Tag Archives: State: California

The Bulletin (Philadelphia): “‘We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually-charged events against their moral and personal convictions,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [Joseph Infranco], who is co-counsel in the case. ‘If not, we are prepared to continue to defend the firefighters all the way to the California Supreme Court.’”

“. . . the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, en banc, dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Catholic League and two individual Catholics challenging on Establishment Clause grounds a resolution passed by the San Francisco (CA) Board of Supervisors . . . ”

San Gabriel Valley Tribune: “About a dozen people stood outside a Pasadena Planned Parenthood to speak out against abortions on Friday. ‘We just wanted to come here to share the gospel and show ladies there are other options,’ said Evelyn Vane, a sophomore at Province Christ College. ‘They don’t have to be forced to make this decision, it’s a human life.’”

SCOTUSblog: “A hearing in the Ninth Circuit Court on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 — a state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage — has been set for 10 a.m. (Pacific time) on Monday, Dec. 6, the Court announced Thursday.”

The Santa Barbara Independent: “Said ADF Senior Counsel [Joseph Infranco], ‘It’s ridiculous to punish and fire a Christian administrator simply because he wanted to honor teachers at an event that includes prayer. The district’s contention that he was somehow violating the Constitution is not only unfounded, but absurd, as the video itself demonstrates.’”

ADF President and CEO Alan E. Sears writing at Inside the Issues: “For 52 years now, folks in the sunny coastal town have been putting together the annual Santa Barbara Community Prayer Breakfast . . . Last March, they created a . . . video to get the word out to business leaders, and enlisted several local educators to appear in it, including a teacher, a school superintendent, and Craig Richter, an elementary school principal who appeared for half a minute about 50 seconds into the clip . . . However, when a district board member saw the video on the Internet and complained, the district took action. They determined that Richter had both violated the sacrosanct and so-called ‘separation between church and state’ and dragged the district across the line with him.”

TIME / Swampland: “So just who is Judge Phillips? Elaine Donnelly of the conservative Center for Military Readiness has christened her the ‘supreme judicial commander of the U.S. military.’ Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council calls her ‘an activist judge playing politics with our national defense.’ But she is generally well-regarded in California legal circles, which was only as far as her reputation had spread until she ruled the military’s gay ban unconstitutional Sept. 9.”

Fresno Bee: “Two of the three justices who will decide whether the U.S. Episcopal Church or the breakaway Diocese of San Joaquin owns the Valley churches’ properties appeared this morning to be uncertain about how they will rule.” | More news coverage, including a timeline, of the case can be found here. | Docket: Schofield et al. v. The Superior Court of Fresno County, No. F058298

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on Relevant Radio to discuss this: Calif. school district threatens to terminate principal for endorsing prayer breakfast | MP3 audio 19:06 mins | Joe also appeared on AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fischer to discuss the same case. | MP3 audio 9:58 mins

Lyle Denniston writing at SCOTUSblog: “Supporters of same-sex marriage have urged a federal appeals court to end the constitutional fight over ‘Proposition 8′ by ruling that no one still in the case has any right to pursue an appeal. In a lengthy new brief (found here) filed Monday, the same-sex couples also sought a ruling that a federal judge had authority to strike down Proposition 8, and to do so throughout California. The city and county of San Francisco also filed a new brief against Proposition 8 (found here). In addition, the same-sex couples filed a brief opposing a separate appeal by officials of California’s Imperial County; that document is here.”

Jeremy B. Rosen, Thomas F. Gede, Federalist Society: “With Chief Justice George’s imminent retirement and replacement by California Court of Appeal Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, and the high likelihood that the Governor who is elected this November may have the ability to appoint a majority of the court during his or her term in office, this is a unique opportunity to consider the work, impact, and role of the California Supreme Court. In this paper, we highlight a few important areas of law (consumer class actions, property rights, arbitration, commercial speech, and employment) where the court has been strongly divided in recent years. In those areas of great importance to California’s businesses, workers and consumers, changes in the court’s personnel therefore could result in changes in the law that push the court away from its current balance.”

LifeSiteNews: “‘We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually-charged events against their moral and personal convictions,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [Joseph Infranco], who is co-counsel in the case. ‘If not, we are prepared to continue to defend the firefighters all the way to the California Supreme Court.’”

The New American: “‘We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually-charged events against their moral and personal convictions’ said [Joseph Infranco], Senior Counsel for the fund. Infranco warned: ‘If not, we are prepared to defend the firefighters all the way to the California Supreme Court.’ He noted that the sexually explicit nature of the conduct by some parade participants could not be repeated in polite company.”

