Daily Archives: November 19, 2010

“The Montana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a former Butte High School valedictorian who was banned from speaking at her graduation because her speech contained religious references.”

AFP: “Spain’s socialist government will approve a draft law in March 2011 on end-of-life care that will allow people with incurable diseases to “die with dignity”, the deputy prime minister said Friday.”

CNSNews: “Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) today likened the United States of America to Iran, North Korea and Pakistan because those nations also do not allow homosexuals in their militaries.”

Politico: “Anti-abortion activists have launched a full-blown lobbying campaign to give Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) — a key lawmaker in the movement — the powerful gavel of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, which sets policy on abortion.”

CitizenLink has audio.

Red State: “I think it is necessary to point out, however, that the suggestion that social issues did not play a role in the GOP’s victories this year is also completely untrue . . . What libertarians conveniently forget is that abortion – particularly taxpayer funding of abortion – was a huge issue in the fight over Obamacare . . . Ultimately, 15 of the 20 Democrats targeted by the Susan B. Anthony List lost and 11 of the 12 Democrats targeted by Americans United for Life lost . . .”

Eugene Volokh writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “Josh Blackman has video, liveblogging, and my PowerPoint presentation. The panelists were Notre Dame Prof. Rick Garnett, the Alliance Defense Fund’s [Jordan Lorence], Paul Smith (the lawyer in this case for the Hastings gay student group), and me; Judge Bill Pryor of the Eleventh Circuit moderated. I much enjoyed the panel, and hope the audience did, too.”

Christian Today: “The Archbishop of Canterbury has spoken of his regret over the departure of five bishops to the Catholic Church but says he respects their decision . . . ‘I think the challenge is going to come in sorting out what is really going to be possible for shared use of churches, working out perhaps some of the challenges on how we as Anglicans ‘recommend’ people, and of course there will be at least some parishes that will now be without priests so we have a practical challenge here and there to supply,’ he said.”

Courthouse News Service: “A third challenge has been filed to Louisiana’s new abortion law. Five outpatient clincis and a doctor say Louisiana’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ allows state officials to suspend or revoke their licenses ‘based on any violation of any state or federal law or regulation’ without warning, in violation of due process. They say the law intends ‘to close down outpatient abortion facilities regardless of whether those facilities are operating safely.’” Complaint is here.

Ghana News Agency: “A statement issued in Accra by the Minister for Information, John Akologu Tia, described as ‘mischievous and untrue’ claims by an Accra-based newspaper that the government’s budget for next year would impose taxes on religious bodies.”

Grand Rapids Press: “A Holland city commission may consider excluding religious organizations from a proposed ordinance change that would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The Dominion Post: “In a landmark ruling the High Court has formally recognised Pakistan’s Islamic law, and allowed an 18-month-old boy to come to New Zealand. The judgment by Justice Christopher Allan in the case of ‘MH’ – as the child is now known – is the first by a New Zealand court to formally recognise the legal status of Pakistani guardianship.”

Suburban Life Publications: “Following an uproar over a canceled sporting event, District 181 officials may revise the school’s policy regarding scheduling activities to avoid religious holiday conflicts. The changes are being proposed by Consolidated Community School District 181’s Performance Monitoring Committee.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “The proposed rezoning for an expanded mosque in Lilburn will be the subject of a public information meeting Monday night.”

Boston Herald: “Harvard will formally bring ROTC back to campus if Congress acts to let gays serve openly in the military, the university’s president pledged Wednesday night in her most pointed comments on the subject to date.”

My Fox Houston: “Hundreds of area pastors say Houston Mayor Annise Parker is pursuing a personal and radical agenda at City Hall.”

LifeNews: “Yesterday, the Thomas More Society took another step toward the long-overdue enforcement of Illinois’ Parental Notice of Abortion Act by filing a ‘friend of the court’ brief in the Illinois Appellate Court on behalf of a bipartisan group of Illinois state attorneys.” Thomas More Society press release | Brief is here.

