Religion & Law

What do You Get When You Add Megan Williams to Matthew Shepard and Victim-Offender Mediation? A Hate Crime Law That Prosecutors Will Actually Want to Use

Posted on January 28, 2009
Over the backdrop of the Megan Williams case, this comment highlights some of the universal difficulties state prosecutors have in pursuing hate crimes. The analysis considers the tangential implications that failure to prosecute hate crimes has on society, the potentially curative effect of passing proposed federal legislation, and the necessity of overlaying restorative justice to both heal damage from and decrease incidents of hate crimes.

Has the FCC overstepped its regulatory authority?

Posted on January 28, 2009
To address the question of whether the Federal Communications Commission has overstepped its regulatory authority, Part II of this article will present a quick history of broadcast media, starting with the first radio signals, continuing on to the creation of the television and television networks, and concluding with the creation of the Federal Communications Commission...

The Pledge Protection Act and the Conflicting Fundamental Rights Limitations on the Article III Power to Control the Supreme Court?s Appellate Jurisdiction

Posted on January 28, 2009
This Comment examines the potential consequences of the 2007 PPA to the fundamental rights of American citizens should state courts decide the question of the constitutionality of the pledge differently. When state courts declare ?under God? either constitutional or unconstitutional, the state courts are also assigning fundamental rights relative to the phrase ?under God...

?New HRC report gives state-by-state breakdown of 2008 legislation affecting LGBT community?

Posted on January 28, 2009
The HRC Back Story Blog summarizes and links to the report. Visit Site » Share This

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South Carolina: 24 Hour Wait Abortion Bill heads to House

Posted on January 28, 2009
GreenvilleOnline.com: “Women seeking an abortion in South Carolina would have to wait at least 24 hours after their ultrasound under a bill given initial approval Wednesday by a House subcommittee. The measure would increase the waiting time from an hour to a day ...

Suspicious fire at Tampa strip club

Posted on January 28, 2009
Tampabays10.com: “Just before 5 a.m., Tampa fire rescue responded to an automatic fire alarm at the Platinum Showgirls Club at 4009 W ML King Blvd . . . “ Visit Site » Share This

Strip club proposed near Fremont, Neb.

Posted on January 28, 2009
AP: “A woman is taking another shot at opening a strip club near Fremont. Jamie Nielsen wants to open a club in a vacant building that was the former TJ’s Lounge on U.S. Highway 30 in Ames. That’s beyond the zoning jurisdiction of the city of Fremont ...

Grassley launches porn inquiry at National Science Foundation

Posted on January 28, 2009
Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, on Tuesday fired off a letter to the NSF?s inspector general requesting all documents related to the ?numerous reports? and seven investigations into ?Abuse of NSF IT Resources? cited in the foundation?s 68-page semiannual report.

The Post-Neuhaus Future of Evangelicals and Catholics Together

Posted on January 28, 2009
Christianity Today: . . . When Richard John Neuhaus died January 8, Prison Fellowship’s Charles Colson didn’t just lose a friend of 25 years. He also lost his partner in convening Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Since its first publication in 1994, “The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,” the group has issued other consensus statements on [...

West Virginia: ?In God We Trust? plate doesn?t violate DMV rules

Posted on January 28, 2009
The Chareleston Gazette: “Although proposed legislation to authorize a state-issued “In God We Trust” license plate may generate heated debate, the state Division of Motor Vehicles has no restrictions on religious messages on vanity plates ...

Fate of Hawaii civil unions bill may rest with one State Senator

Posted on January 28, 2009
The potential swing vote on the committee is state Sen. Robert Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), who has opposed same-sex marriage in the past but said he will keep an open mind on civil unions . . .

Iceland to appoint lesbian to PM post

Posted on January 28, 2009
AP: “Iceland’s next leader will be an openly gay former flight attendant who parlayed her experience as a union organizer into a decades-long political career . . . “ Visit Site » Share This

Bills to legalize assisted suicide files in New Hampshire, Hawaii legislatures

Posted on January 27, 2009
With Washington state voters deciding to become the second state to legalize assisted suicide and courts in Montana poised to make it the third, the pro-euthanasia movement is working with legislators in Hawaii and New Hampshire to try to make them states four and five to allow the grisly practice.

Matt Bowman: Diagnosing humanity

Posted on January 27, 2009
When Lauren Richardson?s mother told her back in September that she and her father had agreed to take Lauren out of the hospital and care for her at home, Lauren wept deep and emotional tears of joy. Her mother cried, too, as they held hands as mother and daughter...

Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: Chief Justice Roberts

Posted on January 27, 2009
Okay, so Chief Justice John Roberts can't administer an oath of office to save his life. But he can hire brilliant and fabulous law clerks

Jeremy Tedesco: Plaintiffs in Illinois ?moment of silence? case lack standing under the Constitution

Posted on January 27, 2009
The Northern District of Illinois recently struck down an Illinois law that mandates a brief period of silence before the start of each public school day in Sherman v. Township High School District 214. The lawsuit was brought by a prominent Illinois atheist and his daughter, who attends a public school where the moment of silence was implemented...

Alan Sears: Obama is building a monument to tolerance on the rubble of religious freedom

Posted on January 27, 2009
It is the swiftness of the onslaught, not the scope of the agenda, which surprises. Repeatedly, during the campaign, Mr. Obama affirmed in speeches and on his Web site his wholehearted support for the homosexual legal and political agenda. Now, that agenda has moved en masse to the front and center of the new president?s parade of ?change...

California: Whittier council looks to regulate sexually oriented businesses

Posted on January 27, 2009
The City Council will consider two new ordinances - one that regulate cell phone towers and another that adds to the restrictions on adult businesses - at its 6:30 p.m. meeting today.

Michigan: Sex shop fight hits 3 years

Posted on January 27, 2009
But a series of problems and disputes that started in about 2005 and involve building permits, certificates of occupancy and zoning ordinances, has kept the store closed and the two parties in and out of court.

California upholds right of Christian school to make admission, discipline decisions in face of discrimination charges

Posted on January 27, 2009
The California Court of Appeal yesterday held that the state?s anti-discrimination laws do not forbid California Lutheran High School from using religious criteria in making admission and discipline decisions.

Florida: ?Brave? Palm Springs girl, 11, fights off kidnapper near strip club

Posted on January 27, 2009
Palm Beach Post: An 11-year-old girl this morning fought off a man who tried to drag her into woods, Palm Springs police said . . . The girl was walking to a bus stop in the 3200 block of Lake Worth Road about 8:30 a.m. when the man emerged from a wooded area behind the Mirage [...

Texas: Harllingen Man Stabbed at Strip Club

Posted on January 27, 2009
KVEO.com reports: “. . . The stabbing occurred at a gentleman’s club at Harlingen’s Jaguars Gold Club early Sunday morning. Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio says 29 year-old Christopher Castillo was leaving the club when a man approached him and stabbed him multiple times ...

Christian group now allowed to distribute fliers at Penn. school

Posted on January 27, 2009
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4812 ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE January 27, 2009 ? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom Christian group now allowed to distribute fliers at Penn. school Child Evangelism Fellowship given same access to flier distribution program freely offered to other groups, ADF attorneys to dismiss lawsuit PHILADELPHIA ? Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund dismissed a [...

Connecticut To Consider Transgender Anti-Discrimination Proposal

Posted on January 27, 2009
Hartford Courant: “A proposal, to be introduced in the legislative session that begins Wednesday, would prevent people who in any way blur gender lines from being discriminated against in the workplace or while seeking housing or obtaining credit...

?What Exactly is Wrong With Polygamy??

Posted on January 27, 2009
Solangel Maldonado writes on Concurring Opinions: Finally, I would like to return to the argument that polygamy is immoral. Although many Americans hold this view, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the majority?s belief that certain conduct is immoral does not mean that it ?may use the power of the State to enforce these [...

?Cloaking Extremism: Obama and Same-Sex Marriage?

Posted on January 27, 2009
On the marriage issue, on the other hand, Obama apparently felt forced to engineer a more ?moderate? position by the appearance of Proposition 8 on the California ballot.

Episcopal Diocese of Virginia closer to blessing ?same-sex unions?

Posted on January 27, 2009
The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia inched closer to blessing same-sex unions Saturday when delegates approved a resolution affirming "the inherent integrity and blessedness of committed Christian relationships between two adult persons."

The Devil?s Account: Men, Morals, and Constitutional Goods

Posted on January 27, 2009
Thomas M. Poole, The Devil’s Account: Men, Morals, and Constitutional Goods (January 22, 2009). LSE Legal Studies Working Paper No. 1/2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1331370 Alan Brudner’s constitutional theory offers us an ideal constitution or ‘heaven of laws’...

Obama?s SG Pick Elena Kagan?Part 3

Posted on January 27, 2009
Ed Whalen has this post on the National Review Bench Memos discussing Elena Kagan’s opposition to the Solomon Amendment describing it as extreme even though it was approved in 1993 by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Clinton...

Mass. law restricting speech around abortion clinics challenged on appeal

Posted on January 27, 2009
An Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney together with ADF attorneys have filed a brief on behalf of pro-life advocates in federal appellate court against a Massachusetts law that creates a 35-foot "buffer" zone around abortion clinics.

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