Tag Archives: State: North Carolina

GoBlueRidge.net: The Town of Newland is being threatened by a national group over the posting of the Ten Commandments at the town hall.

Havelock News: “It’s amazing to me that by virtue of being elected to this office, my speech is being restricted,” Commissioner Jeff Taylor said.

JournalNow.com: Although the Alliance Defense Fund is also offering to defend its revised policy if challenged in court, there were no takers on the county board on Thursday. Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt said she was against telling anyone how to pray: “I could never invite anyone here to pray, and meet them at the door and tell them how to pray,” she said. “That is insulting.” | Also reported at: MyFox8.com

Scott W. Gaylord at NewsObserver.com: Since 1868, North Carolinians have elected the members of their judiciary, making our judges directly accountable to the people for these “political” decisions. The North Carolina Bar Association and other groups now seek to replace our system of elections with an appointment-based system, known in legal circles as the Missouri Plan.

The Washington Post: Something unexpected happened on the way to North Carolina’s vote on a gay marriage ban this May: Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue decided not to run for re-election, meaning more voters who oppose the ban could turn out at the polls.

News from The Associated Press: Democratic North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue, the first woman elected governor in the state, said Thursday she would not seek re-election . . .

God and Country : The band Aiden has announced it will be playing the atheist festival “Rock Beyond Belief” at Fort Bragg in March 2012, as the lead-in act to Richard Dawkins, the main attraction at the “concert.”

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman appeared on the Drew Mariani Show to discuss the Forsyth prayer case. | MP3 audio 8:20 mins

The New American: “No federal court has ruled that prayers cannot be offered before public meetings,” said attorney David Cortman of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the conservative legal advocacy group that represented the county in the case. He added, however, that the Supreme Court had “missed an opportunity to clear up the differing opinions among the various circuits about the content of the prayers. This means that, for the time being, the standard for prayer policies in the 4th Circuit will be different from the standard held by the rest of the country.”

ADF Attorney David Cortman appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hosanna Tabor (ministerial exception for Christian school teachers) and its refusal to hear Forsyth County (sectarian legislative prayer). | MP3 audio 7:10 mins

Winston-Salem Journal: But the county insisted on fighting on through the legal representation of the Alliance Defense Fund, a right-wing Christian organization. The ADF advanced the case for free, but if the county had lost, it would have been liable for paying the victor’s costs. A local group had raised money for that, but there was no guarantee it could meet all the costs.

Winston-Salem Journal: On a vote that splits the county board 4-3 on party lines, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners accepts an offer from the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian group, to defend the county for free.

Fox 8 (video included): David Cortman with the Alliance Defense Fund, which helped defend the county in the case, said a non-sectarian prayer is no prayer at all. “This was open to anyone to pray according to their own beliefs. It didn’t exclude any religion at all,” Cortman said.

Baptist Press: But David Cortman, an attorney representing Forsyth County, said the ruling makes Christians second-class citizens. “That’s what this case shows,” said Cortman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. “We believe the Supreme Court has missed an opportunity to clear up the differing opinions among the various circuit courts. It really is disappointing.” [more]

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday to clear up conflicting positions among various appellate courts regarding the historical practice of offering prayers at public meetings according to the faith of the prayer-giver.

Ken Klukowski at the Washington Examiner: David Cortman, ADF’s lead counsel said, “we are obviously disappointed that the Supreme Court did not agree to hear our case on behalf of the Forsyth County Commissioners and the local community. “We continue to believe that the lower court’s decision requiring public officials to censor the prayers of private citizens is inconsistent with historical practice and constitutional requirements. ADF will continue to defend legislative prayer throughout the country until the Supreme Courts hears a case that clears up the confusion.”

JournalNow.com: “I’m surprised and disappointed,” said Mike Johnson, the ADF attorney who argued Forsyth County’s case before the courts. “We really were expecting that the court would want to take a look at the case. I think that this leaves a very important constitutional law issue essentially unresolved. We believe that sometime soon, the Supreme Court will have to hear one of these cases to resolve the issue.”

Winston Salem-Journal: The county, backed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian group, appealed the ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A local group, the N.C. Partnership for Religious Liberty, pledged $300,000 towards any legal fees the county would pay if it lost the case.

News from The Associated Press: People sterilized against their will under a discredited North Carolina state program should each be paid $50,000, a task force voted Tuesday . . .

