Tag Archives: State: Idaho

LaTimes.com: In a cause celebre for the right, an Idaho couple seeks a hearing on an EPA warning that a dry lot for their dream home is protected ‘wetlands.’

Religion Clause: In State of Idaho v. White, (ID App., Dec. 14, 2011), an Idaho state appeals court rejected defendant Cary White’s claim that his marijuana use is protected by the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act.

Washington Times: Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said the Republican governors of the Midwestern states who back the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline should bypass the federal government altogether and make the agreements necessary to get the $7 billion project up and running.

Newsweek, The Daily Beast: Jennie McCormack was arrested for terminating her pregnancy with an abortion pill. The case that could transform the reproduction wars.

Idaho Press-Tribune: But the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund claims the school district was pressured by gay rights activists who don’t want parents to know if their kids are joining a club that promotes equal rights for homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people. The Alliance Defense Fund has also sued the Idaho Public Charter School Commission on behalf of the now-defunct Idaho Classical Academy charter school in Nampa in an attempt to allow the school to use religious texts in the classroom.

NPR: Chantell and Mike Sackett say the EPA violated their right to due process when it said they were building a house on a wetland and ordered them to restore the land.

Idaho Statesman: The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based firm that presses faith-based cases in court, issued a statement Monday saying the district was “duped” by gay rights activists into ditching the proposed parental consent policy. “School districts do not need to give in to activist demands that parents be left ignorant about what their children are exposed to,” said Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, in a statement.

Lambda Legal: Lambda Legal and the Idaho Safe Schools Coalition today applauded a Boise-area school district for approving a student club policy that eliminated a new requirement that students get parental permission to participate in clubs and other restrictions that would have harmed lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and violated their rights.

Christian Post: Two Idaho homeless shelter residents failed in their attempt to sue a Christian mission shelter for allegedly forcing them to participate in religious activities.

An Idaho woman prosecuted for terminating her own pregnancy with abortion pills she ordered online won a temporary court order on Friday barring enforcement of the decades-old law under which she was charged.

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman appeared on The Real Side with Joe Messina to discuss the Nampa Classical Academy litigation. | MP3 audio 12:48 mins

ADF Attorney Matt Sharp on Drive Time with the Bill Bunkley to discuss the Nampa Classical Academy case. | MP3 audio 11:47 mins

Boise Weekly: The article mentions that Moffett is suing the board over the revocation of the charter. His lawyer is David Cortman of the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that defends so-called “Christian” causes “One of our claims in the case is, the closing down of the school, under the alleged guise of financial reasons, is a reaction to the teaching of religious books,” said Cortman.

LaTimes.com: The latest example is a battle between the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative public-interest law firm, and the Idaho Public Charter School Commission. The commission threatened to revoke the charter of a school if it used any “religious document or text” — including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Koran and the Bible — or even made those works available in the classroom.

Fox News: “I suspect the Supreme Court is going to eventually write the final book of this case,” David Cortman predicted as he too walked across the abandoned field that was once Nampa Classical. Cortman is from The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group that defends Christian causes. “The Supreme Court of the United States has held for decades now,” he explained, “that it is Constitutionally permissible to objectively teach the Bible in public schools for history or comparative literature.”

Teresa Collett at theUniversity Faculty for Life: The woman challenging the Idaho abortion laws says she brought her lawsuit after a district attorney tried to prosecute her for a self-induce abortion. The charges were dismissed, but form the basis for her claim that she fears injury from the enforcement of the Idaho laws. I have blogged previously about her claims related to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Act here and here, but did not discuss her claim that a law prohibiting self-induced abortion is unconstitutional. This second claim raises several interesting policy and legal issues.

Lambda Legal: Last week, the school board issued a revised policy that now makes clear that student clubs are not prohibited from discussing “sexual orientation including such subjects as combating unfair treatment, prejudices, or stereotypes.” However, the policy retains the requirement for parental consent to join a club. Furthermore, it maintains a three-tier structure for student organizations (exempt, curriculum, and non-curriculum), relegating all non-curriculum clubs, including Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs), to the third tier and significantly limiting their ability to access school resources.

The Republic: Officials from a former charter school in Nampa are asking a full panel of federal appeals court judges to reconsider an earlier ruling that dismissed the school’s lawsuit against Idaho.

