Religion & Law

Village?s discriminatory rental fee forces Mich. church to stop meeting

Posted on March 27, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday on behalf of Forest Area Bible Church after unfair rental fees imposed by the village of Fife Lake forced the congregation to stop meeting in a local building.

Delaware: Marriage amendment killed, sexual orientation measure advances

Posted on March 27, 2009
"Senate Bill 27, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which was introduced and sponsored by several Sussex legislators, was defeated by a vote of 11-9 (1 not voting) on Thursday . . . "

Criticism over Obama invite mounts at Notre Dame

Posted on March 27, 2009
MyWay (AP): "Many Catholics are angered by Obama's planned appearance at the May 17 ceremony because of his decisions to provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and international family planning groups that provide abortions or educate about the procedure ...

Study forces rethinking on ADHD drugs

Posted on March 27, 2009
Houston Chronicle: "New data from a large federal study have reignited a debate over the effectiveness of long-term drug treatment of children with hyperactivity or attention-deficit disorder and have drawn accusations that some members of the research team have sought to play down evidence that medications do little good beyond 24 months...

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Does Filtering Stop the Flow of Valuable Information?: A Case Study of the Children?s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in South Dakota

Posted on March 27, 2009
SSRN: "The filtering requirements of the CIPA present one of the first successful governmental efforts to help parents protect their children from harmful Internet material. However, the lingering issue is whether that filtering effort, as alleged by the CIPA opponents, unduly restricts the free speech rights of adults...

Bias and the Bar: Evaluating the ABA Ratings of Federal Judicial Nominees

Posted on March 27, 2009
SSRN: "In this paper, we (1) investigate what factors explain the ABA ratings of judicial nominees to the United States Courts of Appeals from 1985-2008 and (2) probe whether prospective Republican and/or conservative judges are systematically disadvantaged...

Obama attempting to silence Archbishop Burke

Posted on March 27, 2009
Austin Ruse writing at The Catholic Thing: "Democrats may say that Burke overstepped his bounds by commenting not just on Sebelius and Communion, but her fitness as a nominee for HHS secretary. IRS guidelines, which are even now being tested by the Alliance Defense Fund, say Church officials may not comment positively or negatively on candidates for federal office...

8th Circuit Says Missouri?s Procedure For Approving Specialty Plates Is Invalid

Posted on March 27, 2009
Religion Clause: "In a release on the decision from Alliance Defense Fund (which represented plaintiffs) indicates that Missouri has already begun to sell the plates since the Court of Appeals had refused to stay the injunction previously issued by the district court...

?Orrick, Winston on Losing Side of AZ School Choice Case?

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Am Law Daily: "Orrick wrote an amicus brief for Father's Heart Christian School for the Disabled; the Alliance Defense Fund reached out to Orrick and connected them to the school, according to partner Raymond Mullady, Jr., who led the firm's team along with Walter Brown, Jr...

?Choose Life? verdict upheld

Posted on March 27, 2009
St. Louis Today (AP): "Missouri officials began issuing the plates last month and about 170 are on the roads now, said a Department of Revenue spokesman. Said Joel Oster, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal organization that had sued when the plates were first rejected: "The court recognized that the license plate constituted private speech and that the pro-life message can't be censored just because a couple of pro-choice senators disagree with that message...

George Tiller Jury Finds Him Not Guilty of Violating State Late-Term Abortion Laws

Posted on March 27, 2009
LifeNews: "Infamous late-term abortion practitioner George Tiller has been found not guilty of violating Kansas laws requiring a second physician to independently verify that the abortions are supposedly medically necessary."

NC: Inclusive Bullying Bill Introduced

Posted on March 27, 2009
NC Family Policy Council: "Sixty-two of the 120 members of the North Carolina State House of Representatives have signed onto a bill that would require all school boards to have stated policies 'prohibiting bullying or harassing' any student for any reason by December 31, 2009 ...

President?s Council on Bioethics: Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Hastings Center reports: "In March 9, President Obama removed restrictions on federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines derived by means that destroy human embryos. Although members of the President?s Council on Bioethics have been divided on this question and some of our colleagues disagree with us, we think it may be useful and clarifying to set the president?s action in three ways into the context of work the council has done over the past seven years...

Federal Judge Upholds Texas Pledge Containing Phrase ?Under God?

Posted on March 27, 2009
"A Dallas federal judge has ruled that the phrase 'under God' in the Texas Pledge of Allegiance is constitutional. The court?s decision rejected a lawsuit filed by a Dallas couple, who unsuccessfully argued that the state pledge violated the First Amendment?s Establishment Clause...

Arizona Congressman Calls for Investigation of Planned Parenthood After Alleged Rape Cover-Up

Posted on March 27, 2009
Fox News: "An Arizona congressman called on state officials to investigate Planned Parenthood after two new tapes surfaced allegedly catching clinics trying to hide statutory rape. Responding to the videotapes released this week, Republican Rep. Trent Franks lambasted the organization for its 'flagrant violation of the law...

