Tag Archives: State: New Jersey

NJ.com: “For now, a moment of silence will replace the Lord’s Prayer at the start of council meetings in a Jersey shore town.”

Millburn-Shorthills Patch: “Millburn Public Library officials last week approved changes to its room rental agreement after concerns were raised it was unconstitutional. Bill Swinson, library director, said the Alliance Defense Fund based in Kansas sent the library a letter warning the policy was unconstitutional because it specifically mentioned there could be no religious services or religious discussion groups to meet at the library.”

Asbury Park Press: “The Lord’s Prayer was said at the start of the Borough Council meeting Tuesday night with seemingly more passion and enthusiasm than the blessing had been recited in years . . . Almost two weeks ago, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a lawsuit.”

For background, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/state-new-jersey+topic-prayer/

EducationNews.org: “In a town meeting in Mercer County, Christie outlined a plan to jettison seniority, advanced academic degrees, and tenure as automatic steps toward higher pay . . . the New Jersey School Boards Association embraced Christie’s ideas – particularly tenure reform – calling them ‘long overdue’ and consistent with the negotiating trends in local districts.”

The Heritage Foundation / Education Notebook: “New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker appeared on Oprah last Friday to accept a $100 million gift from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Derrell Bradford, executive director of Excellent Education for Everyone in New Jersey, told the New York Post that ‘the mayor has a very compelling vision about what should be done with the schools. He was able to convince Mark to be part of it.’”

LifeSiteNews: “Erroneous reports of closed abortion clinics in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, have threatened to derail the 40 Days for Life effort in that city, with some pro-lifers being led to believe that there is no functioning abortion facility to protest against.”

Washington Examiner: “Planned Parenthood is closing doors at its Cherry Hill center in Southern New Jersey as the result of Gov. Chris Christie’s line-item veto, which cut off $7.5 million in state taxpayer funding of the organization, according to LifeNews.com. However, the governor’s office has confirmed to The Examiner that state-funded abortions will continue to be provided, contrary to claims by Planned Parenthood.”

Asbury Park Press: “Four secular blessings are to be considered as alternatives to reciting the Lord’s Prayer at the start of Borough Council meetings, said Kevin B. Riordan, the municipal attorney . . . One week ago, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sharon Brenner Cadalzo, 57, of Atlantic Avenue, who is Jewish and believes the prayer is an unconstitutional government endorsement of Christianity and thus a violation of her civil rights.”

NJ.com / The Independent Press: “The Millburn Free Public library trustees are considering making a change to one of the library’s policies after receiving a letter from an attorney representing the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a group that was formed to defend religious freedom . . . Swinson said the proposed new policy removes the word ‘religious’ but library officials will still retain the right to decide on a case by case basis who can rent the rooms out.”

Earl M. Maltz, Federalist Society: “In the wake of Governor Chris Christie’s decision not to reappoint Justice John E. Wallace, Jr., to the New Jersey Supreme Court, the President of the State Senate has refused to hold hearings on the nomination of Anne M. Patterson, whom Governor Christie has chosen to succeed Justice Wallace. With the timing of the confirmation of a permanent replacement for Justice Wallace thus uncertain, some have urged Chief Justice Stuart J. Rabner to temporarily assign either a retired justice or a senior judge of the Superior Court to fill the seat until Justice Wallace’s replacement has been confirmed. This paper addresses the constitutional issues that would be raised by a decision to make such an assignment.”

LifeNews: “After the New Jersey state Senate defeated an attempt to override the decision of Gov. Chris Christie to cut off state taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood abortion businesses, the first facility run by the national abortion giant is closing.”

Daily Record: “The saying of the Lord’s Prayer at the start of Borough Council meetings has sparked a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey on behalf of a local resident who is Jewish and believes the recitation is an unconstitutional government endorsement of Christianity and thus a violation of her civil rights.”

Associated Press: “Democrats in the New Jersey Senate will hold a longshot vote today to restore $7.5 million in funding to 58 women’s health clinics.” More from the Essex County Conservative Examiner.

The Star-Ledger: “Sayreville’s bid to close the Club 35 nude juice bar suffered a setback today when an appeals court overturned a judge’s ruling that the club should be shuttered and a permanent deed restriction should be granted preventing similar businesses on the property.”