ADF appeals 9th Circuit ruling that upheld Idaho ban on all religious,
classical Western Civ. texts from objective study in every public school, university

Ezra Klein at The Washington Post: To Northup’s point, its unclear whether the court will even take up this Idaho case for this exact reason: the woman bringing the case may not actually have the legal standing to do so. Her complaint does include a criminal prosecution for a previous abortion, but that was prior to Idaho’s 20-week ban taking effect.

LifeNews.com: A leading pro-life organization that is behind the innovative 20-week abortion ban based on the scientific evidence showing that unborn children feel pain during an abortion is welcoming the first lawsuit against it.

An Idaho woman prosecuted for terminating her own pregnancy with an abortion pill ordered over the Internet has filed suit challenging a decades-old law under which she was charged, as well as a new state ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation.

Idaho Mountain Express: : Opportunity and hard work often go hand in hand. It’s a concept not lost on Roger Burdick, new Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, and one he has frequently capitalized on.

Christian Post:
David Cortman, the defense fund’s senior legal counsel told the Idaho Press-Tribune, “In our opinion, the court failed to perform any meaningful analysis of any issue in the case including the seminal one: whether there is any educational purpose to ban all religious documents from objective teaching.” Cortman also accused the circuit judges of ignoring the right of local school districts to choose their own curriculum and texts. “Censoring classical books, including religious books, does not improve a student’s education,” he said in a statement. “It harms it.” [more]

OneNewsNow.com: “It’s certainly our hope that a majority of the Supreme Court will understand that it’s not permissible for any state agency at any level to completely ban an entire category of books,” Cortman contends. “It’s just another way of the dumbing down of our public education system.”

The New American: David Cortman, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the legal advocacy group representing Moffett and the charter school, told the Idaho Press-Tribune in an e-mail that he is prepared to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. “In our opinion, the court failed to perform any meaningful analysis of any issue in the case,” Cortman wrote, “including the seminal one: whether there is any educational purpose to ban all religious documents from objective teaching….” In addition, he charged, the 9th Circuit panel ignored the right of local school districts to choose their own texts and curricula. “Censoring books, including religious books, is not the proper way to educate children,” Cortman said in an ADF statement, adding: The court’s opinion requiring the removal of religious books to comply with the so-called “separation of church and state” conflicts with established U.S. Supreme Court precedent stating that “the Bible may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion, or the like.”

Citydesk: But a senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund told the Idaho Press Tribune that his group is prepared to take their case to the Supreme Court. David Cortman said the Ninth Circuit “ignored the right of local school districts to choose their own texts and curriculum.” Ultimately Cortman said he’s prepared to file a petition to submit the case for review by the high court.

Idaho Press-Tribune: “In our opinion, the court failed to perform any meaningful analysis of any issue in the case, including the seminal one: whether there is any educational purpose to ban all religious documents from objective teaching …” Cortman said.
He said the court also ignored the right of local school districts to choose their own texts and curriculum.

Religion Clause: The Commission adopted the view of the state attorney general that the use of religious documents or texts in a public charter school classroom would violate Art. IX, Sec. 6 of the Idaho Constitution. | Nampa Classical Academy v. Goesling, (9th Cir., Aug. 15, 2011)

AP: Kansas is one of the five states – along with Alabama, Idaho, Indiana and Oklahoma – that enacted abortion bans this year modeled after the groundbreaking fetal-pain bill passed in Nebraska in 2010.

OneNewsNow.com: “This is just one of numerous lawsuits throughout the country demonstrating that many municipalities don’t understand the law. Zoning schemes may not exclude churches or single them out from similar uses for disfavored treatment,” notes ADF attorney Joe Infranco. “The lawsuit had a great outcome, and we hope other cities and similar situations will take notice.

Charisma: “Churches should not be singled out for discrimination by a city’s zoning restrictions,” says John W. Mauck, lead counsel in the suit and an ADF alliance attorney. “The city of Mountain Home did the right thing by agreeing to this court order and letting this growing church meet on its leased property so it can exercise its constitutionally protected right to assemble—just like everyone else.” . . . “This case is just one of numerous lawsuits throughout the country demonstrating that many municipalities don’t understand the law. Zoning schemes may not exclude churches or single them out from similar uses for disfavored treatment,” ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco explains.“This lawsuit had a great outcome, and we hope other cities in similar situations will take notice.”

