Religion & Law

Michigan: Judge closes strip club after alleged lewd activity

Posted on April 29, 2009
Kalamazoo Gazette: "Escape Reality strip club on Dailey Road, according to the Cass County prosecutor's office, which requested the order . . . Officials allege that employees engaged in drug activity, prostitution and repeated acts of lewd behavior at the adult-entertainment business...

FIRE Files Amicus Brief Urging Supreme Court to Hear Student Freedom of Association Case

Posted on April 29, 2009
FIRE: "Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of Truth v. Kent School District, a decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that poses a grave threat to freedom of association on public college campuses...

Montana Fires a Warning Shot over States? Rights

Posted on April 29, 2009
CNSNews (AP): "In a bill passed by the Legislature earlier this month, the state is asserting that guns manufactured in Montana and sold in Montana to people who intend to keep their weapons in Montana are exempt from federal gun registration, background check and dealer-licensing rules because no state lines are crossed...

Christian Leaders Condemn Hate Crimes Bill

Posted on April 29, 2009
Human Events: "'What?s at risk is the ability to preach the Gospel.? So said Bishop Harry Jackson, standing with other black religious leaders and Republican congressmen at a press conference yesterday. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) led a group of members of Congress and Christian leaders yesterday in denouncing HR 1913, the federal hate crimes legislation that was passed on a straight party line vote out of the House Judiciary Committee late last week...

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Americans United for Life Represents 28 Bipartisan Montana Legislators Arguing Assisted Suicide Not a Right

Posted on April 29, 2009
"Americans United for Life (AUL) today filed a friend of the court brief before the Montana Supreme Court on behalf of a bipartisan group of 28 Montana Senators and Representatives, arguing there is no right to assisted suicide under the State?s constitution...

David French on the Jody Hice Show: E. Mich. Univ. ousts student for not affirming homosexual behavior

Posted on April 29, 2009
David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, appeared on the Jody Hice show to discuss the case of Julia Ward. ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University Thursday after school officials dismissed Julia from the school?s counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable...

Spokane, Washington College Subject of Hearing in Pro-Life Discrimination Case

Posted on April 28, 2009
Life News: ?Spokane Falls Community College went beyond censorship and actually tried to compel pro-life students to make statements they don't believe--a requirement that?s nothing short of Orwellian," ADF attorney Heather Gebelin Hacker told LifeNews...

Montana Supreme Court Gets Pro-Life Legal Brief Opposing Assisted Suicide

Posted on April 28, 2009
LifeNews: Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday with the Montana Supreme Court. The brief asks the judges to not determine that the Montana Constitution allows a "right" to assisted suicide . . . ?Doctors are licensed to heal, not to kill...

Ohio Supreme Court Allows Legislator to Join Abortion-Sexual Abuse Coverup Case

Posted on April 28, 2009
LifeNews: "The Ohio Supreme Court on Monday agreed to allow a state legislator to join a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood. The suit accuses the abortion business of ignoring suspected sexual abuse against a teenager who went to its facility in Cincinnati for an abortion...

ADF: ?U.S. Supreme Court upholds FCC enforcement of indecency regulations?

Posted on April 28, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday upheld the Federal Communications Commission?s censure of indecent language broadcast during televised broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards on the Fox network.

Patrick A. Trueman: ?Are the days of FCC indecency enforcement limited??

Posted on April 28, 2009
" . . . the days of FCC indecency enforcement may be limited. (They may be limited anyway under Pres. Obama.) Are there five justices left on the court who will maintain Pacifica when this case (or a similar one) is returned to the high court? Breyer has been good on some related issues but I would not count on him...

Vote looms on legislation that could outlaw preaching on homosexuality

Posted on April 28, 2009
WorldNetDaily: "House Democrats have announced a vote could come as early as tomorrow on a "hate crimes" bill that supporters admit might allow federal officials to prosecute Christians who speak out against homosexual behavior."

Thomas and Breyer Discuss Supreme Court Clerk Diversity at Budget Hearing

Posted on April 28, 2009
Tony Mauro writes at Law.com: "A perennial topic at the Supreme Court's budget hearings -- at least since Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., chair of the House subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the Court's budget, has been on the panel -- is the need to increase the number of minority law clerks serving the justices ...

How free is student speech?

Posted on April 28, 2009
David L. Hudson, Jr. writes at the First Amendment Center: "The reality is that when lower courts evaluate First Amendment challenges involving topics such as student online speech created off campus, censorship of message T-shirts, school dress codes, removal of books from school libraries and others, the results are far from predictable...

A Supreme Court case highlights a question: Why deny D.C. children what special-needs students get?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Washington Post: "THE SUPREME COURT will hear arguments today about the use of public money for the private schooling of children with special needs. It's interesting to note what's not at issue: namely, that when a public school system is unable to provide an appropriate education, it is obligated to pay the costs of private school...

