Tag Archives: State: Texas

San Antonio Express-News: U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks did not make a final ruling in a controversial sonogram case Friday but suggested his hands were tied and he would likely allow the law to stay in effect.

Edge Boston: “She sat down and looked at me, and her first question was, ’Are you a lesbian?’” Garatie said in a personal statement written that was published by the Dallas Voice. “Her second question to me was, ’Have you asked God into your heart? Have you been saved by Jesus Christ?’”

Dallas Observer: “Nurse at Center of Furor Over Homophobic Remarks Made to Marine Has Left Dallas VA”

Lincy Pandithurai, who allegedly told her, among other things, “The reason you are so upset is because you feel the darkness surrounding you, and you feel guilty about being a homosexual and living in sin. I’m going to prescribe you some anti-depressants, maybe they’ll help, but I’m not saying that you aren’t going to continue to want to kill yourself.”

News from The Associated Press: The Supreme Court on Friday threw out electoral maps drawn by federal judges in Texas that favored minorities.

AZCentral.com: Texas Gov. Rick Perry is abandoning his presidential bid and endorsing Newt Gingrich.

The Malakoff News: Officials for both Henderson County and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) confirmed this week that the next round in the battle over the county’s Christmas display will likely come in March, when the FFRF is expected to ask Commissioners’ Court for the right to display one of its banners on the lawn in December.

ADF Attorney Steven Aden at Townhall Conservative: The basic components of a choice are easiest understood as a selection of one option out of the two or more options that are presented at any given time. Often choices are simple: vanilla or rocky road, for example. But sometimes they are difficult, especially if the choice in view carries life-altering—and perhaps even life-ending—consequences. One thing, however, is for sure—when only one avenue or one side is presented there is no real choice to be made.

News from The Associated Press: A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the immediate enforcement of a new Texas abortion law while opponents challenge the measure in district court

ADF Attorney Greg Baylor appeared on Wallbuilders Live to discuss this. | MP3 audio 7:21 mins

Houston Chronicle blog: According to the teen’s lawyer, Stephan Casey, vice president of Texas Center for Defense of Life, the girl contacted a sidewalk pregnancy resource counselor who put her in contact via text message with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil liberties group. The Alliance Defense Fund then put her in contact with TCDL

LifeSiteNews: Stephen Casey, vice president and chief counsel of Texas Center for Defense of Life (TCDL), and TCDL President Greg Terra are representing the teen . . . TCDL provides its legal services pro bono throughout the state of Texas. Casey said those outside the state should contact the Alliance Defense Fund.

A Texas abortion law passed last year that requires doctors to show sonograms to patients can be enforced while opponents challenge the measure in court, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Findlaw: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Wednesday in the Texas Sonogram Bill case, Texas Medical Providers, et al v. David Lakey.

The Scoop | dallasnews.com: The Dallas County Community College District board this week amended its policies to prohibit discrimination on the basis of “gender identity and expression.”

Houston Chronicle: A federal judge abused his discretion when he blocked the state of Texas from enforcing a law requiring doctors to show sonograms to patients and describe the images before an abortion, a lawyer for the state told an appeals court Wednesday.

Courthouse News Service: A religious display that included a baby Jesus, a cross and a sign, “Reunite the church and state …” was removed last week from the entrance to the Lubbock County Courthouse – but another Texas county refused to remove its religious display.

TheEagle.com: The person who stole a baby Jesus figurine from a Nativity scene in Texas A&M’s All Faiths Chapel was probably playing a prank.

“She finally went over the head of the case worker, then over the head of a supervisor to the program director,” said Allen’s attorney Chris Branson. ” She was told in no uncertain terms that that was a bad move on her part and they were going to show her exactly what happens to people who make bad moves.”

Operation Rescue on the Christian Newswire: Franz Theard and Douglas Karpen have both been scheduled for hearings on May 16, 2012. Theard is accused of coaching minor girls to cross state lines to avoid Texas parental notification laws and with illegally disposing of aborted baby remains. Karpen is accused of violating the state’s informed consent laws, but has a sordid history of abortion abuses dating back to 1988.

