Daily Archives: January 25, 2011

Arizona Republic: “Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled a new website Monday that aims to help parents choose the best education options for their children. The governor announced the creation of arizonaschoolchoice.com as part of National School Choice Week.”

LifeNews: “A new study sponsored by Students for Life of America follows an August 2010 scandal involving the University of North Carolina, whose system mandated health care coverage for the 2010-2011 school year. UNC required its students to have health care and automatically enrolled them in a plan that covered elective abortions.”

Washington Post / On Faith: “Human Rights Watch is calling on the United States to return Vietnam to a list of the world’s worst abusers of religious freedom, accusing it of continuously harassing some groups trying to worship peacefully.”

AlertNet: “A prison where Soviet-era writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was jailed and a third of inmates are Muslims from the North Caucasus and Central Asia, has become the first in Moscow to open a Muslim.”

David Briggs writing at The Huffington Post: “No more than 15 percent of adults in the world’s most populous country are ‘real atheists.’ 85 percent of the Chinese either hold some religious beliefs or practice some kind of religion, according to the Chinese Spiritual Life Survey.”

LifeNews: “A hearing will take place next month on a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses it of doing an abortion on her without her consent. Brandy Hildreth of Granite City is suing the Hope Clinic for Women, located outside St. Louis, for having a different abortion practitioner do the abortion.”

Orange County Register: “Dr. Andrew Rutland, the Anaheim obstetrician-gynecologist accused by the California Medical Board of homicide in the death of an abortion patient, has agreed to surrender his medical license for a second time.”

Houston Chronicle (AP): “Gov. Rick Perry has declared an emergency issue of efforts to require a woman considering an abortion to first have a sonogram. The Texas House received the official filing from Perry Monday. He first announced the plan Saturday at an anti-abortion rally in front of the Capitol.”

LA Times / LA Now: “The Temecula City Council is expected to vote on a proposed mosque Tuesday night after months of often caustic debate over the religious facility in the conservative southwest Riverside County town.”

LifeSiteNews: “The conference gave older leaders present a refreshing look at the upbeat pulse sustaining the new generation of pro-lifers. At the morning general session, Alliance Defense Fund Attorney [David French] said, ‘I look out into this crowd and I see the energy and the commitment that is going to transform the future. And I don’t see that everywhere I go, but I see it here.’”

CB Online (AP): “The Idaho Board of Pharmacy says it has no basis to start proceedings against Walgreens in a complaint that alleged one of the drug store’s pharmacists in Nampa improperly refused to fill a prescription.”

Bloomberg: “When they finally resumed routine inspections of abortion clinics last year after more than 15 years, Pennsylvania health regulators ordered 14 of the state’s 22 freestanding clinics to remedy problems, a review of records shows.”

LifeNews: “The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed a measure on Tuesday 12-2 to opt out of allowing any abortion funding under the state exchanges the Obamacare law sets up by 2014.”

KAKE: “Kansas’ top public health officials says abortion providers will be required to provide more details to the state about late-term procedures that they perform.”

Politico: “As reproductive health advocates brace for a wave of state-level abortion restrictions, they also see a glimmer of hope in a little-noticed health reform provision: increased Medicaid access to family planning and contraceptives.”

Washington Times: “Hezbollah secured the support from a majority of parliament Monday to nominate its candidate for prime minister, putting the Iranian-backed militant group in position to control Lebanon‘s new government.”

LifeSiteNews: “The French government is opposing two bills under consideration in the country’s Senate to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.”

The National: “Two courts made a mistake when they exempted a borrower from the interest he owed on delayed loan repayments on the grounds that it was forbidden by Sharia, the Supreme Court has ruled. The judgment, in court documents released yesterday, involved an unidentified bank owed more than Dh200,000 in interest by a man from Umm al Quwain. The bank’s demands for interest were rejected by two lower courts on the grounds that charging interest violated Islamic law.”

Washington Times: “House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, plans to meet President Obama‘s call for bipartisanship and education reform by restoring a D.C. voucher program that the president killed.”

Melanie Phillips writing in the Daily Mail: “Penalising religious people for speaking and acting in accordance with their beliefs is neither liberal nor tolerant. It is behaviour more commonly associated with totalitarian dictatorships . . . Many different groups are involved in promoting this crazy, upside-down world of the equality agenda. But the seemingly all-­powerful gay rights lobby carries all before it. If it isn’t careful, it risks turning gay people from being the victims of prejudice into Britain’s new McCarthyites.”

This is Staffordshire: “A 74-year-old nun who has worked to keep her community afloat has been told by judges she will not receive state pension benefits as long as she continues to be supported by her religious order. Benedictine Sister Mary Isobel Scott was at the centre of an Appeal Court test case, in which the Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) refusal to support elderly members of religious orders across the country was challenged.”

