Tag Archives: Docs: Opinions

Religion Clause Blog: In Check v. New York City Department of Education, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71124 (ED NY, May 20, 2013), a New York federal district court adopted a magistrate’s recommendations (2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71223, March 22, 2013) and refused to issue a preliminary injunction to require admission of plaintiff’s 5-year old daughter to school without required immunizations.

Politico: The 2-1 decision Thursday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (posted here) found that the presidential recess appointment power is limited to breaks between sessions of Congress, not breaks within sessions or other adjournments during which the Senate might meet in pro forma sessions. The reasoning mirrors that in a ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court in January.

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

Des Moines Register: Married same-sex couples have the same rights as married heterosexuals to have both parents listed on the birth certificates of their newborn children, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled this morning. Justices ruled 6-0 . . . | Gartner v. Iowa Dept. of Public Health

Anchorage Daily News: The Alaska Supreme Court Friday unanimously upheld a lower court decision that a voter initiative banning all abortions could not appear on the Alaska ballot because it was unconstitutional. | Desjarlais v. Alaska

SCOTUS Blog: A unanimous Supreme Court ruled today in McBurney v. Young that a state can restrict its own freedom of information law to its own citizens without violating the Privileges and Immunities Clause or the dormant Commerce Clause.  We covered oral arguments here.

Washington Post: The Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday ruled for the Episcopal Church in a bitter, multimillion-dollar property dispute with a conservative congregation that had left the denomination over the Bible’s view of homosexuality and other issues.

Religion Clause Blog: In Hollander v. Members of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, (2d Cir., April 10, 2013), the 2nd Circuit dismissed on collateral estoppel grounds an action claiming that the state and federal governments have violated the Establishment Clause by providing funding to Columbia University which maintains an Institute for Research on Women’s and Gender Studies and a Women’s Studies program.

Religion Clause Blog: In Doe v. Virginia Department of State Police, (4th Cir., April 12, 2013), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed . . .  One of plaintiff’s claims was that her free exercise rights were violated because all the churches of her faith in the area have Sunday Schools.

Religion Clause Blog: In In re Marriage of Sarah Peterson v. Adam Peterson,(MN Ct. App., March 25, 2013), the Minnesota Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld a trial court’s award of sole physical custody of 3 minor children to the wife in a divorce action.

ULaw Today: Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of Amy and Vicky, two child pornography victims, in an appeal brought by the Utah Appellate Clinic. | In re: Amy & Vicky

How Appealing reports on the ruling in U.S. v. Fast . . .

AP: A federal judge has struck down Idaho’s law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on beliefs held by physicians and others that the fetus is able to feel pain at that point . . . “The state may not rely on its interest in the potential life of the fetus to place a substantial obstacle to abortion before viability in women’s paths,” he said.

Charles C.W. Cooke at National Review: If the Canadian Supreme Court is happy to indulge the prosecution of those whose speech apparently “opposes the targeted group’s ability to find self-fulfillment,” then I wonder if it wouldn’t also be happy to bring back Spectral Evidence, which William Stoughton allowed into his courtroom with such famous success at the Salem Witch Trials.

The Colorado Court of Appeals Thursday upheld the constitutionality of a Douglas County voucher program that pays for students who attend “private school partners” rather than government-run schools.

Religion Clause Blog: ANSAMED reports that on Thursday the Supreme Court of Spain overturned a local ban on clothing that covers the face, such as the burqa

American Spectator: In a 2-1  decision, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals threw out a lower court’s injunction against the Douglas County School District’s voucher program, an injunction which has been in place since 2011.

Religion Clause Blog: In Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v. Whatcott, (Sup. Ct. Canada, Feb. 27, 2013), the Supreme Court of Canada, in a 116-page opinion, upheld the constitutionality of a key provision in theSaskatchewan Human Rights Code, Sec. 14.

LifeSiteNews: Canada’s top court has released an unanimous decision today that critics say has struck a monumental blow against freedom of speech, opinion, and religion across the country.

Today, the Supreme Court of Canada set a new standard in determining the legal boundaries for religious expression in public debate.

