Category Archives: Religious Liberty

UT San Diego: He said he will expect those who officiate weddings at the county clerk’s office to be willing to conduct them for everybody getting married, “because we’re doing civil ceremonies; we’re not doing religious ceremonies.”

KTVZ.com: A cross in a public park in Coos Bay that has been at the center of a controversy over religious symbols in public places has been vandalize

The Star Press: Ball State University is investigating a complaint that one of its assistant professors in the department of physics and astronomy is preaching rather than teaching. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, whose mission is to act as an umbrella for those who are free from religion and are committed to the principle of separation of state and church, filed an objection to Eric Hedin’s teaching.

LA Times: Lois Lerner, the head of the exempt organizations division of the IRS, won’t answer questions about what she knew about the improper screening — or why she didn’t disclose it to Congress, according to a letter from her defense lawyer, William W. Taylor III. Lerner was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Lord at the American Spectator: March 31, 2010. According to the White House Visitors Log, provided here in searchable form by U.S. News and World Report, the president of the anti-Tea Party National Treasury Employees Union, Colleen Kelley, visited the White House at 12:30pm that Wednesday noon time of March 31st.

The Hill: Carney said that Mark Childress, the White House deputy chief of staff, twice spoke with Lois Lerner, the IRS official who oversaw the agency’s tax-exempt organization, about the strategy for revealing conservative targeting.

Religion Clause Blog: In an Alaska state trial court yesterday, acting Alaska District Court Judge Bruce G. Ward ruled in a 7-page opinion that Yupik Eskimos may not assert free exercise defenses to citations against them for illegally fishing for King Salmon.

Lyle Denniston at Constitution Daily: When the court agreed to hear the new prayer case from the city of Greece, New York, a community of about 100,000 people near Rochester, it stepped into a case in which a prayer practice at the opening of the town board meeting was struck down by a lower court using the endorsement theory. And, by granting review of that specific decision, the justices may well have been telegraphing a desire to second-guess the endorsement theory when prayers are recited at the outset of a public meeting of a government agency, with adults making up most of the audience.

Jed Glickstein, Should the Ministerial Exception Apply to Functions, Not Persons?, 122 Yale L.J. 1964 (2013)

This Note accordingly suggests an alternative framework that more closely tracks the functional considerations that underlie the ministerial exception. In short, it argues that a revised exception—one that applies to ministerial functions, not ministerial persons—better strikes the balance between antidiscrimination values and religious liberty that the First Amendment requires.

National Review: Sam Kazman and Michael Carvin have a great Forbes op-ed about their new Obamacare lawsuit, which could invalidate key portions of the law in the 33 states that did not set-up state-based health-insurance exchanges. Essentially, the lawsuit alleges that the IRS illegally rewrote the Affordable Care Act so that both the employer mandate and accompanying government subsidies applied in the 33 states that lack their own health-insurance exchanges . . . You can read the complaint here.

The Hill: The legislation is aimed at crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which are clinics often set up by a church or other anti-abortion groups. Democrats in Congress and other pro-abortion groups say these clinics are known to indicate they can perform abortions in order to attract pregnant women patients, and then try to convince them to carry their babies to term.

WSCOCTV.com: The American Civil Liberties Union filed suits against Rowan and Union counties for having a Christian prayer before board meetings.

Matt Barber at LifeSiteNews: Our sources have provided Liberty Counsel an internal DOJ document titled: “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” It was emailed to DOJ managers in advance of the left’s so-called “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.” The document is chilling. It’s riddled with directives that grossly violate – prima facie –employees’ First Amendment liberties.

AP: The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a new case on the intersection of religion and government in a dispute over prayers used to open public meetings.

Religion Clause Blog: The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to weigh in on the extensively litigated issue of opening city council meetings with prayer.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: Following 59 Members of Congress sending a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel regarding Pentagon officials meeting with an anti-Christian extremist, another group of 72 House Members has sent a second wide-ranging letter, exploring whether these infringements on religious liberty violate both federal law and the Constitution. (letter is embedded)

Americans United for Sep. of Church and State: Supreme Court Should Rule Against Sectarian Prayers Before Town Board Meetings, Says Americans United

U Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan, who directed the litigation for Americans United and will argue the Town of Greece v. Galloway case before the Supreme Court, said the justices should uphold the lower court’s ruling. “Legislative bodies should focus on serving the community and stay out of the business of promoting religion,” Khan said.