The Christian Institute: “The majority of church-goers in the UK feel that Christians are being increasingly marginalised in public life, a new survey has revealed. According to the poll, conducted by ComRes on behalf of Premier Christian Media, 81 per cent of church-goers think the marginalisation of Christians is happening more and more in the media and press.”

ABC Radio Australia: “Several Pacific island congregations in the Uniting Church of Australia have formed a potential breakaway movement, over the issue of homosexuality.”

Christian Today: “Peter and Hazelmary Bull are challenging the decision after several days of consultation with their legal team following last week’s ruling . . . The Christian Institute’s director, Colin Hart, said the guesthouse had since been ‘besieged’ with demands for double rooms by homosexual couples ‘seemingly in a bid to destroy the business.’”

The Christian Institute: “Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, has said that the equality laws are ‘ludicrous and pointless’ and Dominic Raab, MP for Esher and Walton, has described them as ‘divisive’. Their remarks come as the Government has admitted that the overall cost of implementing the legislation over the next year will be £100 million.”

OneNewsNow: “As the Students for Life of America (SFLA) conference set a record in attendance, [Jordan Lorence] of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) reports that what ‘struck’ him was that ‘even after 38 years of Roe v. Wade, a pro-abortion media, many college faculty members being pro-abortion [and] the legal system [being] pro-abortion, they have not closed the deal with the next generation of Americans.’”

USA Today: “The Illinois Supreme Court, which has issued a stay to keep Rahm Emanuel on the Chicago mayoral ballot, now says it will hear his challenge of an appeals court ruling denying him a spot, The Associated Press reports.”

WOSU: “A U.S. Supreme Court ruling this past summer may have implications for some student organizations at Ohio State University. As WOSU’s Sam Hendren reports, officials are trying to decide if religious clubs should continue to be able to exclude certain students.”

Toledo Blade editorial: “Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a California law school was within its rights to withhold official recognition from a campus group that was not open to all students. Student government leaders at Ohio State University believe, correctly, that this state’s flagship public university should follow that example.”

International Free Press Society: “The Judge heard both sides and has deferred judgment until January 31st, 2011. In the meantime, we will continue to post expressions of support for Lars Hedegaard’s right to freedom of speech. We wish to once again thank all those who have written so eloquently and passionately on the subject of his trial. Lars reports that he is in fine shape – not least due to all of the support he has received. He knows that he is not alone which has made a tremendous difference in keeping his spirits up.”

New York Times: “A new study reports that men whose parents divorced before they were 18 are two to three times as likely to seriously consider taking their own lives than men whose parents were not divorced by that age. Women whose parents divorced by age 18 were not affected as significantly. They, too, thought about suicide more often than other women, but the thoughts were explained by other traumatic experiences they’d had, like childhood abuse.”

Malaysia Sun: “Gays and lesbians need more support to protect their rights, even if homosexuality raises cultural issues in some parts of the world, the UN chief said Tuesday.” | Full text of the Secretary-General’s remarks.

Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Democratic lawmakers Tuesday announced support for bills that would make it illegal in Virginia to discriminate against gays and lesbians in the state workforce and Virginia National Guard.”

NECN: “Maryland’s Senate and House majority leaders are holding a news conference to talk about their proposed Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act to recognize same-sex couples.”

Trib Local / Hinsdale: “Following more than an hour of discussion, the Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 school board voted 6 to 1 to place a revised version of its current school calendar policy on public display at Monday night’s business meeting. The changed policy inserts ‘make reasonable effort to’ avoid scheduling events and activities for days or times that would create a ‘foreseeable conflict’ — instead of ‘foreseeable religious conflict’ as the policy read before.”

Billings Gazette: “Wyoming judges wouldn’t be allowed to consider Islamic law or international law when making rulings, under a proposed state constitutional amendment introduced this week.”

St. Louis Review: “A bill filed in the state House of Representatives would amend the Missouri Constitution to offer parents a stipend for educating their children at any accredited K-12 school in Missouri, including Catholic schools. The proposed amendment, HJR 10 sponsored by State Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, would also repeal current language in the state constitution that prohibits assistance to any activities that support a religious creed or religious school.”

WNCT: “South Carolina senators are considering whether to legalize friendly games of poker.”

Asheville Citizen-Times: “A group of 25 local religious leaders is meeting at noon today to press the City of Asheville to adopt a resolution that extends and formalizes equal rights for everyone, including gays and lesbians and same-sex couples.”

The Chattanoogan: “With religious conservative Gov. Sonny Perdue out of office, a push is on for legislation allowing Sunday alcohol sales in communities all over the state.”

