Religion & Law

AZ legislature responds to AZ Supreme Court: School vouchers for disabled kids converted to tax credits

Posted on May 28, 2009
"Lawmakers on Wednesday approved a scholarship program for disadvantaged students, but only after a lengthy and, at times, bitter debate that broke along partisan lines."

Alberta Assembly Set To Pass Parental Rights Provisions

Posted on May 28, 2009
Religion Clause Blog reports on a bill that would adds sexual orientation to the province's anti-discrimination law and allow parents to opt their children out of objectionable sex indoctrination classes.

Court Refuses To Dismiss Establishment Clause Challenge To AIG Bailout

Posted on May 28, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In Murray v. Geithner, (ED MI, May 26, 2009), a Michigan federal district court refused to dismiss a taxpayer's Establishment Clause challenge to the federal government's expenditure of $40 billion under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to rescue the giant insurance company, AIG...

?Renewable? marriages a bad idea

Posted on May 28, 2009
One News Now: "An Australian's idea for short-term marriage agreements is getting short shrift from an American pro-family spokeswoman . . . Helen Goltz believes lifelong marriages are becoming "a thing of the past," she writes in a Queensland newspaper...

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Liberty University Fires Back at Liberal Media for Falsely Reporting It ?Banned? College Democrats

Posted on May 28, 2009
CNSNews: On Monday, university president and chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr., said the mainstream media had falsely reported that the Lynchburg, Va.-based school had ?banned? the club. ?Even when some reporters learned the facts, they could not bring themselves to correct their stories because the fanciful reports were just too tempting,? Falwell said in a letter placed on the university?s Web site...

Ohio: ?Findlay, insurance paying $72K for group?s legal fees?

Posted on May 28, 2009
TheCourier.com: "Findlay has agreed to pay the legal fees of an anti-abortion group which won a federal lawsuit after being barred from demonstrating in the city two years ago . . . Matt Bowman, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the group, said a confidentiality clause prevented him from commenting on specifics of the legal fees agreement...

Sotomayor Ruled That States Do Not Have to Obey Second Amendment

Posted on May 28, 2009
CNSNews: "In Maloney v. Cuomo, [No. 07-0581 (2nd Cir. Jan. 28, 2009)] Sotomayor signed an opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that said the Second Amendment does not protect individuals from having their right to keep and bear arms restricted by state governments...

Group Begins Ad Blitz Against Same-Sex ?Marriage?

Posted on May 28, 2009
NY Times: "The National Organization for Marriage, a conservative Christian group that has fought efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in California and in the Northeast, has set its sights on New York with its latest media campaign."

EU sees wide discrimination against Muslims

Posted on May 28, 2009
AP: "Muslims still face substantial discrimination in Europe, especially at work, and many fail to report racist incidents because of a lack of trust in authorities, a European Union human rights agency said Thursday."

Christian group claims progress on a common Easter

Posted on May 28, 2009
AP: "Christianity's largest ecumenical movement expressed hope Thursday that churches were moving closer to a common Easter for the world's Christians, despite a historical debate nearly as old as the religion."

Austin R. Nimocks on Reality Check: The California marriage ruling

Posted on May 28, 2009
ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on Reality Check Live with Mike Monokian to discuss the California marriage ruling. The MP3 runs just over 12 minutes.

Delaware Supreme Court gives OK to sports betting

Posted on May 28, 2009
AP: "The Delaware Supreme Court says a proposed sports betting lottery does not conflict with the state constitution." In re Advisory Request of the Governor for an Advisory Opinion, No. 150 (Del. 2009)

La. city unanimously approves new regulations for sexually-oriented businesses

Posted on May 28, 2009
?When lawmakers have to choose between protecting our children and protecting sexually-oriented businesses, the choice is obvious: our children?s safety comes first,? said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson. ?The members of the Kenner City Council made the right decision when they chose to help protect the community from the well-documented, dangerous secondary effects of SOBs, which include violent and sexual crimes...

Austin R. Nimocks on Which Way LA: The California marriage battle

Posted on May 28, 2009
ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on Which Way LA opposite a representative of the Democratic party and a representative of the UCLA Williams Institute to discuss the California marriage battle. The MP3 runs just over 24 minutes.

UW Madison responds to WIRTL ad: admits it may force pro-life employees to get hands dirty

Posted on May 28, 2009
JillStanek.com: "The University of Wisconsin Madison Hospital sent an email to employees last night responding to Wisconsin Right to Life's ad in today's Wisconsin State Journal . . . Christman does not dispute any of the points in WIRTL's ad except that employees will have to help in the event of an abortion emergency...

?White House to Sonia Sotomayor critics: Be ?careful?