OneNewsNow: “‘[The court found] that they had been sexually harassed by the city’s compelling them to take part in a so-called “gay pride” parade — and they said essentially the city of San Diego did not have a right to force these firefighters to take part,’ [ADF Attorney Joe Infranco] summarizes.”

California Catholic Daily: “‘We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually-charged events against their moral and personal convictions,’ said Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Joseph Infranco, who was co-counsel in the case. ‘If not, we are prepared to continue to defend the firefighters all the way to the California Supreme Court.’” ADF News Release

Catholic News Agency: “‘We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually-charged events against their moral and personal convictions,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [Joseph Infranco], co-counsel in the case.”

Sign On San Diego: “An appellate court panel . . . upheld last year’s jury verdict awarding damages to four San Diego firefighters who sued the city because they had been required to participate in the 2007 gay pride parade in Hillcrest . . . ‘Government employees should never be forced to participate in events or acts that violate their sincerely held beliefs,’ said Charles S. LiMandri, the West Coast regional director of the Thomas More Law Center and one of more than 1,800 attorneys who are part to the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the firefighters.” ADF News Release

Christian Post: “A California elementary school principal given disciplinary action for appearing in a promotional for a teachers prayer breakfast is suing, claiming he did ‘absolutely nothing wrong,’ lawyers said . . . ‘The district’s contention that he was somehow violating the Constitution is not only unfounded, but absurd, as the video itself suggests,’ said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco.”

Less than a week after hearing oral argument, a California appellate court has upheld a jury verdict which found that four San Diego firefighters represented by an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney should not have been forced to participate in the city’s “Gay Pride Parade.” The San Diego Fire Department had disregarded the firefighters’ numerous objections to taking part in the city-sponsored parade celebrating homosexual behavior.

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss this: Calif. school district threatens to terminate principal for endorsing prayer breakfast. | MP3 Audio 5:39 mins

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on Moody Radio’s “In the Market” with Janet Parshall to discuss this: Fire alarm in San Diego: ADF-allied attorney argues for firefighters on appeal. | MP3 audio 14:59 mins

Newzhawk: “A lawsuit alleging religious discrimination has been filed on behalf of Foothill Elementary School Principal Craig Richter, who says he has been targeted for his beliefs and threatened to be fired. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court by Richter’s attorney, William Rehwald, who is one 1,800 attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal group dedicated to defending religious freedom . . . ”

NewsReview.com: “Pugno also neglects to mention that his first real job, before he became a lawyer, was working for the notorious anti-gay state legislator William “Pete” Knight, who was the driving force behind Proposition 22, the first anti-gay marriage initiative that was declared unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court in 2008.  Also absent is Pugno’s work with the Alliance Defense Fund, which litigates cases involving religious liberties for Christians. ADF insists that it’s not a law firm and is instead a ministry, which means it won’t hire anyone who is not Christian. It was founded by conservative radio pastor and self-proclaimed family expert James Dobson in 1994. ADF was the major legal arm of the Prop. 8 campaign and defended the measure in court.”

PR Newswire: “While California liberals and conservatives have spent two years on opposing sides of the marriage definition issue, a new analysis released by California Healthy Marriages Coalition (CHMC) reveals that Californians with differing political party affiliations overwhelmingly agree on a number of marriage and divorce-related issues. In an unprecedented in-depth study, The State of California’s Unions, commissioned by CHMC . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “It denied certiorari in Association of Christian Schools v. Stearns, (Docket No. 90-1461). In the case, the 9th Circuit rejected constitutional challenges to the University of California’s admissions policy . . .  In Garriott v. Winn (Docket No. 09-991) along with Arizona Christian School Organization v. Winn (Docket No. 09-987), — both on the Court’s docket for this term– the Court granted the motion of the Acting Solicitor General to participate in oral argument . . . ”

Mercury News (AP): “An elementary school principal in the Santa Barbara area filed a lawsuit against his school district Tuesday, saying he has been punished and threatened with firing for appearing in a video that promoted a prayer breakfast to praise teachers. An attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit in federal court . . . ”

A federal judge issued a worldwide injunction Tuesday stopping enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell”; policy . . .

