Tag Archives: State: Georgia

NYTimes.com: The Georgia law, which made the act of promoting assisted suicide an element of the crime, was deemed a violation of free speech rights. | Final Exit Network v. Georgia

Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court ruling and remanded the case of Lambda Legal client, Richard Roe, back to district court. Roe applied to be a police officer with the Atlanta Police Department (APD), but was denied employment because of his HIV status. | Roe v. City of Atlanta

Daily Report: The White House and Georgia’s U.S. senators may agree that Atlanta lawyers Jill A. Pryor and Mark H. Cohen should be federal judges—but they apparently differ on which lawyer should fill an opening at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and which one should serve on Atlanta’s U.S. District Court.

Religion Clause: In Islamic Center of North Fulton, Inc. v. City of Alpharetta, Georgia, (ND GA, Jan. 25, 2012), a Georgia federal district court dismissed RLUIPA and federal constitutional challenges to Alpharetta’s refusal to give zoning approval to the Islamic Center’s replacement of its present worship structure with 2 buildings– a mosque and a smaller communing hall.

Tulsa Today: Veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler on his blog WhiteHouseDossier.com late last night posted a stunning story that President Barack Obama will ignore an order by an Atlanta judge to appear in court Thursday for a hearing in a case challenging his qualifications under the Constitution to be president. So is this the new state of the union, in which no one must obey the law?

Amy Ridenour’s National Center Blog: According to experts in tax law, Jarrett’s overt criticism of Republicans may have violated IRS rules that bar churches from engaging in partisan activism. Eric Stanley, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (a critic of such laws), told the Daily Caller: “It is problematic under current regulations.”

CBS Atlanta 46 (includes video): A judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama isn’t a natural-born citizen and can’t be president.

The Augusta Chronicle: Georgia’s “two-headed” appellate court system needs to be overhauled to create a less confusing set of courts with more clearly defined roles, a state Supreme Court justice told members of the Augusta Bar Association on Thursday evening.

Weekly Standard (includes video):On the Sunday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to give a political speech, in support of her boss (Barack Obama) and congressional Democrats . . .

WorldNetDaily: For the first time in dozens of court cases challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president, a judge has ruled that Obama must, in order to be a candidate on the Georgia ballot for president in 2012, meet the constitutional demands for candidates for the office.

LifeNews.com: An Atlanta, Georgia-based abortion practitioner has been arrested as he faces accusations of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid payments that were fraudulent.

ADF case information resource page (links to briefs) Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, No. 10-13925 (11th Cir. Dec. 16, 2011) Before BARKETT, PRYOR and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges. BARKETT, Circuit Judge: Jennifer Keeton was enrolled in the Counselor Education Program at Augusta State …

The Red and Black: Shewmaker responded with a letter Nov. 1 saying “invocation at commencement is part of the University of Georgia’s heritage,” according to documents provided by Joiner.
“There have been no Supreme Court of the United States cases interpreting this issue,” Shewmaker wrote.

redandblack.com: University commencement won’t have a prayer — at least that’s the hope of a group of University students. Stephen Joiner, the public relations chair for UGAtheists, is leading a group of about 30 students, many of them members of UGAtheists, in the fight to remove the prayer said during graduation.

The federal appeals court in Atlanta has ruled in favor of a former Georgia state legislative aide who was fired amid her sex change.

News from The Associated Press: A federal appeals court is considering the case of a former Georgia state legislative aide who said she was fired because of her sex change.

The Associated Press: Keeton’s lawsuit was brought by the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian advocacy group that that presses faith-based cases in court nationwide. It argues that the First Amendment protects Keeton’s rights to share her beliefs about gays with others.

Christian Newswire: Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) has named Mike Griffin as its State Field Director.

Online Athens: The Georgia Supreme Court ruled today in a long-simmering property dispute over Georgia’s oldest church, saying a congregation that broke away from the national Episcopal Church in a dispute four years ago must give back the church’s $3 million property in the heart of downtown Savannah. | Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Christ Church in Savannah v. Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, No. S10G190

OneNewsNow.com: Two Georgia lawmakers are considering legislation similar to the “personhood” referendum rejected by voters in Mississippi last week.