ADF Attorney Nate Kellum appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the assault on a nativity scene in Texas. | MP3 audio 15:40 mins | Related: Video: Thousands Rally in Texas to Save Nativity – War On Christmas | Nate Kellum at Townhall: Don’t Mess with Texas (at Christmas)

MalakoffNews: The FFRF answered back Monday in a letter to Abbott signed by foundation co-presidents and husband and wife, Dan Taylor and Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Houston Chronicle: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Friday backed Henderson County in a dispute over a Nativity scene on the county courthouse grounds.

As many as 5,000 attended a rally in a small Texas community to show their support for a Nativity scene under attack by a Wisconsin-based atheist group, according to a minister who organized the event.

KIVA.com ABC 7: Brown’s lawyers said there’s a more practical explanation. “It was late in the day (when we got the subpoena), and it said that we had to produce all of these documents the very next morning. This is like an 18-paragraph request for documents. There was not enough time to file all of these documents, so we filed a motion for a protective order. Under Texas law, when you file a protective order, you don’t have to produce the documents unless the court says you have to produce the documents. Once the court said to produce the documents, we produced the documents. Where’s the controversy?” said Brown’s Alliance Defense Fund lawyer, Joel Oster.

LifeNews: The Obama administration is coming under more fire from pro-life advocates for blocking Texas’ plan to run a women’s health initiative without funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

Houston Chronicle: But in granting a request by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to temporarily block the interim maps, the nation’s highest court left candidates across the state uncertain where and when they’re competing, even in the midst of a filing period that ends Thursday.

El Paso Times: Brown’s attorney, Joel Oster, said the document released by Walker on Monday is unimportant, calling it “a non-issue.” . . . But Oster, one of Brown’s attorneys, downplayed the document’s significance. “The minutes that you refer to are a non-issue,” Oster said in an email. “They were properly given to the other side pursuant to the subpoena and the court’s instructions. They don’t state that the church itself was involved. “In any event, the court already stated that it believes that the church circulated the petitions. … What the court held, however, was that First Amendment rights were at stake and it would not stop the election.”

NC Register: The Alliance Defense Fund and two local pro-bono attorneys are aiding petitioners. “We’re defending the church’s right to be fully engaged in the culture,” said ADF senior legal counsel Joel Oster. “Christians and their institutions are not second-class citizens who are banned from the democratic process.”

The Malakoff News: Late last week, the legal focus shifted away from removing the nativity to allowing the FFRF to place one of its banners on the courthouse lawn. The request is based on the idea of “public forum,” said FFRF Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.

ADF Attorney Nate Kellum at Townhall: And while it sounds like the FFRF is about to get a lesson in what “Don’t mess with Texas” means, Athens and other towns around the country need to remember that they can respond to a letter from the FFRF with a phone call, an e-mail, or a mailed request to the Alliance Defense Fund.ADF exists to defend religious liberty free of charge, and part of that liberty consists in the freedom to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas.

KLTV.com: Henderson County pastors are now organizing a nativity rally to take place on the courthouse steps next week . . . Organizers say for one hour on December 17 Christians will gather in worship and prayer.

The Texas Tribune: Forget everything. The candidate announcements, the relocations, the decisions not to run again, the who vs. who vs. who and the campaign finance. Poof! With a one-paragraph order on Friday night, the U.S. Supreme Court froze the Texas congressional and legislative elections and replaced pre-holiday candidate filings, politicking and fundraising with uncertainty and chaos.

American Statesman: A state agency on Thursday approved a new “One State Under God” license plate displaying three Christian crosses that represent the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, sparking new controversy over so-called specialty plates.

Fox News: A nativity scene in Athens, Texas is the talk of the town because a national group is trying to get it removed, claiming it is offensive.

ADF Attorney Steven Aden at Townhall: And what better time to celebrate death, blood money, and political cronyism than Christmas? At least that seems to be the view of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, the River Oaks Area Democratic Women, the Texas Democratic Women of Harris County, and the Bay Area Association of Democratic Women, all of whom are throwing a Dec. 8 Christmas Party at a huge abortion complex Planned Parenthood now runs in Houston, TX.