Religion Clause Blog: The by-law was challenged by two street preachers.  In Attorney-General (SA) v Corporation of the City of Adelaide, (HCA, Feb. 27, 2013) . . .

Religion Clause Blog: In Moore-King v. County of Chesterfield, Virginia, (4th Cir., Feb. 26, 2013), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld against various constitutional challenges a Virginia county’s regulation of fortune tellers. The regulations require fortune tellers to obtain a license and business permit, and to obtain a conditional use permit in order to locate their business in specifically zoned areas.

Jurist: The Constitutional Court of Hungary [official website, in Hungarian] on Tuesdaystruck down [judgment, PDF, in Hungarian, press release, in Hungarian] a law that outlines how churches are given official designation, finding that it was too political. Under the law, only Parliament could give churches official status.

Sentencing Law and Policy Blog: A helpful reader alerted me to a notable ruling by a Sixth Circuit panel today in US v. Gamble, No. 11-5394 (6th Cir. Feb 27, 2013) (available here).  Here is how the majority opinion gets started . . .

How Appealing reports: Sixth Circuit rejects Freedom from Religion Foundation’s claim that the City of Warren, Michigan must add a “Winter Solstice” sign criticizing religious belief to the city’s pre-Christmas holiday display of secular and religious symbols . . . | Freedom from Religion Foundation v. City of Warren MI

San Francisco Chronicle: A state prison inmate and former inmate who practice the Wiccan religion can proceed with a lawsuit accusing California of discriminating by refusing to hire a Wiccan chaplain while paying for chaplains from more mainstream faiths, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. | Hartman v. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Hat tip: How Appealing

Religion Clause Blog: Last month, a Texas federal district court issued yet another decision in the 7-year long litigation challenging the Plano school district over school rules that, among other things, precluded a student from handing out candy canes with an attached religious message.

The Supreme Court has issued a ruling in Chafin v. Chafin. SCOTUS Blog links to the opinion and provides more information here. Issue: Whether an appeal of a district court’s ruling on a Petition for Return of Children pursuant to the International Child Abduction Remedies Act and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction becomes moot after the child at issue returns to his or her country of habitual residence . . .

Religion Clause Blog: In Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, (3rd Cir., Feb. 7, 2013), Judge Rendell in her majority opinion concluded that the Mennonite owners of a wood specialties manufacturing company had failed …

AZ Daily Star: Steven Aden, an attorney with the privately funded Alliance Defending Freedom, which is helping the state defend the law, said blocking the law “would frustrate the public’s interest, expressed through its elected representatives, in ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not directly or indirectly support abortions.” He also argues the state has sovereign rights to decide who can participate in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, regardless of who provides most of the money. | also reported on NBC: Judge blocks Arizona from cutting off Planned Parenthood funds because of abortions | Planned Parenthood Arizona v. Betlach

Alan Sears at Alliance Defending Freedom Blog: Two crucial decisions last week by federal courts solidified the legal case Alliance Defending Freedom is making on behalf of a broad cross-section of Christians opposed to the ObamaCare abortion pill mandate.
These are important early-round decisions in an epic legal battle that has enormous implications for you, your family, and for every Christian employer in the country.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: The lead lawyer on the case, Matt Bowman from the Alliance Defending Freedom, said: Americans have the God-given freedom to live and do business according to their faith. Forcing employers to surrender their faith in order to earn a living is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. Honoring God is important every day, in all areas of life, including in our work. Freedom is not the government’s to give and take away when it pleases.

LifeNews: “Americans have the God-given freedom to live and do business according to their faith. Forcing employers to surrender their faith in order to earn a living is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman told LifeNews. “Honoring God is important every day, in all areas of life, including in our work. Freedom is not the government’s to give and take away when it pleases. We are pleased that the court delivered the Obama administration a reminder of this foundational truth, and we are confident that this unconstitutional mandate’s days are numbered.”

