Religion & Law

Rhode Island: 6 candidates for chief justice have their say

Posted on March 25, 2009
The Providence Journal provides this report discussing the candidates and the process involved in selecting a new state chief justice.

Planned Parenthood ?changing focus? to medical abortions

Posted on March 25, 2009
One News Now reports on a new report by the American Life League: "'[We've] discovered that Planned Parenthood is increasing its number of facilities that perform medical abortions,' she notes, adding that they are performed through medication such as the dangerous abortion drug RU-486...

Supreme Court Appears Divided Over Hillary Clinton Movie in Campaign Finance Case

Posted on March 25, 2009
. . . weakened support for the McCain-Feingold campaign law seemed to slip further Tuesday as the justices debated whether an anti-Hillary Clinton movie . . . should be regulated as a campaign advertisement or protected under the First Amendment . . .

Court Says Property of Break-Away Parish Remains With Colorado Episcopal Diocese

Posted on March 25, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In Grace Church and St. Stephen's v. Bishop and Diocese of Colorado, (CO Dist. Ct., March 24, 2009), a Colorado state trial court held that all the property of a break-away Colorado Springs parish belongs

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Washington Federal court strikes discriminatory green card standards for religious workers

Posted on March 25, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In Ruiz-Diaz v. United States, (WD WA, March 23, 2009), a Washington federal district court invalidated a federal regulation (8 CFR 245.2) that makes it more difficult for foreign religious workers to obtain permanent residency status than various other foreign workers ...

Minnesota: Some parents alarmed as ?anti-bully? legislation moves to Senate

Posted on March 25, 2009
StarTribune.com: "The bill cleared a committee today and is headed to the Senate floor for a vote . . . Holding up a children's book that ends with two men getting married, several parents of students at a public school with an anti-bullying program weighed in Monday on proposed state anti-bullying legislation...

Maryland: Don?t open ladies room doors to men

Posted on March 25, 2009
Ruth M. Jacobs writes at Gazette.Net: "Changes to Maryland's anti-discrimination law in 2007 added a "private cause of action." If gender identity is added as a "protected class," any cross-dresser or "drag queen" who wants to dress on the job and feels their rights have been denied can sue their employer...

ADF: Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial cross is constitutional

Posted on March 25, 2009
Joe Infranco: ?The ACLU claims to be ?the foremost defender of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.? Most Americans know, however, that title really belongs to the veterans whose memorial the ACLU is attacking.?

The Thin Flat Line: Redefining Who is Legally Dead in Organ Donation After Cardiac Death

Posted on March 25, 2009
SSRN: "This article addresses the history of DCD, proposals for its expansion, and whether, in the pursuit of new sources of organs, medicine has gone too far in tinkering with the definition of death. Without wider public debate on what it means to be "dead enough" for organ donation, DCD should not be expanded to situations that present new legal and ethical challenges...

Lessons from the Rise of Legal Conservatism

Posted on March 25, 2009
SSRN: "Teles's most important finding is that effective institutionalization of legal change requires not only a demand for reform by voters or interest groups, but also a supply of trained advocates, public interest law firms, and judges willing and able to influence the law in the direction desired by an insurgent political movement...

Pounding a Final Stake in the Heart of the Invidiously Discriminatory ?Pervasively Sectarian? Test

Posted on March 25, 2009
This Article in Part I traces the rise and fall of the pervasively sectarian test from its creation in the 1970s through Justice Thomas's attack in Mitchell v. Helms, and highlights the ever-shifting standards and lack of clarity in this area of First Amendment jurisprudence...

Breaking Evolution?s Monopoly on Origins: Self-Governance, Parental Rights, and Religious Viewpoints in the Public Square

Posted on March 25, 2009
Finally, Part IV answers the sixty-four-million-dollar question, What should be taught?, by proposing that public schools be permitted (should they so desire) to include religious perspectives on the origins question as part of an academic, nonsectarian curriculum.

Court Blocks Presbyterian Lesbian?s 3rd Attempt at Ordination

Posted on March 25, 2009
Christian Post: "The court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)?s Pacific Synod has nullified a narrow vote that deemed an openly gay church deacon in San Francisco ready to move forward in the ordination process."

The Decline of the Culture Wars

Posted on March 25, 2009
Martin E. Marty writes at the Christian Post: "The one issue in the culture wars that still has energy is 'gay marriage'-'same-sex unions,' and the like. While most public attention goes to its political and judicial fronts, as with Proposition 8 in California, less notice is given, except to members of some church bodies, to the battlefields in the churches...