Associated Baptist Press: “A local government in Myanmar ordered a Baptist church to cease worship services after the pastor refused to wear an election campaign T-shirt supporting the country’s ruling military junta, Compass Direct News reported Nov. 18.”

Medical News Today: “Citing the importance of stable, committed relationships and the benefits of the institution of marriage, the American Psychiatric Association has joined several other mental health organizations in submitting an amicus curie brief in a case challenging California’s ban on same-sex marriage.”

Blog of LegalTimes: “Scalia, who was the headliner at the annual dinner of the Federalist Society’s national convention, said he would have felt pressure to build consensus on the Court if he had become chief justice. That would have meant, he said, writing fewer fiery opinions and concurrences.”

The Australian: “One of Labor’s most powerful factional bosses, Bill Ludwig, has urged the party against becoming obsessed with gay marriage. However, he has defended the call for same-sex unions, arguing the community’s views have evolved on the controversial issue.”

Iona Institute: “Religious people far more charitable than their non-religious counterparts, according to a new study. The research, carried out by leading academic Dr Robert Putnam and David E. Campbell, lecturer in political science at the University of Notre Dame found that, while secular Americans tended to be somewhat more tolerant, religious people were much more likely to be help the poor and the elderly.”

Boston Globe: “‘The Nobel Prize fiasco merely strengthens a growing suspicion of China — but also indicates that China feels it has enough power now not to really care about international opinion. Probably a serious miscalculation for China,’ said Christopher Hughes, a professor of China’s international affairs at the London School of Economics.”

LifeSiteNews: “A bill that proposed to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland has been rejected by a committee of cross-party Scottish parliamentarians. A five-to-one majority of the committee said Wednesday that they could not recommend approval of the principles of the bill.”

For more information, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/country-scotland+topic-euthanasia/

Kelly Clinger writing at LifeSiteNews: “The self-hatred is paralyzing. It lurks closely and tells me that I don’t deserve happiness. The guilt is suffocating. It has affected every relationship I have. I can’t trust or attempt intimacy. I would take a bullet for my out-of-the-womb children. Why didn’t I protect the ones inside?”

Washington Post: “Just a few weeks ago, before the Oct. 31 massacre, more than 350 people regularly attended Sunday Masses here. But now, many from this ancient Syriac Catholic community have fled. Others are too afraid to attend Mass in a place they think is being targeted by extremist groups and militias that have plagued the country during more than seven years of war.”

Metro News: “The fate of a Carleton University anti-abortion group remains in limbo while the university’s student association considers reversing a ban on pro-life student clubs . . . Though the deadline has passed, members of the association have introduced a motion to amend the policy and allow pro-life groups to register as clubs. A vote on the proposed change is planned for December, meaning the group could be reinstated, says Khaldoon Bushnaq, a spokesman for the association.”

Related:

Canada: Carleton University Student Association seeks to ban pro-life groups

Sault Ste. Marie Evening News: “The Superior Township board for the second straight month delayed voting on proposed adult entertainment and medical marijuana business.”

“‘There’s more than 60 senators, I’m convinced, who are prepared to vote for this bill, including Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who is voting with Democrats on this issue, said in a press conference Thursday morning.”

Reuters: “The Defense Department is aware that Internet traffic was rerouted briefly through China earlier this year, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday, referring to what a congressionally appointed panel has described as a hijack.”

Wall Street Journal: “When the Japanese and European companies that pioneered high-speed rail agreed to build trains for China, they thought they’d be getting access to a booming new market, billions of dollars worth of contracts and the cachet of creating the most ambitious rapid rail system in history. What they didn’t count on was having to compete with Chinese firms who adapted their technology and turned it against them just a few years later.”

Student Free Press: “A housing committee established to explore new gender-integrated living options distributed an e-mail survey to a sample of Vanderbilt University students last week to assess interest in gender mixed on-campus accommodations.”