CBN.com: North Carolina is considering compensating sterilization survivors, providing between $20,000 to $50,000 to each verified living victim.

OneNewsNow.com: North Carolina residents have a chance to defend marriage at the polls in May, but one pastor reports that a number of church leaders have denounced the proposal.

Fox News (includes video): The Alliance Defense Fund is representing the county for free in this case. ADF Attorney Mike Johnson said the organization believes it has a good chance to get the appeal heard. “What we have here is a split between the various appellate circuits. It’s a direct split between the 4th circuit and the 11th circuit. When something like that happens, it makes it right for the Supreme Court to take a look at it,” Johnson said.

CharlotteObserver.com: As Charlotte and North Carolina take the national spotlight for this year’s Democratic National Convention, one area will get particular scrutiny: the region’s climate for gays and lesbians.

The Charlotte Post : N.C. amendment could impact legal protections, benefits CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina’s “Marriage Amendment” could affect the health benefits and legal protections of all couples in the state, according to law professors at the University of North Carolina who say they are concerned about the proposal’s potential unintended consequences.
The amendment passed the General Assembly this fall and will appear on next May’s primary-election ballot.

Religion Clause: An unusual lawsuit was filed earlier this month in state court in North Carolina challenging North Carolina’s statutes that require any marriage to be solemnized by a magistrate or a member of the clergy (GS Sec. 51-1) and prohibit them from solemnizing a marriage unless the couple has obtained a marriage license (GS Sec. 51-6). The complaint (full text) in Thigpen v. Cooper, (NC Super. Ct., filed 12/8/2011), alleges that

Plaintiff Jeff L. Thigpen, as Register of Deeds of Guilford County, North Carolina, and as a citizen of North Carolina and the United States, objects and finds it morally and constitutionally repugnant to administer a system which requires all persons entering into marriage to have licenses that will be recorded; to oblige pastors, priests, and rabbis who are performing marriage ceeremonies to perform them pursuent to licenses issued by the state; and to require either the religious or civil solemnization of marriages.”

ADF Media Information Page: Adams v. The Trustees of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington resource page

The Volokh Conspiracy: That’s the result of Mussa v. Palmer-Mussa (N.C. Ct. App. Dec. 6, 2011) (2–1 vote) . . .

Religion Clause: In Mussa v. Palmer-Mussa, (NC App., Dec. 6, 2011), a North Carolina appeals court held that the marriage of defendant Nikki Palmer-Mussa to Juma Mussa was void because at the time of the marriage Nikki was married to another man.

NewsObserver.com: Departing Mayor Charles Meeker condemned a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in North Carolina on Saturday, days before the City Council considers the controversial issue.

A federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction that stops the state from issuing license plates with an anti-abortion message . . .

NECN.com: The city of Jacksonville will revise its rules on public demonstrations following a federal judge’s decision to grant an injunction sought by anti-abortion protesters who say the current ordinance violates their rights to free speech.

FFRF: “The Freedom From Religion Foundation is awaiting a response from the Onslow County Board of Commissioners regarding Sheriff Ed Brown’s decision to blatantly violate the constitution via the distribution of an overtly religious message . . . Sheriff Brown placed an advertisement in the Jacksonville Daily News on Oct. 23, 2011. ”

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at theTellADF Blog: A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. It’s worth infinitely more than that, though, to defenders of life in the womb, who know that even a glimpse of a living child through a fuzzy ultrasound image is often enough to persuade a young mother not to abort the baby inside her.

WRAL.com: A potential showdown in court this month over whether North Carolina can sell anti-abortion specialty license plates that say “Choose Life” will be a mere sideshow if the lawmaker who shepherded the plates through the legislature has anything to say about it.

ADF Attorney Dave Cortman appeared on the Hugh Hewitt case to discuss the Joyner v. Forsyth County, NC. | MP3 audio 5:38 mins

ADF Attorney Steven Aden at Townhall: The American Civil Liberties Union is offering us a 21st century rendition of this riddle in North Carolina, where they’ve pulled out all stops to keep women from viewing ultrasound pictures of their babies in the womb before deciding whether to abort them. The ACLU asks, “If you don’t see the baby, is it still a baby?”