Michael Foust of Baptist Press at Christian Examiner: Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Grote. “Americans have the God-given freedom to live and do business according to their faith,” ADF attorney Matt Bowman said in a statement. “Forcing employers to surrender their faith in order to earn a living is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. Honoring God is important every day, in all areas of life, including in our work. Freedom is not the government’s to give and take away when it pleases.”

“Americans have the God-given freedom to live and do business according to their faith. Forcing employers to surrender their faith in Aorder to earn a living is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. Honoring God is important every day, in all areas of life, including in our work. Freedom is not the government’s to give and take away when it pleases. We are pleased that the court delivered the Obama administration a reminder of this foundational truth, and we are confident that this unconstitutional mandate’s days are numbered.”

Religion Clause Blog: In Grote v. Sebelius, (7th Cir., Jan. 30, 2013), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision issued an injunction pending appeal to prohibit enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a Catholic-owned for-profit small business and its owners.

Religion Clause Blog: In A.M. v. Taconic Hills Central Hills School District, (2d Cir., Jan. 30, 2013), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a free speech claim by a middle school student, the co-president of student council, who was not permitted to include a religious blessing at the end of her remarks at the school’s Moving-Up Ceremony.

Religion Clause Blog: In Persico v. Sebelius, (WD PA, Jan. 22, 2013), a Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed on ripeness grounds a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate brought by the Catholic Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania and two organizations affiliated with Pennsylvania Catholic Charities.

Bloomberg: President Barack Obama’s recess appointments to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board last year were “constitutionally invalid” because the Senate wasn’t in recess at the time, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled. | Canning v. NLRB, No. 12-1115 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 25, 2013)

Religion Clause Blog: In Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, (ED PA, Dec. 28, 2012), a Pennsylvania federal district court issued a 14-day temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a cabinet and wood specialties company whose Mennonite

Becket Fund: Today, a federal court denied a request to temporarily stop enforcement of the abortion pill mandate, which would force the Christian-owned-and-operated Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., to provide the “morning-after pill” and “week-after pill” in its health insurance plan, or face crippling fines up to $1.3 million per day.

How Appealing links to a report and the ruling in Dixon v. U. of Toledo.

Religion Clause Blog: In Torres v. Davis, (3d Cir., Dec. 4, 2012), the court rejected free speech, free exercise and equal protection challenges to the refusal by the Board of plaintiff’s requests made over a ten-year period to place items on the ballot.

Sacramento Bee: On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller ruled that the law prohibiting licensed mental health providers from steering patients under 18 away from gay and lesbian lifestyles does not infringe on the suing providers’ constitutional guarantee …

AP: A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked California from enforcing a first-of-its-kind law that bars licensed psychotherapists from working to change the sexual orientations of gay minors, but he limited the scope of his order to just the three providers who have appealed to him to overturn the measure. | Order: Welch v. Brown | Pacific Justice Institute press release: Federal Judge Rules that CA SB1172 Violates Free Speech

Naple News: In a case that offers a glimpse of the complexity of Florida’s parental-notification of abortion law, a divided appeals court this week overruled a Polk County judge and said a 17-year-old girl could receive an abortion without her mother being told. | In re Petition of Jane Doe

Religion Clause Blog: In Zubik v. Sebelius, (WD PA, Nov. 27, 2012), a Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed on ripeness and standing grounds a challenge by the the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh and Catholic Cemeteries Association of Pittsburgh to the contraceptive coverage mandate issued under the Affordable Care Act.

Courthouse News Service: A Michigan church that subpoenaed several anonymous email accounts after LGBT-rights activists interrupted its services should not face a sanction, the 9th Circuit ruled Monday.

Religion Clause Blog: Now in Independent School District No. 5 of Tulsa County v. Spry, (OK Sup. Ct., Nov. 20, 2012), in a 7-2 decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed that decision on standing grounds. It held that the school districts which were plaintiffs in the lawsuit lack standing because they are not taxpayers who have a right to challenge the program . . .

Religion Clause Blog: In Cassidy v. City of Brewer, (D ME, Nov. 19, 2012), a Maine federal district court dismissed on ripeness grounds a RLUIPA religious discrimination claim because plaintiff did not appeal the decision of the city’s code enforcement officer to the zoning board of appeals.