Posted on May 28, 2009
Alexander Burns and Josh Gerstein write at the Politico: "The Hispanic Bar?s Romero accused Gingrich of deliberately savaging Sotomayor at a time when tradition dictates she maintain public silence in advance of her confirmation hearings." Related: Gingrich: Sotomayor ?racist,? should withdraw nomination

?Men in Power? student organization ruffles U. of Chicago

Posted on May 28, 2009
Chicago Tribune: "A group of University of Chicago students think it's time the campus focused more on its men. A third-year student from Lake Bluff has formed Men in Power, a student organization that promises to help men get ahead professionally. But the group's emergence has been controversial, with some critics charging that its premise is misogynistic...

Federal court: La. town violated Christian man?s free speech rights

Posted on May 28, 2009
On Wednesday, a federal court ruled in favor of a Christian man threatened with arrest for sharing a religious message outside a restaurant with a bar in the town of Zachary.

Has the Cal. Supreme Court set the stage to undermine the will of the people on marriage?

Posted on May 28, 2009
Glen Lavy: "What motivated the justices to allow the creation of this unnecessary controversy . . . ? Was the court deliberately setting the stage for an 'equal protection' claim under the federal Constitution? We will wait and see."

NIH plan for embryonic stem cells called objectionable, obsolete

Posted on May 28, 2009
Catholic News Service: "The National Institutes of Health's draft guidelines for embryonic stem-cell research support 'a course of action that is both morally objectionable and, increasingly, scientifically obsolete,' the general secretary of the U.S...

California?s Prop 8 Ruling Gives Sotomayor an Easier Path

Posted on May 28, 2009
Dan Gilgoff writing at the U.S. News & World Report God & Country blog: "Conservative Christian groups are applauding the ruling. 'The California Supreme Court arrived at the only correct conclusion available: The people of California have a fundamental right to amend their own Constitution,' said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Austin R...

Conservative Christians Praise Calif. High Court Ruling on Prop. 8

Posted on May 28, 2009
Lillian Kwon reports in the Christian Post: "Austin R. Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which helped defend Proposition 8 in court hearings, praised the court for respecting the results of fair elections and arriving 'at the only correct conclusion: the people of California have a fundamental right to amend their own constitution...

Prop 8 upheld

Posted on May 28, 2009
World Magazine reports: "Jim Campbell, litigation counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said the court?s ruling merely went with precedent, since upholding a definition of marriage that has existed for almost all the state?s history is not a 'structural change to government' ...

California Supreme Court upholds same-sex marriage ban; lets stand existing gay unions

Posted on May 28, 2009
Howard Mintz reports in the Mercury News: "The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8, the voter-approved law restoring a ban on same-sex marriages in the state, but at the same time left intact the more than 18,000 marriages for gay and lesbian couples who wed last year before the ballot measure went into effect ...

Thomas More Society Opposes NIH Guidelines for Stem Cell Research

Posted on May 28, 2009
The Thomas More Society has submitted comments “in response to the Administration?s invitation to submit comments on the draft National Institutes of Health guidelines to expand the circumstances under which federal funding of embryonic stem cell research will be available...

ACLU: Why the Ballot Box and Not the Courts Should Be the Next Step on Marriage in California

Posted on May 28, 2009
ACLU Blog: "A marriage case based on the federal constitution may well not win the right to marry back in California. A loss would likely set back the fight for marriage nationwide, and hurt LGBT parents, employees, and students all over America. We lost the right to marry in California at the ballot box...

Ga. set to become 1st state with embryo adoption law

Posted on May 28, 2009
Baptist Press: "The nation's first law governing the adoption of embryos is set to take effect in Georgia after being passed by the legislature and signed by the governor."

South Bend prosecutor presses trespass charges against prominent pro-life advocates

Posted on May 28, 2009
Thomas More Society attorneys appeared in St. Joseph County Criminal Court to defend two prominent pro-life advocates against trespass charges brought this morning by local prosecutors in the wake of protests at the University of Notre Dame.

ADF warns Cal. school district over promotion of ?gender identity? confusion along with denial of parental opt-out rights

Posted on May 28, 2009
ADF attorney Mike Johnson appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss a case involving promotion of homosexuality and gender confusion to elementary school children as young as kindergarten age by the Alameda Unified School District . . .

Pennsylvania: Bill to redefine marriage to be introduced

Posted on May 28, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Under Mr. Leach's bill, Pennsylvania would permit same-sex marriages by state residents and also would recognize such marriages that were done in other states." Sen. Daylon Leach press release: Sen. Leach to Introduce Bill Providing For Full, Equal Marriage Rights to Pennsylvania's Same-Sex Couples

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