Malakoff News: The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Wisconsin, sent a letter dated Dec. 1 to Henderson County commissioners saying the nativity scene located on the courthouse lawn is illegal.

Courthouse News Service: Two East Texas softball coaches and their school district still face civil rights claims for allegedly telling one mother her daughter is gay.

ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on the “Pratt on Texas” show to discuss the situation. | MP3 audio 14:14 mins

ADF Attorney Joel Oster appeared on the Bott Radio Network to discuss this case. | MP3 audio 22 mins

National Catholic Register: “We’re defending the church’s right to be fully engaged in the culture,” said ADF senior legal counsel Joel Oster. “Christians and their institutions are not second-class citizens who are banned from the democratic process.”

Examiner.com: “Churches and ministries shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster, who argued before the court on behalf of the parties sued by Cook. “The mayor is seeking to silence those who oppose his policies because he doesn’t like their views, but that’s neither legal nor constitutional. The recall petitions were circulated and submitted in full accordance with the law, and he cannot stop the election just because he doesn’t like the fact that some groups participated in a legitimate effort that he doesn’t favor.”

OneNewsNow.com: Mayor Cook challenged the recall effort, arguing that Brown violated state election law by using church resources to collect signatures for the recall petition. The Alliance Defense Fund is challenging the constitutionality of that law in federal court.

Texas court refuses to issue immediate order that would prevent recall election against mayor, two council members

OneNewsNow.com: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas is taking an unusual stance and defending students’ rights to wear religious symbols at school.

El Paso Times: Joel Oster is senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a group dedicated to ending any limits on churches’ political activities. He came from Kansas to defend the recall group. Oster argues that it’s not a violation of Texas law for corporations to help circulate recall petitions. He also says that if it is, then that law violates the First Amendment. “This case is about stopping an election,” Oster said, later adding, “This is absolutely a free-speech case. It’s nothing more than a free-speech case.”

OneNewsNow.com: Texas is now the 25th state to offer “Choose Life” specialty license plates.

CBS News: The Texas family law judge whose daughter secretly videotaped him savagely beating her in 2004 has been suspended as a judge by the Texas Supreme Court.

San Antonio Express-News: Controversial crosses on a tower at the new Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus have been removed.

The New American: Frustrated by what he perceived to be a violation of his rights, Racaniello took his case to the Alliance Defense Fund, which informed officials that they would take the case to court if the township did not permit Racaniello to post his cross anywhere he would like on his own property. The ADF’s assertions forced the New Jersey city officials to relent.

LifeNews.com: Motorists in Texas now have the opportunity to purchase Choose Life license plates, the sales of which will benefit efforts to help women find abortion alternatives and promote adoption.

OneNewsNow.com: So, ADF is challenging the constitutionality of the measure, and attorney Joel Oster further explains the objection. “Pastors and churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” he contends. “No law or government official can rob a faith group of its constitutionally protected rights just because that official would prefer not to be removed from office.”

Religion Clause: In Brownsville, Texas, the ACLU has filed an open records request with school officials in order to look into the a provision in the high school’s Code of Conduct that bans wearing “religious symbols which have been altered with the intent of causing offense or inciting or promoting gang activity, violence, or other prohibited behaviors.”

WorldNetDaily: “Pastors and churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster in a statement. “No law or government official can rob a faith group of its constitutionally protected rights just because that official would prefer not to be removed from office.”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing an El Paso church and its pastor filed suit in federal court Thursday to have a Texas election law struck down as unconstitutional. El Paso Mayor John Cook has been using the law to prevent churches from circulating petitions that seek to recall him from office.

Trying to defuse a whisper campaign about his sexual preferences, State Board of Education member George Clayton recently sent out an e-mail to news groups and others acknowledging that he is gay. Clayton, R-Richardson . . .

LifeNews.com: Abortion practitioner Neal Adam Poch has quit doing abortions at a Fort Worth, Texas Planned Parenthood abortion clinic and local pro-life advocates say a new pro-life law the state legislature approved is the reason why.