Barbara Kay writing at the National Post: “The judge’s attitude is shameful. But what can you expect from someone who has been trained – literally, judges take structured learning programs steeped in feminist myths and misandric conspiracy theories – that women are never abusive or violent unless they have been driven to it by an abusive male. Judge Stong just could not get it into his head – he alluded to the ‘unimaginable facts of this case’ – that a woman could kill her children without a motivation involving a controlling male that somehow drove her to the act.”

OneNewsNow: “According to open homosexual Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), there is ‘zero chance’ that Congress will do anything on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). He says the focus will be on repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ But the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) has warned since last May that returning Democrats would try to pass ENDA and other controversial measures after the November 2 midterm elections.”

The Star-Ledger: “The Pew Research Center’s latest survey did turn up that growing perception of marriage’s obsolescence. It neglected, however, to ask people what they felt about it . . . It turns out Americans love marriage. They hope to marry, and most eventually will. Those who called marriage obsolete may be voicing a fear, not expressing a wish, says David Popenoe, the former Rutgers sociology professor and co-director of the National Marriage Project.” | More information in yesterday’s headlines in the ADF Alliance Alert

Wall Street Journal: “Fewer new businesses are getting off the ground in the U.S., available data suggest, a development that could cloud the prospects for job growth and innovation . . . The number of companies with at least one employee fell by 100,000, or 2%, in the year that ended March 31, the Labor Department reported Thursday.”

Dallas Morning News: “The Dallas school board on Thursday passed an anti-bullying policy that includes protections for gay and lesbian students. Local gay and lesbian groups praised the language and called DISD’s new policy pioneering. The policy includes provisions for a broad swath of students and is the first of its kind in DISD.”

The National: Muslims in the United States are trying to impose Sharia law by exploiting the nation’s legal system, says a new report by a group of former government officials and right-wing intellectuals.” | 177 Page report from the Center for Security Policy: Shariah – The Threat to America

David W. Virtue writing at Virtue Online: “There is something entirely disingenuous about the bishop’s claims. Whatever ‘toll’ or ‘strain’ he is talking about is entirely self-induced, if not self-inflicted. No one said he had to come out. No one said he had to run for bishop though he tried in three dioceses before he hit pay dirt in New Hampshire . . . Among his legacies will be the formation of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Robinson may take pride in the fact that over 100,000 former Episcopalians and some 900 churches have absconded from TEC forcing the national church and four dioceses to spend millions of dollars defending their right to properties.”

Telegraph: “In a lecture last night, the retired police officer, who led Scotland Yard during the 2005 suicide bombings on London’s transport system, said that religious leaders were losing the struggle to make it clear that faith impels them to do good deeds.”

Vikram David Amar writing at FindLaw: “On December 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument in the federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 — California’s voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriage. While the identity of the three judges to whom the appeal has been assigned won’t be known until a week before the argument, the time is ripe to sketch out at least some of the possible outcomes of the Ninth Circuit proceedings.”

LifeNews: “The web site a Minnesota couple created seeking a public vote on whether or not they should have an abortion, taking the life of their 17-week unborn child, has been declared a pro-life stunt by both sides of the abortion debate.”

James C. Capretta writing at Public Discourse: “Richard Stith, a pro-life law professor at Valparaiso University, is urging his fellow pro-lifers to stay off the ‘repeal and replace’ bandwagon. In an article for First Things online, he has suggested that a more promising approach for pro-lifers is amending the new law with clear pro-life language . . . No one suggests that all pro-lifers must adhere to this kind of thinking and support ‘repeal and replace.’ But, at the same time, it should not be expected that all pro-lifers will be satisfied with adding a Hyde-like amendment to what has already been passed.”

Washington Times: “Note to terrorists: Next time, wear a hijab. The Department of Homeland Security reportedly is giving special exemptions to their “enhanced pat-down” policy to Muslim women wearing the hijab or other form-concealing garments. Last week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a ‘travel advisory’ noting that women who are patted down ‘should remind the TSA officer that they are only supposed to pat down the area in question, in this scenario, your head and neck.’”

