Religion & Law

US concerned by Australian Internet filter plan

Posted on March 29, 2010
Associated Press: "Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says the filter would block access to sites that include child pornography, sexual violence and detailed instructions in crime or drug use."

UK: Surrogacy law allows same-sex couples to become legal parents

Posted on March 29, 2010
The Guardian: "Gay male couples will be able to use a fast-track route to become the legal parents of surrogate children from next week. On 6 April, changes to the law will permit two men to be named as parents on a child's birth certificate for the first time in British history...

Obama makes 15 recess appointments, including Feldblum to EEOC

Posted on March 29, 2010
"'I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government,' said Obama."

Moscow subway explosions kill at least 38

Posted on March 29, 2010
Washington Post: "Two female suicide bombers set off powerful explosions in separate subway stations in central Moscow during the morning rush hour Monday, killing at least 38 people and injuring more than 60 others in what officials said was the deadliest and most sophisticated terrorist attack in the Russian capital in six years...

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Boston case shows futility of Executive Order

Posted on March 29, 2010
Massachusetts Citizens for Life: "'If the statute had directed or even authorized HHS to exclude abortion from the spending, there would be nothing to challenge. But a mere executive branch decision not to fund abortion under such a statute is simply a legal challenge waiting to happen' ...

Think you?re smarter than UW docs?

Posted on March 29, 2010
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund, a public-interest law firm, said that on its face, it looks like a state agency is doing what has been illegal since 1977. This is no minor point. Aside from the legality of abortion, about which society seems to have settled into a detente, there are laws that keep that detente from breaking into war...

TN: Shelby County to consider strip club restrictions

Posted on March 29, 2010
Memphis Daily News: "Shelby County Commissioners are scheduled to take a final vote today on an ordinance that would better define restrictions on where strip clubs and other adult entertainment businesses can locate in the county."

Israel: Same-sex couple petitions to use surrogate mother

Posted on March 29, 2010
Jerusalem Post: "A petition by a male, homosexual married couple to engage a surrogate mother in Israel raises profound social, philosophical and ethical issues and should therefore be decided by the Knesset and not the court, the state told the High Court of Justice late last week...

NY: Brooklyn artists attempt to stop sale of church

Posted on March 29, 2010
The Record: "A group of local artists is joining a fight to stop the demolition of a Brooklyn church, whose façade was created by Gaetano Federici, Paterson?s master sculptor . . . The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn plans to sell the 102-year-old church building to Catholic Charities, which would build 88 affordable housing units in its place...

Measure seeking funding for Maryland private schools gains momentum

Posted on March 29, 2010
Washington Post: "A long-sought measure that could channel millions of dollars in tax credits to struggling Catholic, Jewish and private schools is making inroads in the Maryland House of Delegates for the first time, in what would be a major shift of public money toward private education...

Federally funded abortions are in our future

Posted on March 29, 2010
Kathleen Parker writing in The Washington Post: "Prediction: Abortions will be performed at community health centers. You can bet your foreclosed mortgage on that. There was always a will by this administration, and now there's a way."

The Europeanization of America

Posted on March 29, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "As a result of last Sunday's vote, the Europeanization of America is coming to pass, for individual choice and opportunity are being replaced by statism . . . for the first time in our history, we are becoming just another European nation, with bigger government, higher taxes, more regulation of almost everything, and the basic public-policy preference that the government, not we the people, should be in charge of the nation's choices...

Goldwater Institute blazing a conservative legal trail

Posted on March 29, 2010
Arizona Republic: "In case after case, Goldwater is winning its conservative fights in the courtroom. The legal rulings are restricting governments' influence over businesses and charter schools and limiting how cities can use taxpayer funds . . . The Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation opened in 2007, and its test case pitted Goldwater against Horne, a prominent state conservative...

NH budget gap fuels fight over gambling

Posted on March 29, 2010
New York Times: "Like several other states, New Hampshire has been wrestling with ways to address its budget deficit and has been considering new forms of gambling to help fill its treasury and add jobs . . . At least 18 states are considering expanding gambling because of a drop of 5 percent to 14 percent in revenue they collect from lotteries, horse racing and casinos, according to The Lottery Post, an industry newsletter...

UK Parliament hosts first same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on March 29, 2010
AP: "Britain's Europe Minister Chris Bryant has taken part in Parliament's first gay marriage, celebrating a civil partnership ceremony at the historic venue."

Quebec rights panel restricts niqab

Posted on March 29, 2010
The Vancouver Sun: "A niqab-clad woman must uncover her face to apply for a medicare card and may not insist on being served by a woman, Quebec's human rights commission says in an official opinion made public yesterday."

