Daily Archives: April 5, 2011

LifeNews: The Missouri state House gave initial approval today to a bill that would allow pharmacists to refuse to sell the morning after pill, which can sometimes cause an abortion.

CNSNews: The Republican proposal says one of its aims is “making sure that not a penny goes toward implementing the new [health care] law” enacted last year.

Boston Globe (AP): President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing conservative party held a politically charged conference Tuesday on ways to strengthen secularism in French society, amid worries it would stigmatize France’s millions of Muslims.

Cathlic Culture: “In a related story, another Christian man has been accused of blasphemy, and gone into hiding, fearing for his life. Masih Gill insists that he did not insult Islam, but merely defended his own Christian faith in an argument.”

Catholic Culture: The new head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has said that he would like to meet with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, in a bid to resolve tensions between the Moscow patriarchate and the Byzantine Catholics of Ukraine.

AsiaNews.it: Fresh controversy has broken out in Russia between the Orthodox Church and human rights organizations. The head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Relations between the Church and society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has appealed to the community of believers to be more courageous in showing their faith.

Washington Times: A “sleeper measure” that would prevent Virginia child-welfare agencies from considering sexual orientation or religion in their placements has drawn hundreds of complaints — and the attention of an outraged Republican state lawmaker.

The Republic: “Delaware lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill that would require parental consent before a girl under the age of 18 can receive an abortion.”

Washington Post: “Without comment, the justices rejected a challenge from the RNC and former Louisiana congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao that sought to end federal restrictions on how much a political party can spend in direct coordination with a candidate. Cao lost a reelection bid in 2010.”

Barnabas Fund: An Eritrean Christian is facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia after being arrested for sharing his faith with Muslims.

Express.co.uk: SCOUTS in their mid-teens will be able to ask their leaders any questions they like about sex from today, but angry family experts last night attacked the new policy.

The War on Illegal Pornography announced today that more than 100 U.S. Senate and House Members, including nine Senate Judiciary Committee Members, have [signed letters] addressed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder urging that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI vigorously prosecute major producers and distributors of illegal adult pornography.” . . .

Boston Globe: Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and several other clergy yesterday called on Massachusetts lawmakers to pass transgender-rights legislation and asked religious communities to throw their support behind the bill.

Peter Saunders at Christian Concern for our Nation: According to the Sunday Times, an 84 year old British woman committed suicide at a Swiss facility last month because she did not want to die of old age.

AP: U.S. Rep. Rush Holt is pushing the Obama administration to halt deportation proceedings against the same-sex spouses of U.S. citizens.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury verdict, we conclude that the Government offered sufficient evidence such that a reasonable jury could (and did) find that Johnson attempted to use the minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct.

Impact of the ADF Legal Academy: Video here.

ADF attorney Dave Cortman appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the ruling in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. | MP3 audio 5:55 mins

ADF attorney Roger Kiska appeared on Moody Radio with Mark Elfstrand to discuss the Wiens case. | MP3 audio 6:38 mins

The court held that the rule violates the Illinois Right of Conscience Act, the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the First Amendment (facially and as applied).

LifeSiteNews: A group of MPs have launched a parliamentary bid to “tighten” abortion restrictions and require women to undergo “counselling” before having abortions. The move, however, has been met with strong skepticism by the country’s leading pro-life political lobbying organization, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), who said that such efforts have backfired badly in the past.

ADF attorney Matt Sharp on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: Court: Ark. school wrong to ban flier for church-sponsored event. | MP3 audio 13:50 mins

NPR (includes audio): A House committee will review legislation Tuesday that would extend benefits and rights associated with insurance, health care decisions, inheritance and property ownership to so-called “reciprocal beneficiaries.”

NY Times: The program, sponsored by a temporary entity called the Iowa Renewal Project, featured several superstars of the Christian right as well as four possible Republican contenders for president . . . These meetings are part of a largely quiet drive to revitalize the religious right by drawing evangelical pastors and their flocks more deeply into politics — an effort given new energy by what conservative church leaders see as the ominous creep of laws allowing same-sex marriage and their sense that America is, literally, heading toward hell.

LifeSiteNews: Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has reaffirmed his previous promises never to address the questions of protection for Canada’s unborn children, or same-sex “marriage.”

LifeSiteNews: President Obama said at a White House press conference Tuesday afternoon that he would not approve the latest stopgap budget bill, and criticized Republicans’ efforts to de-fund abortion in the measure.

Washington Times: “Congress on Tuesday passed the first major changes to last year’s health care law, undoing both a burdensome paperwork requirement for small businesses and rewriting part of the way the health exchange subsidies are paid for.”

