Religion & Law

Do Three People Have a Right to Marry Each Other?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Terry Jeffrey writes at Townhall: "If federal judges do indeed hold that the claimed right of two men to marry each other trumps the natural right of a child to be loved and nurtured by a mother and father, we should not expect the uprooting of natural law as the basis for positive law in our society to end with this brutal disregard for the rights of children...

Top 9th Circuit Judge, Judicial Conference Tangle Over Video at Proposition 8 Trial

Posted on January 13, 2010
Law.com (The National Law Journal): "The fast-moving dispute over broadcast access to the federal trial on California's ban on same-sex marriage has triggered a dustup within the leadership of the federal judiciary. Last Friday, on the eve of the San Francisco trial, top officials of the Judicial Conference of the United States sent a stern letter (pdf) to Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U...

Jennifer Roback Morse: The Prop 8 trial and the new theory of politics

Posted on January 13, 2010
Jennifer Roback Morse writing at the Ruth Institute Blog: "[T]he original (and real) Civil Rights movement succeeded because people were really persuaded that race is an irrelevant characteristic for full participation in the political, economic and civic life of the nation...

Utah Congressman wants D.C. residents to vote on marriage

Posted on January 13, 2010
Salt Lake Tribune: "A congressman from Utah says he will introduce a bill that could mean District of Columbia residents would vote on gay marriage . . . The city's board of elections, however, has barred similar gay marriage measures from the ballot by citing a human rights law...

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China paper splashes nation?s ?first gay marriage?

Posted on January 13, 2010
AFP: "State press splashed a front-page photo of China's first publicly 'married' gay couple on Wednesday -- the latest sign of new openness about homosexuality in a country where it has long been taboo . . . Zeng Anquan, 45, and Pan Wenjie, 27, tied the knot at a gay bar in the southwestern city of Chengdu, the paper said, calling it 'the first such public event in the country...

Iowa: Culver skirts ?gay marriage? at Capitol while unveiling priorities

Posted on January 13, 2010
Des Moines Register: "An attentive House floor listened to Culver cover the gamut in his 38-minute speech, from flood recovery to state spending to education. Everything, it seemed, except the issue on the mind of most of those packing the galleries and filling the rotunda: same-sex marriage ...

NJ Senate President: ?Mistake not to vote on gay marriage?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Philadelphia Inquirer: "On his first day as state Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said he regretted not voting days earlier on a bill to allow same-sex marriages . . . Sweeney said yesterday that while same-sex marriages went against his upbringing as a Catholic, he had been persuaded by the arguments of gay-rights advocates comparing the issue to civil-rights battles...

U.S. High Court Struggles With Child Custody, Sex Offender Cases

Posted on January 13, 2010
Law.com (The National Law Journal): "In two starkly different challenges Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court vigorously questioned the federal government's power to detain sexually dangerous prisoners beyond their federal prison sentences and appeared sympathetic to arguments that a treaty requires a divorced American mother to return her child to Chile...

Expert Battle Comes Early in Proposition 8 Case

Posted on January 13, 2010
Law.com (The Recorder): "George Chauncey -- a Yale-educated professor now on the faculty in New Haven, Conn., a published author with a calm demeanor -- makes for a compelling expert witness. So after testimony for the better part of an afternoon about discrimination gays and lesbians have faced, lawyers defending a ban on gay marriage took a very direct tactic...

Del. gambling commission opposes new casinos

Posted on January 13, 2010
AP: "A majority of the state gambling commission says no new casinos should be built in Delaware despite a study that found new venues could boost overall revenues and add jobs."

NH adultery law may be repealed

Posted on January 13, 2010
Nashua Telegraph: "It remains a crime in New Hampshire to commit adultery but advocacy groups and legislators at both ends of the political spectrum called for its repeal Tuesday . . . Rep. Sheila McGuire, R-Epsom, said she brought the bill (HB 1402) forward after a county prosecutor told her the office never even investigates adultery claims...

Prop 8 attorneys make case for democratic rights

Posted on January 13, 2010
CBN News: "'Clearly the big issue on this case is going to be the role of the courts and the rights of the people ultimately to make decisions in the democratic process and to be able to have their votes counted,' explained attorney Andre Pugno . . . CBN News spoke with Jordan Lorence, an attorney defending Prop 8...

Quirky Judge Presides in ?Gay-Marriage? Case

Posted on January 13, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "Walker, Known for Novel Sentences and Unpredictable Decisions, Riles Some in California Trial by Allowing Wide Range of Evidence"

Wake Forest U.: Religious Expression in American Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law

Posted on January 13, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday, Wake Forest University's Center for Religion and Public Affairs released a 32-page document titled Religious Expression in American Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law . . . "

Rabbi Seeks Army Waiver of Beard Policy To Become Chaplain

Posted on January 13, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday's New York Jewish Week reports on the efforts of Rabbi Menachem Stern to obtain a waiver of U.S. Army grooming rules so he can become a chaplain."