NV: ACLU files brief to keep abortion initiative off ballot

Posted on March 29, 2010
Las Vegas Sun: "The language in an initiative petition that seeks to ban abortions in Nevada is so vague that voters would never understand the consequences, the American Civil Liberties Union says . . . A group called Personhood Nevada wants to add the following to the Nevada Constitution: 'In the great state of Nevada, the term ?person? applies to every human being...

TX: Judge backs bid to close North Side strip club

Posted on March 29, 2010
San Antonio Express-News: "A civil judge declined Friday to continue giving court protection to a North Side strip club that city officials tried to close last month."

Saudis fund Balkan Muslims spreading hate of the West

Posted on March 29, 2010
Times Online: "Saudi Arabia is pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into Islamist groups in the Balkans, some of which spread hatred of the West and recruit fighters for jihad in Afghanistan. According to officials in Macedonia, Islamic fundamentalism threatens to destabilise the Balkans...

US ?may not veto UN resolution on Jerusalem?

Posted on March 29, 2010
BBC News: "The US is considering abstaining from a possible UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, sources suggest to the BBC."

UK: Female Muslim doctors allowed to wear disposable sleeves for modesty

Posted on March 29, 2010
Telegraph: "New guidance from the Department of Health said staff can wear disposable sleeves which are elasticated at the wrist and elbow when in contact with patients. The guidance also states that using alcohol gel to cleanse hands between treating patients does not contravene strict Muslim rules on alcohol...

Indonesia: Muslim jurists rule in favor of underage marriages

Posted on March 29, 2010
The Jakarta Post: "The minimum age of 16 years to marry under the prevailing 1974 marriage law is not a sharia-binding regulation for Muslims, according to Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) jurists."

European Right gathers for EU-wide minaret ban

Posted on March 29, 2010
Spiegel Online: "Delegates from right-wing populist parties from across Europe are descending on Germany this weekend for a conference looking into the possibility of an EU-wide minaret ban. The hosts, an anti-Muslim German group, hope to use the gathering as a springboard to success in local elections...

Iowa: Same-sex ?marriage? a likely driver in fall elections

Posted on March 29, 2010
Globe Gazette: "With the Legislature moving toward adjournment, the year-long battle to overturn the Iowa Supreme Court decision establishing same-sex marriage is moving to a new venue ? the campaign trail."

Nearly 50,000 march for life in Peru

Posted on March 29, 2010
Aciprensa: "The March for Life organized by the Center for Family Promotion and Birth Control (CEPROFARENA) [gathered] more than 30 thousand people in Lima (Peru) . . . while In Arequipa Corso for Life brought together more than 18 thousand. Both demonstrations rejected abortion [and] the illegal decision of Health Minister Oscar Ugarte, to distribute the morning-after pill contrary to the Constitutional Court and the provisions of the Constitution...

Law Review: Strict in Theory, but Accommodating in Fact?

Posted on March 29, 2010
Ozan O. Varol, Strict in Theory, but Accommodating in Fact? (August 22, 2009). Missouri Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1459810 "This Article is an analysis and critique of deferential strict scrutiny. The Article reveals inconsistencies in the Court?s use of run-of-the-mill strict scrutiny and deferential strict scrutiny, which have left the lower courts in a quandary as to which version of strict scrutiny to apply and when...

Lawyers vs. health reform: Why the court challenges will fail

Posted on March 29, 2010
Dahlia Lithwick writing in Newsweek: "In a call with reporters, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, pointed out that, as with the battle over desegregation in the '50s and '60s, 'states can't just block the implementation of federal laws...

?Gay? student settles lawsuit against NY district

Posted on March 29, 2010
AP: "A gay teenager in upstate New York who had claimed he was relentlessly bullied by classmates while school administrators stood by settled his lawsuit Monday against the school district." | Related: ?In response to NYCLU lawsuit, Herkimer Co...

Georgetown students vote to fund abortion rights panel

Posted on March 29, 2010
The Bulletin: "The Student Activities Commission (SAC) of Georgetown University, a Jesuit, Catholic university, voted in favor of funding an abortion 'rights' panel on campus, according to The Hoya."

Italy: Silvio Berlusconi holds off opposition challenge as coalition shifts right

Posted on March 29, 2010
Times Online: "The balance of power within Silvio Berlusconi?s centre-right coalition looked set to shift towards the right-wing, anti-immigration Northern League yesterday after a two-day regional election marked by an unusually low turnout."

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