Yesterday, ADF Attorney Steve Aden appeared on Zeb at the Ranch with Guest Host Sharon Hardy Milles to discuss the NC litigation (Stuart v. Huff) and the NJ litigation (Danquah v. University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey lawsuit). | MP3 audio 18:10 mins | Earlier on November 7th, ADF Attorney Matt Bowman also appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to provide an update on the NJ litigation. | MP3 audio 16:39 mins

OneNewsNow.com: Giving women the information they need before such a weighty decision is clearly more important than an abortionist’s bottom line,” contends ADF attorney Steven H. Aden. “Those attacking this law are obviously more concerned about financial gain from abortion than the best interests of women and their pre-born children.”

Religion Clause: North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Campus Police Power On Religiously Affiliated Campus: In State v. Yencer, (NC Sup. Ct., Nov. 10, 2011), the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld North Carolina’s Campus Police Act against an Establishment Clause challenge. At issue was the power of the campus police at Davidson College, a Presbyterian Church-affiliated liberal arts college.

Florida Independent: “Giving women the information they need before such a weighty decision is clearly more important than an abortionist’s bottom line,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “Those attacking this law are obviously more concerned about financial gain from abortion than the best interests of women and their preborn children.”

Christian Newswire: This evening the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project (LOLP), along with its co-counsel, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), filed its motion to intervene, as of right or permissively, to defend the constitutionality of the North Carolina’s “Woman’s Right to Know Act,” only one provision of which is currently enjoined, requiring abortionist’s to give women needed information, and also show and explain “real time” ultrasound images of a mother’s child before the mother may give her fully “informed consent” electing to abort her pregnancy . . .

ADF, Jubilee Campaign file motion to intervene in defense of state law being attacked by ACLU, Planned Parenthood

The Charlotte Observer: N.C. Baptists meeting today in Greensboro elected Charlotte pastor Mark Harris to be their new president and endorsed a proposed state constitutional amendment that would reinforce North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Petition of the day : SCOTUSblog.

JournalNow.com: The lawyers from a right-wing Christian organization that Forsyth commissioners chose for their wrongheaded and potentially costly fight for prayer at their meetings have filed to have the case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. On the chance that the highest court in the land does choose to hear this case, we’ll have a good thought that the Constitution will prevail and the commissioners will finally have to give up this battle that would, in effect, give their government body the right to push Christianity on all.

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears at the TellADF Blog: For five years, members of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners have been under legal attack from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – the number one religious censor in America – and Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU). Both object to the Commissioners’ custom of allowing “sectarian” prayer to open public meetings … even though the person offering the invocation has always been allowed to do so in keeping with his own faith, whatever that may be.

BaltimoreSun.com: Judge Eagles wrote, “The First Amendment generally includes the right to refuse to engage in speech compelled by the government,” adding that freedom of speech precludes limits on “both what to say and what not to say.” . . . Let’s apply this twisted reasoning to commercial airline travel. FAA regulations require that passengers receive an oral and video demonstration of the plane’s safety features.

The New American: On October 27 the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), the conservative legal advocacy group representing the county, filed a petition with the High Court asking it to overturn the Fourth Circuit ruling and once again “approve the historical practice of allowing citizens to offer prayers at public meetings according to the faith of the prayer-giver,” according to an ADF press release. “America’s founders opened public meetings with prayer,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. “This county simply wants to allow its citizens to do the same. We trust the U.S. Supreme Court will want to review this case because of the long history in America of offering prayers before public meetings.”

Christian Post: “We’re confident the court will take a real interest in this case, and that opinion, I think, is shared by constitutional law scholars and litigators around the country,” Mike Johnson, a lawyer of Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal organization representing county commissioners, said Friday.

WorldNetDaily: But the board disagrees, and with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund is asking the Supreme Court to trump Wilkinson’s ruling. “America’s founders opened public meetings with prayer; this county simply wants to allow its citizens to do the same,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman in a statement. “We trust the U.S. Supreme Court will want to review this case because of the long history in America of offering prayers before public meetings. Public officials shouldn’t be coerced into censoring the prayers of those invited to offer them just because secularist groups don’t like people praying according to their own conscience.”

WXII The Triad: “We’re confident the court will take a real interest in this case, and that opinion, I think, is shared by constitutional law scholars and litigators around the country. There are many people watching this one closely,” said Alliance Defense Fund lawyer Mike Johnson.

CBN.com: The Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the county, said the High Court should decide whether public bodies are required to find out in advance what will be said in prayers that precede their meetings.

WXII The Triad: Lawyers for the Alliance Defense Fund Inc. filed the request for Supreme Court review on Thursday.