David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey writing in the Wall Street Journal [full text via Google News]: “Last week, liberal activists at Common Cause called on the United States Justice Department to investigate Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas for a supposed ethical lapse . . . Common Cause got its facts wrong. The Justices did not disclose reimbursements by the Kochs because they were actually the guests of the nonpartisan Federalist Society (a regular sponsor of public debates and speeches on legal and policy issues), which they did report.”

Associated Press: “Scalia made the short walk from the Supreme Court to the Capitol on Monday to speak at a seminar organized by GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann and the Tea Party Caucus. In remarks closed to the media, Scalia told about 50 members of Congress and their staff to ‘pay attention’ and read up on their roles. Attendees described the associate justice as professorial and occasionally playful.”

Bloomberg: “The court’s contingent will now include two Republican- appointed justices and four who were appointed by Democratic presidents. Republican-nominated Anthony Kennedy and Democratic appointees Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are also planning to attend.”

Eve Tushnet writing at Cato Unbound: “Why is marriage the only area of contemporary politics in which tradition is used explicitly as a justification? . . . Two things have happened to contemporary marriage which all but compel traditionalist rhetoric in a non-traditionalist culture. First, one of marriage’s core purposes has been suppressed in public discourse. Marriage developed in major part to regulate sex between men and women—to regulate it not solely within marriage but before marriage . . . Secondly, the competing authorities that used to combine to make marriage compelling have now been discredited or pitted against one another. Church and state once agreed here, even when they fought elsewhere.”

Politico: “Gibbs snuck a jab at the so-called birthers who don’t believe Obama was born in Hawaii. ‘I think rational people have — have long ago, many when they first heard and saw the president, come to the conclusion of his citizenship,’ he said.”

Washington Post: “Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is suing the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, saying full-body scans and pat-downs at airport checkpoints are violating his rights.”

Religion Clause: “According to Cath News, India’s Supreme Court today withdrew on its own initiative a paragraph in an opinion it handed down last week that had created significant concern among Christian leaders and human rights groups.”

MercatorNet / Careful: “A group of Belgian doctors are harvesting ‘high quality’ organs from patients who have been euthanased. This is not a secret project, but one which they described openly at a conference organised by the Belgian Royal Medical Academy in December.”

Religion Clause: “In Wisniewski v. Diocese of Belleville, (Ill. App., Jan. 13, 2011), an Illinois appellate court in a 2-1 decision rejected a statute of limitations and repose defense raised by a Catholic diocese held responsible for sexual abuse by a priest.”

Religion Clause: “[T]he school refused to install pavers from two donors who had Bible verses inscribed on theirs . . . Alliance Defense Fund issued a release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.”

Religion Clause: “In Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP, (US Sup. Ct., Jan. 24, 2011), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act allows suit by a third party who was the victim of retaliation because someone else– here plaintiff’s fiancee– filed an anti-discrimination claim.”

Orit Sklar writing at The Daily Caller: “Michelle Obama and nutrition czar Sam Kass have taken the Food Police nationwide. Last week Wal-Mart announced that it is joining the first lady’s anti-obesity campaign by reducing the salt and sugar content of the food it sells . . . Now, one of the largest companies in the world is the vehicle through which all American food and health policy will flow . . . Skip over that pesky Congress and the FDA and go for a new model: coerced corporate control.”

The American Spectator: “Just in time for the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) pledged to bring its ‘moral force to bear’ to ensure ‘full coverage of abortion services’ through Obamacare’s tax-funded state insurance exchanges set to begin in 2014.”

Fox 13: “More than 100 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Utahns were at Utah’s Capitol Rotunda rallying in support of a statewide anti-discrimination bill that would create equal rights in the workplace and employment.”

“Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), told The Hill that he will push for a vote on the controversial issue in the 112th Congress. The RSC has 175 members.”

Sioux City Journal: “A key House committee on Monday approved a resolution that would begin the long process of putting a gay marriage ban before voters. The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure on a 13-8 vote, sending the measure to the full House for debate.”

“ADF is representing UNC criminology professor Mike Adams, who contends that he was unconstitutionally denied a promotion because his application referenced his nationally syndicated opinion columns that espoused religious and political views not held by university officials.”

ADF attorney Greg Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Sam Ericsson passed away last Friday after an 11-year battle with cancer. Sam had served as Director of Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom from 1980 to 1985 and as CLS’s Executive Director from 1985 to 1991 before founding Advocates International, a global network of attorneys dedicated to religious liberty and the rule of law.”