PCUSA re-considers homosexual reference in constitution

Posted on March 25, 2009
Christian Today: "Members of a committee in the Presbyterian Church (USA) will gather this week to consider proposed changes to a historic document, including the removal of a negative reference to homosexual behaviour. The General Assembly Special Committee on Correcting Translation Problems of the Heidelberg Catechism is scheduled to begin a two-day meeting on March 27...

EU ?to put animals before embryos?

Posted on March 25, 2009
The European Union is to radically restrict laboratory testing on animals - by insisting human embryos are used by scientists for research instead.

Americans United Praises Arizona Supreme Court Ruling Against School Vouchers

Posted on March 25, 2009
Americans U. for Separation of Church and State has issued this press release: "Today?s Arizona Supreme Court decision striking down two school voucher programs is a welcome action that protects religious liberty and public education, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State...

Washington: Yakima passes ordinance regulating sex shops

Posted on March 25, 2009
KIMATV.com: "Grapevine Video owner Jeff Sorenson says the now passed ordinance will make it difficult for a new or expanding small adult business like his. 'It'd be very hard for us to move to another location.' He says. That's because the new ordinance restricts businesses like his from opening within 500 feet of a church, school, park, library, and residential districts...

Calls for Conn. Senate Judiciary Committee chairmans to resign in wake of anti-Catholic bill

Posted on March 25, 2009
ChristiansUnite reports: Family Institute of Connecticut Action today called upon Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan and Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams to remove Rep. Michael Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald from their positions as co-chairmen of the Connecticut General Assembly's powerful Judiciary Committee...

Missouri judge upholds Jackson County ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses

Posted on March 25, 2009
In Enlightened Reading, Inc., et. al. v. Jackson County, No. 08-0209-CV-W-FJG (W.D. Mo., March 24, 2009), the Chief Judge of the Western District of Missouri granted Jackson County's motion for judgment on the pleadings on all issues in a challenge to the County?s comprehensive SOB ordinance.

Woman poses as pregnant girl to test Planned Parenthood

Posted on March 25, 2009
John Faherty reports in the Arizona Republic: "An anti-abortion group's hidden-camera video is raising questions about whether Planned Parenthood facilities in Arizona are meeting their legal duty to report sexual abuse of minors . . ."

Illinois Family Institute Says It is Not a Hate Group

Posted on March 24, 2009
The Illinois Family Institute has posted this article on OpposingViews.com in response to its being placed on a "Hate Groups" list prepared by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

WV Marriage Amendment: Is it needed?

Posted on March 24, 2009
WV4Marriage.com has posted this article that appeared in WVMetroNews: Is It Needed (pdf)

ACLU guarantees litigation if WVa bill to limit public funding of abortion passes

Posted on March 24, 2009
Bluefield Daily Telegraph (AP): "Opponents of a bill to limit public funding of abortions in West Virginia outnumbered supporters 3-to-1 Monday at a state Capitol hearing and warned that passage of the measure would likely trigger a wave of litigation ...

ADF attorney to address Del. legislature on proposed marriage amendment, sexual behavior bill

Posted on March 24, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Brian W. Raum will be available for media interviews Wednesday following his testimony before the Delaware Legislature on legislation which, if enacted, would amend the Delaware Constitution to protect the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

ADF: Tax-exempt status safe for Ramsey County church

Posted on March 24, 2009
County officials had originally demanded that 784 ?church organizations? submit forms and information or else risk loss of tax-exempt status, despite Minnesota law that exempts churches from such requirements.

Coleman Attorney?s Shocking Admission: We Expect To Lose

Posted on March 24, 2009
Newsmax: "He added: 'But our whole argument was that it was a constitutional argument, and it's an argument suitable for the Minnesota Supreme Court, not for the trial court. So we will see whether we were right or not.' Coleman?s main objection to the election is that different precincts used different standards for deciding which votes ? particularly absentee ballots ? were counted or rejected...

Specter delivers death blow to labor union bill

Posted on March 24, 2009
The Hill: "Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced Tuesday he will not vote for cloture on card-check, giving an apparent death blow to the most important congressional issue to organized labor. Specter made the dramatic announcement in a floor speech. His opposition to cloture means Democrats can count on a maximum of 59 votes to move the bill forward, one short of the 60 required to clear Senate rules...

Ohio: School controversy over Gideon Bible distributions

Posted on March 24, 2009
ABC Local: "The ACLU of Ohio claims the district violated the First Amendment when it allowed members of an evangelical group to distribute Bibles to students. A policy committee took a look at the district's procedures . . . "

Iowa judge rejects Davenport parental responsibility ordinance

Posted on March 24, 2009
Chicago Tribune: "A Scott County judge has ruled Davenport's parental responsiblity ordinance is unconstitutional . . . The ordinance calls for a parent to receive a warning letter the first time a juvenile is suspected of breaking a law or violating a curfew...

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