Religion Clause: Covenant Christian Ministries, Inc. v. City of Marietta, Georgia, (11th Cir., Sept. 7, 2011), is an interesting RLUIPA case decided earlier this year which has just now come to my attention.

Federation for Children: The Georgia Department of Revenue this week approved $50 million in donations to provide scholarships to students to attend private schools under the Georgia Scholarship Tax Credit Program.

News from The Associated Press: Voters in dozens of cities and towns across Georgia have struck down long-standing rules against Sunday alcohol sales, leaving just two other states in the nation with similar bans intact.

Atlanta J. Constitution: Georgia’s highest court on Monday will hear a challenge that seeks to strike down the state’s assisted-suicide law, passed by the Legislature almost two decades ago to punish people like the late Jack Kevorkian who helped people kill themselves.

11alive.com: Shorter University now requires all faculty and staff to sign a “personal lifestyle statement” that rejects certain behavior on religious and moral grounds.

Findlaw: A federal appeals court in Atlanta is hearing from a gun rights group that wants to overturn a Georgia state ban on guns in places of worship.

Freedom From Religion Foundation: The Freedom from Religion Foundation, a national state/church watchdog, is sounding the alarm on unlawful, exploitative activities in public schools by The Gideons International. “It takes constant vigilance to keep the Gideons out of public schools,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Fox Nation: A father’s complaint that his daughter’s homework promotes the Muslim faith could lead to a lesson change in Cobb County.

The father of a 7-year-old born a girl said the second-grader, prohibited from using the boys bathroom at school in McIntosh County, has never fit traditional gender roles.

Bainbridge News Constitutional Speaker Returns: [Rebecca O'Dell] Townsend is an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney and a member of its honor corps, has filed briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Liberty Counsel, Wallbuilders and William Federer (American Minute), and has been a featured speaker for various tea party, 9-12, and other citizens’ groups throughout Florida, Georgia, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia.

Smoky Mountain News: Brigman said the school system “will ensure that future graduation speakers refrain from religious speech.”

DOJ: The Justice Department filed a complaint today against the city of Lilburn, Ga., alleging that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it rejected the Dar-E-Abbas Shia Islamic Center’s requests for rezoning to construct a mosque. Both parties have agreed to a consent decree that will be filed on Aug. 29, 2011.

11alive.com: Like most governments, the City Council of this Fayette County municipality of 37,000 begins their meetings with a prayer. But now they’re being threatened with legal action if they don’t change it.

Religion Clause: The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that yesterday the Liburn, Georgia city council voted 3-1 to approve the controversial rezoning request of a Muslim congregation to build a 20,000 square foot worship center to meet the needs of the city’s growing Muslim population.

WSB Atlanta: The dispute over a Lilburn county mosque is heating up again. Opponents plan to protest its expansion at a Monday night City Council meeting.

Ga. Family Council: Many Georgians are shocked to find out that Atlanta is one of the nation’s top places for sex trafficking, where men and women (and children) are trapped in prostitution.

OneNewsNow.com: DF attorney Jeremy Tedesco says the school is well within its rights to use the filter. “It’s very simple to see that these filters block more than just websites that the ACLU appears to care about,” Tedesco notes. “They also block sexually explicit materials that are simply not suitable for minors.”

TheGAVoice: “The idea that Internet filters somehow result in student suicides is preposterous, and the ACLU should be ashamed for making such a connection,” said ADF Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco in a statement. “The ACLU cannot mask its attempts to turn school computers into porn portals for children with a supposed concern for bullying and suicides.”