Navajos Plan Meeting With Obama Administration On Pending Snowbowl Case

Posted on April 28, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog reports: "The Gallup (NM) Independent reported yesterday that the Navajo Nation Council has approved its attorneys meeting with the Obama administration to try to work out a settlement in Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service ...

Alaska High Court Rules On Constitutionality of Required TB Test

Posted on April 28, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog: "In Huffman v. State of Alaska, (AK Sup. Ct., April 3, 2009), the Alaska Supreme Court rejected a claim by parents of elementary school children that their religious liberty rights were violated by the state requirement that their children receive a PPD skin test for tuberculosis in order to enroll in school...

UK: ?Pupils aged 11 to learn about gay sex?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Times Online: "Compulsory sex and relationships lessons for 11-year-old children are to include classroom discussions on gay unions and civil partnerships. Secondary pupils will learn about contraception and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), while primary school children will learn about their bodies and friendships, a review of sex education has concluded...

UK: ?Catholic charity withdraws gay adoption appeal?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Third Sector: "One of two Catholic adoption agencies appealing against a Charity Commission decision not to allow them to take steps to exclude gay people from adopting has withdrawn its case from the Charity Tribunal."

Cloning heats up as next bioresearch fight

Posted on April 28, 2009
CQ Politics: "Two House members who were the chief backers of legislation to expand embryonic stem cell research are working on a new bill that would codify President Obama?s recent executive order allowing greater federal funding for the research. Their legislation will also contain language allowing the National Institutes of Health to invest in other kinds of research into human cell biology, perhaps including what is known as 'therapeutic cloning...

School Choice and A Lesson in Hypocrisy

Posted on April 28, 2009
Ed Feulner writes at CNSNews: "Still, voters ought to demand that senators explain a more serious instance of this confusion. Namely, why do so many lawmakers vote against something that, in their personal lives, they favor -- school choice?"

Transgender world sees hope

Posted on April 28, 2009
Denver Post: "'I think we're making significant progress regarding basic understanding and education on transgender issues,' said Kate Bowman of the Gender Identity Center of Colorado. 'We're about 10 or 15 years behind gays, lesbians or bisexuals. Not that that community is accepted wholly...

Chancellor wants UNLV bias policy rewritten

Posted on April 28, 2009
Las Vegas Sun: "The chancellor of Nevada's public higher education system said he will ask UNLV to rewrite a proposed campus policy that the ACLU of Nevada's general counsel has called unconstitutional. The proposed policy, which the university was aiming to implement in July, outlines how members of the university community should deal with possible hate crimes and 'bias incidents...

Sen. Specter to switch political parties

Posted on April 28, 2009
Politico: "Statement by Arlen Specter . . . I have decided to run for reelection in 2010 in the Democratic primary . . . deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters. I can understand their disappointment. I am also disappointed that so many in the Party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate...

?Pulpit Freedom? fighters still waiting for IRS to act

Posted on April 28, 2009
Indianapolis Star: 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday,' as it was called, was supposed to be a collective thumb in the eye at the Internal Revenue Service, who is responsible for patrolling for political activity among churches and other organizations that enjoy tax exempt status ...

Lawyer Snapshot

Posted on April 28, 2009
Jaxdailyrecord.com: "Name: Roger K. Gannam . . . My main passion is legal advocacy in religious liberty matters. In this arena, I am an Allied Attorney of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), primarily engaged in pro bono religious liberty litigation in Jacksonville and throughout Florida...

Hate Crimes Bill Protects Cross-Dressers and Pedophiles but Not Veterans or Grandmas

Posted on April 28, 2009
Liberty Counsel: "On Wednesday, April 29, the U.S. House is scheduled to vote on so-called 'hate crimes? legislation, which would give 'actual or perceived' 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' the same federal protection as race. Last week the House Judiciary Committee refused to exclude pedophiles from the bill?s protection...

3rd Circuit says Penn. pro-life counselors deserve their day in court

Posted on April 28, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and allied attorneys represent Edward Snell and John McTernan, who were arrested and threatened with arrest, respectively, for exercising their First Amendment rights in a public alley next to a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.

?First day of legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa goes smoothly?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Quad-City Times: "Douglas Napier, senior legal counsel for the fund, said such a policy would not defy the Iowa Supreme Court?s order that legalized same-sex marriage. 'We?re not asking them to do that. We believe in the rule of law,' Napier said. He has heard of no recorders who have adopted the policy, which he said is not surprising given what he called 'heavy-handed threats' by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller that recorders were expected to follow the court?s ruling...

SKorean experts claim to have cloned glowing dogs

Posted on April 28, 2009
AP: "What's significant in this work is not the dogs expressing red colors but that we planted genes into them," Lee told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

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