Religion & Law

No more room at the bench

Posted on January 08, 2010
Mark Greenbaum writes at the LA Times: "The American Bar Assn. allows unneeded new law schools to open and refuses to regulate them. The government should consider taking steps to stop the flow of attorneys into a saturated marketplace . . . The ABA has also refused to create and oversee an independent method of reporting graduate data...

NV: Court Hearing to Decide Personhood Initiative Fate Held Today in Carson City

Posted on January 08, 2010
Personhood USA: "The ACLU has joined forces with abortion giant Planned Parenthood to stop the initiative process of Nevada citizens. The simple, one sentence amendment reads: 'In the great state of Nevada, the term ?person? applies to every human being...

British radicalization studies

Posted on January 08, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "Shortly after he tried to bring down flight 253 to Detroit on Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab became the fourth former head of a British university Islamic Society (ISOC) to have been charged with a serious terrorism offense...

Obama to Renominate Six, Including Controversial DOJ Picks

Posted on January 08, 2010
Blog of the Legal Times: "President Barack Obama plans to renominate six people whose names the Senate returned to the White House last month, a White House official said today. The six include Dawn Johnsen, picked to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, two other Justice Department nominees, and two nominees for district court seats...

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Obama Says Must Engage With Muslims To Prevent Lone-Wolf Radicalizations

Posted on January 08, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday, President Obama delivered widely-covered Remarks on Strengthening Intelligence and Aviation Security (full text) summarizing the results of initial reviews he ordered after the attempted Christmas-day bombing of a plane heading to Detroit...

Challenge To Military Prayers Dismissed For Failure To Exhaust Intramilitary Remedies

Posted on January 08, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Chalker v. Gates, (D KS, Jan. 7, 2010), a Kansas federal district court dismissed for failure to exhaust intramilitary remedies a claim by a soldier stationed at Ft. Riley that his rights were violated when he was required to attend three Army functions at which sectarian Christian prayers were delivered...

General Assembly ?sexual orientation? vote reveals defection by Catholic nations

Posted on January 08, 2010
C-FAM: "An analysis of how countries voted with respect to novel non-discrimination categories based on 'sexual orientation and gender identity' in a United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) resolution last month reveals an emerging global line-up on contentious social issues that has traditionally-Catholic nations aligned with social 'progressives...

D.C. faith leaders seek referendum to repeal same-sex ?marriage? law

Posted on January 08, 2010
Charisma: "A coalition of faith leaders want to put a referendum on the November ballot to allow District of Columbia residents to vote on the definition of marriage . . . 'We are confident the court will clear the obstacles to the citizens initiative powers that have been imposed by the city council-and that we can begin gathering signatures on our initiative right away,' said Austin Nimocks, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Stand4Marriage DC...

Canadian teen found after meeting his 42-year-old online ?soulmate?

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Globe and Mail: "The Grade 11 student was found Thursday afternoon, after his parents spent two days desperately appealing for his safe return. On Wednesday, police had released pictures of Lauri Price, a Texas mother of four who had allegedly flown to Toronto and driven a rental car to collect the teen after striking up a relationship with him while playing the popular online game ...

3 Malaysian churches attacked in ?Allah? dispute

Posted on January 08, 2010
"Three churches in Malaysia were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged Friday to prevent Christians from using the word 'Allah,' escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country."

NJ Senate overwhelmingly rejected marriage redefinition

Posted on January 08, 2010
". . . lawmakers voted 20 to 14 against the bill, bringing tears from some advocates who packed the Senate chambers and rousing applause from opponents of the measure, who also came out in force . . . "

Portugal?s parliament votes to redefine marriage

Posted on January 08, 2010
AP: "Portugal's parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage."

Marriage Amendment supporters seek delay of Cal. trial

Posted on January 08, 2010
". . . so they can appeal a judge's decision to allow videotaped testimony on YouTube."

Nevada judge throws out ?personhood? initiative

Posted on January 08, 2010
"A state judge in Carson City, Nev., threw out a proposed ballot initiative Friday that . . . saying the language was too vague and violated state law that limits questions to one subject."

Patrick F. Fagan: Monogamy, Liberty, Polyamory and the Socialist State

Posted on January 08, 2010
"The culture of the traditional family is now in intense competition with a very different culture. The defining difference between the two is the sexual ideal each embraces."

NY: Stonewalling charter schools

Posted on January 08, 2010
Marcus A. Winters writing at City Journal: "New York could dramatically improve its chances of winning up to $700 million in federal Race to the Top dollars by eliminating its cap on the number of charter schools allowed to operate in the state. But the United Federation of Teachers would rather forgo those much-needed funds than let Gotham?s (typically) non-unionized charter-school sector expand...

Mises Insitute writer responds to Cato re: is marriage a constitutional right?

Posted on January 08, 2010
Stephan Kinsella, a libertarian writer and attorney in Houston, TX, comments on the Cato Institute chairman's same-sex "marriage" paper at the Mises Institute's Economics Blog: "The Fourteenth Amendment and its Equal Protection Clause were obviously not as broad as some modern libertarian centralists might like...

