Daily Archives: April 21, 2011

TheLocal.se: In an opinion article in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) daily entitled ”Time for society to broaden its view on abortion”, Nicolas Espinoza at the Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics and Martin Peterson at Stockholm University announced a new research project to review the matter. ”The women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s was wrong when it pushed through an abortion law which is based on the thinking that a woman’s right to her body is almost always superior to that of the foetus,” the pair wrote.

Christian Post: Conservative legal firm Alliance Defense Fund praised Shurtleff’s action. “One atheist group’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifice made by Utah highway patrol officers and their families. We are asking the Supreme Court to allow the families of the fallen to honor their loved ones through these constitutionally permissible memorials,” said ADF Senior Counsel Byron Babione in a statement . . . “The Supreme Court recently signaled that individualized memorial crosses honoring fallen troopers simply do not amount to a government establishment of religion,” said Babione. “That guidance applies directly to this case.”

NewsTimes.com: The proposed amendment says the government must have a compelling interest before it regulates religious practices. Any regulation must be done in the least-restrictive manner possible.

A District Court Judge in Helena has ruled in favor of the State in a motion to dismiss the same-sex partnership issue in Montana. The ACLU asked the First Judicial Court in January to recognize same-sex couples as domestic partnerships in Montana to guarantee protection of their rights.

Blog of the Legal Times: A deputy director in the public defenders’ office and a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses are among the 34 applicants vying to fill the District of Columbia Superior Court judgeship vacated by now-U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg.

Washington Post: The three Democrats join four GOP senators who have had recall petitions filed against them. Petitions still are being circulated against five other Democrats and four other Republicans

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to reinstate a policy that allows federal regulators to fine broadcasters for showing nudity and airing curse words when young children may be watching television.

Christian Newswire: Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have filed an appeal to the State Supreme Court against Mississippi’s Personhood Amendment, Amendment 26, despite numerous rulings against them.

ADF attorney Joe Infranco on the Janet Mefferd Show: ADF takes Utah roadside crosses case to U.S. Supreme Court | MP3 audio 18:22 mins

Center for Arizona Policy: As of this writing, 12 Center for Arizona Policy supported bills have been signed into law. Two more
measures achieved final passage.

This appeal presents issues related to the amount of restitution that a district court may order a defendant convicted of possessing child pornography to pay to one of the children depicted in the images . . .

One News Now: After CRA president Celeste Greig and other board members were accused by Republicans of changing the election rules prior to the CRA convention, clashes highlighted the event as some delegates who arrived were not permitted inside. The event got heated as banned delegates tried to crash the meeting, and police were even called out to the scene . . . A lawsuit was filed by members of the Riverside CRA . . .

NewsMax: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says he would sign a bill requiring presidential candidates to prove they were born in the United States if the state Legislature passes such a measure. “It’s not part of our package, but if the Legislature passes it we’ll sign it,” Jindal press secretary Kyle Plotkin said, according to the Times-Picayune newspaper.

Baptist Press: Some University of South Carolina students say the school should not award an honorary doctorate to Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright because of his and the denominations’ stance against homosexuality and “gay marriage,” but Wright says he and the SBC are simply reflecting clear biblical teachings.

LifeSiteNews: The French Catholic hierarchy is supporting at least two pro-abortion groups in Latin America through its international development agency, LifeSiteNews has learned.

TwinCities.com: A federal judge on Wednesday shot down a Twin Cities charter school’s bid to dismiss an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit claiming it promotes Islam, clearing the way for a summer trial.

LifeSiteNews: The Conservative Party is in full damage control mode and Prime Minister Stephen Harper has again vowed never to reopen the abortion debate, after one of his MPs made pro-life remarks . . . Conservative MP Brad Trost, one of the most outspoken pro-life politicians in the country, who ran a campaign in 2009 to get International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) defunded, had thanked the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association at their annual convention last weekend for their support in compiling petitions.

Journal-Sentinel: The recount is costly and will only serve to further exacerbate Wisconsin’s political divisions. It will leave a bad taste; that’s a sad legacy for Kloppenburg.