Center for American Progress: “The Family Equality Council finds that only six states have laws or policies that expressly prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian adoptions (California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, and New York). The Florida appeals court’s ruling now decreases the number of states that expressly restrict adoption by same-sex couples to three—Michigan, Mississippi, and Nebraska . . . Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) recently introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act . . . ”

Lake County Record-Bee: “I am writing you to address Prop. 8 for same-sex marriage. I feel it’s important to ban Prop. 8 in California so that gays and lesbians may have equal rights, just like everyone else. America has built itself on freedom and the freedom of choice. That’s what I don’t get; why is it such a hard decision?
Jumping into the case now is "just irresponsible," Douglas Napier, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund said last Friday.”

DailyBreeze.com: At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Dawn Unity Group will tackle this hot-button issue with "Abortion – Exploring Theological Differences," as part of its continuing Interfaith Discovery Series. This year, the program will be held at St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church, 26825 Rolling Hills Road, Rolling Hills Estates, and moderated by Bob Rothman.”

One News Now: “‘This [lawsuit] stands for the proposition that government employees should not be compelled to participate in events that violate their sincerely held beliefs,’ contends Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Joe Infranco, who adds that there was no opportunity for the men to opt out.”

California Catholic Daily: “Rehearsals for a play ‘revolving around issues in the gay community’ have begun at St. Mary’s College of California in Moraga, a Christian Brothers institution in the Diocese of Oakland.”

Associated Press: “Senators voted 27-9 in favor of the main bill in a legislative package aimed at ending a 100-day budget impasse and bridging a $19 billion budget deficit. They followed a 54-1 Assembly vote on Thursday. The bill, SB870, cleared both chambers with the bare two-thirds majority needed for passage.”

Edward Whelan has posted the Ethics and Public Policy Center amicus brief in Prop. 8 appeal online here.

Wesley J. Smith writing at First Things / Secondhand Smoke: “The organization believes that regulations should be created that are specific to the field. I don’t know what they have in mind and so won’t comment about that, but the ACE is correct–factually and ethically, embryos are not the same thing as tissues tested by pathologists. Stating otherwise has the effect–and I suspect, the intent–of reducing embryos to nothing more than a tissue sample, for which far different ethical rules would apply.” Link to ACE press release.

Adam Summers writing at the Reason Foundation: “A new study released by the Foundation for Educational Choice and the Pacific Research Institute estimates California’s unfunded liability for state (CalPERS and CalSTRS) pensions and retiree health care at $379 billion. This includes $327 billion in unfunded pension obligations—more than four times the $75.5 billion obligation the state publicly admits to—and $52 billion in retiree health-care liabilities. The total shortfall is more than five times the amount of existing state debt outstanding.”

CBN News: “Four San Diego firefighters return to court Friday to defend their right to abstain from participating in the city’s annual Gay Pride Parade . . . ‘Government employees should never be forced to participate in events or acts that violate their sincerely held beliefs,’ said Alliance Defense Fund attorney Charles S. LiMandri, who is representing the firefighters.” | ADF News Release

“Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Charles S. LiMandri and ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco will be available for media interviews following oral argument in a hearing in the city of San Diego’s appeal of a favorable jury verdict issued in February 2009.”

Gazettes.com: “Long Beach’s City Council, prompted by the city’s Human Relations Commission, came out again Tuesday night in opposition of Proposition 8 and urged in a resolution that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown not expend any resources opposing the ruling overturning that proposition.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney [Jim Campbell] tells OneNewsNow 25 briefs were filed. ‘This is a very broad coalition, a very diverse show of support for the people of California and for people all throughout this country who continue to believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman,’ Campbell suggests.”

Freedom From Religion Foundation: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation fired off a letter to the Redlands [Calif.] Unified School District over a serious violation of the separation of church and state occurring at Redlands High School football practices and games. A complainant informed FFRF, which has over 15,500 members nationwide and 2,450 members in California, that the team and coach regularly recite the Lord’s Prayer and traditionally open the first practice of the season with a ‘blessing of the helmets.’”

Family Security Matters: “On May 9th, the Mojave Memorial Cross was stolen from the United States World War I memorial in the Mojave Desert, which is a federal crime under the Veterans Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2003. More than four months have passed and your administration has still refused to take action to replace the Mojave Memorial Cross.”

Fox News: “The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that more than $69 million in welfare money was spent or withdrawn out-of-state since 2007, at hotels and restaurants and ATMs across the country. Of that, nearly $12 million was withdrawn in Las Vegas, some of it at high-dollar shops and casinos along The Strip.”

SCOTUS Blog has posted there most recent petitions to watch. The list includes these cases . . .

