Tag Archives: State: Oregon

FIRE – The Moral Liberal: Under the new policies, which were put into place after pressure from the Alliance Defense Fund, students may still reserve the table in the free speech zone, but may also speak elsewhere on campus spontaneously and without prior approval. The college also eliminated a speech code that banned “offensive” or “derogatory” speech.

Free speech now allowed campus-wide (OneNewsNow.com): ADF legal counsel David Hacker says that was reasonable . . . “Universities across the country are censoring Christian and pro-life speech on really a rapid scale,” he laments. “But we’re really pleased that Chemeketa was willing to work with us and change its policies to open up the campus to more speech.” [more]

LifeNews.com: “Pro-life students shouldn’t have to get a permission slip to share their beliefs on campus,” said ADF Legal Counsel David Hacker. “Making free speech the exception rather than the norm and then corralling it to a limited area is unconstitutional and contrary to the ‘marketplace of ideas’ that a university is supposed to be. We appreciate the college’s efforts in working with us to revise its policies and rectify this problem.”

ADF Attorney David Hacker appeared on the Victoria Taft Show to discuss the situation at Chemeketa Community College in Oregon. | MP3 audio 5:20 mins

Chemeketa Community College revises policies after interaction with ADF attorneys representing pro-life students

“Oregon Gay Activist Opposes Boy Scout Tree Program” | Fox News: A Portland gay rights activist is urging his neighbors to boycott the Boy Scout Christmas tree recycling program.

KBND.com: Prineville’s Nativity Scene is still creating controversy in the small town. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is complaining the display is not inclusive.

Wesley Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: This letter to the editor from a physician about the failure of Oregon’s doctor-prescribed suicide guidelines to protect a vulnerable patient is poignant, but ultimately, irrelevant. All that matters is a desire to die by the patient coupled (for now) with a terminal diagnosis.

Sally Satel at WSJ.com (full access via Google): In October of 2009, Kumud Majumder, the father of an 11-year-old son with advanced leukemia, joined a lawsuit challenging the federal ban on compensating bone-marrow donors. He wanted to save his son’s life. Last week Mr. Majumder and his co-plaintiffs enjoyed a victory. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the majority of bone-marrow donors may lawfully be compensated.

OregonLive.com: Cornilles said that, contrary to Right to Life, he supports allowing abortion in cases of rape and incest. His campaign manager, Mary Anne Ostrom, said Cornilles also parts way with Right to Life on two other controversial issues. She said he supports in vitro fertilization and embryonic stem cell research, both of which have been opposed by Right to Life because it leads to the destruction of embryos.

The Denver Post: Denver-based anti-abortion group that sponsored an unsuccessful personhood amendment in Mississippi — declaring fertilization the starting point of life — is mobilizing again to push a fortified measure in Colorado, Oregon and Montana.

OregonLive.com: After a three-year campaign to build support for legalizing same-sex marriage, Oregon’s largest gay rights group has decided against putting the issue up for a vote in 2012

Statesman Journal: It will mark the first time in almost 25 years that two justices will retire and leave their seats to be filled by election rather than appointment by the governor.

News from The Associated Press: The boy was born two months prematurely, weighed less than four pounds and lived less than nine hours.

Register Guard: Basic Rights Oregon’s board will soon make a decision on whether to put forward a ballot measure for the November 2012 election to overturn Oregon’s 2004 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Christian Post: The protesters took issue with the church’s stance on homosexuality, and carried banners and shouted obscenities at those in attendance as they exited the church. Then, after a request by a police officer, the protesters moved across the street from the church.

Religion Clause: In Oregon City, Oregon last week, Dale and Shannon Hickman were convicted of second degree manslaughter in the death of their seriously ill infant son for whom they prayed and who they anointed with olive oil instead of seeking medical help.

News from The Associated Press: When the FBI notified police in Oregon that a Springfield man had purchased a mail-order suicide kit, officers went to his home and kicked down his door to make sure he was OK.

OregonLive.com: Wording that essentially condemned same-sex marriage and civil unions, and that stated such couples were unfit to be parents, was removed from the official party platform during a weekend convention in Bend.

Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com (includes video): The group plans to begin collecting signatures in October for a possible 2012 ballot campaign, said Jeana Frazzini, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon.

Religion Clause: On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 64-35, confirmed the nomination of Michael Simon as federal district judge for the district of Oregon.

