Religion & Law

?ACLU Sues To Stop Tennessee Schools From Censoring Gay Educational Web Sites?

Posted on May 19, 2009
ACLU: "The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Tennessee sued two Tennessee school districts in federal court today, charging the schools are unconstitutionally blocking students from accessing online information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues...

Kevin Theriot on the David Boze Show: ?Bash Back? litigation

Posted on May 19, 2009
ADF attorney Kevin Theriot appeared on the David Boze Show to discuss the lawsuit ADF has filed against “Bash Back.” More information about this case is available in this ADF press release: ADF files suit against radical group that invaded Mich...

DOMA, Prop. 8 under legal attack in Calif.

Posted on May 19, 2009
One News Now: ADF has intervened on behalf of the group ProtectMarriage.com. Attorney Jim Campbell says the importance of the case is enormous . . . "If the court finds that federal DOMA, for instance, violates the federal Constitution, then it will strike down federal DOMA and federal law will no longer define marriage as the union of one man and one woman," he explains...

Struggling families look at adoption

Posted on May 19, 2009
USA Today: "As parents struggle to raise children in a weak economy, a half-dozen large adoption agencies are reporting that more women with unplanned pregnancies are considering placing their babies for adoption rather than keeping them."

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Crying Baby Interrupted Obama as He Justified His Abortion Position at Notre Dame

Posted on May 19, 2009
CNSNews: "The distinct sound of a baby crying broke out in the capacious basketball arena where the Notre Dame commencement exercise was being held on Sunday when President Obama--who was giving the commencement address--began talking about abortion."

A new sexual revolution

Posted on May 19, 2009
Marcia Segelstein writes at One News Now: "We have 'mainstreamed pornography,' as author Michael Leahy puts it. Our hypersexualized, pornographic culture has all but obliterated a vision of what healthy sexuality is."

Debate on free speech rights of pastors Wednesday

Posted on May 19, 2009
?Pulpit Freedom? debate with Barry Lynn, Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Professor Donald Tobin, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law; and Professor Douglas Laycock, University of Michigan School of Law

Civil unions opposed by half of Nevadans in poll

Posted on May 19, 2009
AP: "Half of all Nevadans in a newspaper poll say they oppose same- and opposite-sex domestic partnerships."

Short Summers Squeeze Associates, Firms

Posted on May 19, 2009
National Law Journal: "In years past, summer associates at Blank Rome had 10 weeks to prove their mettle and earn a permanent job offer. The 23 2Ls arriving at the Philadelphia firm in June will have just six weeks -- instead of the usual 2 1/2 months -- to wow the partnership and earn a spot on the incoming associate roster...

Carla Bruni criticises Pope Benedict XVI over contraception

Posted on May 19, 2009
Telegraph: "Carla Bruni has issued a scathing attack on Pope Benedict XVI saying that she has allowed her Catholic faith to lapse because of his approach to contraception in Africa."

AK: Anchorage considers ?gay rights? ordinance

Posted on May 19, 2009
Juneau Empire (AP): "The Anchorage Assembly will consider an ordinance banning discrimination against gays in hiring, housing and education, but a city religious leader vows to fight it."

Informed abortion bill passes Missouri Senate

Posted on May 19, 2009
Jason Noble reports at the Kansas City Star's political blog: "Legislation approved early Thursday morning in the Missouri Senate would require women seeking abortions to hear health warnings and descriptions of the unborn child before undergoing the procedure...

Obama, Muslims, and Religious Freedom

Posted on May 19, 2009
Jennifer S. Bryson writes at Public Discourse: "Muslims who favor religious freedom deserve to have their voices heard. One way President Obama could be respectful of and show his appreciation for Islam would be to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom and support religious freedom in his administration?s foreign policy...

ADF attorneys file second appeal involving German ?sex education? program

Posted on May 19, 2009
The two parents were convicted under German law when they chose to educate their child at home on the subject of sexuality rather than allow her to participate in a four-day ?sexual education? course . . . in conflict with the family?s Christian faith.

The Fallacy of Originalism: What Philosophy of Language and Law Says About ?Original Meanings?

Posted on May 19, 2009
SSRN: "The resurgence of the new 'originalism' among conservative American law professors is an intellectual movement that fundamentally misunderstands philosophy of language and law. The central problem is that most constitutional words are what Wittgenstein called 'family resemblance ideas...