Charisma: The idea that Internet filters somehow result in student suicides is preposterous, and the ACLU should be ashamed for making such a connection,” says Jeremy Tedesco, ADF legal counsel. “The ACLU cannot mask its attempts to turn school computers into porn portals for children with a supposed concern for bullying and suicides. “Parents expect schools to be places where their children will learn knowledge, information and skills that will make them productive members of society, not places where they can access pornography.” [ADF attorney David Cortman also quoted]

Passport Magazine: This is part of the ACLU’s nation-wide “Don’t Filter Me” campaign. The ADF stood with the Gwinnett Schools, saying they “should not bow to the ACLU’s demand” to remove the filters. The ACLU said they would take legal action if nothing was done.

ADF letter advises district that ACLU’s demands would result in students having access to sexually explicit content

Georgia Family Council: Georgia Family Council’s Center for an Educated Georgia (CEG) is proud to welcome Jerri Nims Rooker, J.D., as the new director. Jerri has extensive experience in policy development and all aspects of program management that makes her …

WSJ.com: School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation have moved to expand education opportunities for disadvantaged kids. This year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time.

LifeNews.com: The NAACP is not happy with a new campaign sponsored by a black pro-life advocate that has new billboards placed in Atlanta, Georgia with the message “Abortion Enslaves Us” and “The 14th Amendment Made Us Members. Abortion Dismembers.”

ACLU still awaits GCPS response on Internet filter: The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia extended a deadline for Gwinnett County Public Schools to respond to a complaint about an Internet filter that blocks some websites about sexual orientation.

AJC.com: The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday declined to reconsider a recent decision that declared the state’s charter school law unconstitutional and which left an estimated 16,500 students wondering where they would be getting an education next school year.

WABE: Some Gwinnett County students have complained to the American Civil Liberties Union that the school system blocks access to gay and lesbian websites. Now, the ACLU has written a letter to the Gwinnett County Schools asking them to “unblock” the sites.

Atlanta J. Constitution: More than 2,000 Cherokee County high school graduates will walk across the stage of First Baptist Church of Woodstock to get their diplomas this weekend, despite a potential lawsuit from a civil liberties group over using the religious venue.

NCPA Policy Digest: Georgia’s sole proprietors and self-employed will be able to buy out-of-state health insurance policies under legislation signed by Governor Nathan Deal, says the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Washington Post: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was welcomed with a mostly standing ovation when he took the podium Wednesday to dedicate Augusta’s sparkling new courthouse, but not everyone stood. Some in the crowd remained conspicuously seated, greeting the Georgia native with a studied silence.

Today, a slim majority of Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled (in a 4 to 3 decision) that the law creating the Georgia Charter Schools Commission is unconstitutional. At stake in the ruling are no less than 16 charter schools serving approximately 15,000 children across the state.

Atlanta Journal Constitution: “The Court finds through its own research that there is a basis in the Quran for both men and women to cover their heads as a religious observance,” Judge James T. Chafin wrote in an order obtained by the AJC. “Accordingly, the Court will permit the defendant to wear his hat in the courtroom as a valid religious observance.”

AP: Montgomery, who considers himself an Orthodox Muslim, said his kufi is a constant reminder of his devotion to his religion. Taking it off in public, even at the urging of a judge, would be a violation of his religious beliefs, he said.

The Republic (AP): Georgia’s top attorney has rebuked an Atlanta law firm for withdrawing from its agreement to defend the federal ban on gay marriage.

AP: Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill Thursday allowing local communities to vote on whether to approve Sunday sales. Only Connecticut and Indiana still have statewide bans like the one Georgia is scrapping.

The Republic: A Georgia judge rejected a free-speech challenge to the state’s law against assisted suicide, allowing a high-profile case to proceed against four members of a suicide group charged with helping a cancer-stricken man kill himself.

MDJOnline.com: The list of speakers is being finalized and the time is drawing near for the 27th annual Cobb County Prayer Breakfast. But a small group of protesters from the Smyrna-based Atlanta Freethought Society and American Atheists say they will protest the event . . .

Christian Newswire (Georgia Right to Life): Thursday, April 14, marked the end of the annual forty-day legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly. It also marked a new low in the State House’s relationship with Georgia Right to Life and its prolife base. For the second year in a row, there was no prolife legislation enacted. In contrast, the Senate leadership has led by example and passed strong prolife bills each of the last four years.