GLTNN: “Governor Schwarzenegger has signed the Unemployment Benefits Act (AB 2055), which ensures that same-sex couples in California have access to unemployment benefits. The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) and sponsored by Equality California.”

“[O]n Sept. 30 California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 906, the Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act. The bill was designed to protect clergy who refuse to solemnize a marriage that is contrary to their faith.”

October 2010: Log Cabin Republicans Win Constitutional Ruling Against Military Ban
Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York

“Based on the evidence submitted, the court concluded that LCR proved the Act does not further military readiness, but also that the Act: contributes to recruiting shortages; causes discharge of otherwise qualified servicemembers with critical skills; contributes to lower admission standards; that the delays in investigations until servicemembers return from combat deployment show that the Policy is not necessary to further military readiness or unit cohesion; that it harms rather than furthers unit cohesion and morale; and that military housing already provides sufficient protection of privacy of servicemembers. Therefore, the court held that the Defendants failed to show the Act was necessary to significantly further the Government’s important interests in military readiness and unit cohesion, and found the Act violated substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Los Angeles Times: “The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center will receive a $13-million federal grant over five years to provide services for gay youths in the foster system, officials announced Friday.”

Salem-News.com: “I am signing Senate Bill 1449. This bill changes the crime of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor punishable only by a $100 fine to an infraction punishable by a $100 fine. Under existing law, jail time cannot be imposed, probation cannot be ordered, nor can the base fine exceed $100 for someone convicted of this crime.”

Fresno Bee: “For the first time in eight years, the California Supreme Court is coming to Fresno — and it’s bringing along a high-profile case that could affect college students across the country . . . The court will hear arguments in eight cases over two days. It is not expected to rule on them during the visit. The highest-profile case by far is Martinez v. UC Regents, a class-action lawsuit that challenges California’s practice of allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state fees at public colleges and universities.”

USA Today: “Welfare recipients have long been banned from using their benefits for alcohol and tobacco. Some state lawmakers are eyeing the vice of gambling, a move some advocates for the poor see as unnecessary and unfair. Michigan legislators are debating a ban on using public assistance debit cards at ATMs in casinos. In June, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, issued an executive order banning the practice. Minnesota and Arizona also ban it.”

ADF Attorney David Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “Last night, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom filed a Petition for Rehearing or Rehearing En Banc with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Jonathan Lopez’s case against the Los Angeles Community College District. (The ADF press release is here.) On September 17, 2010, a panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that Mr. Lopez did not have legal standing to challenge LACCD’s speech code, even though a professor, administrator and two students threatened Lopez with punishment under the code.”

“The district court . . . simply ignored the controlling legal precedent and the pile of evidence that dominates the trial record.”

Christian Post: “Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill seeking to ensure that recent changes to Texas’ social studies curriculum in no way affect California’s. In his veto message Tuesday, the governor said he was returning [Senate Bill 1451] without his signature because it ‘is duplicative and unnecessary.’”

Ed Whelan writing at National Review Online / Bench Memos: “Walker’s decision to retire is no surprise. Indeed, the buzz from local courtwatchers is that Walker was going to retire last year . . . but changed his mind when the anti-Prop 8 case, through the wonders of supposedly random assignment, fell into his lap . . .  Applying Ockham’s razor, I will readily presume that Walker’s wild course of misconduct in the anti-Prop 8 case was driven entirely by his ideological fervor for same-sex marriage and that Walker wasn’t also trying to feather his own post-judicial nest . . . ”

Northern District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker announced Wednesday he will step down as chief judge at the end of the year and that he will leave the court in February.”

LifeSiteNews: “California’s Loyola Marymount University (LMU) has become the third Jesuit institution of higher education in the U.S. to establish an office dedicated to ministering to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students.”

Contra Costa Times: “State lawmakers in 1950 enacted a law that required state health officials to seek the ’causes and cures of homosexuality,’ though little effort was put into the project.
‘It was misguided and foolish at the time,’ said Lowenthal. ‘It’s completely unacceptable now.’”

Liberty Counsel: “Liberty Counsel stands in support of U.S. House Resolution 1378, which condemns the theft of the Mojave Desert Cross Memorial.”

Pacific Justice Institute: “The Pacific Justice Institute [filed an amicus brief] Friday afternoon with the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Prop. 8.”

Los Angeles Times / L.A. Now: “Disneyland has agreed to allow a company intern to wear her religious headscarf at work, according to a Muslim rights group that intervened after the woman was told she would have to work in the stockroom.”

