Tag Archives: State: South Carolina

CNN: The adoptive parents of a child born with male and female organs say South Carolina mutilated their son by choosing a gender and having his male genitalia surgically removed.

The Hill: Sanford owes party leaders nothing, as they refused to spend money on his campaign in the closing weeks and held him at arm’s length for much of the race. He’s also a vocal — and stubborn — fiscal conservative . . .

AP: In a story of political redemption, Mark Sanford is headed back to Congress after his career was derailed by scandal four years ago.

AP: A South Carolina high school teacher removed from the classroom when he stomped on an American flag while discussing freedom is being paid $85,000 to avoid a legal challenge.

Politico: Blindsided by news that Sanford’s ex-wife has accused him of trespassing and concluding he has no plausible path to victory, the National Republican Congressional Committee has decided not to spend more money on Sanford’s behalf ahead of the May 7 special election.

IndependentMail.com: The Pickens County school board policy committee took no action Monday on a proposal to amend how public prayers are conducted before monthly meetings.

The Hill: Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has won his House primary runoff, setting up a high-profile special election against businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D), the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert.

Independent Mail: Prayers said at Pickens County school board meetings will no longer be led by students and will no longer mention the name of Jesus. The Pickens County Board of Trustees voted 3-2 this week to change its practice on prayer, several months after the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened legal action . . .

GoUpstate.com (AP): A federal appellate court on Monday upheld a South Carolina school district’s decision to bar a student from wearing shirts with the Confederate battle flag on campus, ruling that school officials need to keep order and promote education. | Hardwick v. Heyward

An employee of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit to challenge an EEOC policy that requires workers to investigate and prosecute claims against employers based on allegations of “sexual orientation” discrimination that have no foundation in federal law.

Greenville Online: A final vote on changes to prayer at Pickens County school board meetings could take place March 25.

Religion Clause Blog: As reported by AP,  yesterday Episcopal Bishop Charles von Rosenberg who heads the minority of congregations in South Carolina that remain loyal to The Episcopal Church filed a federal lawsuit against Bishop Mark Lawrence who heads the larger portion of the congregations that in 2012 broke away from the national church. The complaint (full text) in von Rosenberg v. Lawrence, (D SC, filed 3/6/2013)

WSPA.com: Which is why this board voted 3 to 2 to pass a new policy allowing a non-sectarian prayer, meaning it doesn’t favor any specific religion.

WBTW.com: The fight for prayer at the Pickens County School Board Meeting may come to an end on Monday night.

San Francisco Chronicle: The Pickens County school board is trying to decide how it can pray before meetings.

Religion Clause Blog: In a Jan. 4 press release and a letter to parishioners from the Bishop, the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina announced that it, along with 17 parishes, have filed suit against The Episcopal Church to establish the Diocese’s right to the real and personal property of the Diocese and its parishes.

WYFF4.com: An Upstate school district has gotten a complaint from a national organization that’s upset about the way the district opens their meetings. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter of complaint to the School District of Pickens County after someone complained to the organization.

Politicker.com: South Carolina Congressman Tim Scott, who has reportedly been chosen to replace Jim DeMint as that state’s senator by Governor Nikki Haley, has had a heavenly helping hand during his time in Washington. A volunteer named Tim Taylor has led a  group of “prayer team warriors” who have organized on Mr. Scott’s campaign website and prayed for God to give the congressman guidance and protection.

Christian Science Monitor: Scott achieved a 92 percent score on the Club for Growth’s legislative scorecard, which meant that he was more conservative than all but 30 members of the House.

NY Times: Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has chosen Representative Tim Scott to replace Jim DeMint in the United States Senate, according to three Republican officials. The move will make Mr. Scott the first black senator from the South since the late 19th century.

San Francisco Chronicle: The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal over a South Carolina program that allows high school students to earn elective credit toward graduation through off-campus religious courses. The high court on Tuesday denied the appeal from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Carolina Live (includes video): Tuesday evening Georgetown County School Board held a meeting with a full agenda. One thing that wasn’t on there though, was a prayer. After ACLU sent a Freedom of Information Act request to all South Carolina school districts asking about prayer in their schools, in response, Georgetown County pulled prayer from their meetings.

Fox News: A panel of three federal judges upheld a South Carolina law requiring voters to show photo identification, but delayed enforcement until next year, in a decision announced Wednesday, less than a month before this year’s presidential election. | South Carolina v. U.S., (D.C. Cir.)

WMBFNews.com: The prayer approved Tuesday is designed to include people of all faiths, and reads: Almighty God, Creator and sustainer of all that is or will ever be, accept our profound gratitude for this day, and all of its blessings of life and freedom. We remember those who make our freedom possible. It is because of their sacrifice that our community can practice our shared and enduring values of varied expressions of faith, civic duty and respect for all. We gather today to render our public service in a proper manner, and perform our civic duties in good order. Therefore, we solemnly invoke Divine wisdom and guidance for this Council in this day’s meeting. Amen.

Sacramento Bee: A court ruling sending a Native American girl back to Oklahoma from her adoptive South Carolina family has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. | Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (Petition for Cert.)