The Hill: “The vote on whether to raise the debt ceiling could put Republican freshmen into the uncomfortable position of going against their campaign messages to tackle the federal government’s debt by reduce spending.”

The Hill: “Reid will force a vote on extending tax cuts for families earning below $250,000 and individuals below $200,000 that would allow tax rates on the wealthy to expire. But it’s not clear whether that vote will be on a permanent or temporary extension because of a split in the Democratic caucus, a notable change since the election.”

Liberty Counsel: “As communities plan for the Christmas season, Liberty Counsel reminds citizens of the opinion issued by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that Christmas displays and Nativity scenes can be legally exhibited on public property.”

The Inquirer: “On Wednesday night, the Nutter administration said it expected City Council to introduce legislation Thursday required for Philadelphia to sell the property to the scouts. That surprised Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who would have introduced the bill because the building is in his district.”

G Philly: ACLU objects to Boy Scout deal

Associated Press: “Thai police investigating a strong smell emanating from a Buddhist temple have found more than 2,000 fetuses hidden in the complex’s morgue that appear to have come from illegal abortion clinics.”

Associated Press: “Stocks dipped Friday after China moved to curb inflation after days of speculation.”

Wall Street Journal: “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke fired back amid criticism at home and abroad of the Fed’s easy-money policies, arguing that China and others are causing global problems by preventing their currencies from strengthening as their economies boom.”

WorldNetDaily: “Napoleon said of the Middle Kingdom, ‘Let (China) sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.’ The shaking has begun. So the question arises: Who put us in this predicament? Who awakened, fed and nurtured this tiger to where she is growling at all Asia and baring her teeth at the United States? Answer: the free trade uber alles Republicans.”

Associated Press: “About 50 Church of England priests have expressed interest in joining five of their bishops in converting to Roman Catholicism, a senior Catholic leader said Friday.”

Associated Press: “The world’s cardinals met Friday in a rare Vatican summit to discuss the most pressing issues facing the church, including the sex abuse scandal, religious freedom and the conversion of Anglicans to Catholicism.”

Wired: “On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill that would give the Attorney General the right to shut down websites with a court order if copyright infringement is deemed ‘central to the activity’ of the site — regardless if the website has actually committed a crime.”

SCOTUSblog: “The Ninth Circuit Court agreed on Wednesday to allow live and delayed broadcasting of the Dec. 6 oral argument on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 — California’s ban on same-sex marriage. In a brief order, the Court cleared live broadcasting by C-SPAN, the cable network. It also gave permission to a San Francisco station, KGO-TV, an ABC affiliate, to provide coverage.”

Associated Press: “International sports officials are completing guidelines on how to deal with athletes with ambiguous sexual characteristics.”

Adam Liptak writing in the New York Times: “The Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is often criticized for issuing sweeping and politically polarized decisions. But there is an emerging parallel critique as well, this one concerned with the quality of the court’s judicial craftsmanship. In decisions on questions great and small, the court often provides only limited or ambiguous guidance to lower courts.”

Orin Kerr responds at The Volokh Conspiracy: “No matter what Supreme Court opinions look like, there will always be someone who criticizes them for not being clear enough . . . In my experience, judges and lawyers in the lower courts know exactly what to do with concurrences in Supreme Court opinions that don’t provide the crucial vote. For the most part they just ignore them, unless the concurrences happen to have some language that the lawyer or judge needs to support the argument they’re making anyway.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State / The Wall of Separation: “ADF lawyers, however, just couldn’t let the matter go. They insisted that university officials had been guilty of selective enforcement – in other words, that the school had imposed the ‘no-discrimination’ policy on the CLS chapter while letting other groups get away with it . . . On Wednesday, a federal appeals court tossed out that claim as well. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was too late for CLS to raise that claim since the group hadn’t brought it up before.”