FOX News: “In a scathing critique claiming incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer has made no significant impression on Washington, D.C., the editorial board at the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday declined to offer an endorsement in California’s heated Senate race.”

“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit received 25 friend-of-the-court briefs Friday in support of California’s voter-approved constitutional amendment that protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

“The amicus brief sent Friday to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that the Constitution does not require marriage to include same-sex couples. The 39-page brief also said that states, not federal courts, have final say in whether to allow same-sex marriages.”

John A. Humbach, Teens, Porn and Videogames: Time to Rethink Ginsberg? (September 26, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1682982

“This term the Supreme Court will decide whether states can constitutionally ban sales of violent videogames to minors. In reaching its decision, the Court will inevitably be faced with how to deal with Ginsberg v. New York, the case that allowed states to forbid sales of non-obscene (constitutionally “protected”) pornography to persons under age 17.

The opinion in Ginsberg, if not the result, is an odd duck in First Amendment jurisprudence. It is a case that applied ‘rational basis’ review in an area where the Supreme Court now insists on strict scrutiny. But the Court predicated its use of rational basis review on reasoning that was analytically flawed. Not only was the reasoning circular but it was founded on the startling idea that states have the power to modify the scope of a constitutional concept (i.e., obscenity) and, therefore, to cut down constitutional rights.

It is doubtful that Ginsberg could be decided on the same reasoning today and, on its record, it probably could not have the same outcome. Rather than gloss over or ignore the analytical flaws of Ginsberg, the Court should take the occasion to rethink Ginsberg and to place this area of law, and minors’ constitutional rights, on a sounder footing that is in harmony with the rest of First Amendment law.”

Sacramento Bee / Capitol Alert: “Equality California, the state’s leading gay-rights advocacy group, is targeting Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and GOP attorney general nominee Steve Cooley with new ads on Proposition 8.”

OneNewsNow: “A California city voted 4-0 this week in favor of displaying the national motto in its city hall. With the help of Mayor Bill Kruger, Chino Hills will proudly display the words “In God We Trust” on a wall behind the council dais. The aluminum lettering will soon be on display in the octagonal room that seats about 100 people, so an audience facing council members will be able to see the motto. Kruger says this is something he has wanted to do for a long time.”

PressDemocrat.com: “Public charter schools in California are skirting the worst impact of the state’s budget crisis, even as traditional public schools shorten the school year, increase class sizes and lay off teachers and staff by the thousands.”

The Bay Citizen: “The Commission held hearings at which some 100 members of the local community testified. Many said that Muslims are under a constant state of surveillance in the Bay Area. The hearings were prompted in part by Police Chief George Gascon’s plan to resume an intelligence-gathering operation that was halted under pressure from civil liberties groups in 1993. Those who attended also raised concerns about the police department’s continued collaboration with federal authorities.”

ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on Family Policy Matters with Bill Brooks to discuss the Proposition 8 litigation. | MP3 audio 14:17 mins

ADF attorney Jim Campbell appeared on Moody Radio, “In the Market” with Janet Parshall to discuss the California marriage litigation. | MP3 audio 14:54 mins

OneNewsNow: “A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a California college student who claims a professor violated his free-speech rights when he stopped him from finishing his speech defining marriage as between one man and one woman . . . ‘Jonathan went through all of this; [he] experienced all these deprivations of his First Amendment right to speak freely when given the opportunity to do so, yet the Ninth Circuit is saying he can’t challenge the policies under which the college acted to suppress his speech,’ laments Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney [David Hacker].”

ChristianNewsWire: “Advocates International (AI), part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GD&C) who brought the case before the court more than a year ago, joined even the government’s opposition and filed their clients’ opposition to the University of California Regents’ untimely and insufficient motion to intervene in a desperate effort to try to protect their patently pecuniary interest in the unlawful, unethical and unnecessary continuance of federal funding of research involving the destruction of living human embryos pending the government’s appeal of the preliminary injunction barring such funding.”

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “An unusually large contingent of female Republican candidates with strong anti-abortion views is heating up debate on the issue and could change the political equation in the next Congress.”

Katrina Trinko writing at National Review Online: “California, thanks to a bill that’s awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s signature, may be about to launch a program to provide ‘transitional kindergarten.’ The program seems harmless enough: It’s just a year of pre-kindergarten education available to children whose fifth birthday occurs in the fall . . . The evidence shows that government-funded, large-scale early-education programs fail to deliver long-term educational benefits. If Californians introduce transitional kindergarten, they might provide a great free day care for parents, but they’re kidding themselves if they expect any higher test scores in the future.”