Jeremy Tedesco appeared on Koinonia (KPXQ) with Tom Brown to discuss the ACLU’s school intimidation campaign. | MP3 audio 12:15 mins

The New American: But Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), another organization that defends schools and other groups against the attacks of the ACLU, emphasized that the U.S. Constitution is “the only permission slip students need to exercise their freedom of religion. The ACLU’s ‘Religious Freedom Goes to School’ campaign paints a restrictive picture of the freedoms for students, teachers, and school administrators that the First Amendment protects.”

Citizen Link: “The Constitution should be the only permission slip students need to exercise their freedom of religion,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Sharp. “We hope our letter clarifies the true extent of the First Amendment freedoms of students and schools. Public schools are supposed to serve as institutions of learning where free speech is protected. They should not be places of indoctrination that are hostile to religion.”

Education News: A warning from the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina is a scare tactic and school districts should investigate claims, for example, that “Teachers may not cite the Bible or other sacred texts as authority,” according to a new letter being sent by a team of legal experts on religious freedom. “While a teacher may not use the classroom to indoctrinate students, a teacher may disseminate information about religion in an objective manner so long as the information is reasonably related to the curriculum,” states a letter from the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Alliance Defending Freedom sends letters to SC public schools to debunk misleading advice

Wall Street Journal: In a letter sent to all public schools in the state, the ACLU of South Carolina said the campaign is trying to ensure that schools do not impose or promote religion, and adds that, “based on complaints received by the ACLU, many school districts are failing to honor this vital constitutional mandate.”

ACLU Press Release: The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Carolina launched a campaign today to strengthen religious freedom in public schools. The “Religious Freedom Goes to School” campaign urges schools to protect both the right of free exercise for individuals of every faith and the right to remain free from governmental coercion and promotion of religion. It is aimed at addressing growing reports of unconstitutional violations of these fundamental rights in public schools across the state.

Sacromento Bee: Gov. Nikki Haley and her administration have emphatically said “no” to expanding Medicaid in South Carolina.
But whether the state agrees with the federal plan to expand coverage to more low-income adults is ultimately not up to her. That decision rests with the Legislature.

GoUpState.com: A petition for a federal court to reconsider an appeal regarding released time religious education in Spartanburg School District 7 was denied last week. Plaintiff-appellants, including two District 7 parents, a former District 7 student and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, must now decide if they will appeal the matter to the highest level — the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wall Street Journal (via Google): This politically charged environment, Mr. Graham maintains, is the result of the Senate’s broken process. “I’m really worried about how we’re doing confirmations. They’re turning into political events,” the South Carolina Republican said. “I’m not worried about judicial activism, I’m worried about Senate activism.” Hmm.

UPI: The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina criticized the national church’s approval of services blessing same-sex relationships.

FFRF: The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a petition with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking its review of a decision by a three-judge panel approving academic credit for released time instruction . . . The petition seeks review on key issues in the case, including whether granting grading power to a bible school entangles church and state and whether the district’s assistance and support to the bible school class unconstitutionally advances religion.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation announced that it will seek an en banc review of a decision last Friday by a three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which approved academic credit for released time instruction. FFRF, and two sets of parent plaintiffs with children in the school district in Spartanburg, S.C., challenged the practice as a state entanglement with religion, which favored students of the dominant religious faith.

Religion Clause Blog: In Moss v. Spartanburg County School District Seven, (4th Cir., June 28, 2012), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Spartanburg’s released time program that permits high school students to receive two academic credits for off-campus religious instruction offered by a private Bible school.

One News Now: After being contacted via letter by Alliance Defense Fund, however, school officials changed course and allowed Kirby to cite Proverbs 13:4 in Saturday’s ceremony. ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco says public schools should encourage — not shut down — the free exchange of ideas.

ADF letter prompts SC school officials to rethink ban on ‘religious quote’
in student-of-the-year’s speech

One News Now: Neilson claims his First Amendment rights were violated, but Jeremy Tedesco, legal counsel with Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), says the First Amendment does not give him the authority to do what he is attempting. “The thing is that the Constitution was never meant to give one person veto power over public acknowledgments of God simply because the person’s offended,” he notes.

LifeSiteNews: As the summer heats up, the nation has passed a number of pro-life bills, especially in the state of Louisiana, where legislators voted to restrict abortion to 20 weeks, assure abortions were performed by physicians, and extend a waiting period from two hours to one day.

WAFB.com (includes video): Max Nielson is suing Lexington-Richland School District Five for allowing prayer during graduation.

The Post and Courier: For 15 years, he has consumed 1 ounce of sacramental wine during Mass without incident. Inmates partake only in the bread. But this week he lost a fight. Chief Deputy Mitch Lucas, the jail’s administrator, has told Lofton to replace the wine — brought to the jail in a TSA-approved container designed for holy water — with grape juice.

The State: State employees could pay higher health insurance premiums in order for the state health plan to continue to cover abortions in the case of rape or incest, according to a compromise reached in the S.C. Senate.