Daily Journal: A sharply split New Jersey Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a parental rights law that a couple claimed discriminates against infertile women. New Jersey law holds that an infertile man whose wife is artificially inseminated with his permission is the baby’s father. But it doesn’t give parental rights to an infertile woman whose husband’s sperm is used to impregnate another woman, even if the wife gives permission. | In the Matter of the Parentage of a Child by T.J.S. and A.L.S., h/w (A-130-10) (067805)

The Courier: The X-Mart Adult Superstore in Clarksville can challenge the validity and constitutionality of that city’s ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. | 40 Retail Corporation v. City of Clarkville

AP: Lap dances are taxable because they don’t promote culture in a community the way ballet or other artistic endeavors do, New York’s highest court concluded Tuesday in a sharply divided ruling. | In the Matter of 677 New Loudon Corporation v. State of New York Tax Appeals Tribunal

AP: A federal appeals court in Manhattan has become the second in the nation to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional. | Windsor v. U.S.

Religion Clause Blog: On Oct. 15, the European Union’s Venice Commission  along with the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights issued a Joint Opinion (Opinion 681 / 2012) finding numerous problems with Azerbaijan’s 2011 Law on Freedom of Religious Belief.

NPR (AP): Unmarried and same-sex couples in Northern Ireland should be allowed to adopt children, a Belfast judge ruled Thursday, overturning a 1987 adoption law that discriminated against both groups . . . Belfast High Court Justice Seamus Treacy ruled that the law clearly violated European human rights laws on privacy and discrimination. | The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’s Application [2012] NIQB 77

SCOTUS Blog: The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to rule on the constitutionality of a state requirement that voters must prove they are U.S. citizens before they register to vote and cast their ballots . . .  (The case is Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., docket 11-71.)

Religion Clause Blog: In Erdman v. Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, (WA Sup. Ct., Oct. 4, 2012), the Washington Supreme Court in a case producing 3 opinions (lead opinion, concurrence, dissent/concurrence) dismissed a former church employee’s claim against the church for negligent supervision and negligent retention of its minister. The court also remanded plaintiff’s Title VII claims for further consideration in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hosanna-Tabor decision.

Philly.com: A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by an atheist group that challenged the legislature’s resolution declaring 2012 the “Year of the Bible,” but he also chastised the lawmakers for “pandering.” | FFRF press release and opinion link

The Republic: The courts have struck down another Montana election law as unconstitutional. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion Monday that tosses out the state’s ban on political party endorsements of nonpartisan judicial candidates. | Sanders County Republican Cent. Comm. v. Bullock

AP: An appeals court on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling that likely would have led to greater disclosure of who is paying for certain election ads.

ABC: U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf is believed to be the first federal judge to order prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate . . . Kosilek’s lawsuit has become fodder for radio talk shows and lawmakers who say the state should not be forced to pay for a convicted murderer’s sex-change operation — which can cost up to $20,000 — especially since many insurance companies reject the surgery as elective . . . | Kosilek v. Spencer, No. 00-12455-MLW (D. Mass. Sept. 4, 2012)

Since this nation’s founding, public meetings have been opened with prayer. There is no legal reason why Hamilton County’s citizens should be denied this freedom under the county’s policy, which the court today affirmed as constitutional.

National Law Journal: A divided federal appellate court has affirmed the 30-year prison sentence given to a former field hockey coach for soliciting pornographic images from a girl he coached and sharing them with another teen girl with whom he sought to have sex. | United States v. Broxmeyer, 10-5283-cr

AP: The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italy’s ban on screening embryos for disease before they are implanted in a womb has violated the rights of a couple whose first child was born with cystic fibrosis.

Opinion: Costa and Pavan v. Italy, 280812

LifeSiteNews: Judge upholds end of life laws in Tony Nicklinson case: he High Court has today ruled on the Tony Nicklinson and ‘Martin’ cases, with three judges reaffirming the long established legal position that ‘voluntary euthanasia is murder, however understandable the motives may be’.

The IMAPP Chart is here.

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)