Daily Archives: December 7, 2011

ADF attorney will participate in press conference after oral arguments
concerning motions to throw out trial, recall videotapes

Catholic Culture: Under heavy pressure from Congressional and religious leaders, the US Navy has rescinded a policy that forbade visitors from giving Bibles or religious articles to wounded troops at the nation’s leading military hospital.

Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden will be available for media interviews following oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Choice v. Greenstein. Aden will assist co-counsel for the Louisiana Secretary of Health in arguing to uphold a district court decision that threw out the lawsuit, which was filed by abortion clinics that oppose a state law requiring them to meet certain patient health and safety regulations.

Christian Today: Death threats against yet another Christian in Pakistan are a sign that persecution is only growing, Release International has warned.
Lab technician Arif Ferguson, 36, has been forced into hiding after receiving death threats for speaking out against the murder of a government minister.

The Christian Institute: The Scottish Episcopal Church has joined the burgeoning ranks of those opposing the Scottish Government’s plans to redefine marriage.

Taipei Times: Taiwan is trailing only China in the ratio of males to females at birth, with a sex ratio way above what would normally occur without abortions

This understanding no longer exists in our culture, and some argue that when Americans began divorcing in high numbers, redefined marital sexuality via contraception use, and reduced marriage to mere commitment, it set the stage for our current same-sex marriage debate.

SeacoastOnline.com: Federal authorities from the Justice, Veteran’s Affairs and Defense departments asked for and were granted an extension to February to respond to a federal lawsuit alleging discrimination against same-sex members of the military.

allAfrica.com: : The Centre for African Human Rights Peace and Development Organization has demanded an immediate retraction as well as apology from the British Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Lloyd over what they called his reported unguarded and weighty comments against the National Assembly over the passage of a bill on same-sex marriage in Nigeria.

The Washington Post: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) is promoting same-sex marriage legislation in a Web video series that is pushing for passage of the bill legislation next year in Maryland.

Fox News: Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation’s Armed Forces at home.

OneNewsNow.com: A Virginia man who prosecutors say helped a woman leave the U.S. with her daughter so she wouldn’t have to turn custody of the girl over to her former lesbian partner has surrendered to face charges he aided in international parental kidnapping.

Ron Paul at The Daily Caller: When it comes to deterring and preventing wars of aggression against the United States, no candidate for the presidency is more hawkish than Ron Paul. His foreign policy would be an adaptation of the Founding Fathers’ creed saluted in the Constitution’s preamble . . .

Rasmussen Reports: At a time when most Americans see political correctness as a serious problem in this country, an overwhelming majority continues to believe religious holidays should be celebrated in the public schools.

A.W.R. Hawkins at Salvo Magazine: Apparently so, if trends at several U.S. universities are any indication. For example, a policy at Vanderbilt University . . .

In a rare move, the Health and Human Services Department overruled a decision by the Food and Drug Administration to make the morning after pill available to teenagers without a prescription.

ADF Attorney Steve Aden appeared yesterday to give testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution regarding H.R. 3541, the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act. Video and testimony from others giving testimony can be found here.

A few weeks ago ADF Attorney Erik Stanley appeared on WallBuilders Live to discuss the Black Robe Regiment and ADF’s Pulpit Initiative. |  MP3 audio 17:56 mins

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Bronx Household of Faith and this: TimberCreek Bed and Breakfast accused of violating Human Rights Act for hosting weddings, not ‘civil unions’ | MP3 audio 5:33 mins

Speaking yesterday at a United Nations event in Geneva, Switzerland marking International Human Rights Day (full text of remarks), U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a strong call for protection of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights . . . ”

Religion Clause: In Mussa v. Palmer-Mussa, (NC App., Dec. 6, 2011), a North Carolina appeals court held that the marriage of defendant Nikki Palmer-Mussa to Juma Mussa was void because at the time of the marriage Nikki was married to another man.

News from The Associated Press: Hundreds of Buddhists demonstrated in Nepal’s capital to protest the appointment of Maoist party chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal to head a project to develop the area where Buddha was believed born in southern Nepal.

Truth & Triumph Vol. IV, Issue 3 click here.