Borough of Sayreville v. 35 Club, LLC, No. A-3537-08T1 (N.J. Super. App. Div. Sept. 17, 2010)

Borough of Sayreville v. 35 Club, LLC, No. A-3537-08T1 (N.J. Super. App. Div. Sept. 17, 2010)

Family Security Matters: “The rights of all Americans are in jeopardy! So says the American Civil Liberties Union which has come to the defense of a New Jersey state worker who was fired for putting a match to pages from the Koran outside a planned mosque near Ground Zero in midtown Manhattan . . . Attorney Chris Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union said that Mr. Fenton’s First Amendment rights have been violated, noting that the Supreme Court ‘has recognized a constitutional right to burn the flag. Burning the Koran would be protected as well.’”

“[Derek Fenton, t]he protester who burned pages from the Koran outside a planned mosque near Ground Zero has been fired from NJTransit, sources and authorities said Tuesday….”

Associated Press: “Dr. Steven Brigham is accused of using a novel scheme to take advantage of disparities in state abortion laws. Since he wasn’t allowed to perform late-term abortions at his New Jersey office, documents show he led patients in a caravan to Elkton, Md., where the abortions were completed.”

LifeNews: “Another state is going after abortion practitioner and abortion business owner Steven Chase Brigham. He operates abortion centers known as American Women’s Services in Voorhees, New Jersey as well as facilities in Pennsylvania and Maryland, where he has also been disciplined for numerous problems. New Jersey authorities yesterday filed the papers required to start the process of potentially suspending Brigham’s medical license.”

NJ.com: “The state’s top appellate judge will temporarily fill a seat on the state Supreme Court left vacant by a political spat between Gov. Chris Christie and the state’s top Democrat . . . The court has had only six members since May, when Gov. Chris Christie declined to renominate former Justice John Wallace. Wallace would have been able to serve two more years before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.”

LifeNews: “New Jersey Democrats in the state legislature have set a September 20 vote to attempt to override a veto Governor Chris Christie issued on a bill restoring the family planning funds Christie cut from the state budget. Christ said the money shouldn’t go to the Planned Parenthood abortion business.”

Asbury Park (NJ) Press: “One man’s criminal accusation that a teacher molested his young son has widened the rift in the Orthodox Jewish community over where religious rights stop and the justice system begins. Some inside the tight-knit enclave praised the child’s father for bypassing religious protocols last year and reporting the alleged attack first to Ocean County prosecutors. Others believe he committed a sin because he failed to get permission from a rabbinic court before pressing charges against a fellow Jew.”

Star-Ledger: “It appears Seton Hall University will offer a controversial course on gay marriage over the objections of Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, according to the professor scheduled to teach the class. The undergraduate seminar course — called ‘The Politics of Gay Marriage’ — is to begin Tuesday with about two dozen students, said W. King Mott, an associate professor of political science.”

Reuters: “New Jersey’s Atlantic City should be brought back to life by refocusing on its sandy beaches and historic boardwalk rather than increasing state control of its casinos, a poll showed on Friday.”

Excellent Education for Everyone (E3) / The Blitz: “The Hatikvah brief cites repeated efforts by the school district to deny parents transfer cards, delay or refuse to send transfer cards to Hatikvah school officials, harass parents who expressed interest in enrolling their students in the new dual language Hebrew charter school, and making false statements to the press.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Amid mounting pressure surrounding its controversial zoning code, the Borough of Pemberton conceded yesterday that the Apostolic Church of Deliverance (ACD) can worship at 207 Hanover Street. This switch in position comes on the eve of a federal hearing and two weeks after the Borough’s Planning Board denied the church’s use application even though it was aware of the church’s federal rights.”

LifeNews: “The U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services has uncovered a consistent problem with New Jersey-based family planning clinics run by the Planned Parenthood abortion business. They were found to be improperly billing Medicaid for services that did not qualify as family planning.”

“The New Jersey Supreme Court doesn’t give interviews, so no one can ask whether the tribunal balked on the gay marriage issue because it was afraid of the reaction of Gov. Chris Christie.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Children First Foundation (CFF) has appealed to pro-life Governor Chris Christie to intervene to get the ‘Choose Life’ license plate approved by the state of New Jersey . . . In May of 2004, attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, filed suit on grounds of a violation of the First Amendment through “viewpoint discrimination,” or the unfair censorship of speech because of its content, not because of its type.”