National Review: IRS scandal notwithstanding, on Tuesday, the (Republican-dominated) Texas legislature passed S.B. 346, a bill to force non-profit organizations and trade associations to disclose the names of the people who support them financially. The law exempts unions, but covers groups that spend more than $25,000 or more in independent expenditures about political candidates. This applies even if those expenditures are a tiny fraction of the group’s overall spending . . .

NY Times: At the first Congressional hearing into the I.R.S. scandal, J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he informed the Treasury’s general counsel of his audit on June 4, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin “shortly thereafter.”

Times-Standard: Eureka attorney Peter Martin said on Thursday that he’s hoping that a motion filed with the Humboldt County Superior Court this week will lead to a decision by early August on whether the city of Eureka violated the California Constitution by holding invocations prior to City Council meetings.

Seguin Gazette: Marion is turning the other cheek after a group asked that they halt prayers before school board meetings. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent an email to the board on March 12 stating they had “received a complaint from a local resident.”

Knox News: Craig L. Garrett, Blount County attorney, said in a letter to commissioners that he is researching the issue and “will update the commission regarding the legal ramifications of this issue in the near future.”

Washington Blade: The Nevada Assembly on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s hate crimes law.

Daily Mail: Texas Republican congressman Kevin Brady had the harshest criticism for Miller. ‘Is this still America?’ he asked him. ‘Is this government so drunk on power that it would turn its full force, its full might, to harass, and intimidate, and threaten an average American who only wants her voice, their voices heard?’

LifeNews: During intense questioning at a Congressional hearing this morning Rep. Aaron Schock asked acting commissioner Steven Miller if the IRS has asked a pro-life group about the content of its prayers.

Today, the Thomas More Society offered over 150 pages of analysis and evidence to the House Ways and Means Committee about repeated IRS harassment of pro-life organizations.

The Hill: “When you talk about targeting, that’s a pejorative term,” Miller said. Asked if the IRS’s actions had been illegal, he responded: “I don’t believe it is.” He then added of the behavior: “I don’t believe it should happen.”

CNSNews: The audience rose to its feet after Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Penn.) chided acting Commissioner Steve Miller about the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) treatment of taxpayers at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

Howard Gleckman at Christian Science Monitor: The Supreme Court pushed the IRS into the morass of regulating political speech with its Citizens United decision. Congress needs to pull the IRS out of the political swamp.

AP: An internal IRS memo says Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency’s tax exempt and government entities division, will retire June 3.

NewsMax: A pro-marriage organization claims the IRS leaked confidential financial documents to a rival group which were then used against GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the 2012 election.

MLIVE.com: “Detroit is where the Nation of Islam started. Detroit is almost considered now, a dead city. So we’ll come back to Detroit where we began and look at the condition of Detroit, pool our resources and try to buy properties in Detroit and start rebuilding one of the greatest cities in America where we’re concerned.”

WorldNetDaily: That was confirmed today when Dr. James Dobson, whose has served as an adviser to presidents and now runs Dr. James Dobson’s FamilyTalk, said his organization’s status was threatened because it didn’t present “all views.”

Politico: Liberty University’s challenge to the health reform law will go back before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., on Thursday, with the school focused on getting Obamacare back before the Supreme Court. Liberty’s lawsuit is the most wide ranging of the outstanding legal challenges to the health law, hitting everything from contraceptive coverage to the employer mandate.

Kent Harper at Mesquite Local News: Search the U.S. Constitution until both eyes are sore and you’ll find no reference to “the separation of church and state.” What you will find is the beginning portion of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

NRB: In light of the Internal Revenue Service’s admission to “inappropriate” scrutiny of conservative groups, NRB President & CEO Dr. Frank Wright has encouraged House Speaker John Boehner and other Congressional leaders to stand up for churches and non-profit religious organizations.

The Raw Story: The American Humanist Association threatened to sue Missouri’s Fayette School District and several school officials on Wednesday for their alleged roles in holding morning religious ceremonies with students on school grounds every week for at least the last year.

