Daily Archives: May 3, 2011

Catholic Culture: Following the discovery of a burnt copy of the Qur’an in a Christian cemetery, 500 extremists attacked a Christian neighborhood in Gujranwala, a city in Punjab province in northeastern Pakistan.

Catholic Culture: An estimated 14,000 people, most of them Christians, have fled their homes in the north-central Nigerian state of Kaduna following the latest in a series of attacks by supporters of presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who lost the April 16 federal election to Goodluck Jonathan.

Catholic Culture: Amid security fears, Christian schools and other institutions closed in Pakistan following the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden. Additional police have been placed around churches in cities across the country.

BBC: A rights group has published satellite images of what it says are North Korea’s political prison camps, saying they appear to be growing in size.

Liberty Counsel: Mat Staver will present oral argument at the federal court of appeals on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 9:30 am ET, challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as “ObamaCare.” The case, Liberty University v. Geithner, will be heard at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at 1000 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia. Liberty Counsel represents Liberty University and two private individuals. On the same day, the court of appeals will also hear the case of Commonwealth of Virginia v. Sebelius

The Telegraph: The new chairman of the BBC has waded into the growing row over secularism by warning that atheists are “intolerant” of religion.

AP on Yahoo: The Church of Scientology says Russian authorities have lifted a ban on some of its publications.

LifeNews: Two weeks ago, the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee failed to move the bill to the Senate floor but, today, lawmakers approved LB 521 after one senator changed from “not voting” to a “yes” vote.

Reuters: The world’s population is projected to pass 7 billion on October 31 as it heads toward 10 billion or more by the end of the century, a new U.N. report said on Tuesday.

Houston Chronicle: He said to make sure no group that provides abortions gets the chance to receive state money to provide birth control, the bill would automatically shut down the program i[f] such a group won in court.

CBC.ca: Muslim students at Carleton University say they need a new place to pray, because their numbers have increased so much there is no longer enough space in the designated prayer room.

The New American: A ban on public funding for religious organizations, written into Florida’s constitution in the 1880s, would be repealed under a bill now before the state’s legislature. The Associated Press reported that the bill, HJR 1471, won approval in the state House on April 27, but its companion measure, SB 1218, was stalled in the state Senate.

Portland Press Herald: “Since abortion must be decided on a federal level we all agree that as long as abortions are legal, they should be safe and rare. These bills go a long way to make that a reality in Maine,” said Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, in a release.

Dallas Morning News: A sonogram bill that would require women seeking an abortion to hear a detailed description of their fetus, as well as be presented images and heartbeats, won Senate approval Monday, moving it closer to becoming one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation.

The Christian Institute: There have been reports that the Church of England has blocked plans to lift the ban on Roman Catholics within the British monarchy.

ABC27.com: A Pennsylvania lawmaker has introduced legislation that would amend the state Constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. | HB 1434

Politics on the Hudson: Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he is optimistic a marriage-equality bill will be passed by the GOP-led Senate this session.

Iowa state senators successfully obtained enough signatures to get a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the concept of fetal pain to the Senate floor.

LifeNews: After a report from the Cardinal Newman Society confirmed numerous Catholic colleges and universities engaging in promotion of the Planned Parenthood abortion business and pro-abortion groups, 29 of the original 150 cases of abortion promotion have been corrected.

Orlando Sentinel: The Florida Senate voted Monday to put major reforms in the state Supreme Court before voters next year, but it stopped short of making all the changes sought by House Speaker Dean Cannon.

Forbes: Cambodia has asked the United Nations’ highest court to order Thailand to withdraw troops and halt military activity around a temple at the center of a decades-old border dispute that has flared into deadly military clashes.

Providence Journal: McConnell, a prominent plaintiffs lawyer and Democratic fundraiser who has attracted an extraordinary level of opposition for a nominee to the federal trial courts, has twice had his name sent back to the White House. President Obama nominated him for the third time early this year.

Philly.com: The agreement calls for the Senate to hold confirmation hearings for Morris County lawyer Anne Patterson one year after the governor nominated her to replace Justice John Wallace on the bench. Christie, in turn, will resubmit her nomination to instead take the spot of Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto, who is stepping down in September.

Education News: New Jersey’s outspoken governor encouraged listeners to challenge the entrenched power of teachers unions to make progress in fixing public education.

Daily Mail: Actor Jim Caviezel has claimed his Hollywood career was wrecked by playing Jesus. He said he was ‘rejected in my own industry’ after taking on the lead role in Mel Gibson’s controversial movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’. Since playing the son of God in the 2004 film he said offers had dried up and he is shunned by many within the industry.

Christian Post: David Cortman, the Alliance Defense Fund attorney leading the lawsuit, mocked Singh’s rationale for not allowing FLC on campus. “It’s ridiculous that Hicksville High School says it has no budget for a Christian club but somehow has enough for a ping pong club.”