OPB News: Oregon lawmakers want to stop companies from selling home suicide kits. The bill passed this week doesn’t affect existing “manslaughter” laws.

Christian Faith-Healing Parents on Trial for Refusing Medical Attention: An Oregon couple has been accused of medically neglecting their baby daughter after refusing medical treatment for a large tumor that developed over her left eye. Opening statements were heard Friday at the Clackamas County Courthouse, and the trial will resume today. Timothy and Rebecca Wyland . . .

Washington Post: Oregon lawmakers have given approval to a bill that would drop faith healing as a legal defense in murder or manslaughter cases.

AP: Oregon senators voted Monday to impose a crackdown on companies that sell so-called “suicide kits,” which contain hoods or other items intended to help a person end his or her life.

AP: Muslims from Oregon who had planned to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden in downtown Portland Monday night canceled the event due to threats.

Oregonian: In response to a Oregon Supreme Court ruling this year, the Oregon Senate voted today to make it a crime to view child pornography online for free. | Oregon v. Barger, No. CA A138678 (Ore. Jan 6, 2011) | Senate Bill 803

Pacific Justice Institute: A public high school that reportedly suppressed student speech on last year’s “Day of Silence” opted to change its approach after facing the threat of legal action from Pacific Justice Institute.

LifeNews: Representative Tim Freeman (R-Roseburg) held a press conference today announcing the House Judiciary Committee hearing of a bill that would ban abortion in Oregon after the fifth month of pregnancy except to save the life of the mother. HB 3512 . . .

Religion Clause Blog: In State of Oregon v. Brumwell, (OR Sup. Ct. March 25, 2011), the Oregon Supreme Court, in reviewing the murder conviction and death sentence imposed on defendant, rejected defendant’s argument that evidence of Satanism introduced at the penalty phase of his trial violated his free exercise rights.

KBND.com: “A proposal in the Oregon Legislature would send a question to voters: should communities be able to zone neighborhoods to block strip clubs and adult businesses?”

AP: “Oregon lawmakers are considering asking voters to roll back the state’s free speech protections to allow regulation of strip clubs.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Hendricks v. Marist Catholic High School, (D OR, March 16, 2011), an Oregon federal district court refused to apply the ministerial exception to prevent a Catholic high school teacher from bringing an age discrimination claim after his teaching contract was terminated.”

OregonFaithReport.com: “At the February 22, 2011, Damascus City council meeting, officials took public comment on whether to include an invocation at the beginning of each meeting. About 20 residents offered opinions from both sides of the issue . . . ”

Oregon Live: “Only one, House Bill 3512, has been scheduled for committee action. It would make abortions illegal in Oregon after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies.”

KGW.com: “Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would keep picketers a certain distance away from funerals . . . In Oregon, HB 3241 would create 300-foot and one-hour buffer zones between picketers and memorial services.”

Beaverton Valley Times: “A pair of resolutions introduced to the Oregon Legislature would alter the state constitution to allow local governments to more easily regulate where adult entertainment businesses can locate. Oregon’s Constitution includes a strong protection for freedom of expression — stronger than the federal First Amendment protections — language that has been repeatedly interpreted to protect the rights of adult businesses in zoning fights with cities and counties.”

Seattle PI: “The Supreme Court has refused to toss out a defamation award to a fired pastor, despite claims by the church that dismissed him that its actions are protected by the Constitution’s religious freedom guarantees.”

Christian Post: “State Rep. Carolyn Tomei (D-Milwaukie) introduced House Bill 2721 to remove spiritual treatment as a defense for all homicide charge.”

Wall Street Journal: “News of the case spread through this state capital, sparking outrage. Yet one subset of the community sprang to the Kozlovs’ defense, holding demonstrations, filling the gallery at court hearings and flooding state officials with letters. Many of these supporters, Russian-born Christians like the Kozlovs themselves, believed the parents were disciplining their children according to Biblical law. In their view, the government was out to ‘destroy the family because of their faith,’ says Tatyana I. Bondarchuk, a counselor who helped brief authorities about the group.”

Religion Clause: “In McGuire v. Clackamas County Counsel, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5521 (D OR, Jan. 19, 2011), an Oregon federal district court adopted a magistrate’s recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140026, Nov. 10, 2010), and dismissed a free exercise challenge to the zoning laws of Clackamas County, Oregon.”