Iowa Independent: “Five out-of-state organizations spent $948,355 . . . Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund and one of its affiliates, the Texas-based Liberty Institute, offered free legal representation to any church who openly violated federal tax law by advocating for the removal of the judges from the pulpit. Federal tax law forbids 501(c)3 organizations, including churches, from intervening in elections in support of or opposition to any candidate.”

DOMA and the Constitution
Mark P. Strasser, 58 Drake L. Rev. 1011 (2010)

“Part II of this Article addresses some of the constitutional issues implicated in the full faith and credit provision and discusses some of the different possible constructions of the provision and the ways that these different constructions would make the provision more or less vulnerable to constitutional attack. Part III analyzes some of the special constitutional difficulties associated with the provision defining marriage for federal purposes. The Article concludes that DOMA is vulnerable on a number of grounds, some peculiar to the jurisprudence associated with the substance of the respective provisions and others that might invalidate both provisions. While it is not clear whether the Supreme Court will ultimately hear a constitutional challenge to DOMA or, if so, how the Court will rule, it is clear that the analysis offered by the Court will likely have important implications for individuals’ rights and for state and congressional powers.”

Stemming Sexting: Sensible Legal Approaches to Teenagers’ Exchange of Self-Produced Pornography
Elizabeth C. Eraker, 25 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 555 (2010)

“The term sexting often describes a broad range of behaviors that differ radically in terms of the actors, motivations, and tactics involved. In this Note, the term ‘sexting’ refers to the self-production and distribution by cell phone of sexually explicit images in the course of consensual, voluntary activity by teenagers. This definition describes a phenomenon differing from the use of texting by sexual predators to exploit youth, a set of issues that is not addressed here, and the use of sexting to cyberbully. This Note focuses primarily on the typical sexting case involving the limited exchange of provocative messages concerning consensual sexual activity between willing participants.

The prevalence of sexting and the severity of its consequences have prompted state and federal policymakers to consider various legislative proposals, from crafting new criminal offenses to introducing educational programs. In exploring appropriate legal responses to sexting, this Note attempts to strike a balance between competing policy objectives, such as teenage privacy and the state’s interest in preventing child sexual abuse and child pornography, while respecting the extent to which the digital revolution changed how teenagers communicate and interact in social spaces. While society may want to minimize teenagers’ production and distribution of provocative images even under consensual and private circumstances, sexting should be exempt from treatment under child pornography statutes. In Part I, this Note explores the sexting phenomenon and its underlying causes in the context of a digital generation of teenagers. Part II surveys the varied responses of authorities to sexting incidents, including prosecutors and state legislators. Part III discusses the range of policy issues implicated in designing an appropriate legal framework to address sexting. Part IV concludes by suggesting several legislative components that could help authorities discipline the harms of sexting without resorting to ill-suited child pornography statutes.”

Same-Sex Second-Parent Adoption and Intestacy Law: Applying the Sharon S. Model of “Simultaneous” Adoption to Parent–child Provisions of the Uniform Probate Code
Jason Beekman, Cornell Law Review

“The United States is currently enmeshed in a national debate over same-sex marriage. The debate is occurring in courtrooms as frequently as it occurs at the polls and in state and national legislatures. However, the legal system must address ‘trickle down’ issues stemming from, but extending beyond, the task of simply determining the particular legal status that laws grant to a homosexual relationship. One of the major trickle down issues, though often left out of the public discourse, concerns parental determination for children of same-sex couples. Left even further outside pundit discussions, however, is how this parental determination for children of same-sex couples affects the children’s inheritance rights under the laws of intestate succession. The latter concern is the principal subject of this Editorial and the full-length Note on which it is based.”

CitizenLink: “One of the most troubling hearings was called by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who resurrected the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The move is seen as attempt to move the treaty – for the first time – to the Senate floor for a vote.”