Category Archives: Featured

The Church Report: But Kenneth Miller’s lawyer, Joshua Autry, told the jury he would prove his client believed Lisa Miller had full custody of Isabella when she fled the country. “Your decision is not going to be a referendum for or against civil unions in the state of Vermont,” Autry told the jury. “It’s going to be about whether, at the time of the removal, Janet Jenkins had parental rights.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman and Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco will be available for media interviews immediately following oral arguments Friday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Reed v. Town of Gilbert.

Florida Courier: The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments Oct. 2 in a possibly first-of-its-kind case pitting two lesbian partners who used in-vitro fertilization to have a child but later ended their relationship. The case could be unprecedented in Florida because the fertilized egg of one woman was implanted in her then-partner, who gave birth.

Christian Institute: Researchers watched dads interacting with their infants at three months and then assessed the same babies’ behaviour at twelve months.They found that babies whose dads were more engaged at three months had fewer problems when assessed at twelve months . . . The study of 192 families was published in the journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Richard Vatz at Baltimore Sun: They shouldn’t get too excited just yet. Gay marriage is an issue in which polls don’t necessarily reflect what voters will actually do at the ballot box because it is increasingly politically incorrect to oppose such nuptials. And there is particular reason to doubt the accuracy of this poll. For the record, I do not oppose same-sex marriage, but I do oppose the use of unsound polling data for political purposes.

Matthew Schmitz at First Things: Associates poll found that 65 percent of conservatives reacted in a strongly unfavorable way to Obama’s same-sex marriage announcement while only 52 percent of Democrats responded in a strongly favorable way. Some of those Democrats just don’t feel strongly about the issue; others are the people who really disagree with Obama but won’t admit as much to pollsters. The 13-point difference reflects a basic imbalance in the debate: opposition to same-sex marriage is much firmer than support for it, and proponents are going to have an increasingly difficult time converting those who have held out this long. The hope that a national debate on same-sex marriage will inevitably advance its cause is also cast into doubt by the fact that during campaigns on same-sex marriage questions, we haven’t seen a net shift in opinion one way or the other. In short, we should not be surprised to see the increase in youth support stop when the issue leaves the headlines (or when young people move off campuses and into the suburbs where there is less social pressure in favor of the elite consensus).

Religion Clause Blog: The class action complaint (full text) in Qandah v. Lombardi, (WD MO, filed 8/8/2012) contends that this withdraws existing state protections of religious liberty from prisoners in violation of the federal Establishment Clause and Equal Protection Clause. It alleges: “The challenged provision has the principal or primary effect of inhibiting religion among prisoners in Missouri.”

Blog of the Legal Times: In a new study, an expert on federal judicial nominations has tried to inject some hard data into the sometimes overheated debate about President Barack Obama’s record on filling the bench . . . And Obama’s appellate court confirmations have altered the balance in federal circuit courts, Wheeler said in his paper.

Honolulu Civil Beat: A U.S. District Court judge in Honolulu has rejected arguments from two lesbians who said that Hawaii’s 1998 ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. (ruling is embedded in the article)

his ruling affirms that protecting and strengthening marriage as the union of one man and one woman is legitimate, reasonable, and good for society. The people of Hawaii adopted a constitutional amendment to uphold marriage, and the court rightly concluded that the democratic process shouldn’t be short-circuited by judicial decree.

MLive.com: “As private citizens, the DeVos family supports causes and organizations that advocate for policies aligned to their personal beliefs,” said an Amway spokeswoman in a statement.

Religion Clause Blog: Missouri voters yesterday approved state Constitutional Amendment 2 by a vote of 82.8% in favor and 17.2% against. (Official results.) The measure was described briefly on the ballot . . .

PR Newswire on the Sacramento Bee: Personhood Colorado submitted signatures to the Secretary of State’s office today for the Colorado Personhood Amendment. The signatures submitted totaled 112,121, although only 86,105 were required.

Washington Times: . . . You have warned that civilizations fail and the reason they fail is plain. “When civilizational virtues are eroded from within, people lose the capacity to defend the good things those habits enabled previous generations to achieve,” you explain, and cite ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and 1930s Germany as examples. Millions are afraid the United States is heading down the same doomed path. Is that indeed a danger, and what do Americans need to do to pull a U-turn back in the right direction? Sirico: While I do not wish to overstate the crisis we as a nation and a culture are facing, it is, I believe, quite apparent things are seriously off-kilter. Nor is this an observation from one side of the political spectrum — it is a general sense people have.

Weekly Standard: A new chart set to be released later today by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee details a startling statistic: “Over 100 Million People in U.S. Now Receiving Some Form Of Federal Welfare.”

Chicago Tribune: A Mennonite minister goes on trial this week for helping a woman flee to Nicaragua with her daughter to evade court-ordered visitation with her former same-sex partner, and he could face up to three years in jail if convicted.