?Is it too soon to petition the Supreme Court on gay marriage??

Posted on January 08, 2010
Margaret Talbot writing in The New Yorker: "If the Perry case succeeds before the Supreme Court, it could mean that gay marriage would be permitted not only in California but in every state . . . However, a loss for Olson and Boies could be a major setback to the movement for marriage equality ...

John Dewey and the philosophical refounding of America

Posted on January 08, 2010
Tiffany Jones Miller writes at National Review: In sum, the core of Dewey?s progressivism, socialism, or what subsequently became known (thanks in no small part to his efforts) as liberalism, is freedom understood as spiritual fulfillment. Because the embrace of this ideal necessitated a thoroughgoing reconstruction of the American way of living, primarily by means of the positive state, it revolutionized not only the founders? theory of limited government, but also their constitutionalism: for, as Dewey and Tufts candidly note, progressive judges have ?smuggled in? many valuable reforms by devising ??legal fictions? and by interpretations which have stretched the original text to uses undreamed of...

Washington Times: Stop taxpayer-funded abortion

Posted on January 08, 2010
Washington Times editorial: "The original House health care bill passed by a slim margin of 220 to 215. But with the 11 Democratic members and Mr. Cao promising to vote against the bill if it includes abortion funding (which is included in the Senate bill), Democrats will have to persuade 10 of the 38 Democratic congressmen who voted against the original bill to change their vote to make up the 12 lost votes...

Interpol immunity

Posted on January 08, 2010
Andrew C. McCarthy writing at National Review Online: "This is surely another reckless gesture designed to eviscerate America?s special status and self-determinism ? to make us just one of 192 other countries, no better, no different, no superpower. The president knows that Americans don?t share his view of America, which is a big reason behind his tumbling approval ratings...

Austin R. Nimocks on the Michael Medved Show: Next Week?s Trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger

Posted on January 08, 2010
Austin R. Nimocks appaeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss the trial that will be held next week in Perry v. Schwarzenegger involving a challenge to California's marriage law. The MP3 runs just over 8 minutes.

Is Google censoring Islam suggestions? How about the ?National Organization for Marriage?

Posted on January 08, 2010
Wired.com: "If you type, 'Buddhism is' or 'Christianity is,' Google will quickly show you suggestions for what it thinks you might be trying to type. In the former query?s case, the Google guesses 'not a religion,' 'wrong,' 'not what you think.' Christianity gets tougher treatment with the suggestions [bleep] ...

Illinois has fewer jobs today than a decade ago

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Chicago Tribune: "Truth is, much of Illinois' jobs crisis is rooted right here at home. Mismanagement under Republicans and Democrats in Springfield hasn't merely failed to make Illinois a place where smart employers would want to invest and expand...

Law schools get advice on helping students cope with tight job market

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Chronicle of Higher Education: "Law schools have a responsibility to teach students how to be emotionally resilient and fiscally sensible at a time when high-paying jobs are hard to come by and student-loan debts are mounting, several speakers asserted at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, which began here on Thursday...

ACLU warns of possible legal action if HUSD opens meetings with prayer

Posted on January 08, 2010
Hesperia Star: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California is warning the Hesperia Unified School District that a proposal to open meetings with a prayer opens the district to 'a strong likelihood of being sued' . . . An opinion by the conservative Christian non-profit Alliance Defend Fund said it was permissible: 'There is simply no question that a legislative body may open its sessions with an invocation,' the ADF said, in part, in a July 20 letter...

Calif. High Court Justices Push Past Krishnas? Airport Appeal

Posted on January 08, 2010
Law.com (The Recorder): "David Liberman had a simple answer Wednesday when California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George asked why it was important that Hare Krishnas be allowed to solicit money at Los Angeles International Airport. Hare Krishna's a "small, minority, controversial religion," the Los Angeles lawyer said, so face-to-face interaction is "critical" to its mission ...

Lambda Legal plans court action following NJ marriage vote

Posted on January 08, 2010
Lambda Legal Press Release: "Today Lambda Legal announced plans to go back to court to seek marriage equality after the New Jersey Senate failed to pass a marriage bill, effectively ending hope for passage this session. 'The requirement to ensure equality for same-sex couples, established by the New Jersey Supreme Court in its decision in our marriage lawsuit in 2006, has not been met,' said Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director at Lambda Legal...

Wesley J. Smith: Top ten bioethics stories of the decade

Posted on January 08, 2010
Wesley J, Smith writing at National Review Online: "As we come to the end of the first tenth of the 21st century, pundits are making lists about the decade just past: the biggest stories, the worst movies. In that spirit, here?s a list of the top ten stories in bioethics...

Patrick J. Buchanan: Another God that failed

Posted on January 08, 2010
Patrick J. Buchanan writes at Townhall: "Query: If democracy, from Latin America to Africa to the Middle East, brings to power parties and politicians who, for reasons religious, racial or historic, detest the 'white, rich Western world,' why are we pushing democracy in these regions?"

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