Statesman-Journal: “Protesters from both sides of the abortion debate are rallying today in Salem to mark the upcoming anniversary of Roe v. Wade.”

KBND: “More than one hundred Prineville residents showed up at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting to let them know they don’t want the City’s nativity scene to go away.”

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, Dawson produced circumstantial evidence of retaliatory discharge and sexual orientation hostile work environment, such that resolution of this action by summary judgment was error. We reverse and remand.

The Oregonian: “Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced today that he will draft legislation that will make it illegal under state law to look at child pornography on the Internet . . . [the] announcement comes one day after the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that state law doesn’t make it a crime to look at child pornography while surfing the Internet if the viewer doesn’t purposefully download the images, print them out or pay for them.”

The Columbian: “Catholic Community Services of Lane County will stop accepting money from United Way because the organization gives money to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Oregon.”

Mail Tribune: “Ashland public schools can display a decorated pine tree if it is surrounded by symbols from other religious holidays, but in order to remain religiously neutral they should not display a Christmas tree alone, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro told the School Board Monday.”

KPTV: “The state labor commissioner and the state school superintendent have teamed up to create a model policy for religious clothing in Oregon schools.” | OR Dept. of Ed. Press Release and Model Policy

Associated Press: “Patrols around mosques and other Islamic sites in Portland have been stepped up as Muslim leaders expressed fears of retribution, days after a Somali-American man was accused of trying to blow up a van full of explosives during the city’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony.”

The Douglas County News-Review: “A federal jury is scheduled to decide in the spring whether a Douglas County clerk was wrongly fired after she objected on religious grounds to registering same-sex couples as domestic partners. Kathy Slater, who worked for the county for more than a decade before she was dismissed in February 2008, is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees.”

Statesman-Journal: “An Eastern Oregon congregation that left the United Methodist Church has been sued over its finances. The Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church lawsuit alleges that members of the independent Ontario Community Church took property, funds and documents held in trust for the Methodist mission and ministry.”

The ABA Journal: “A jury agreed and awarded Tubra $355,000 in damages after it found officials falsely accused him of stealing from the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in Vernonia, Ore.The judge differed with the jurors, though, and threw out the award. Following overwhelming precedent, he ruled that the First Amendment deprived the court of jurisdiction over the church and Tubra’s defamation claim against it.” John Elwood comments at the Volokh Conspiracy on Cook v. Tubra.

Religion Clause: “On Friday, a petition for certiorari (full text) to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed in Cooke v. Tubra. In the case, an Oregon state appellate court held that jurisdiction over an interim pastor’s defamation claim against his former church and two of its officers is not necessarily barred by the First Amendment.”

The Oregonian: “The Beaverton School District and Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education leaders announced this afternoon that they jointly agreed to return Stambaugh to his original student teaching placement in Beaverton starting late next week, according to a press release from both schools . . . In September, Stambaugh told a fourth-grader who asked whether he was married that he was not. When the student asked why, Stambaugh replied it was not legal for him to get married because he would choose a man.” | Related: Student-teacher ousted over same-sex “marriage” discussion with 4th grader

ADF Attorney David Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “On Tuesday, two national legal organizations filed amicus briefs in the Ninth Circuit supporting The Liberty’s case against Oregon State University. The Student Press Law Center and the National Legal Foundation both filed amicus briefs arguing that a federal district court should not have dismissed The Liberty’s case.”

Student Press Law Center: “The Student Press Law Center filed a friend-of-the-court brief October 19 urging a federal appeals court to reinstate the First Amendment challenge brought by the editors of an independent campus newspaper at Oregon State University whose newsracks were confiscated by the university . . . The SPLC brief supports the OSU Students Alliance brief previously filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, a nonprofit legal-services organization representing the students. The brief was prepared with the assistance of SPLC Legal Fellows Laura Napoli and Adam Schulman.”

KGW.com: “Some homeowners in the West Slope area of Beaverton have become increasingly upset over a growing number of adult entertainment businesses opening in their community.”

KGW: “Seth Stambaugh, a student teacher at Sexton Mountain elementary school, was apparently dismissed after answering a fourth grader’s question about his marital status by saying it would be illegal for him to marry because he would choose to marry a man.”

“So holds Slater v. Douglas County (D. Or. Sept. 24, 2010).