Huffington Post: But in an interview at The Huffington Post’s offices on Monday, Markell said he expected the legislature to work on it as soon as the next session. “I think it probably will,” he said.

Fox News: A Louisiana teachers union is threatening private schools with legal action if they accept money from a new voucher program – and the threat has already forced at least one school to put its participation in the program on hold.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Center for Arizona Policy in defense of Arizona laws that offer benefits for married state employees only to married state employees.

IndyStar: Iowa’s human services director has denied a petition from House Republicans demanding that the state Medicaid program stop paying for abortions of pregnancies involving severe fetal abnormalities or caused by rape or incest. Chuck Palmer wrote in a letter Friday that banning state payment for such abortions would violate federal requirements.

Des Moines Register: “Well, he didn’t consult with me and I guess my feeling is he has the right as every citizen has the right to express their opinion on these issues,” Branstad said, referring to Spiker, at his weekly press conference at the Iowa Capitol this morning. “It is a voter decision and it should be up to the voters to decide.”

Politico: But the comparative quiet from party leaders would have been unimaginable even four years ago, when public opinion hadn’t yet shifted so rapidly on a signature social issue. And it marks a dramatic change among some of the top Republican donors and opinion-makers, who are supporting same-sex marriage in state-based gay legislative and legal fights, even as the official GOP platform will remain centered on traditional marriage.

Christian Post: Jimmy LaSalvia is the executive director and co-founder of GOProud, a Republican group of straight and gay conservatives who advocate for conservative principles but support same-sex marriage. He feels the main reason party officials are not touting the same-sex marriage issue is that most Americans are more concerned about the economy.

Alliance Defending Freedom letters encourage five universities to reject demands to evict Chick-fil-A

Engage Family Minute: Following reports that West Virginia University (WVU) was considering agreeing to the demands of activists by retaliating against Chick-fil-A and removing them from campus, the president and general counsel of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia warned against the potential violation of Federal law . . . Copies of both letters are available at FamilyPolicyWV.com/action.

LifeSiteNews: A gay rights advocacy group in Illinois has launched a series human rights complaints with Illinois state government against Chick-fil-A for supporting marriage, the day before a national homosexual “kiss-in” was planned to take place.

Catholic Culture: Archbishop Chaput said that all Christians must reject the secularist argument that religious freedom requires only the freedom to worship. Christianity makes greater demands on believers, he said: Christian faith demands preaching, teaching, public witness, and service to others—by each of us alone, and by acting in cooperation with fellow believers. As a result, religious freedom is never just freedom from repression but also—and more importantly—freedom for active discipleship. | Chaput Text: Building a Culture of Religious Freedom

USA Today: Clayton is vice president of Public Advocate USA, a conservative advocacy group based in Virginia. The group supported legislation in Tennessee to restrict teaching about homosexuality in elementary and middle schools, known as the “don’t say gay” bill.

Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts: • Eric K. Fanning – Under Secretary of the Air Force, Department of Defense

Reuters: Appeals court overturns ban on video-sharing site
A video-sharing website that allows users to post links to copyrighted videos hosted on third-party sites is not infringing copyright laws, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.
Flava Works v. Gunter, No. 11-3190 (7th Cir. Aug. 2, 2012)

ABC News Anchor Charles Perez at the Huffington Post: When President Obama announced his support for same sex marriage, we crossed a cultural tipping point, and for many in the media (in that New York/LA lexicon that seeks to define who we are) this became a near settled issue. But the President’s announcement and the statement of Chick-Fil-A policy, as stated by Dan T. Cathy, have crystallized a deep resentment harbored by many in America who sense their America has been hijacked. They feel the “liberals” and the “elites” are forcing a culture and a life style down their throats that they don’t want and that many of them consider to be wrong, immoral and ungodly.

Trevin Wax at the Florida Baptist Witness: Though I’m weary of our culture’s tendency to politicize everything, I believe this Chick-fil-A boycott has revealed some fault lines in our culture that will lead to increasing pressure upon Christians who uphold the sexual ethic described in the New Testament. Furthermore, in listening to the mayors of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, it’s clear to me that – political posturing aside – this discussion may not be about the alleged homophobia of Chick-fil-A’s president but the actual Christophobia of the leaders of the cultural elite.

NECN.com: A referee in Hennepin County District Court has found that Minnesota’s Defense of Marriage Act does not deny same-sex partners the “benefits of marriage,” including the right to inherit each other’s assets.

How Appealing links to the ruling and offers this excerpt: According to today’s opinion, in challenging the law, the plaintiffs alleged that “the expression and practice of their anti-homosexual religious beliefs will lead to federal investigation and prosecution under the Act, in violation of their First Amendment rights.”