Detroit Free Press: The ACLU of Michigan and others are slamming local authorities for trying to deny Pastor Terry Jones the right to protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

MSNBC: Nigerian officials on Thursday delayed next week’s gubernatorial elections in two predominantly Muslim northern states that have been wracked by deadly riots and retaliatory violence since the presidential election was won by a Christian from the country’s south.

LA Times Editorial: The Human Rights Campaign has been a powerful force for the rights of gays and lesbians, but the organization has stumbled in objecting to the hiring of a former solicitor general to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. The tradition of lawyers defending unpopular or controversial clients is an honorable one.

The Globe and Mail: “As long as I am prime minister we are not opening the abortion debate,” Mr. Harper declared. “The government will not bring forward any such legislation and any such legislation that is brought forward will be defeated as long as I am prime minister.”

Reuters: Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin on Wednesday signed into law a prohibition on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, making it the fourth state to ban such late term abortions.

The ADF Alliance Alert email digest will not be published on Good Friday, April 22, 2011.

Colin Mason and Steven Mosher at Life News: At the very least, this number of abortions is a demographic event of gigantic proportions. As the human race celebrates its 7 billionth member this fall, we should take a moment to remember the billion or two who fell—and are still falling—victim to the abortionists’ knives.

ADF attorney Byron Babione appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Utah roadside memorial crosses case. | MP3 audio 5:56 mins

AP (Google): Several members of the U.N.’s top human rights body are pressing for an emergency meeting to examine the government crackdowns against popular protests that have swept the Middle East and North Africa, Western diplomats said Wednesday.

LifeSiteNews: The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which filed a supporting brief as a friend of the court on behalf of the private, non-profit National Day of Prayer Task Force, said in a press release, “Public officials should be able to participate in public prayer activities just as America’s founders did.” ADF praised the court’s decision for determining that “a feeling of alienation” was not sufficient legal grounds for the atheist group to file suit. “The 7th Circuit has clearly understood that the Freedom From Religion Foundation simply had no legal standing to attack the federal statute setting a day for the National Day of Prayer simply because the group is offended by religion,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot.

William Lolli at SanDiego.com: If Focus on the Family or the Alliance Defense Fund were successful in bringing the DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act] into law in such a way as to protect the definition of marriage from meddling minorities; or if they were able after 40 years of trying to finally pass laws to protect the unborn, there would be no need for them to raise money.

The Moral Liberal: Regular Torch readers will likely remember Lopez’s shocking story: As a student in a Speech 101 class, Lopez delivered remarks referencing his religious views as part of a class assignment, including expressing his view of Biblical morality and his conception of the proper definition of marriage. Following the speech, Lopez was called a “fascist bastard” by his professor. When Lopez asked for a grade, the professor recommended that Lopez “Ask God what your grade is.” Additionally, Lopez was told by his professor that he had likely violated LACCD’s policies as a result of his speech. Lopez filed suit against LACCD in February 2009 with the assistance of the Alliance Defense Fund, alleging that his First Amendment rights had been violated and that the speech codes maintained by LACCD were unconstitutional.

Chuck Colson at Breakpoint via Crosswalk: The case has been widely viewed as a crucial one. As Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund put it, “A loss in this case would have meant, in essence, that it would be illegal under the European Convention on Human Rights to have religious symbols in any institution anywhere in Europe.” Before you start celebrating, though, you ought to know that this may be a very mixed blessing. When you take a close look at the court’s reasoning, it becomes clear that there are some disturbing implications to this ruling.

WorldNetDaily: “One atheist group’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifice made by Utah highway patrol officers and their families. We are asking the Supreme Court to allow the families of the fallen to honor their loved ones through these constitutionally permissible memorials,” said ADF Senior Counsel Byron Babione. “The Supreme Court recently signaled that individualized memorial crosses honoring fallen troopers simply do not amount to a government establishment of religion. That guidance applies directly to this case,” he said.

Billings Gazette: Becky Vandeberghe, president of WyWatch Family Action, referred questions about the complaints to the Alliance Defense Fund. The fund attorneys sent a letter Monday to the state attorney general’s office and other state agencies on behalf of WyWatch . . . The lack of a clear state policy creates a vague situation that is problematic under the First Amendment, Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. Scruggs said his group hopes the state will respond accordingly and allow WyWatch to continue displaying photos and other materials. “All we’re asking for is, not special treatment, but equal treatment,” he said.