WSBTV.com: “We are guaranteed a freedom of religion, not a freedom from religion. And as far as I’m concerned, this is very intolerant,” Atlanta Tea Party chairman Julianne Thompson said.

The Daily Times: Under pressure from a Wisconsin-based advocacy group, the Blount County Commission tonight will consider approval of a formal written policy clarifying its practice of allowing prayer prior to its regular monthly meetings.

Freedom from Religion Foundation: The Freedom From Religion Foundation today contacted Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, protesting his decision to override the Department of Natural Resources and return bibles to all lodge rooms and cabins in Georgia state parks. The DNR, appropriately, had removed the bibles after a guest complained.

Trial Insider: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, in an order issued Tuesday, asked both sides to submit new briefs on whether the court should substitute its view of the law and application of the Constitution for that of the trial judge, or limit itself to the existing question of whether the trial judge overstepped his authority.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: The AP reports on a US Apeals Court decision to leave a family of homeschoolers at the mercy of the German Government, even though the Court found that the US Constitution forbids the state from prohibiting homeschooling. The family faces impossible fines and loss of custody of their children if they are returned to Germany. They should have just pretended to be gay.

Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission: We have no interest in fomenting conspiracy theories or faux outrage, seeing that such will serve neither the gospel of Jesus Christ nor our mission to minister to our neighbors with this gospel. We have no interest in misrepresenting our military leaders or their civilian command. The Bible calls on us to pray for and to honor our government leaders (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). At the same time, we do not want to ignore potential threats to religious liberty. The First Amendment guarantees of the free exercise of religion and the freedom from an established state religion are grounded in a natural right—the right to a free conscience under God.

Sun Sentinel: Provide copies of all 7,000 web pages. All blog posts, newsletters, bulletins, fliers and hand bills. Provide copies of the agendas and minutes of board meetings and resumes of each board member. The percentage of time spent on activities, sources of money… Faced with round after round of such questions, the group abandoned its attempt, disbanded and re-invented itself under the name National Liberty Federation.

MyFox8.com: The Rockingham County school board has voted against opening its public meetings with a prayer in a 7-3 vote on Monday night.

Cecil Whig: “The Cecil Whig conducted an online poll, which was overwhelmingly for prayer,” Broomell said as she tried to garner support from her colleagues during Tuesday morning’s work session. The Whig’s poll was an unscientific poll, in which 192 people voted in favor of council prayer while 51 opposed the idea.

US Newswire at Wall Street Journal: Today, the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina granted a motion to include Liberty Institute’s clients, The American Legion and The American Legion Post 290 of King, N.C., in a pending lawsuit over the constitutionality of a veterans memorial in King’s Central Park. A copy of the order can be viewed at https://www.libertyinstitute.org/document.doc?id=81.

Christian News: According to the Times Free Press, one parent, Mitzi Yates, found a permission slip in her son’s backpack and contacted the school to ask that the Bibles not be distributed to children even if parents approved.

CNSNews: The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which first accused the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of seeking to intimidate Tea Party groups 14 months ago, legally represents 27 such groups and is now demanding that the IRS approve the tax-exempt status of 10 of the groups or face possible legal action.

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: Jonathan posted earlier today about Romeike v. Holder (6th Cir. May 14, 2013), which reject German homeschoolers’ asylum claim. The opinion is quite readable and persuasive, and I recommend it to those interested in the subject. But here’s my general thinking (reprised from 2010 post on the original immigration judge decision in the case), and stressing that I’m not an expert on asylum law:

How Appealing links to coverage and the ruling in Rich v. Secretary Florida Department of Corrections.

Religion Clause Blog: In Bible Believers v. Wayne County, (ED MI, May 14, 2013), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a suit for declaratory and injunctive relief and nominal damages brought by a group of traveling Christian evangelicals who were escorted away by police and threatened with dsorderly conduct citations at last year’s Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan.