Libertarian Party of California Backs Domestic Partnership Initiative

Posted on March 27, 2009
GlobeNewswire: "The Libertarian Party of California formally endorsed the Domestic Partnership Initiative (DPI), a proposed state measure that would replace the word 'marriage' with 'domestic partnership' throughout the California constitution and statutes...

Turkish Women told: ?You have dishonoured your family, please kill yourself?

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Independent: "So-called 'honour killings' in Turkey have reached record levels. According to government figures, there are more than 200 a year ? half of all the murders committed in the country. Now, in a sinister twist, comes the emergence of 'honour suicides'...

Former McCain strategist Steve Schmidt backs ?gay marriage?

Posted on March 27, 2009
Michael Foust writes in the Baptist Press: "Steve Schmidt, chief strategist for Sen. John McCain during the presidential election last year, says he backs 'gay marriage.' He also acknowledges voting against California Proposition 8 and believes the Republican Party should change its tune on the issue...

Albert Mohler: The Eclipse of Christian Memory

Posted on March 27, 2009
Albert Mohler writes: "Secularization and support for same-sex marriage appear to be part of a combined pattern. Conversely, those states reporting the highest church affiliation are also the states exhibiting the strongest opposition to same-sex marriage...

Senate leader to revive polygamy task force bill

Posted on March 27, 2009
Thomas Burr writes in the Salt Lake Tribune: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday he would reintroduce legislation setting up a federal task force to crack down on polygamy-related crimes and would urge new Attorney General Eric Holder to take action as well...

Omnibus ?gay rights? bill proposed

Posted on March 27, 2009
The Washington Blade reports: "The leaders of a nonprofit LGBT donors group in Florida are calling on members of Congress to introduce a far-reaching omnibus LGBT rights bill that combines all of the gay- and transgender-related bills that have been pending before Congress, some for as long as 30 years...

Wichita Gives Settlement To Pastor After False Arrest

Posted on March 27, 2009
Internet Filtering: "Pastor Holick along with an attorney named Joel Oster of the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a federal lawsuit against the city. It took a year and a half, but they were able to reach an agreement upon. The City of Wichita was required to pay the attorney fees, give Pastor Holick $11,700...

Freedom Muslim Countries: An Endangered Species

Posted on March 27, 2009
Jennifer S. Bryson writes at Public Discourse: "Encouraging peaceful, reformist Muslims requires freedom of speech and religion. Yet U.S. policies in Egypt and elsewhere support governments which actively work against Muslim reformist efforts."

Why We Must Fight for School Choice

Posted on March 27, 2009
Virginia Walden Ford writes at National Review: . . . In 2009, few wrongs are greater than the inequality that endures in American education. More than a half century after the Supreme Court rejected segregation in our nation?s schools, minority children are still less likely to receive a quality education...

Dem. Senators? Bill to Increase Legal Services Funding, Lift Restrictions

Posted on March 27, 2009
Marcia Coyle writes at the National Law Journal: "A key group of Democratic senators has introduced a bill to increase funding for the Legal Services Corp. (LSC) and to lift many of the restrictions on LSC-funded attorneys, such as the prohibition on the filing of class actions and the collection of attorney fees...

U.S. abortion, vasectomy rates rise as economy falters

Posted on March 26, 2009
CBC reports: "Doctors in the U.S. are reporting an increased demand for abortions or vasectomies during the recession."

Texas: Scientists weigh in at education board on curriculum

Posted on March 26, 2009
Austin American-Statesman: "In January, the board voted to move away from that language but approved standards requiring students to study the "sufficiency or insufficiency" of evolutionary theory. The board also approved other changes that qualify statements about evolution and the Earth's creation...

Matt Bowman: Compelled killing of the preborn

Posted on March 26, 2009
But today the abortion movement is getting governments to compel killing of the preborn rather than to prevent it or allow it, and to pursue their compulsion while accepting federal funds. Pro-abortion legal theory has no limit on its willingness to force abortion participation in order to guarantee ?access...

Poll: Cal. voters continue to reject same sex ?marriage?

Posted on March 26, 2009
The Desert Sun: "Among likely voters, 45 percent favor same-sex marriage and 49 percent are opposed, according to a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California." Public Policy Institute of California press release: Special Election Ballot Propositions Face Tough Road

UK may allow abortion advice ads on radio, TV

Posted on March 26, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Organizations that provide abortion advice and referrals could run TV and radio ads in Britain for the first time under proposed changes to the nation's advertising codes . . . Groups that offer pregnancy-related services but don't discuss abortion would also be allowed to advertise -- but they would have to spell out that the advice they provide excludes abortion-related information, to avoid confusion...

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