National Catholic Register: “Pro-life medical and nursing students across the country say they face the same pressures to violate their consciences as two recent applicants to Vanderbilt University’s nursing residency program who were told that they would have been required to participate in abortions . . . ‘This was a blatant violation of a federal law, commonly known as the Church Amendment, which was passed by Congress in the 1970s, that said health-care personnel and medical students cannot be forced to assist or participate in an abortion,’ said [Matt Bowman], an Alliance Defense Fund attorney who handled the complaint on behalf of the Vanderbilt students.”

Care2 / get political: “‘”It makes no sense to tax churches and to limit their ability to provide their services, and it does damage to the constitutional separation between church and state,” argues [Erik Stanley], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Catholic and Baptist churches in the city of 10,000.’”

Christianity Today Politics Blog: “Hawaii’s state Senate is the first state legislature in the United States to end the practice of daily invocations, the Associated Press reported on Friday . . . While some commentators hail the decision as a victory for separation of church and state, the Alliance Defense Fund argued, ‘Governments should take a stand for this cherished historical practice.’”

Pink Paper: “‘For almost two years, the National Organisation for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund, along with Bishop Harry Jackson, have fought a losing battle to shamelessly harm gay and lesbian couples in D.C. who seek nothing more than to share in the rights and responsibilities of marriage,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.”

Charisma: “‘Christians shouldn’t be discriminated against and excluded from expressing their faith on public high school campuses when that door of communication is open to virtually everyone else,’ says ADF Senior Counsel [David Cortman].”

Harold Anthony Lloyd, ‘Original’ Means Old, ‘Original’ Means New: An ‘Original’ Look at What ‘Originalists’ Do (January 22, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1745302

“This article explores two different forms of Constitutional ‘originalism.’ One form (that of Justice Thomas) purports to embrace the intent of a specific oracular group while the other form (that of Justice Scalia) purports to embrace the original meaning of the Constitution’s text. Though originalism in either form may have initial common sense appeal, both forms of originalism founder upon analysis. Deconstructing such flawed doctrines proves useful in constructing a more sensible approach to Constitutional interpretation. This more sensible approach recognizes and respects, among other things, three levels of Constitutional meaning: referential meaning embodied in the Constitution’s Preamble, primary non-referential meaning embodied in the non-Preamble textual frame, and secondary non-referential meaning embodied in the solutions to the issues framed. The landmark civil rights case of Lawrence v. Texas serves as a good example of such three-tiered analysis and demonstrates how ‘original’ means both old and new in Constitutional interpretation.”

Lawrence Rosenthal, Originalism in Practice (January 20, 2011). Chapman University Law Research Paper No. 11-01. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1744423

“Originalism is in ascendance. Both in judicial opinions and in the legal academy, arguments for the interpretation of the Constitution based on its original meaning are increasingly prominent. The scholarly literature to date, however, has focused on theory. Supporters and opponents debate the theoretical merits of originalism, but rarely test their views on the merits of originalism by reference to the realities of constitutional adjudication. In science, a theory gains acceptance if it makes testable predictions that are later borne out. Whatever its theoretical merit, originalism deserves recognition as genuinely distinctive and useful approach to constitutional adjudication only if, in practice, it provides a genuinely originalist vehicle for deciding real cases – that is, deciding cases by reference to the meaning of constitutional text as historically fixed at the time of framing and ratification when nonoriginalists would decide them otherwise. Yet, the scholarly literature to date makes no effort to address that question. This article aims to fill this gap by assessing how originalist interpretations of the Constitution fare in practice. In light of the ascendency of originalism, this article offers what may seem a surprising claim – when originalist arguments are actually deployed in real-world litigation, they rarely prove able to an approach to constitutional adjudication meaningfully different from nonoriginalism.

Nonoriginalists, no less than originalists, regard constitutional text as binding. The nonoriginalist claim is that the broad, open-ended provisions of the Constitution are properly construed to have evolving content. Originalists, for their part, grant that the Constitution contains much vague or ambiguous text, even when assessed in light of its original semantic meaning. Some originalists rely on framing-era practice or understandings to reduce the scope of textual vagueness or ambiguity subject to nonoriginalist construction, but in practice, this approach is deeply problematic. There is no authentically originalist methodology for evaluating claims that changed circumstances render reliance on framing-era practice or understandings – that is, the original expected applications of constitutional text – obsolete or irrelevant. Other originalists embrace a framework originalism that treats the original meaning of text as binding only at the level of generality found in the text itself. In practice, however, this approach is indistinguishable from nonoriginalism.

The paper concludes with a survey of recent, ostensibly originalist decisions of the United States Supreme Court confirming that in reality, these decisions consistently turn on nonoriginalist considerations. Originalist adjudication is rather like the Loch Ness Monster – much discussed, but rarely encountered.”