Modernization, Moderation, and Political Minorities: A Response to Professor Strauss

Posted on May 19, 2009
: "The Supreme Court is frequently accused of declaring laws unconstitutional based on little more than the justices' ideological preferences. In 'The Modernizing Mission of Judicial Review', 76 U. Chi. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2009), Professor Strauss argues that the Supreme Court's decisions in these areas are efforts to "modernize" the law by facilitating and accommodating developments in popular opinion, rather than actions that merely entrench the justices' ideological viewpoints or personal whims ...

?Same-sex marriage stories matter more than legal theory?

Posted on May 19, 2009
Utah Journal of Law and Family Studies: "This article offers various different stories of marriage and argues that these stories matter more to the question of whether same sex couples are entitled to marry than does the legal theory."

Strengthening International Regulation Through Transnational New Governance

Posted on May 19, 2009
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law: "A new kind of international regulatory system is spontaneously arising out of the failure of international 'Old Governance' (treaties and intergovernmental organizations) to adequately regulate international business...

Marriage redefinition in Maryland finds new supporter

Posted on May 19, 2009
The Maryland Statehouse Examiner reports: "Maryland State Senator Brian Frosh (D, Montgomery County), chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, told The Gazette he plans next year to co-sponsor ? with Senator Richard Madaleno (D, Montgomery County) ? legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland...

David French: Losing their religion

Posted on May 19, 2009
"It is sad that adherence to moral norms that span the entirety of Judeo-Christian history are now seen as nothing but 'political conservatism,' and it is a distressing sign that politics has become intimately personal when concepts such as heterosexual marital fidelity are seen as inherently ideological and 'Republican...

Man killed in Canadian strip club may be innocent bystander

Posted on May 19, 2009
CTV News reports: "Christopher Roy Whitmee, 34, died in hospital a few hours a gunman burst into the Legacy Show Lounge's bathroom late Saturday night, opening fire on two men."

Delaware: Sussex County prayer under fire

Posted on May 19, 2009
Ron MacArthur reports in the Cape Gazette: "Before the start of each Sussex County Council meeting, Council President Vance Phillips, R-Laurel, bows his head and leads council in the Lord?s Prayer. Americans United for Separation of Church and State contends that specific prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U...

Obama nominates lesbian for U.S. attorney

Posted on May 19, 2009
Gene Johnson reports in The Columbian: "President Barack Obama has nominated Jenny Durkan, a longtime friend and counselor of Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, to be U.S. attorney in Seattle . . . Durkan is a lesbian who lives in Seattle with her partner and two sons...

Pakistan: Taliban strikes Christians with a vengeance

Posted on May 19, 2009
John Malhotra reports in Christian Today: "Furious over the US and Pakistan's military operations in Swat Valley, the Taliban attacked a Christian colony, causing fear and panic among its members and forcing them to join 200,000 others fleeing the town...

Okla., Minn. take stand against cloning

Posted on May 19, 2009
Baptist Press reports: "The Oklahoma legislature has unanimously approved a bill to prohibit all forms of human cloning, while Minnesota's governor has signed a bill prohibiting the use of state funds for human cloning."

SG Kagan?s Subversion of ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? Law

Posted on May 19, 2009
Ed Whelan writing at National Review Online Bench Memos: "Kagan?s failure to seek immediate review of the Ninth Circuit?s ruling is either a remarkably poor judgment call or a betrayal of her promise to set aside her personal opposition to 'Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell' in representing the interests of the United States...

Illinois Choose Life license plate gets second legal brief at Supreme Court

Posted on May 19, 2009
LifeNews: "The State of Illinois cannot treat the ?Choose Life? message differently than it treats other messages that advocate causes in a program that is open to all non-profit organizations. To do so is classic viewpoint discrimination, which is unquestionably unconstitutional,' [Steven Aden] said...

Emerging strategy seeks compromise of marriage and religious freedom for sake of the ?gay? agenda

Posted on May 19, 2009
". . . a movement is afoot among some that pushes a compromise of marriage and religious liberty, which are constitutionally guaranteed and inalienable rights."

NH Senate panel rejects religious freedom protections for businesses; ADF attorney says litigation will result

Posted on May 19, 2009
"The committee voted down an amendment proposed by Republican committee members to further protect businesses and individuals who oppose gay marriage because of their religious beliefs . . . Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund said litigation will result if the bill passes...

ADF attorneys file brief with U.S. Supreme Court supporting ?Choose Life? plates

Posted on May 19, 2009
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday with the U.S. Supreme Court in Choose Life Illinois v. White. The brief asks the court to review an appellate court?s decision denying Choose Life Illinois? members the right to produce a specialty license plate with the slogan ?Choose Life,? as part of a state program, because the words had been deemed too ?controversial...

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