LifeNews: “Forced by a state Supreme Court decision years ago to pay for elective abortions, taxpayers in Minnesota were forced to pay for nearly 4,000 abortions in 2009, or about one-third of all abortions done that year.”

LifeNews: “Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed a bill yesterday that would protect taxpayers from having to pay for abortions with their tax dollars under the Obamacare health care law.”

LifeNews: “The pro-abortion group Emily’s List, one of the biggest liberal political organizations that funnels millions of dollars to pro-abortion candidates, has announced its first set of targets for the 2012 election.”

At the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr reports that the Harvard Law Exams dating back to 1871 are now available online.

Dan Lips at Townhall: Is a college degree really worth this cost? Some bright minds think Americans are paying way too much. In fact, Bill Gates–one of the country’s most famous college dropouts–thinks it should be closer to zero. He told an audience last summer: “Five years from now, on the web, for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university.”

NewsOK.com: A bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks is unconstitutional, a group that has successfully challenged previous Oklahoma abortion laws claims.

Hispanic National Bar Association: By a vote of 86-0, this afternoon the Senate confirmed President Obama’s nomination of Jimmie V. Reyna to serve as a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Mr. Reyna will be the first Latino to serve on the CAFC.

Mercury.com.au: AN unholy row over a ban on the issuing of bibles as gifts at citizenship ceremonies has finally ended. A campaign led by Tasmanian Liberal senator Guy Barnett since last October against “political correctness gone mad” bore fruit yesterday when federal Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Bowen overturned the ban.

Religion Clause Blog: In Nelson v. Baker, (KY App., April 1, 2011), the Kentucky Court of Appeal dismissed a lawsuit brought by members of a Baptist church complaining, among other things, that defendants were not reporting to members on the church’s financial affairs.

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on KFYI 550 AM with Mike Broomhead to discuss the ruling. | MP3 audio 7:48 mins

Candi Cushman at Citizen Link: As it has done many times before, this week the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 9th Circuit, finding that the ACLU’s clients lacked standing to file the lawsuit. “The decision creates a national precedent that will prevent similar legal attacks in the future,” said the Alliance Defense Fund press release. It affirms a key concept underlying most school choice programs—that private donations and the personal choices of families are voluntary and are not the same thing as government-forced religion.

Michael Foust at Baptist Press: Parents should be able to choose what’s best for their own children. This ruling empowers parents to do just that,” David Cortman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a news release. ADF supports the law and represented an STO — the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization — in the case. That particular organization was the main STO party in the case. “Parents should decide what schools their children attend and where their money goes,” Cortman said. “The ACLU failed in its attempt to eliminate school choice for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide and also failed to demonstrate that it had any constitutional basis for its clients to file suit in the first place.”

Huffington Post: The Alliance Defense Fund, which argued for the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, hailed the “national precedent” that will limit similar suits in federal courts. “The court’s reasoning is sound,” said ADF senior counsel David Cortman. “The government does not own 100 percent of every American’s paycheck. The donations are private money, not government money.” Americans United for Separation of Church and State agreed the decision could prevent federal court action on the issue in the future, but vowed to continue the fight in state courts. “This is not a good day for the wall of separation,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “A few more bricks are out of it.”

Sonoran News carries ADF’s Press Release.

Christian Post: The Alliance Defense Fund praised the judges’ decision. “The court’s reasoning is sound,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The donations are private money, not government money.”

Ken Klukowski at the Washington Examiner: The tuition organization was represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, which argued that the program doesn’t violate the Establishment Clause because the choice of whether to support a religious school was being made by private citizens, not the government. ADF also argued that the plaintiffs lacked standing to file the suit.

NY Sun: [A] huge victory for proponents of parental choice in education” is how today’s news was characterized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a not-for-profit law firm that has played a leading role in the struggle to expand religious liberty. It represented a group called the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, one of more than 50 non-profit 501(c)(3) corporations that ADF said have been set up to distribute private donations in the form of scholarships to more than 27,000 students attending hundreds of private schools at the Grand Canyon State. It’s not just Christians who will benefit from this ruling.

Leader Telegram: The Alliance Defense Fund applauded the ruling and said it sets a “national precedent” that “empowers parents. (They) should be able to choose what’s best for their own children,” said David Cortman, its senior counsel.

Tucson Citizen: “It’s an extremely important decision, not only for all the citizens of Arizona but for the millions of Americans who support school choice,” said David Cortman, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian-oriented religious-rights group that represented the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, which intervened as a third party in the case. “But it’s much more broad than simply the issue of school choice. Any type of tax credit or tax deduction that may happen to benefit religious organizations would also have been suspect had the court accepted the ACLU’s arguments,” Cortman added.

