issued a statement in which its senior counsel, [David French], said, ‘We greatly appreciate the university’s move to put Professor Howell back in the classroom, but we will be watching carefully to make sure that his academic freedom is protected throughout the university’s ongoing process.’”

Christian Post: “Attorneys with a Christian legal firm have urged mayors in South Carolina and Florida not to give in to the demands of atheists by removing Christian invocations from their council meetings. ‘[W]e write to assure you that the Constitution clearly still protects the cherished practice of opening invocations,’ Brett Harvey, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, wrote in a letter to Mayor Gow Fields of Lakeland, Fla.” | ADF News Release

Catholic News Agency: “In Howell’s defense, the ADF declared that the First Amendment exists to keep controversial ideas from being suppressed. ‘A university cannot censor professors’ speech–including classroom speech related to the topic of the class–merely because certain ideas “offend” an anonymous student,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [David French].”

ADF Attorney David J. Hacker, writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “The University’s letter warns that Dr. Howell may not ‘violate the Constitutional principles precluding the “establishment of religion” in a public university context.’ It seems the University has not yet learned its lesson. No one alleged that Dr. Howell violated that principle or ever intended to. Yet the University’s warning invites viewpoint discrimination and further violations of academic freedom. The University must respect the right of faculty to speak freely in the classroom. Further, the University’s Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure intends to review the University’s actions to determine if it violated Dr. Howell’s academic freedom. We are confident the Committee will find in favor of Dr. Howell.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney who represented Howell in the case expressed cautious gratitude at the reversal. ADF had sent a letter to the University demanding that the school reverse the decision, or else face legal action. ‘We are extremely pleased that the university has asked for Dr. Howell to return to the classroom,’ ADF attorney [David French] told LifeSiteNews.com in an email Thursday afternoon, calling the move ‘a great victory for academic freedom, for Dr. Howell, and — crucially — for the students of the University of Illinois.’”

ADF Attorney Joel Oster writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “[A] recent decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of appeals in River of Life Kingdom Ministries v. Village of Hazel Crest, Illinois, threatens to gut the protections of RLUIPA . . . According to the court, the town was justified in discriminating against the city because ‘commerce and industry’ are ‘necessary and desirable elements of the community’. But what about the church? Is not the work of the church necessary and desirable for the community? Of course it is. But to certain government officials who only understand the value of the dollar, providing moral direction and the other benefits of churches is worthless.” | More information on the case is available here.

National Catholic Register: “According to the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been representing Howell in the matter, ‘the University of Illinois Office of University Counsel admits no wrongdoing on the part of the university but states, “The School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics will be contacting Dr. Howell to offer him the opportunity to teach Religion 127, Introduction to Catholicism, on a visiting instructional appointment at the University of Illinois, for the fall 2010 semester. Dr. Howell will be appointed and paid by the university for this adjunct teaching assignment.”‘”

LifeSiteNews: “‘No person – anywhere – should be punished simply for holding to Christian beliefs. Receiving special consultative status at the U.N. is a major advancement for ADF and our global legal efforts to protect and preserve religious freedom,’ said ADF Director of Global Activities and Strategic Alliances [Benjamin Bull].”

Restrictions in the ordinance, many of which do not apply to non-religious organizations, have forced the small congregation to stop meeting on its leased property and relocate to various inferior locations, resulting in plummeting attendance and causing cancellation of numerous ministries, outreaches, and functions.

Smacking Lesson: How the Council of Europe’s Ban on Corporal Punishment Could Serve as a Model for the United States
Timothy John Nolen, 16 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 519 (2010)

“Part I of this Note will discuss statistics concerning corporal punishment in the United States, focusing on the negative effects such punishment has on children and suggesting why it should be outlawed. Part II will address the legal status of corporal punishment in the United States and the potential challenges a complete federal ban might face, suggesting means whereby the Federal government could implement a national ban. Part III will discuss the legal status of corporal punishment in some member states of the Council of Europe. Part IV will address the effects that European bans have had on discouraging corporal punishment. Finally, Part V will examine the Council of Europe’s recent campaign to ban corporal punishment throughout Europe as a model for the United States Federal government.”

Polygamy in American: How the Varying Legal Standards Fail to Protect Mothers and Children from Its Abuses
Amy Fry, 54 St. Louis U. L.J. 967 (2010)

“Although polygamy is clearly being practiced in shadowed corners, it is a long-established criminal act in the United States. As a result, polygamy has always had an impact on child custody proceedings when practiced by one or both parents. Its controversial presence has had a strong yet varying effect on child custody rulings, as courts struggle to weigh the child’s best interests against parental rights and the freedom to practice one’s own religion. A highly-publicized recent battle is the In re Texas Department of Family & Protective Services case, for which final custody proceedings are still pending. This Note examines the ways courts have balanced these interests and why, what impact this most recent Texas case has on polygamy’s standing in the United States, and where the legal stance on polygamy should be headed. Part I focuses on the problem: how much of an impact should the practice of polygamy have on a child custody ruling? Fleshing out this question requires analyzing the history of the FLDS, the impact the FLDS has on mothers, and the malleable, varying ‘best interests of the child’ tests. Part II examines the impact of the recent Texas polygamy case, discussing the majority stance and the distinction made by its concurring opinion. Part III turns to a 1955 Utah Supreme Court case that exemplifies the position the United States once had towards polygamy. Part IV then compares the recent Texas ruling to the older Utah Supreme Court decision, examining the dangers of the current standard and emphasizing why courts should revert back to taking a stronger stand against polygamy. The illegality of polygamy and its abusive impact on children outweigh a mother’s right to raise her children and practice her religion in an FLDS polygamous sect more often than courts acknowledge. The Utah decision should be strongly considered in future child custody rulings involving polygamy as it signifies a better balance between religious freedom, parental rights, and child custody than the current legal standard.”

Lawrence B. Solum, The New Realities of the Legal Academy (July 30, 2010). BECOMING A LAW PROFESSOR: A CANDIDATE’S GUIDE, Brannon P. Denning, Marcia L. McCormick, and Jeffrey M. Lipshaw, eds., American Bar Association, Forthcoming; University of Illinois Law & Economics Research Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1651166

“When the Association of American Law School’s created the annual Faculty Recruitment Conference (or FRC) and the associated Faculty Appointments Register (or FAR), the landscape of the legal academy was forever changed. The change was slow in coming. For many years, candidates were selected for interviews at the FRC on the basis of the same old credentials and connections, but at some point (many would say the early 1980s), the rules of the game began to change. In baseball, a similar change is associated with Billy Beane, the manager of the Oakland Athletics, who defied conventional wisdom and built winning teams despite severe financial constraints by relying on statistically reliable predictors of success. The corresponding insight in the legal academy (developed by hiring committees at several law schools) was that the best predictor of success as a legal scholar was a record of publication. It turns out that law school grades, law review offices, and clerkships are at best very rough indicators of scholarly success. But those who successfully publish high quality legal scholarship are likely to continue to do so.”