Archdiocese of New York: Another option is to continue to offer health insurance, but, honoring our conscience, not include these objectionable services. There would be a $100 fine per day for each person who qualified for the coverage. Let’s assume that an agency has 50 people for which it would be subject to this penalty. At $100 per day, per person, over the course of the year it would pay a penalty of $1,825,000. ($100 x 50 people x 365 days). That’s a steep penalty from the government in order to try and convince religious agencies to turn their back on their conscience. That’s money that will then not go to serve those in need. Many of our services could not survive this heavy penalty.

Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski at The Hill: Here’s the blueprint for how the states can eviscerate three central pillars of ObamaCare, crippling it and set the stage for replacing it if Mitt Romney takes the White House and the GOP takes the Senate this November.

“Every innocent life deserves to be protected. Not only does this law protect children in the womb who experience horrific pain during a late-term abortion, it also protects mothers from the dangers and tremendous psychological consequences of late-term abortions. Though the 9th Circuit’s stay is regrettable, all it has done is give itself time to fully consider the case. Once it does, it should see the merits of the district court’s decision and uphold Arizona’s law.”

AZ Central: A federal appeals court is temporarily prohibiting Arizona from enforcing its new ban on abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy. A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued its order Wednesday, two days after a trial judge ruled that the ban could take effect as scheduled Thursday.

Matt Bowman and Andy Newland on the radio with Tom Lucero on AM Colorado, 1310 KFKA to discuss the case. | MP3 audio 11:43 mins

FoxNews: Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy is not the only business tycoon who refuses to hide his faith under a bushel — top executives from some of America’s biggest companies are born-again Christians who talk about their beliefs more often than their balance sheets.

Catholic Culture: In arguing against a firm’s attempt to block application of the HHS mandate, lawyers for the Department of Justice stated that “for-profit, secular employers generally do not engage in any exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment.” . . . “A secular entity by definition does not practice religion,” the Obama administration had argued in its filing. “The Newlands nonetheless claim that the regulations substantially burden their religious exercise because the regulations may require the group health plan sponsored by their secular company to provide health insurance that includes contraceptive coverage.”

Cardinal Newman Society: But this time, Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Service and Education introduced conscience protections in his subcommittee’s 2013 appropriations bill that funds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

LifeNews: Dr Jackie Sheehan, senior fellow at the China Policy Institute and associate professor at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in England appears to have the answer. In a new article she’s written in the South China Morning Post, Sheehan says “powerful financial and personal incentives” exist for local officials to ensure “forced abortions and sterilizations continue on mainland despite calls to reform family planning laws.

Des Moines Register: The Republican Party of Iowa’s chairman is pushing for the ouster of one of the authors of a court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa . . . Chairman A.J. Spiker, in a statement emailed across Iowa this morning, called for Iowans to vote against Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins to “help end the bullying of activist judges once and for all.”

Georgia Right to Life on the Standard Newswire: Tuesday’s non-binding GOP primary results showed that a super majority (66% of voters) expressed support for amending the state constitution to grant the “paramount right to life” to all innocent human beings from their earliest biological beginning until natural death. The Amendment question won in 158 of 159 counties, garnering 593,250 votes of the 902,512 cast statewide. In most counties the “YES” vote was between 71% to 78%.

MarketPlace.org: Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz has defeated lieutenant governor David Dewhurst in a heated Republican primary to run for U.S. Senate in Texas. And at the victory party for Cruz, Chick-Fil-A was served.

AP on Sacramento Bee: John Devine has defeated Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina for the Republican nomination for a spot on the court.

Satawa v. Macomb County Road Commission, No. 11-1612 (6th Cir. Aug. 1, 2012)

Defenders of California’s marriage amendment asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that declared the amendment unconstitutional.

Washington Examiner reports and embeds video.

The ruling in Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management, No. 3:10-cv-1750 (VLB) (D. Conn. July 31, 2012)

Politico: Democrats are set to include a pro-gay marriage plank in their convention platform for the first time in history, party sources confirm to POLITICO. The language was approved unanimously by a 15-member platform draft committee, and now heads for approval by the full platform committee in August.

Every innocent life deserves to be protected. That certainly includes the most vulnerable of all: children in the womb who experience horrific pain when being torn apart in the womb during a late-term abortion like those this law prohibits. This law also protects mothers from dangerous late-term abortions and their tremendous psychological consequences.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence will be available for media interviews following his oral argument before the Minnesota Supreme Court Tuesday disputing the ballot title Secretary of State Mark Ritchie assigned to the Minnesota marriage amendment.

WorldNetDaily: A judge in Pennsylvania who dismissed charges against a fellow Muslim who was accused of attacking an atheist parading as a zombie Muhammad has been rebuked by state judicial officials.