LifeNews: One day after a legislative panel approved a measure to stop abortion funding in its statewide Obamacare health care exchange, pro-life legislators in the state House approved a bill helping to stop abortion-infanticides.

LifeNews: A subcommittee of the S.C. House Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee rebuffed pro-abortion groups Tuesday afternoon and passed Senate bill S102 to opt South Carolina out of paying for most abortions if ObamaCare insurance exchanges are implemented in 2014.

Miami Herald: S.C. taxpayers and state employees would not pay for abortions in cases of rape or incest, according to a budget rule unanimously approved Tuesday by a state Senate subcommittee.

LifeNews: The South Carolina House overwhelmingly passed the BAIPA in 2011 and the Senate voted in favor of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act on a 27-3 margin.

AP: Fights about using tax dollars to help make private schools more affordable are popping up around the country.

NECN.com: A panel of federal judges has ruled that several voters represented by the American Civil Liberties Union can take part in a legal challenge over South Carolina’s new voter ID law.

Education News: South Carolina seeks to expand charter schools and give all students, whether homeschooled or chartered, access to sports as traditionally educated children.

Election Law Blog: Texas filed an amended complaint today [UPDATE, actually Tuesday] in its action to overcome the US Department of Justice’s objection to its voter identification law. The complaint now says that the Voting Rights Act section 5, as amended in 2006, “exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment.”

LifeNews: A South Carolina state Senate Judiciary subcommittee unanimously passed a version of the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act to protect unborn children who are born alive after a failed abortion but may be purposefully left to die afterwards.

HeraldOnline.com: South Carolina senators will consider creating a State Day of Prayer to coincide with the national one.

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Carolina today asked a federal court to block South Carolina’s discriminatory voter identification law that would keep minorities and others from exercising their right to vote.

The Daily Caller: But the more surprising development may be the entrance into the fight of Christians from denominations other than Roman Catholicism. On Tuesday the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit on behalf of Geneva College, a Beaver Falls, Penn. school affiliated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and Louisiana College, a Baptist institution, adding them to the growing list of plaintiffs.

MSNBC: Seven states asked a federal judge Thursday to block an Obama administration mandate that requires birth control coverage for employees of religious-affiliated hospitals, schools and outreach programs.

Religion Clause: Plaintiff alleged that he informed his employer about his obligations to his church on Saturdays and Sundays, but that he was continuously scheduled him for Saturday shifts.

The Cheraw Chronicle: The invocation was missing from the agenda this month as members of the Chesterfield County School Board met at Chesterfield-Ruby Middle School Monday afternoon. The absence of prayer from these public meetings reflects changes in religious practices the Chesterfield County school system is obligated to maintain, by Constitutional law and a court order.

The Hill: The threat came from the attorneys general of Nebraska, Texas and South Carolina.

News from The Associated Press: South Carolina drivers can buy religious license plates that feature three crosses and a sunrise.

WBTV 3: Move over Cherokee Casino, the Catawba Indian Nation wants a piece of the action and plans to go to great lengths to do so.

NBC Politics: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who just a few days ago seemed poised to capitalize on his New Hampshire primary victory to win South Carolina, failed to appeal to conservative, lower-income, and evangelical Christian voters in the state, which led to Saturday’s victory for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Rasmussen Reports: The latest telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters in the state finds Gingrich with 33% support to Romney’s 31%. Two days ago, before the last debate, it was Romney by 14 percentage points.

The Hill: Five board members of the Palmetto Family Council, a leading South Carolina group of social conservatives, plan to endorse Rick Santorum after a series of meetings looking to coalesce around a candidate, one of the leaders told The Hill Wednesday evening.

Politico Poll: Several polls released during the past few days show that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is drawing close — or even surpassing — front-runner Mitt Romney in South Carolina, where the primary election is Saturday. Politico offered the latest evidence Thursday.

News from The Associated Press: The Greenville-Spartanburg area, home to many of South Carolina’s evangelical voters, should be prime political ground for Rick Santorum, a longtime anti-abortion crusader who was embraced by a group of Christian leaders meeting last weekend in Texas.

Reuters: South Carolina will sue the administration of President Barack Obama over its rejection of the state’s new requirement that voters provide a photo ID, Attorney General Alan Wilson said on Tuesday.

American Civil Liberties Union: The board of the Chesterfield County School District voted tonight to adopt a proposed settlement agreement that would put an end to the district’s pervasive practice of school-sponsored prayer, preaching and religious activities aimed at students.

Reuters: South Carolina cannot enforce several key areas of its new law aimed at curbing illegal immigration, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

The Hill: The National Labor Relations Board has dropped its controversial case against airline manufacturer Boeing, which had become a lightening rod for conservatives.

Charlotte Observer: Union sued in federal court Monday, claiming that public schools in Chesterfield County are unconstitutionally promoting Christianity. | Related ACLU press release

ADF Attorney Nate Kellum at Townhall: The bottom line: the HCC has Constitutional protection and a real opportunity here to bring joy into the lives of the patients at the cancer center, simply by lifting the ban on the “religious aspects” of Christmas.