The Star-Ledger: “[T]he South Brunswick Board of Education has approved school closings in the 2010-11 school year for two Islamic holy days . . . About 10 of the nearly 600 school districts in New Jersey acknowledge Muslim holy days as official school holidays, according to the New Jersey School Board’s Association.”

LifeNews: “[Jeff Shafer], senior legal director of the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group that helped the Children First Foundation, responded to the news. ‘The government should not be singling out a pro-adoption group for censorship. Censoring the ‘Choose Life’ logo on New Jersey license plates is a textbook case of viewpoint discrimination, which blatantly defies the First Amendment,’ he said. ‘We are pleased that the appellate court has reinstated this lawsuit and look forward to the full vindication of the foundation’s free speech rights.’”

NorthJersey.com: “An anti-abortion group wants Governor Christie to drop the state’s opposition to proposed specialty license plates that bear the slogan ‘Choose life.’ The New York-based Children First Foundation has been fighting the State of New Jersey in federal court since the Motor Vehicle Commission rejected its initial plate design seven years ago.”

NJ.com: “Patterson, an attorney who Christie nominated to the state Supreme Court in May, has been in limbo since then, caught in the middle of a spat between Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), the state’s second most powerful elected official . . . Derek Roseman, a spokesman for state Senate Democrats, said Sweeney remains committed to leaving Wallace’s seat open for what would have been the remainder of his term.”

Fox News: “A New Jersey family court judge’s decision not to grant a restraining order to a woman who was sexually abused by her Moroccan husband and forced repeatedly to have sex with him is sounding the alarm for advocates of laws designed to ban Shariah in America.” | The Volokh Conspiracy: “Cultural defense accepted as to nonconsensual sex in New Jersey trial court, rejected on appeal”

LifeNews: “Democrats in the state legislature kicked off a campaign to override a veto Governor Christ Christie issued to prevent $7.5 million in state taxpayer funds from going to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. When the state currently faces an $11 billion deficit, Christ said the funding doesn’t make sense.”

New Jersey Jewish News: “New Jersey’s first Hebrew-language charter school has been given the final go-ahead by the state to open in September.”

“The New Jersey Supreme Court issued an order Monday rejecting a recently filed motion in a long-ago-resolved lawsuit that attempted to force New Jersey legislature to redefine marriage.”

“In a split decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to hear a case from six same-sex couples seeking the right to marry, saying the case needs to wind its way through the lower courts first.”

Courier-Post: “In a lawsuit filed on July 16, the Apostolic Church of Deliverance accuses the borough of violating the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. … The complaint asserts that the borough permits only those uses outlined under the municipal zoning code. Churches are not among the permitted uses under the code, which means religious institutions must seek a variance in order to operate in Pemberton, it says.” | Complaint in Apostolic Church of Deliverance v. Borough of Pemberton (D.N.J.)

NJ.com: “Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation today that would have restored $7.5 million in grants for 58 clinics providing birth control and basic health care to uninsured people, a decision some Democrats lawmakers say they intend to overturn.”

LifeSiteNews: “Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is planning to introduce the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act’ on July 29. If passed, this bill would establish as permanent many of the pro-life policies that currently rely on regular congressional re-approval, and which are attached as riders to annual appropriations bills.”

NJ.com: “With same-sex marriage legislation having failed in the state Senate, Gov. Chris Christie on record opposing it and a proposal to put the question to voters going nowhere fast, hundreds of supporters and opponents of gay marriage descended on Trenton Tuesday to prepare for the next expected front in the battle: the state Supreme Court.”

Garden State Equality Press Release: “In a state where the Governor and several conservative activists have endorsed the civil union law as a way to avoid marriage equality – saying the civil union law already provides equality to New Jersey’s same-sex couples – Garden State Equality has just released a damning two-and-half-minute video in which state Senators who voted against marriage equality confess that the civil union law has failed.”

NorthJersey.com: “The National Organization for Marriage plans its rally in front of the Statehouse today, part of a 19-state ‘Summer for Marriage, One Man – One Woman Tour,’ … To counter that, pro-gay marriage group Garden State Equality gathered in the Statehouse this morning with same-sex couples and their children.”