Fox News (includes video): “Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith. For the time being, Hercules Industries will be able to do just that,” said Matt Bowman, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, the Arizona-based organization representing the Newlands. “The bottom line is that Congress and the Constitution explicitly protect all religious freedom. They don’t exclude family businesses.” House Speaker John Boehner heralded the court’s ruling. “I join millions of my fellow Americans in welcoming this ruling, which is a major victory in the effort to restore the religious liberty that has been demolished by the Obama administration’s actions this year,” Boehner said.

A federal court issued an order Friday that halts enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Colorado family-owned business while an Alliance Defending Freedom lawsuit challenging the mandate continues in court.

The Hill: Three Republicans helped pass the United Nations treaty on people with disabilities out of committee on Thursday despite concerns over abortion. Sens. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) joined the 10 Democrats . . .

Baptist Press: More than 200,000 people have signed up so far to take part in Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day Aug. 1, despite the fact that Facebook workers may have censored the event page for about 12 hours Tuesday.

Wall Street Journal: Massachusetts’ top court ruled on Thursday that a Vermont civil union will be recognized as the “equivalent of marriage” in the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s unanimous opinion . . . | The opinion in Elia-Warnken v. Elia, SJC-11023. July 26, 2012 is accessible here.

CBS: The gay rights group Equality Illinois is launching a campaign against Chick-Fil-A – petitioning universities and lawmakers to evict the fast food restaurant from their campuses and planning a “kiss-in” campaign by gay and lesbian couples outside Chick-Fil-A restaurants.

LifeSiteNews: One day after his appointment was announced, the new archbishop-elect of Glasgow has already been attacked in the media for his opposition to same-sex “marriage.” On the day the appointment was made public, Archbishop-elect Philip Tartaglia, a long-time and highly vocal opponent of the homosexualist political agenda, told journalists that he believed he could end up in prison for his views.

Mercury News: Opponents can’t stomach Chick-fil-A’s plans in Mountain View
Opponents filed an appeal Thursday of a zoning administrator’s recent approval of four permits that will allow the Atlanta-based company to build a 4,200-square-foot drive-thru eatery at 1962 El Camino Real.

Chicago Sun: The anti-gay views openly espoused by the president of a fast food chain specializing in chicken sandwiches have run afoul of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a local alderman, who are determined to block Chick-fil-A from expanding in Chicago.

Christian Institute: The nationalist Scottish Government has ignored its own public consultation, and announced plans to redefine marriage over the heads of the Scottish people.Two thirds of the 80,000 consultation responses were opposed to the move, but the Scottish Government says it will redefine marriage regardless.

Benjamin Bull at Townhall: To recap: The top 10 states for business in the U.S. all define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, while two states that have redefined marriage, New York and Massachusetts, rank 28 and 34 in the country as far as business goes (Washington already surpasses them both by coming in at number 21). Why should the citizens of Washington aspire to be less business friendly while also sacrificing the sanctity of marriage? It certainly doesn’t make economic sense.

Deseret News: A federal judge wants to know whether Utah County’s assertion that it would not prosecute the polygamous family featured in “Sister Wives” is a ruse to avoid a legal challenge of the state’s bigamy law.

Available for media interviews following preliminary injunction hearing in Coleman v. Hamilton County Government. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are co-counsel in defense of the Tennessee county’s policy that allows public meetings to be opened with an invocation.

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: The Chicago Tribune reports: [Chicago Alderman] Proco “Joe” Moreno announced this week that he will block Chick-fil-A’s effort to build its second Chicago store … following company President Dan Cathy’s remarks last week that he was “guilty as charged” for supporting the biblical definition of marriage as between a man and woman….

Spokesman-Review: When should a parent lose custody of a young child for refusing consent for a medical procedure? How likely must the harm to the child be for that to happen, and what if the potential harm is unlikely but dire? And should doctors and police who seize custody and perform the procedure over parents’ objections bear any liability?

LifeNews: Harold J. Cassidy, a pro-life attorney who represented Leslee Unruh, president of the Alpha Center of Sioux Falls, and Stacy Wollman, president of Care Net of Rapid City — two pregnancy centers that provide abortion alternatives — sent LifeNews details about the decision. He called the decision “a fabulous victory for the women of the State of South Dakota.”

A woman’s right to make a fully informed choice is more important than Planned Parenthood’s bottom line.

CNSNews: So far, 127 House Republican members have signed a letter urging the GOP House leadership –Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)–to use the appropriations process to defund Obamacare. The letter, in part, states, “[W]e urge you not to bring to the House floor in the 112th Congress any legislation that provides or allows funds to implement ObamaCare through the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Health and Human Services, or any other federal entity. We also urge you to take legislative steps necessary to immediately rescind all ObamaCare-implementation funds.”

Democratic Underground: . . . judge Sophia Hall is a lesbian and claiming that means she should recuse herself in the case. The Cook County circuit court judge is handling a challenge to the constitutionality of state laws that define marriage as between one man and one woman.