One News Now: Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination by a county’s zoning decisions,” contends Erik Stanley, ADF attorney and spokesman for Holiness is the Way Ministries. “This is especially true when the church has already received all the recommended approvals through the appropriate channels and…no other legitimate reason for denial has been given.”

The Republic: WyWatch referred questions to the Alliance Defense Fund, which on Monday sent a letter to the attorney general’s office. The letter outlines U.S. Supreme Court opinions saying speech cannot be restricted.

Little Chicago Review: Alliance Defense Fund attorneys represented the private, non-profit National Day of Prayer Task Force in a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the 7th Circuit after prevailing in having then-chairperson Shirley Dobson dismissed from the lawsuit at the district court level.

AP: So far, though, Kagan’s absence has been important only once in 19 cases the court has decided without her.

AP: Mukhtar Mai was assaulted after the council in her village in Punjab province ordered she be raped as punishment for her 13-year-old brother’s suspected affair with a woman of a higher caste.

AP: “A court has barred atheists from holding a march on Holy Thursday, saying that would be offensive to Spanish Catholics who mark Easter with processions of their own.”

AP: “Military service has long been one route to U.S. citizenship. Now the Army and Navy, in need of specialists and language skills in wartime, are speeding things up by allowing recruits to wrap up the process while they’re still in basic training.”

Paul Greenberg at Townhall: Now we seem to live in a biblically illiterate era, and it shows. Not just in the quality of the prose that crosses an editor’s desk every day, or in the junkspeech that politicians and educantists mouth as a matter of course, but in the paucity of thought behind their tinny catch words.

Jordan Lorence at Human Events: The Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the challenge to Arizona’s tuition tax credit plan gives needed breathing room to that state’s emerging and innovative school-choice system. It also imposes common-sense requirements on opponents of school choice, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which now must come to court with people who have been actually harmed by the tax credit plan, and have more than just generalized complaints against it based on extreme notions of “separation of church and state.”

Wayne County prosecutors are arguing a Good Friday mosque protest by a controversial Florida pastor could incite a riot and are moving to require him to post a bond before his demonstration.

Religion Clause Blog: In Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America v. Meena, (PA Commonwealth Ct., April 18, 2011), a Pennsylvania appellate court, in a 6-2 decision written by Judge Pellegrini, held that it must defer to the decision of the governing Synod to impose synodical administration on a local church and close it because of its diminished attendance and income.

Religion Clause Blog: “On Monday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed S.B. 1282 that provides no religious assembly or institution will be required to register as a political committee, so long as it does not spend a substantial amount of time or assets influencing legislation, or any referendum, initiative or constitutional amendment.”

LifeNews: Baby Joseph Maraachli is heading back home to Canada after his parents received help from an American pro-life group that assisted when a Canadian hospital refused to provide the baby a tracheotomy to help him breathe.

Religion Clause Blog: Mary Stinemetz, a Jehovah’s Witness, needs a liver transplant. Kansas will pay for the surgery if performed at the University of Kansas Hospital. However, Stinemetz, for religious reasons, insists on transplant surgery without any blood transfusion– a procedure which is available in an Omaha, Nebraska hospital, but not in Kansas.

SCOTUS Blog: The Court, over two dissents, bars prison inmates’ lawsuits seeking money damages from state governments for violating the prisoners’ rights under federal law to practice their religion behind bars.

The Hill: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the GOP leadership in the House would be making “an enormous mistake” if it permits a debt ceiling increase absent “large structural reform.”

The Hill: Wisconsin is poised to conduct a recount of the state’s hotly contested Supreme Court race, following the request of defeated candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg, a state agency said Wednesday.

The Hill: The Bipartisan Policy Center on Monday began circulating a proposal called SAVEGO to the Senate Gang of Six and other key budget players as a plan that could be linked to a hike in the debt ceiling increase. The administration says the ceiling must be raised by no later than July 8.

FRC: Family Research Council announced today that the organization is coordinating a nationwide support effort for the State of Utah in the case Davenport v. American Atheists, one of the most important religious liberty cases to be offered to the U.S. Supreme Court in decades . . . The Utah Highway Patrol Association is represented separately by the Alliance Defense Fund.