LifeNews: “The city of Stayton, Oregon has reched a settlment with a pro-life advocate who said it violated his right to display pro-life signs featuring pictures of unborn children killed in abortions . . . Pearson was represented by Beaverton-based attorney Kelly Ford, who is a member of the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal gorup. ADF attorneys argued that requiring Pearson to obtain a permit was a violation of his constitutional rights to free speech.”

Statesman Journal: “A settlement has been reached in the case of Frederick Pearson v. the city of Stayton regarding a civil-rights violation. Pearson of Oregon filed the lawsuit . . . for violating his right to display anti-abortion signs featuring images of aborted fetuses. It was Stayton’s first civil-rights lawsuit at the federal level . . . Pearson was represented by Beaverton-based attorney Kelly Ford, who is a member of the Alliance Defense Fund, a Tennessee-based organization of Christian attorneys advocating for religious freedom.”

Powell’s Books v. Kroger, No. 09-35153 (9th Cir. Sept. 20, 2010) Before: Ferdinand F. Fernandez, M. Margaret McKeown, and Richard A. Paez, Circuit Judges. Excerpts from the opinion follow McKEOWN, Circuit Judge: We consider here the constitutionality of a pair of …

Associated Press: “A jury will have to determine whether a man’s failure to disclose $150,000 on federal tax forms was an effort to smuggle money to Muslim fighters in Chechnya or just an oversight by an accountant.”

One News Now: “After intervention from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an Oregon pro-lifer has won the right to display his signs on a public street corner.”

“Alliance Defense Fund attorneys secured a consent order Friday from a district court that requires the city of Stayton to allow a man to display pro-life signs on a public street corner.”

OregonLive: “Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license. . . . Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.”

KATU: “KATU News has confirmed that an Oregon City couple, who are members of the Followers of Christ Church, will be indicted on a charge of criminal child mistreatment. A grand jury has indicted the couple and Clackamas County Prosecutors tell KATU the indictment should be filed by sometime next week.”

ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss the case of a pro-life protester arrested for offensive signs in Oregon. | MP3 22:55 mins

ADF attorney Nate Kellum appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss Pearson v. City of Stayton. | MP3 10:20 mins | ADF Media information on the case

Vatican Radio interviews Jeffrey Lena, the California-based attorney currently representing the Holy See in the Oregon case of Holy See vs John Doe: “What the Supreme Court did was decide that it wasn’t going to address a question which we had wished to bring before it. That was a question that on the substantive law I think we were right. The United States agreed with us, but the Supreme Court simply determined that at this time, it was not interested in hearing the case. The fact that it wasn’t interested in hearing the case, as I say, did not deny immunity and was no comment on the merits of our position.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit over a ban against a pro-life effort in Stayton, Oregon. … ‘He went to the police station and had a long conversation with some police officials there,’ [Jonathan Scruggs] accounts. ‘The police officials basically said, “We don’t allow any signs that are offensive, and your signs with the images of aborted fetuses are offensive. Therefore, we’re going to prevent them from being displayed, and we’re going to prevent your speech.”‘” | ADF News Release

Statesman Journal: “An Oregon man has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Stayton for allegedly violating his right to display anti-abortion signs featuring images of aborted fetuses. … ‘Pro-life advocates shouldn’t be kept from expressing their beliefs simply because city officials or others may oppose their viewpoint or find it offensive,’ ADF Senior Counsel [Nate Kellum] said in a statement.” | ADF News Release

Catholic News Service: “The U.S. Supreme Court has left standing a lower court ruling that will allow an Oregon man to try to hold the Vatican financially responsible for his sexual abuse by a priest, if he can persuade the court that the priest was an employee of the Vatican. By declining to take Holy See v. John Doe, the court June 28 left intact the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said because of the way Oregon law defines employment, the Vatican is not protected under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act from potential liability for the actions of a priest who Doe, the unidentified plaintiff, said sexually abused him in the 1960s.” | Related: Charles J. Chaput: Suing the Church

Statesman Journal: “An Oregon man has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Stayton for allegedly violating his right to display anti-abortion signs featuring images of aborted fetuses. … ‘Pro-life advocates shouldn’t be kept from expressing their beliefs simply because city officials or others may oppose their viewpoint or find it offensive,’ ADF Senior Counsel [Nate Kellum] said in a statement.” | ADF News Release

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city of Stayton on behalf of a man who was approached by police officers and told he could not display his pro-life signs on a street corner.