Broadening IRS Victims Include Pro-Life Advocates, As Congress Investigates Thomas More Society Cases Demonstrate Conservative Bias Only “Tip of Iceberg”   (May 15, 2013 – Chicago)  The Thomas More Society is speaking out about blatant bias by the supposedly apolitical …

The Hill: “Not only has the IRS retaliated against conservative, small-government and tea party groups as they apply for recognition of tax exemption AND lied about it, but it has criminally released our confidential tax return including the identity of dozens of major donors to a political enemy,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president.

Politico: The same Internal Revenue Service office that singled out Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny also challenged Israel-related organizations, at least one of which filed suit over the agency’s handling of its application for tax-exempt status.

Politico: The IRS came after Billy Graham, too, his son charged Tuesday in a letter to President Barack Obama. Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and the family’s international humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse, said that the IRS notified the organizations in September that it was conducting a “review” of their activities for tax year 2010.

Daily Mail: When a Tennessee lawyer asked the IRS for tax-exempt status for a mentoring group that trained high school and college students about conservative political philosophy, the agency responded with a list of 95 questions in 31 parts, including an ultimatum for a list of everyone the group had trained, or planned to train.

Politico: Larry Conners, a veteran local news anchor at KMOV Channel 4 in St. Louis, says that the Internal Revenue Service has been targeting him since an April 2012 interview he conducted with President Obama — a fact that he dismissed as coincidence until the recent reports about the IRS targeting conservative groups.

Tony Perkins at LifeSiteNews: Now, some in Congress want to get in on the act with a bill that would intentionally deprive children of a mother. Under this legislation, the government would punish any adoption agency that gives priority to married, heterosexual couples.

American Freedom Law Center: A Michigan federal judge today dismissed a civil rights lawsuit brought by several Christian evangelists who were violently assaulted by a hostile Muslim mob while preaching at an Arab festival last year in Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest Muslim population in the United States.  Video of the Muslim assault went viral on YouTube.

Eugene Volokh at the Volokh Conspiracy: Today’s New York Times has an article by Adam Liptak about Scott v. Saint John’s Church in the Wilderness, the case in which I filed a cert petition recently. In that case, as many readers may recall, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld an injunction that bars my clients from (among other things) displaying “gruesome images” of aborted fetuses outside a church.

Bangor Daily News: South Bristol Elementary School eighth-graders will launch their handmade skiffs next month without the traditional “blessing of the fleet” after a letter from Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State informed the school that student involvement with the historic maritime ceremony violated the First Amendment.

WATE.com: The Blount County Commission votes this week on a formal prayer policy for commission meetings.

San Francisco Chronicle: Plaques displaying the Ten Commandments have been removed from classrooms in the Muldrow School District after its board opted to “honor thy constitution” rather than risk a federal lawsuit.

AP: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker call the allegations “Big Brother come to life.”

The Hill: The House Ways and Means Committee will examine the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups at a hearing Friday.

Missouri Family Policy Council: Members of Congress are sending correspondence to Pentagon officials expressing concern about the rising tide of anti-Christian hostility in the U.S. Armed Services.

Ed Whelan at NRO: What this demonstrates is that the BSA’s top leaders aren’t serious about finding some middle ground. Instead, they’re trying to snooker and bamboozle local scout leaders and parents to embrace a proposal that isn’t sustainable and that will lead in short order to a wholesale abandonment of the existing policy against openly gay adult leaders.

AP: A gay teacher challenging her firing by an Ohio Catholic school says the local union for Catholic educators has decided not to proceed with her complaint.

Politico: The National Organization for Marriage hopes revelations about the IRS unfairly targeting conservative groups can revitalize an investigation into who leaked its donor information last year

But that would have meant the organization would have to be a political committee under New York law, just as candidate committees and political parties are. The organization would then have to register with the state board of elections, comply with recordkeeping requirements, and comply with extensive, periodic reporting requirements.

ABC (AP): The Texas House on Wednesday approved a bipartisan bill that aims to remove legal risks of saying “Merry Christmas” in Texas public schools.

Whidbey News Times: An attempt to clarify a policy regarding prayer at the start of Oak Harbor City Council meetings transformed into a political hot potato.

The Crescent-News: Attorney General Mike DeWine has rejected a group’s initial attempt to place a constitutional amendment before voters allowing prayer in school.

Democrat and Chronicle: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday postponed deciding whether to review a prayer case involving the town of Greece.