Christian Newswire (Mauck & Baker): Pemberton’s current zoning code prohibits new churches throughout the Borough, and where non-religious assembly uses are allowed as of right, religious organizations must prove they deserve a zoning variance – a violation of RLUIPA and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”

Eugene Volokh writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: ” . . . how are courts to determine whether the adult is mentally competent, especially when the refusal of treatment seems to be motivated by the person’s belief that God will save her and thus she won’t actually die? That’s the issue in In re Matter of J.M. (N.J. Super. Ct.), just released earlier this month. Here are some excerpts . . . ”

WCBSTV.com: The message on a billboard in New Jersey is stirring up a lot of controversy. It centers on whether a person suffering from a painful disease has the right to take his or her own life . . .”

MyStateLine.com: “Rona Mohammedi, a practicing Muslim, says she went to the medical facility on February 11th with severe chest pains, and when told she would need an electrocardiogram, she asked for a female to conduct the test.”

“Mr. Costello disingenuously casts the arguments for upholding marriage as ‘subjective religious concepts.’”

Associated Press: “Asbury Park shot down a proposal Wednesday night to allow women to go topless on one of its beaches.”

UPI: “A Muslim and an Orthodox Jew have become mayor and deputy mayor in Teaneck, N.J., a town they jointly call a ‘nurturing incubator.’ Mohammed Hameeduddin and Adam Gussein told ABC News their big problem is bridging the budget gap, not the religious divide. They attended the same middle school and were students at Rutgers University together.”

NJ.com: “The bill makes the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, which started in 2000 and has continued as a pilot program since expiring in 2005, permanent. It passed 38-0 and is set to be taken up by the Assembly this afternoon.”

OneNewsNow: “Because of a tight budget, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie has taken action on state spending for abortion facilities by eliminating their funding. … Democrats are introducing legislation to reinstate those eliminated funds, but the NJFPC president does not believe that will settle well with many voters.”

Associated Press: “The city council is considering a request from Reggie Flimlin, an Asbury Park woman who owns a yoga studio, to allow women to decide for themselves whether they want to wear bikini tops on the beach. She says it’s already happening on less populated beaches in the city’s north end.”

NJ.com: “Democrats voted Thursday to restore $7.5 million for health and family planning services for uninsured women — but not before the bill became a referendum on abortion and a senator read aloud from a Planned Parenthood brochure on teen sex. Both the Democrat-controlled Assembly and Senate budget committees also set the stage for a clash with Gov. Chris Christie by passing the bill, which would reverse the governor’s decision to cut the funding.”

Asbury Park Press: “Barely any of Lakewood’s public school students will see a voucher; and still, ‘This piece of legislation will help us more than any other town,’ according to Republican state Sen. Robert Singer, who is also a Lakewood committeeman. … In Lakewood, private school students outnumber their public school counterparts four to one — a unique situation enhanced by the fact that they also comprise up to 20 percent of all low-income private school students in the state, far more than any other municipality, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Match that population with an inconspicuous addendum to the bill that reserves 25 percent of the $360 million in school vouchers for low-income students already in private schools, and Lakewood actually stands to win big.”

The Alernative Press: “They also decided to work with Planned Parenthood of Northern New Jersey (PPNNJ) in creating a sexual education class curriculum for these same students . . . One concerned mother explained that she had heard a fourth-grade child ask questions such as, ‘I think it’s weird that moms marry moms,’ and, ‘the teacher told us that babies are made by having sex.’ These statements, along with other sexual comments reportedly heard by fourth-grade students, contributed to the public discourse.”

“Am I crazy, or is an overweight man with a thick New Jersey accent the most effective communicator of commonsense conservative principles in America today?”