Livingston Daily: David Cortman, an Alliance Defense Fund lawyer who represented a Christian school tuition organization that intervened in support of the Arizona policy, said the ruling “absolutely should embolden legislatures.” He said groups such as his that support “choice” programs would press states to enhance options for parents beyond public schools.

Education News: In New York, enrollment has dropped for 15 years – while the count of administrators keeps growing, even as teachers are threatened with termination.

Daily Caller: The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) was thrilled to hear the decision. “Parents should be able to choose what’s best for their own children. This ruling empowers parents to do just that,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “Parents should decide what schools their children attend and where their money goes. The ACLU failed in its attempt to eliminate school choice for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide and also failed to demonstrate that it had any constitutional basis for its clients to file suit in the first place.”

NCPA Policy Digest: “There is a growing number of public employees who are retiring one day and then going right back to the same jobs the next, enabling them to supplement their income with retirement benefits without really retiring at all.”

CNA: “Parents should decide what schools their children attend and where their money goes,” said Cortman, who serves as Senior Counsel for the defense fund. He said that the American Civil Liberties Union “failed in its attempt to eliminate school choice for hundreds of thousands of students nationwide and also failed to demonstrate that it had any constitutional basis for its clients to file suit in the first place.”

One News Now: Cortman says the high court’s decision creates a national precedent that will prevent similar legal attacks in the future. “What’s important in this case is that the ACLU failed in its attempt to eliminate school choice for hundreds of thousands of students across the country — and just as importantly, failed to demonstrate that its clients had any constitutional basis to file suit,” says the ADF attorney.

CBN (includes video): In the meantime, the Alliance Defense Fund is telling public officials that asking their constituents to pray is legal. “We prepared a letter for the governors around the country to assure them that they can recognize the National Day of Prayer, and that it is a perfectly legal activity for them to do and something our founders have done from the beginning of our country, and it is a practice we’ve maintained up until this very day,” explained Kevin Theriot, an ADF attorney.

LifeNews: “While most of the pro-life attention to the congressional budget battles has focused on the effort to yank taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business, the long-term budget bill the House passed and Senate rejected also contained numerous pro-life riders addressing other instances of abortion funding or using taxpayer dollars to bankroll pro-abortion groups.”

SCOTUS Blog: The Court pares down, to the absolute minimum, the right of taxpayers to challenge government programs that provide financial aid to religion. Arizona’s tax credit system that benefits parochial students survives a challenge.

Adam Liptak at the NY Times: The plaintiffs’ position, Justice Kennedy wrote, “assumes that income should be treated as if it were government property even if it has not come into the tax collector’s hands.” But, he added, “private bank accounts cannot be equated with the Arizona State Treasury.”

FRC Event Details: “When most Americans make a purchase, they actually have the money in their accounts. Big government, however, operates on different rules. Apparently, spending your money on abortion, bailing out failed corporate giants, and funding the new health care law take precedence over responsible financial stewardship . . . ”

The Hill: “The Democratic leadership is trying to pack us into a corner with only two ways out: keep spending money at their outrageous levels, or shut down the government. “I believe they actually want to shut down the government for their own political purposes,” he added.

AP: “The European Union delegation in Beijing on Tuesday joined the U.S. and Britain in expressing concern over Ai’s case, deploring the ramped-up detention of government critics.”

AP: House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will unveil the GOP budget blueprint Tuesday morning just as Boehner, R-Ohio, heads to the White House for a meeting on the current-year measure with Obama . . .

Bloomberg: The administration is “scared to death to speak out on very sensitive issues” that might offend China and turn them against U.S. policy on Libya, Rep. Randy Forbes, co-chairman of the Congressional China Caucus, said in an interview yesterday.

Reuters: A Republican plan that would give negotiators another week to craft a budget deal and avoid a government shutdown is unacceptable to Democrats, a congressional aide said on Tuesday.

Wall Street Journal (full text via Google): With one more vote, the current Court’s liberal minority would surely ban school choice involving any religious schools. The Arizona decision shows again that the Court is only a single vote away from many decisions not all that far removed from those of the Ninth Circuit.

Cong. Paul D. Ryan writes at the Wall Street Journal: “Our budget cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president’s budget over the next 10 years and puts the nation on track to pay off our national debt.”

Barna Group: A new national survey of registered voters conducted by the Barna Group reveals that the issues that will most affect the candidate people support for President in the 2012 election are most likely to be those affecting their personal security and comfort. The matters that are likely to have the least impact on their choice of candidate are moral issues.