Religion & Law

?Gay-Marriage Foes? Make Their Case

Posted on January 26, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "In federal court here, lawyers defending Proposition 8 called their first witness, political expert Kenneth Miller, who said gays are a well-funded and politically connected group."

Courts deeply split on Ten Commandments displays

Posted on January 26, 2010
First Amendment Center: "If public-interest law firms keep litigating and appealing Ten Commandments cases, and lower court judges keep issuing deeply divided opinions such as the 6th Circuit did in Grayson County, the high court might take another case involving the Decalogue to try to resolve the disagreements...

ACLU May Reverse Course On Campaign Finance Limits After Supreme Court Ruling

Posted on January 26, 2010
NY Sun: "The first big impact of the Supreme Court?s decision lifting restrictions on certain corporation campaign spending may be at the American Civil Liberties Union, which, after years of opposing restrictions on free speech grounds, is considering whether to reverse course and endorse government limits on money in politics ...

ADF update on Prop 8 trial proceedings: Monday, January 25th

Posted on January 26, 2010
Update from ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks: "As we moved into the third week of the trial, there was a sense that the winds were about to shift and, shortly before noon on the 10th day, the winds did change. After two weeks of emotional appeals, persecution of religious beliefs, and experts who were unraveled by the cross-examinations of the ProtectMarriage...

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Wesley J. Smith: Everyone matters, no matter what

Posted on January 26, 2010
"If we believe moral worthiness is solely a byproduct of some measurable attribute or capacity?rather than being intrinsic?we will naturally disdain our future selves . . . "

Federal Court Applies Younger Abstention In Challenge To Maine?s Charitable Solicitations Act

Posted on January 26, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "In Christian Action Network v. State of Maine, (D ME, Jan. 13, 2010), a Maine federal district court applied the Younger v. Harris abstention doctrine and dismissed a challenge by Christian Action Network (CAN) to Maine's Charitable Solicitations Act...

?Ruining Kids in Order to Save Them: The boneheaded logic behind treating sexting teens as child pornographers?

Posted on January 26, 2010
Radley Balko writing at Reason Magazine: "There have now been several cases across the country where young people who either pose for, snap, or forward provocative or nude photos of other minors are being charged or threatened with felony child pornography ...

Prop. 8 trial meets halfway mark

Posted on January 26, 2010
OneNewsNow: "The plaintiffs have rested their case in the trial to overturn the vote on California's Proposition 8 . . . 'Now we are calling witnesses and exceeding the evidentiary hurdle here on defending the right of Californians to define marriage for themselves on this very important question,' states [Austin R...

Gnostic Center Fails Britain?s ?Public Benefit? Test To Be A Charity

Posted on January 26, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "In Britain, Third Sector today calls attention to a decision (full text) handed down last month by the Charity Commission rejecting an application by The Gnostic Center for registration as a charity."

9th Circuit Rejects RLUIPA Zoning Challenge In Brief Opinion

Posted on January 26, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "In an unpublished opinion which sets out none of the relevant facts, the 9th Circuit last Friday in Lowry v. Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, (9th Cir., Jan. 22, 2010), rejected a pro se appeal in a case in which plaintiffs claimed that a zoning decision violated their free exercise rights...

Business groups fearing unionization rally against White House Labor Board Nominee

Posted on January 26, 2010
The Hill: "Business groups are rallying against an Obama administration labor board nominee they fear will implement new rules making it easier for unions to organize. Labor lawyer Craig Becker was re-nominated to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week ...

Free speech prevails in Conn. case

Posted on January 26, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Hartford, Connecticut, has settled a lawsuit over the arrest of a street preacher . . . 'They said that his message was bothering them and asked [for] him to be arrested,' Scruggs explains. 'And so he eventually was arrested and then released because they could get no one essentially to press charges against him...

em leaders coalesce on strategy to salvage Obama?s health care overhaul

Posted on January 26, 2010
CanadianBusiness.com: "Momentum is growing to pass the Senate bill with compromises agreed on by the president and congressional leaders, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal advocacy group. 'Are they there yet? No,' he said...

Missouri: Legislation for pornography victims filed last week

Posted on January 26, 2010
KFVS: "Child pornography victims could soon be able to sue the people accused of taking sexual images of them under a proposed Missouri law."

U.S. passes 50 million abortion mark

Posted on January 26, 2010
Baptist Press: "At some point during the past two years the United States experienced its 50 millionth legal abortion, the overwhelming majority of which were conducted for reasons of convenience."

