Religion & Law

?Sexting? Case to Take Center Stage at 3rd Circuit

Posted on January 14, 2010
"The case is the first in the country to challenge the constitutionality of bringing child pornography charges in the context of sexting."

Newt Gingrich and Andrew McCarthy: Obama elevated Interpol over U.S. law

Posted on January 14, 2010
Newt Gingrich and Andrew McCarthy, writing at The Daily Caller: "Since the President?s executive order, if Interpol were to act in violation of U.S. law, there is no law we can invoke to hold them accountable. And to add insult to injury, if an American citizen or official wants to find out what Interpol is up to, they can no longer do so...

Law Review: Is the EU a democracy without democracy?

Posted on January 14, 2010
Richard Bellamy, Democracy Without Democracy? Can the EU's Democratic 'Outputs' be Separated from the Democratic 'Inputs' Provided by Competitive Parties and Majority Rule? (January 11, 2010). Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 17, pp. 2-19, 2010...

Muslim child brides in Britain

Posted on January 14, 2010
Hege Storhaug writing at Front Page Magazine: "It is heartbreaking, even as it is unsurprising. In Britain, the authorities are now reporting the forced marriage of girls as young as nine years old on British soil. We are not talking about one case . ...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Utah: ?Unlikely group teams up on sex education?

Posted on January 14, 2010
Salt Lake Tribune: "An unlikely group of lawmakers and organizations has come together to pitch a bill this session to change sex education in Utah. It's a bill that has a Republican senator, a Democratic representative, the Planned Parenthood Action Council (PPAC) and the state PTA working together ...

DC court rejects bid for same-sex ?marriage? referendum

Posted on January 14, 2010
"D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith N. Macaluso ruled Thursday in favor of the city. She said the board's action was justified because the initiative would in effect authorize discrimination."

DC: Spas, clubs shuttered in sex shop sting

Posted on January 14, 2010
NBC Washington: "Several city businesses, that were allegedly operating as illegal brothels, have been shut down in the District. DC Attorney General Peter Nickles said the businesses operated as health spas, social clubs and massage parlors, but were found to be associated with prostitution and illegal sexually-oriented activities...

Maine: ?Morning after? pill exclusion blocks fed funds for Noble High School program

Posted on January 14, 2010
Fosters Daily Democrat: "Assistant Superintendent Susan Austin said during a regular School Board meeting Thursday that while the health center secured $18,000 in state funds for some of the services, it did not secure at least as much in federal Title X funds because of the decision to leave out the 'morning-after' pill...

Rep. Shadegg (R-Ariz) to retire

Posted on January 14, 2010
The Hill: "Shadegg becomes the third Republican to announce his retirement in recent weeks. He joins Reps. Henry Brown (R-S.C.) and George Radanovich (R-Calif.)"

Signs Declaring Women Do Regret Abortion Will Flood March for Life Event

Posted on January 14, 2010
LifeNews: "When hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates gather for the March for Life in Washington and the Walk for Life in San Francisco, they will encounter scores of new signs sponsored by Priests for Life . . . "

Hollingsworth v. Perry, Bush v. Gore, and Manipulating Procedural Rules in High-Profile Litigation Impacting the Political Process

Posted on January 14, 2010
"I think the judicial instinct at play here is the objection of U.S. Supreme Court Justices when they see lower court or state court judges intentionally fudging procedural rules to help one side in very high-profile litigation that implicates the political process...

Dale Carpenter on Cal. marriage trial: ?All in all, it?s a bad start for the judicial challenge to Prop 8.?

Posted on January 14, 2010
. . . As an advocate, you?d rather not have the ultimate reviewing court call into question your judge?s objectivity on the third day of trial."

Same-sex ?marriage? foes accuse twitter of censorship

Posted on January 14, 2010
SF Weekly: "The Alliance Defense Fund -- whose attorneys are co-counsels in the ongoing Proposition 8 trial -- claims that Twitter updates from @AllianceDefense, @ProtectMarriage, @ADFmedia, and @AllianceAlert have been blocked from Twitter's search function...

Texas: Group wants Christianity out of history books

Posted on January 14, 2010
"One of the major problems is a push by a small group that wants to censor religious information regarding historical figures from textbooks. Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs at Free Market Foundation, tells OneNewsNow . . . "

Home-schooling ?threat? turned away

Posted on January 14, 2010
One News Now: "On Wednesday, members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 324-34 to keep state laws on home schooling as they are . . . "

MA: ?Sexting? crackdown bills before the state legislature

Posted on January 14, 2010
The Enterprise: "Two separate bills on Beacon Hill would crack down on 'sexting' as part of proposals to curb bullying in schools . . . The Senate and House bills ? S.B. 228 and H.B. 483, respectively ? both require school officials to implement bullying prevention policies and develop strategies for reporting and investigating any cases...