Courthouse News Service: Judges Johnnie Rawlinson and William Fletcher seemed skeptical of Cortman’s First Amendment claims. “How do you have a First Amendment argument if, in fact, it’s the government’s speech that’s being regulated?” Rawlinson asked. Cortman replied that it was the speech of a local school district, but Rawlinson countered that the school has to comply with the governing body . . . Cortman claimed in his rebuttal that the Charter School Commission has no authority to impose the ban on religious works and only the State Board of Education can decide curriculum. He also claimed that the school was shut down in retaliation for opposing the book-ban policy.

OneNewsNow.com: . . . senior legal counsel David Cortman says the case will end up before the Supreme Court. “[The Ninth Circuit was] completely hostile to the argument. It didn’t seem to have too much of a problem with this broad-based censorship,” he accounts. “So it looks to me this is one of those cases that’s going to continue to climb the ladder.” . . . [more quotes by D. Cortman]

ADF-allied attorney secures right of church ministering to military families to meet on its rented property

KBOI 2: The city of Mountain Home has agreed to let a church hold worship services at a local building after church leaders sued, saying its parishioners had been discriminated against. | Hat tip: Religion Clause Blog

Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty: The Christian Post reports on one side of the argument: “The government’s hyperactive censorship of classical religious texts severely limits the education of students by leaving them with an incomplete understanding of history and their heritage,” stated attorney David Cortman, a senior counsel with religious liberties law firm Alliance Defense Fund. Cortman is urging the court to consider the Bible’s historical and cultural presence in American history as well as a Supreme Court ruling protecting the religious book as an educational tool.

AP: A group of parents and teachers who want to dump the education overhaul have met a June deadline to gather enough signatures to put three repeal measures on the November 2012 ballot. More than 72,000 people signed each of three petitions to put the new Idaho laws to referendum votes next year.

Christian Post: “The government’s hyperactive censorship of classical religious texts severely limits the education of students by leaving them with an incomplete understanding of history and their heritage,” stated attorney David Cortman, a senior counsel with religious liberties law firm Alliance Defense Fund.

ADF attorney available to media after 9th Circuit hears arguments regarding charter school blocked from using books deemed ‘religious’

Stamford Advocate: Trustees for North Idaho College have unanimously approved a policy that limits the time, place and manner in which picketing and other free speech activities may occur on campus.

LifeSiteNews: Idaho is now officially the third U.S. state to have a law banning late-term abortion on the basis of fetal pain. Gov. Butch Otter on Thursday signed SB 1165 into law.

Reuters: Idaho’s governor said on Thursday he signed into law a measure banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, making Idaho the third state to enact such a late term abortion prohibition.

LifeNews: Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed into law a measure (SB 1115) that prohibits qualified health plans participating in the state’s health exchange from paying for elective abortions. The health exchanges, established by the health care reform law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), go into effect in 2014.

LifeNews: Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter has signed SB 1070, a measure prohibiting assisted suicide in Idaho. The bill comes as Oregon and Washington has approved assisted suicides and Montana has opened the door slightly.

The Spokesman-Review: Senate Bill 1165 bans abortion after 20 weeks on grounds of fetal pain . . . The bill passed the House on a 54-14 vote and now heads to the governor’s desk. It includes provisions for a legal defense fund that could accept donations , , ,

Fox News: The bills were modeled after legislation passed last year in Nebraska premised on research suggesting a fetus is able to feel pain after 20 weeks. Similar proposals are percolating in at least nine other states, according to one organization’s estimate.

“What’s different this year is not the raw number of anti-abortion bills, but the fact that many of the toughest, most substantive measures have a good chance of passage due to gains by conservative Republicans in last year’s legislative and gubernatorial elections.”

Reuters: “The Idaho Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and subject abortion providers who violate the ban to criminal prosecution and lawsuits. The bill now heads to the state House of Representatives, where passage is expected . . . ”

LifeSite News carries this roundup and report on the various states.

The Spokesman-Review: “Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, has moved to send SB 1165, the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass.’

“Legislators in the House of Representatives voted 63-7 Monday to ban porn on library computers across the state.”

CanadianBusiness.com: “Legislation to ban state insurers from providing coverage for elective abortions is headed to its final hurdle in the Idaho Legislature.”

LifeNews: “While surrounding states like Washington and Oregon pushed ahead to become the first in the nation to legalize assisted suicide and Montana could be right behind them, Idaho passed a bill to make the practice a felony.”