News from The Associated Press: Chinese police arrested 608 suspects and rescued 178 children in busts of two separate child trafficking networks, authorities said Wednesday.

The Obama administration is examining the possibility of selling the morning after pill to teenagers and the FDA has until Wednesday to respond to a request from the maker of the Plan B drug to sell it on the shelves and not behind the pharmacist’s counter.

News from The Associated Press: Egypt’s military rulers say they will appoint a consultative body to guide the drafting of the country’s new constitution so it will represent the whole political spectrum and limit influence of religious extremists.

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman appeared on Drive Time with Bill Bunkley to discuss the Bronx Household of Faith litigation. | MP3 Audio 17:35 mins

ADF Attorney David Cortman appeared on the Zeb Bell Show. | MP3 audio 18:40 mins | Legal Memo: Constitutional Rights of Students, Teachers, and Public Schools to Seasonal Religious Expression

HSLDA: New truancy enforcement laws have sparked criminal charges against several homeschool families in Nebraska. A Dawson County Sheriff’s deputy actually threatened to remove one family’s children unless they enrolled them in public school.

ADF Attorney Steven Aden at Townhall: And what better time to celebrate death, blood money, and political cronyism than Christmas? At least that seems to be the view of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, the River Oaks Area Democratic Women, the Texas Democratic Women of Harris County, and the Bay Area Association of Democratic Women, all of whom are throwing a Dec. 8 Christmas Party at a huge abortion complex Planned Parenthood now runs in Houston, TX.

JSOnline: A hearing is slated for Dec. 13 on a bill that would prevent women from receiving drugs that induce abortions unless a doctor gives them a physical exam and is in the same room when they receive the drugs.

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at Townhall: During the Christmas season, we actually tend to be more thankful for things that we more easily overlook at other times of the year. Things as foundational as family, friends, and a warm place to lay our heads at night become focal points.

The New American: Jane Gordon, an attorney for the City of New York, stated: “We view this as a victory for the city’s schoolchildren and their families.” Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which had worked on this appeal, said, “Churches and other religious groups should be able to meet in public buildings on the same terms as other community groups. They should not be excluded simply because of the religious nature of their speech. The Supreme Court’s decision not to review this case is befuddling because it has already ruled multiple times in other equal access cases that the First Amendment protects religious worship the same as secular speech. ADF will continue to stand for this constitutional principle.”

David Andrusko at National Right to Life News: This hospital statement “indicates a policy shift from the university’s initial stance,” according to David Giambusso. True? Interestingly, when his story appeared elsewhere, a paragraph was conveniently omitted challenging that optimistic conclusion. “’The hospital filed a brief last week asking the court’s permission to continue bullying nurses into participating in elective abortion cases,” [ADF] lawyer Matt Bowman said in an e-mail. “Only by guaranteeing the court and the nurses that it has reversed its position would it prove that UMDNJ might finally be interested in following the law. Until then, ADF will continue to fight the illegal discrimination against these pro-life nurses.” I’ve been unable to get a hold of Mr. Bowman to find out exactly what was in the hospital’s brief. Stay tuned.

CBN: “No baby should be targeted for abortion because of his or her sex or race, but that’s exactly what’s happening in America,” said Steven Aden, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund.

The Blog of Legal Times: Rebecca Beach Smith was named this week the new chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, becoming the first female chief judge in the district.

The Blog of Legal Times: Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the top Senate Judiciary Committee Republican, said in a written statement released before the vote that he had concerns about her time as New York solicitor general, noting a suit in which she argued that gun manufacturers were public nuisances.

Yahoo! News: Russian authorities should annul the parliamentary vote results and hold a new election, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged Wednesday as popular indignation grew over widespread reports of alleged election fraud.

Family law has changed during the past 50 years to the detriment of child well-being, paving the way for the arguments in support of same-sex marriage. But there is a new strategy available to us to respond to this situation. The second in a two-part series.

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit Monday agreed to review the only remaining provision of South Dakota’s informed consent law that the court has not already upheld in a failing lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood. The provision requires women to be informed of abortion’s documented risk of suicide.