Second Circuit Gets a Second Look at Indecency

Posted on January 14, 2010
CWA: "On their first look at Fox v. FCC, the court sided with the media companies and protected the indecent material, saying the FCC had violated its own procedures when enacting new regulations . . . The Second Circuit now must now decide whether protecting children from indecent material through the broadcast airwaves violates the First Amendment to the U...

Campaign finance activists on pins and needles awaiting Supreme Court ruling

Posted on January 14, 2010
Washington Post: "News conferences were scheduled and telephone briefings were penciled in, but Washington advocacy groups were disappointed yet again Wednesday: The Supreme Court did not issue its long-awaited decision on campaign finance laws."

AZ Right to Life: Impressive lineup set for 37th Annual March & Rally January 24th

Posted on January 14, 2010
Arizona Right to Life Press Release: "[T]he 37th Annual March & Rally for Life in Phoenix commemorates the day when the US Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision, legalizing abortion-on-demand through all nine months, including partial-birth abortion ...

Mandatory marriage counseling bill introduced in Oklahoma

Posted on January 14, 2010
KFOR: "Mike Jestes, a marriage counselor and member of the Oklahoma Family Policy Council, helped a state lawmaker with the marriage counseling bill. It would require couples to obtain at least 8 hours of counseling in order to get a marriage license ...

Perry: Texas won?t seek federal education funding

Posted on January 14, 2010
Education Week: "Texas won't compete for up to $700 million in federal stimulus money for education because the program 'smacks of a federal takeover of our public schools,' Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday."

NH House defeats assisted suicide bill

Posted on January 14, 2010
"The House voted 242-113 on Wednesday against the bill, which would have allowed the terminally ill to obtain lethal prescriptions, with safeguards to prevent abuses."

Chicago?s real crime story: Loss of two-parent families

Posted on January 14, 2010
City Journal: "Throughout his four years working for 'change' in Chicago?s Roseland and Altgeld Gardens neighborhoods, Obama ignored the primary cause of their escalating dysfunction: the disappearance of the black two-parent family . . . [T]he would-be reformers [did not] mention the all-important fact that a staggering 75 percent of Chicago?s black children were being born out of wedlock...

David French: Coed bathrooms and sexual harassment

Posted on January 14, 2010
David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at Phi Beta Cons: "One of the more nonsensical elements of modern college life is the widespread coexistence of coed bathrooms and ridiculously expansive sexual-harassment policies...

Why is Twitter blocking ADF Tweets on the California Marriage Trial?

Posted on January 14, 2010
Yesterday, ADF Media observed that Twitter was blocking ADF posts from the Twitter search engine and some tags. ADF has been working to resolve the matter along with many of its Twitter followers who have been actively retweeting. More information at twitter...

Andy Pugno on Prop. 8 Trial: A Successful Day Three

Posted on January 14, 2010
"The end of day three couldn?t have ended better for our legal team and the seven million Californians who voted for Prop 8 . . . "

Turkey embraces role as Arab ?big brother?

Posted on January 14, 2010
Asia Times: "After the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Ankara, many in the West referred to a new Turkish foreign policy called 'neo-Ottomanism,' suggesting a revival of the intellectual, political and social influence of the Ottoman Empire, which departed the scene 92 years ago...

Children key in Prop 8 trial

Posted on January 14, 2010
Bay Area Reporter: "During cross-examination Brian Raum, a lawyer for the Yes on 8 campaign, questioned how Katami could conclude that the anti-gay group's ads were hostile to gay people. 'There was nothing in the ad that says Proposition 8 will protect children from you because you are bad...

San Francisco ?gay marriage? court case could have national impact

Posted on January 14, 2010
Voice of America: "A lawsuit challenging California's gay marriage ban could have far-reaching implications for the entire United States . . . Austin Nimocks is senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a group that is co-counsel in defending the state law...

Comparing Prop. 8 trial tweets

Posted on January 14, 2010
Margaret Talbot writing at The New Yorker News Desk: "It?s great to be able to compare blogs and tweets from, for example, the pro-gay marriage Courage Campaign and from the Alliance Defense Fund, which is providing some of the legal defense for Proposition 8...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.