Same-sex ?marriage? case, day 10: Domino effect

Posted on January 26, 2010
NYT, Bay Area Blog: "The Bay Area blog has been reporting daily from the federal courthouse in San Francisco on the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger . . . The legal team for the defense includes Brian Raum, Charles J. Cooper, David Thompson, Andrew Pugno, James Campbell, Jordan Lorence, Nicole Moss, Howard C...

Same-sex ?marriage? case, day 11: Churches

Posted on January 26, 2010
New York Times, The Bay Area: "The legal team for the defense includes Brian Raum, Charles J. Cooper, David Thompson, Andrew Pugno, James Campbell, Jordan Lorence, Nicole Moss, Howard C. Nielson Jr. and Peter A. Patterson . . . A cantankerous back-and-forth continued Tuesday as David Boies, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in Perry v...

NOW v. Tebow?

Posted on January 26, 2010
Susan B. Anthony List on the Christian Newswire: "Following struggles documented by National Journal, NOW searches for a way to make itself relevant in an increasingly pro-life America."

Maryland legislature considers defense of marriage bill

Posted on January 26, 2010
HRC Blog: "This Thursday, January 28, the Maryland House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony about House Bill 90 which would prevent the state from recognizing same-sex marriages . . . " Maryland Bill Status and Information

Democrats Begin Defecting From Reconciliation Push for Pro-Abortion Health Care

Posted on January 26, 2010
"But, the question is will there be enough Democrats willing to oppose the idea, which allows railroading the health care bill through the Senate with a majority instead of 60 votes . . . "

Hungry Haitians like animals, says UN peacekeeper

Posted on January 26, 2010
HeraldSun.com.au: "A DAILY aid handout in front of the collapsed National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti turned into a chaotic scramble yesterday as some 18 Uruguayan UN peacekeepers attempted to contain a 4000-strong mass of desperately hungry Haitians...

Sacramento professor asks 30-year couples what keeps them married

Posted on January 26, 2010
Sacramento Bee: "At the statistical intersection where increased life expectancy balances out the divorce rate, there is a surprising new cultural demographic: More Americans are reaching and exceeding the 40th wedding anniversary . . . "

NY: Albany lawmaker wants prayer on council?s agenda

Posted on January 26, 2010
Times Union: "Newly elected 11th Ward Councilman Anton Konev is proposing an amendment to the council's rules that would insert a prayer in the agenda of the council's biweekly meetings, right between the Pledge of Allegiance and the start of public hearings...

Was the Bush Faith-Based Initiative a failure?

Posted on January 26, 2010
Stanley Carlson-Thies, Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, writing at Christianity Today: "If anything is a failure it isn't the federal faith-based effort but rather the distorted interpretive scheme that regards 'religion' and 'social services' to be mutually exclusive, and thus assumes that greater involvement by pervasively sectarian organizations means hopped up participation by churches...

Catholic girl brutally beaten, raped, murdered in Pakistan

Posted on January 26, 2010
Catholic Culture: "Seeking justice, Christians protested outside the regional parliament building on January 23. It took local authorities 18 hours to register the murder case."

Teen ?sexting? no one?s business?

Posted on January 26, 2010
Philly.com: "The ACLU has been arguing that the threat to prosecute the girls is a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech. The ACLU told Timesleader.com of northeastern Pennsylvania that 'There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction by many prosecutors that if you find some naked photos, you throw the book at whoever you can identify...

LA City Council set to approve pot ordinance

Posted on January 26, 2010
Breitbart (AP): "The ordinance would cap the number of dispensaries at 70, spreading them evenly throughout the city via its community districting plan."

Obama Re-nominates Dawn Johnsen But Republicans Say Her Pro-Abortion Views Disqualify Her for DOJ Post

Posted on January 26, 2010
CNSNews: "President Barack Obama has re-nominated Dawn Elizabeth Johnsen to head the Department of Justice?s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), but critics charge the law professor?s pro-abortion activism disqualifies her for the job."

Jennifer Roback Morse: The curious case of same-sex ?marriage? and the incurious economists

Posted on January 26, 2010
Jennifer Roback Morse writing at American Thinker: "Normally, economists and libertarians take pride in tracking the changes in incentives as far through society as possible. Yet on the subject of same-sex marriage, these economists seemed uncharacteristically incurious...

Ky. Senate bill could require ultrasounds for women seeking abortion

Posted on January 26, 2010
". . . the bill requires doctors to show them an ultrasound if they want to see it, explain what the ultrasound shows, and answer any questions they have. It also requires women to meet face to face with their doctor 24 hours before the procedure."

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