?MIM paper shows that online exposure to adult pornography adversely affects children?s sexual behavior and attitudes?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Morality in Media: "Morality in Media has published a 10-page paper reporting evidence that exposure to hardcore adult pornography on the Internet can adversely affect children?s sexual behavior and attitudes about sex . . . The paper is a complement to 'How Adult Pornography Contributes to Sexual Exploitation of Children,' a 215-page report published in September 2009...

White House Faith-Based Task Force Debates Religious Symbols In Funded Programs

Posted on January 13, 2010
". . . one of the important debates on the phone conference was whether religious groups operating federally-funded programs out of their facilities need to cover up religious symbols during the times the funded services are being offered . . . "

Bankruptcy Judge Orders Trial On Whether Parish Assets Are Shielded From Diocese Creditors

Posted on January 13, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge yesterday decided that the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington cannot develop a plan of reorganization and exit bankruptcy without first obtaining a determination of whether funds belonging to individual parishes and Catholic Charities are shielded from Diocese creditors (mostly abuse victims) ...

UK: Victory for 600-strong London Church in Lambeth Council ?noise? Battle

Posted on January 13, 2010
CCFON: "A 600-member-strong London Church has today won its legal battle against Lambeth Borough Council in a last minute out of court settlement . . . Onn Sein Kon, Case Manager at the Christian Legal Centre, said: 'Regrettably, our case-load is increasing with Councils issuing noise abatement notices as a means of curtailing or closing churches in London...

Dems, labor pour cash into ?Kennedy seat?

Posted on January 13, 2010
The Hill: "Democrats and their union allies are pumping resources into Massachusetts in an attempt to save their 60-seat Senate majority."

Court mulls California?s Proposition 8

Posted on January 13, 2010
Christianity Today Politics Blog: "The Alliance Defense Fund has been posting regular Twitter updates of the trial."

Marriage on trial

Posted on January 13, 2010
WORLD Magazine: "According to Austin Nimocks, one of the Alliance Defense Fund attorneys working to defend Proposition 8, 'Any loss for those who are defending marriage on this case will have national ripple effects regardless of the technical legal effect' ...

2nd Circuit: Preacher?s rights not violated

Posted on January 13, 2010
Albany Times-Union: "Saying there wasn't sufficient evidence to show his constitutional rights were violated, a federal appeals court has absolved the city of any wrongdoing in its protracted legal battle with a preacher who was ordered off Schenectady County Community College property in 2006 ...

Dale Schowengerdt: ADF comments on first day of Federal Prop. 8 trial

Posted on January 13, 2010
ADF Attorney Dale Schowengerdt writing at the Christian Post: "The four plaintiffs also got on the stand and gave testimony. We decided to cross examine only one of those witnesses, which ADF senior counsel Brian Raum conducted very effectively. Brian focused on the fact that what the campaign argued when it said Prop 8 would protect children was that it would help preserve the right of parents to decide what their kids are exposed to and when...

Same-sex ?marriage? case, day 2: History lessons

Posted on January 13, 2010
New York Times, The Bay Area blog: "Jordan Lorence, another lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is providing the legal resources to persuade the courts to uphold Proposition 8, said in an interview: 'She never explained why some restrictions are O...

Stimulus Watch: White House changes job-count rule

Posted on January 13, 2010
AP: "It's no longer about counting a job as saved or created; now it's a matter of counting jobs funded by the stimulus."

Fiji regime bans church conference until 2014

Posted on January 13, 2010
AP: "Fiji's military-led government banned the country's powerful Methodist Church on Wednesday from holding their annual conference until 2014, accusing church ministers of spying on the nation's military for the government ousted in a 2006 coup . . ...

Ky. Senate may consider charter schools option

Posted on January 13, 2010
AP: Winters, R-Murray, didn't rule out tacking on a provision to create charter schools, which would get state money but be exempted from many of the regulations that apply to other public schools."

Andy Pugno Update on Prop. 8 Litigation: Second Day of Trial is Positive for Defense

Posted on January 13, 2010
"The notion that Ms. Cott was called to the stand to provide neutral and impartial 'expert' testimony was blown wide open when she admitted under cross examination by our defense team that she has long been an active advocate for gay marriage."

Judge to rethink jury selection in abortion case

Posted on January 13, 2010
AP: "The trial set to begin Wednesday for a man who admitted killing one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers was thrown into limbo when the Kansas Supreme Court ordered the judge to reconsider his decision to keep jury selection secret."

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