Christian Newswire: Austin LifeCare, through its attorneys from the Texas Center for the Defense of Life (TCDL), the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), and the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project (JC-LOLP) expressed thanks Thursday to the City of Austin for temporarily agreeing in Court today, through their legal counsel, that Austin LifeCare may take down the sign the City required them to post while the City takes a closer look at the constitutionality of the City’s law that singles out Austin’s pregnancy resource centers

CNN: He occasionally got a spanking from mom, or a swat on the rear and a stern look from his dad. But he remembers one day when his kindergarten teacher, school principal and a social worker came to their home. They worried Ian wasn’t fitting in; they wanted to talk about the “abuse.”

Religion Clause: In Big Hart Ministries Association, Inc. v. City of Dallas, (ND TX, Nov. 4, 2011), religious groups that drive around the city of Dallas looking for homeless individuals with whom to share food challenged the city’s Food Establishments Ordinance.

Susa Olasky at WORLD Magazine: Samuel B. Casey, an attorney with the Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project, said the ordinance is the “result of a private political organization using the power of government to attack another organization based on that organization’s ideas and speech.” The Alliance Defense Fund and Texas Center for Defense of Life are also helping LifeCare with its suit.

LifeNews.com: A new federal whistle blower lawsuit filed in Federal Court in Texas on October 28th alleges Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC) engaged in prolonged and coordinated fraud to bilk federal and state programs of millions of dollars. PPGC operates 8 clinics in Texas and 2 in Louisiana.

Religion Clause: The complaint (full text) in Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. City of Mission, (SD TX, filed 10/31/2011), alleges that the city arbitrarily imposed a super-majority City Council voting requirement for approval of the permit . . .

Odessa American Online: It is the first time the City of Odessa has responded to such a request from Rock the Desert, Zentner said. Some find giving city money to a religious organization problematic.

Odessa American Online: It is the first time the City of Odessa has responded to such a request from Rock the Desert, Zentner said. Some find giving city money to a religious organization problematic.

Religion Clause: The challenged section provides that a sexual assault is without the consent of the other person if “the actor is a clergyman who causes the other person to submit or participate by exploiting the other person’s emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman’s professional character as spiritual adviser.”

LifeNews.com: The Planned Parenthood abortion business in yet another state is facing accusations of massive Medicaid fraud related to billing for abortions and birth control — at a time when Congress is launching an investigation.

News from The Associated Press: On a YouTube clip that has gone viral, brash Texas handgun instructor Crockett Keller defiantly tells Muslims and non-Christian Arabs he won’t teach them how to handle a firearm.

Findlaw: Attention attorneys: Want to know where you should move to stretch your dollar? NALP has the best cities for attorney salaries. Just take a look at the “buying power index” for the class of 2010.

NCPA Policy Digest: While Texas has made some strides in school choice over the last decade, there are many changes the state could make to enhance school choice for Texans.

Lewisville Leader: The conference featured speakers including Timothy Barton of WallBuilders, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Kerby Anderson of Point of View Ministries, Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund, Pastor Geoffrey Cohen of Gateway Church and Dan Panetti, Worldview Director of Prestonwood Christian Academy.

A Texas school district was right to reject an atheist group’s demand that it cancel a non-religious school assembly just because the presenters were Christians, according to a letter sent to the district Monday by the Alliance Defense Fund.

San Antonio Express-News: A local advocate for separation of church and state sued Mayor Julián Castro on Thursday in state district court, accusing him of approving only Christians for the invocation at City Council meetings.

LifeSiteNews.com: A large Catholic hospital network in Texas is prescribing the abortifacient “morning-after pill.” Seton Catholic hospitals decided to provide the abortifacient Plan B emergency contraception to sexual assault victims after lobbying by NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.

News Radio 1200 WOAI San Antonio Texas: ‘pictures of courthouses, water systems’ from around the US found in the van used by five men believed to be Moroccan Muslims.

FFRF.org: The Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked Northwest Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Karen Rue to halt an evangelical “Seven Project” assembly in Trophy Club, Texas.

El Paso Times: But the lawyer, Joel Oster, said that did not mean the group violated Texas election law. And even if they did, the law is unconstitutional, he said . . . “We will concede,” said Oster, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a national group dedicated to helping churches challenge legal limits to their political activity. “We admit that they had established in their petition clear and convincing evidence” of churches’ participation.