MagicValley.com: The “conscience law” that passed the Legislature last year gave health care professionals the right to opt out of providing any care they object to based on religious, moral or ethical grounds. It created concerns that a comatose patient’s end-of-life wishes, outlined in advance in a living will, could be ignored by health care professionals who cite the new law and refuse to end life support. The legislation approved Monday directs physicians to follow the wishes of living wills before ending their care for that patient.

AP: “A bill that would phase out tenure for new teachers and restrict collective bargaining on their salaries and benefits is on its way to the Idaho governor.”

“As a handful of key pro-life bills are fighting their way to passage on Capitol Hill, pro-life legislators countrywide have mounted a a multi-faceted attack on the abortion industry with a surge of pro-life bills on the state level. Here is a roundup of the latest.”

Times-News MagicValley.com: “A bill that would prohibit women from getting an abortion 20 weeks after pregnancy has cleared its first hurdle in the Idaho Senate.”

Idaho State Journal: “A bill that would ban state insurers from providing coverage for elective abortions has been approved in the Idaho Senate.”

Bloomberg: “The Idaho Senate passed legislation Thursday to eliminate tenure for new teachers and restrict collective bargaining, while also voting on a separate bill to introduce merit pay.”

Reuters: “By a 20-15 vote, the Idaho Senate on Thursday approved legislation that curtails collective bargaining by public school teachers.”

Reuters: “Hundreds of people rallied in Boise and ten other Idaho cities on Monday to protest a plan by the state’s schools chief to lay off hundreds of teachers and curtail their collective bargaining.”

KIVITV.com: “It’s a life and death issue that’s hitting the Statehouse: Physician assisted-suicide and what Idaho code should say about the topic.”

Idaho Press: “Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna’s vehicle was vandalized overnight at his Nampa home and he and his family have received threats, he told police.”

Bloomberg: “The first bill seeks to prohibit so-called ‘project labor agreements’ that require contractors to forge pacts with unionized workers as a condition of winning a government construction job . . . Under the second bill, unions would be prohibited from using dues to subsidize member wages to help union-shop contractors win projects.”

The Idaho Press-Tribune reports. | SB 1033

Wesley Smith at Second Hand Smoke: “Many anti assisted suicide advocates worry that Idaho is on the pro-doctor prescribed death target list for legalization, probably by test court case, since there is not a specific law prohibiting assisted suicide. A just filed bill, S 1070, seeks to change that.”

Daily Caller: “A University of Idaho law student is suing the school over its firearms ban, saying the policy violates his Second Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Second-year law student Aaron Tribble, 36, filed a civil suit last Tuesday, challenging a policy that doesn’t allow him to store a registered handgun in his university-owned apartment.”

Eugene Volokh comments at The Volokh Conspiracy.

The Spokesman-Review: “Idaho’s state Human Rights Commission has endorsed legislation adding sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination law, a key move since two years ago, the commission opposed such legislation – and lawmakers refused even to introduce it.”

CB Online (AP): “The Idaho Board of Pharmacy says it has no basis to start proceedings against Walgreens in a complaint that alleged one of the drug store’s pharmacists in Nampa improperly refused to fill a prescription.”

Yahoo (AP): “After leading the nation last year in passing a law to sue the federal government over the health care overhaul, Idaho’s Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama’s signature bill null and void.”

Magic Valley Times-News: “Legislation introduced Wednesday by Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls, would keep those decisions in the hands of those facing this question: If I enter a vegetative state, do I want to die or continue on life support? Smith’s bill, if passed, would amend a law passed by the Legislature last year that gave health care professionals the right to opt out of providing any care they object to based on religious, moral or ethical principles.”

Spokesman-Review: “Idaho should consider raising its marriage license fee by $20 to help provide legal counsel in civil cases involving children and families, the chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court told lawmakers today.”

KTVB.com (includes video): “A new Idaho law enacted in 2010 is designed to protect medical professionals by allowing them to refuse health care services that conflict with their religious, moral or ethical principles.
But Planned Parenthood says a Nampa pharmacist acted in the wrong and was not protected by the law when he refused to fill a prescription.”

OneNewsNow: “The ongoing fight over whether the Bible and other religious texts should be allowed in Idaho’s classrooms is about to go before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals . . . ‘The Supreme Court has ruled several times already that it’s consistent with the Establishment Clause to study the Bible as part of history or literature objectively in public schools,’ the [ADF Attorney David Cortman] notes. ‘So some interesting questions are presented here.’”