National Right to Life News: In light of this decision, and after a psychologist “found that the abortion had caused her to suffer significant psychological harm, including post-traumatic stress disorder,” Planned Parenthood agreed to avoid a trial and settled the lawsuit, according to an Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) news release. “The health and safety of young girls is far more important than Planned Parenthood’s desire to make money on an abortion,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden, who represented the family. Aden could not release specific details of the settlement because of a confidentiality order.

Religion Clause Blog: The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights v. City and County of San Francisco, California (Docket No. 10-1034, cert. den. 5/2/2011). (Order List.)

Charisma Online: Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Monday on behalf of a student-led Christian club against the Hicksville Union Free School District for denying recognition to the group because of supposed “budgetary concerns.” . . . “Public schools cannot ban Christian student clubs simply because they are religious,” says ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “If officials at government-run schools did their homework, they’d know that students have a constitutionally protected right to express their beliefs. It’s ridiculous that Hicksville High School says it has no budget for a Christian club but somehow has enough for a ping pong club.” . . .

Religion Clause Blog: Last week President Obama issued a Proclamation (full text) declaring Thursday, May 5 as a National Day of Prayer. The Proclamation was issued just two weeks after the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed for lack of standing a constitutional challenge to both 36 USC Sec. 119 which directs the President to issue a National Day of Prayer proclamation each year, and to Presidential proclamations issued under it.

AP: Muslims from Oregon who had planned to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden in downtown Portland Monday night canceled the event due to threats.

Press-Citizen.com: “Tonight, the ACLU of Iowa is presenting the 2011 Louise Noun Award to these three former justices, Marsha Ternus, David Baker and Michael Streit. They were removed from the bench because they acted like true professionals. They courageously performed the job we hired them to do, even when they knew they might be fired as a result.”

Detroit Free Press: The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal appeals court to revive its lawsuit that claims Walmart wrongfully fired a Battle Creek employee who used medical marijuana to treat a brain tumor and cancer.

LifeNews: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suggested Tuesday that Republicans may allow a clean vote on raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling in order to demonstrate that it lacks the votes to advance through Congress absent reforms.

LifeNews: The White House said today that President Barack Obama would add to his lengthy pro-abortion record by vetoing legislation the House will vote on tomorrow that bans taxpayer funding of abortions across the board.

This past Friday, an angry, hate-filled, unruly, mostly Muslim mob of several hundred people broke through police barricades and rushed across the street toward Pastor Terry Jones while he was speaking in front of the Dearborn, Michigan City Hall. The mob was yelling and screaming, making obscene gestures, holding Korans, throwing shoes and water bottles at Pastor Jones and his supporters.

AP: The Department of Justice has asked a judge to force the Cleveland, Miss., School District to comply with a desegregation order that dates back to the 1960s.

AP: A federal judge says the U.S. Justice Department can join a lawsuit challenging a South Carolina jail’s policy barring inmates from any reading material other than the Bible.

NCPA Policy Digest: The new health reform law will exacerbate this problem by increasing the number of individuals insured through government programs. Doctors that remain after reform is instituted are increasingly likely to join “concierge practices,” limiting the number of patients they see and refusing both government and private insurance, says Tanner.

NCPA Policy Digest: They must decide whether to implement a series of burdensome regulations and vague requirements even as their representatives in the courts argue that key provisions of the law are unconstitutional, says Benjamin Domenech, a research fellow for the Heartland Institute.

Reuters: Canada’s Conservatives stormed to a decisive victory in Monday’s federal election, winning 54 percent of the seats in Parliament and securing a stable four-year term in power after vowing to focus on the economy.

CNBC: While Standard and Poor’s recently downgraded its U.S. debt outlook to negative from stable, implying that a ratings cut could happen in two years, one independent ratings agency has given the U.S. sovereign rating a “C”.

Ron Paul at The Hill: So here we have an executive who illegally legislates and single-handedly takes the nation to war. Obviously there are bigger constitutional issues here than the form of his birth certificate.
The release of the birth certificate unfortunately trumped media coverage of the historic first-ever press conference held by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Jason Riley at Wall Street Journal (via Google): A study published last year found that D.C. voucher recipients had graduation rates of 91%. That’s significantly higher than the public school average of 56%.

Waldron, Jeremy, A Religious View of the Foundations of International Law (April 26, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1823702

Van Baren, Bruce, The Wall Comes Tumbling Down: The Establishment Clause Collides with School Choice (April 27, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824804

Brownstein, Alan E., The Religion Clauses as Mutually Reinforcing Mandates: Why the Arguments for Rigorously Enforcing the Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause are Stronger When Both Clauses are Taken Seriously (April 25, 2011). Cardozo Law Review, Vol. 32, 2011; UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 255. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1822512

Peter Irons, Curing a Monumental Error: The Presumptive Unconstitutionality of Ten Commandments Displays, 63 Oklahoma Law Review 1 (2010)

Perry, Michael J., What is a ‘Human Right’? (April 28, 2011). Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 11-150; San Diego Legal Studies Paper No. 11-055. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824662

Perry, Michael J., The Grounds of Human Rights (April 28, 2011). Emory Public Law Research Paper No. 11-151; San Diego Legal Studies Paper No. 11-056. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1824667