NCPA Policy Digest: “New Jersey officials recently celebrated the selection of the new stadium in the Meadowlands sports complex as the site of the 2014 Super Bowl. Absent from the festivities was any sense of the burden the complex has become for taxpayers, says Steven Malanga, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute . . . ”

The Setonian: “At the Mission and Identity Committee meeting Thursday, no decision was reached regarding the gay marriage course, as reported by the Star Ledger. A campus spokesman told the Star Ledger that the course was discussed, but a ‘final recommendation’ was not made.” | Related: Catholic Seton Hall University considers same-sex “marriage” course

The Star-Ledger: “The month-long controversy over Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to replace Supreme Court Justice John Wallace took a new turn today. Christie, who has faced a series of rebukes from critics who say the move jeopardizes the independence of the Judiciary, lost the services of a state advisory panel today after its members resigned in protest.”

The Trentonian (AP): “Officials will consider whether a Catholic university in New Jersey should offer a course on gay marriage. Seton Hall University’s Mission and Identity Committee will meet behind closed doors on the South Orange campus Thursday. It’s not clear how long it will take to make a recommendation.” | Related: Newark archbishop not happy with college course on same-sex “marriage”

Independent Press: “The Board of Education and a group of parents are at a standoff regarding the school district’s reliance on Planned Parenthood to help with the fourth and fifth grade human growth curriculum . . . In response to objections from some parents, the Board of Education recently assured parents that Planned Parenthood operatives would no longer be co-teaching the students. Nevertheless, the board stood firm in its decision to allow Planned Parenthood materials to be used.”

ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “ADF allied attorneys Len Brown, Randy Wenger and Demetrios Stratis (with assistance from many more allies) sent letters to 5 schools – Rutgers, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Westmoreland Community College (PA), Cheyney University (PA), and Delaware State . . . I’m pleased to let you know that while none have been finalized yet, all five schools have acknowledged the need to revise their policies to protect students’ free speech rights.”

Press of Atlantic City: “Township Council has stopped opening meetings with what was intended to be a nonsectarian invocation while it develops a policy to avoid offending anyone — or any lawsuits . . . ”

David French writes at National Review Phi Beta Cons: “Over at ADF’s Academic Freedom File, Jordan Lorence breaks some intriguing news about a recent development in CLS v. Martinez. The State of New Jersey has asked to withdraw from its amicus brief supporting Hastings Law School. Jordan explains . . . ”

Red State Blog carries the video.

NJ.com: “Students, parents, teachers and activists arrived at the Statehouse in Trenton today to rally state lawmakers to pass a voucher bill creating “opportunity scholarships” to let children leave failing public schools . . . ”

Letter to the Editor of the Independent Press from The Pastors and Elders, Presbyterian Church at New Providence: “We think it would be a shame to cancel the Christmas Walk as the Interfaith Council demands. We believe it is important to support our local businesses and to honor the heritage and traditions of the community . . . The borough certainly has every right to promote such activities. Anyone who wants to explore the legal basis for such events should contact the New Jersey Family Policy Council (njfpc.org); or the Alliance Defense Fund (alliancedefensefund.org), which have successfully litigated many such cases.”

The Examiner: “The brief contends that denying marriage to same-sex couples inflicts psychological harm on children being raised by same-sex couples as well as on gay and lesbian youth. The brief was filed in support of the motion filed by Lambda Legal in March asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to grant same-sex couples the right to marry.”

Guardian: “American free speech organisations are fighting a decision by a New Jersey school to remove a critically acclaimed anthology of writing about teenage homosexuality from library shelves after parents described it as vulgar and obscene. Revolutionary Voices, a collection of stories, poems and artwork by young homosexuals, was banned at Rancocas Valley Regional High School last week following a campaign by the local chapter of Glenn Beck’s conservative [9.12 project].” | Philadelphia Inquirer

NorthJersey.com: “State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) said Monday he was disappointed that Governor Christie ‘decided to inject ‘rank politics’ into into the historic independence of the state’s judiciary’ by not reappointing Justice John Wallace to the Supreme Court.”

Catholic News Service: “Newark Archbishop John J. Myers said a course on same-sex marriage to be offered in the fall at Seton Hall University ‘troubles me greatly.’”

CBS: “A New Jersey student, who is a cross-dresser, spoke to Eyewitness News about his fight to go to the prom in a knee-length black dress and heels.”

OneNewsNow: “‘This is a great event [that] happens every year,’ [David Cortman] explains. ‘It’s called the ‘Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity’ and it’s organized by a group called Stand True — and these students in their silence speak for the voices of the unborn, millions of whom have been killed by abortion since Roe v. Wade.’”