Times-Herald.com: “ADF attorneys argue that the county’s refusal is once again in violation of the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that prevents zoning officials from singling out churches for discriminatory treatment,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination by a county’s ongoing decisions,” said Stanley. “This is especially true when the church has already received all the recommended approvals through the appropriate channels and no other legitimate reason for denial has been given. “The county must learn to abide by the U.S. Constitution and federal law, which prohibits this kind of discriminatory treatment of churches.”

Religion Clause Blog: For the second time this year (see prior posting), a federal lawsuit has been filed against Coweta County, Georgia challenging its denial of a conditional use permit to a predominately African-American church . . . Alliance Defense Fund issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

ADF attorneys file second suit against Coweta County this year for prohibiting new church building

One News Now: Walden, and attorney Jim Campbell recently argued on behalf of the former federal government employee. “In this case, Marsha Walden was a counselor working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She referred a client seeking same-sex relationship counseling because she realized that providing that counseling would conflict with her sincerely held religious beliefs,” Campbell explains. “Unfortunately, she was terminated for that decision.”

AP: “She was targeted for mistreatment based on her religious beliefs,” said Campbell, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative religious rights organization that took the case. “It’s not her burden to come up with an excuse. She was offered one dishonest option – to say she didn’t have the expertise to handle the case – and she refused it.”

ADF attorney available to media after defending Christian counselor who referred client seeking advice on same-sex relationship to colleague

AP: “All Georgia executions are off after federal drug agents seized the state’s supply of a sedative used in lethal injections that has been challenged by capital punishment critics and death-row inmates . . . ”

Atlanta J. Constitution: Interesting Georgia Supreme Court ruling today that an online high school meets the definition of “attending school.” | Draughn v. Draughn, Nos. S10A1599, S10A1600 (Ga. Mar. 7, 2011)

“Georgia’s top court has upheld a state law that requires voters to show photo identification before they cast ballots.” | Democratic Party of Georgia v. Purdue, No. S10A1517 (Ga., March 7, 2011)

One News Now: “The county planner had looked at the application and had seen every reason to grant the application,” accounts Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Erik Stanley. “But when All Souls went before the county council, something happened that frequently happens to churches — the county council denied the application, even though there was no objective reason to do so.”

LifeSiteNews: “Personhood bills and amendments are gaining notice and approval across the United States, with a one such bill having passed the House in North Dakota and another the Iowa House subcommittee. Georgia, Montana, Texas, and Oklahoma have also introduced personhood legislation, reports Personhood USA.”

Times-Herald: Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for The Alliance Defense Fund, said he doesn’t think there has been a formal decision rendered by the DOJ. “The Department of Justice frequently takes quite a bit of time to investigate,” Stanley said. “All Souls just didn’t have the time to wait around.” Stanley said that ADF was contacted by All Souls.

Religion Clause Blog: “The complaint (full text) in All Souls Church of God in Christ, Inc. v. Coweta County, Georgia, (ND GA, filed 2/11/2011) claims that applications by other religious and non-religious organizations that are predominately White have received more favorable treatment. Alliance Defense Fund issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.”

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit Friday against Coweta County on behalf of a church denied an expansion permit even though it met all of the requirements and even though many other churches have had their permits approved.

GPB.org: “Some lawmakers want to put it to voters—when the state of Georgia recognizes the beginning of life.”

Atlanta J. Constitution: “The latest attempt at Sunday alcohol sales legislation in the state Senate appears to be in trouble. Opposition, especially from Christian conservatives, could prevent a Senate vote this year on a bill that would give Georgia communities a vote whether to allow Sunday beer, wine and liquor sales at stores.”

Maureen Downey writes at the Atlanta J. Constitution: Take a look at Senate Bill 55 and Senate Bill 34, both of which require public schools to allow children who are not enrolled to participate in extracurricular activities. I understand the impetus and the impulse, but at some point, don’t schools have the right to ask: How much more can we do?