The Republic (AP): The ruling “imposes an unwieldy requirement that government police the language of prayers,” ADF lawyers said in their appeal. “Does the Constitution require the government to censor prayer content to exclude sectarian references?”

JournalNow.com: Mike Johnson, an attorney working with the Allied Defense Fund who argued the case before the 4th Circuit, said the ACLU and Americans United were advocating “censorship.” “They don’t want private citizens invited by the board to express themselves according to the dictates of their consciences,” Johnson said.

4th Circuit ruling on invocations conflicts with other courts, American history

JournalNow.com: An abortion-rights group said Monday that a nine-month investigation of crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina found widespread misinformation being disseminated to clients seeking information about their pregnancies. NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina Foundation conducted the investigation . . .

A federal judge has blocked a portion of North Carolina’s new abortion law that required a medical worker to offer to display an ultrasound image of a fetus to a pregnant woman, describe it and offer her the chance to listen to the heartbeat.

WRAL.com: Two days after a homophobic slur was spray-painted on North Carolina State University’s campus, the student government showed support for the gay and lesbian community by passing a resolution opposing the North Carolina General Assembly’s proposed ban on gay marriage.

MyFox8.com: A federal judge heard Monday from attorneys for abortion providers urging that enforcement of a North Carolina law set to take effect next week should be blocked because the additional hurdles for women and doctors are unconstitutional.

Baptist Press: The poll by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling shows the amendment winning by a margin of 61-34 with support from Republicans, Independents and Democrats.

Tami Fitzgerald letter to the editor at the Jacksonville Daily News: No matter how Elon or the press tries to spin it, 62 percent to 63 percent of the people in North Carolina believe that marriage is the legal union between one man and one woman.

FRC Washington Update: Wasserman Schultz said, “I know that the party in each of those states will be combatting [the amendments].”
But the Democratic Party in North Carolina has already effectively thrown supporters of homosexual “marriage” under the bus. Fearful that their jobs would be jeopardized by a large turnout of conservative voters in November to support the marriage amendment, Democrats in the legislature insisted it go on the ballot in May instead–when the only other thing on the ballot is the Republican presidential primary.

ENCToday: The council wanted to wait to revert to praying aloud after seeing whether the U.S. Supreme Court would rule in favor of an appeal entered by The Alliance Defense Fund — the public interest law firm that is leading Forsyth County’s defense.

WCTI 12: “The proximity to the school has zero relevance,” Paul Albert said. “There is no Constitutional right for schoolchildren not to be exposed to the message on this sign. Furthermore, kids across the country are already being exposed to what homosexuality is, according to the state. This sign just tells what the church’s position is on the matter.”

NewsObserver.com: An online legal services company is suing the N.C. State Bar over a long-simmering standoff that highlights the uneasy relationship between private-practice lawyers and inexpensive, do-it-yourself online help for simple law problems. The lawsuit by LegalZoom.com, filed in Wake County Superior Court, asks that a judge declare that the company is entitled to sell standard legal forms on its website and that it be allowed to register in this state to sell prepaid legal services.

Civitas Poll: Majority of Voters Support NC Marriage Amendment: A majority, 62 percent, of North Carolina voters say they support a constitutional amendment that establishes marriage between one man and woman as the only recognized domestic legal union in the state.

Washington Times: A group of abortion clinics, doctors and pro-choice groups are suing to block a North Carolina law that would require a pregnant woman to have an ultrasound and receive information about her fetus before she can obtain an abortion.

Jacksonville Daily News: I waited to write this column until Friday when the results of Elon University’s poll was to be released. I admit, I thought the results would be much different. Turns out, 56 percent of the residents in the Tarheel State don’t want a ban on gay marriage.

National Law Journal: But some law faculty members and alumni raised concern that the $600,000 startup funding for the center, which would be independent from the institute, would come from Art Pope, a prominent Raleigh businessman known for his staunchly conservative views and for his financial support of Republicans.

Digtriad.com: A coalition of groups has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a new North Carolina law mandating ultrasounds and other requirements before a woman can have an abortion. | ACLU case information page

ADF Attorney Brett Harvey at Speak Up Movement Church Blog: In a series of short blogs I will explore some of the troubling aspects of the decision in Joyner v. Forsyth County, NC decided on July 29, 2011.

The Daily Tar Heel: A debate at the UNC School of Law today set two state legislators on either side of the Defense of Marriage amendment, arguing as lawmakers and as lawyers.