Religion & Law

Paul Jacob: The sky will fall if the ceiling won?t rise?

Posted on January 10, 2011
Paul Jacob writing at Townhall: "To economist John Lott, the current push for a quick increase in the debt level is yet another example of the Obama administration's 'overused tactic of claiming crises to push legislation.' Lott explains that Congress has voted not to raise the debt ceiling before, numerous times, and that a default is not an immediate outcome of the federal government?s credit card being removed from its wallet...

Court refuses to overturn bulletproof vest law; dissent on Commerce power

Posted on January 10, 2011
Associated Press: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge against a federal law making it illegal for criminals to own bulletproof vests. The appeal had questioned Congress' lawmaking ability under the Commerce Clause . . . Justice Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said they would have heard the case...

Court rejects case of US baby sent to Mexico

Posted on January 10, 2011
Associated Press: "The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Texas woman who wants to sue the federal government for sending her U.S. citizen baby to Mexico with the child's illegal immigrant father."

Matt Bowman: Prayers for our brother, Judge John Roll

Posted on January 10, 2011
ADF attorney Matt Bowman writing at CatholicVote.org: "Judge Roll hired me in 2003 fresh out of the first class of Ave Maria School of Law to work in his chambers as a law clerk. I found him among the judges I applied to work for because he listed Knights of Columbus in his biography ...

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Dem planning bill that would outlaw threatening lawmakers

Posted on January 10, 2011
The Hill: "Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) reportedly plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress."

Why teacher pensions don?t work

Posted on January 10, 2011
Joel Klein writing in the Wall Street Journal [full text via Google News]: "We live in a funny world. Bernie Madoff pretended he was getting 8% returns on his clients' investments?and he's in jail for running a Ponzi scheme. But in the public sector that kind of make-believe is common...

The Constitution: Not just for courts

Posted on January 10, 2011
Neomi Rao, assistant professor at George Mason Law School, writing in the Wall Street Journal: "So who, precisely, is supposed to protect the Constitution? Article VI provides that all of our elected and appointed officials in both federal and state government 'shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution' ...

Report: Figures and facts about the recent and growing concern of intolerance and discrimination against Christians in Europe

Posted on January 10, 2011
Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe: ?At the occasion of the OSCE/ODIHR Human Dimension Implementation Meeting on Freedom of Religion (Vienna, Dec 9 ? 10), The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe releases a five-year report...

Glenn Reynolds: The Arizona tragedy and the politics of blood libel

Posted on January 10, 2011
Glenn Reynolds writing in the Wall Street Journal: "To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the 'rhetoric' of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the 'rhetoric' and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible...

Boehner postpones abortion, health care votes after Giffords shooting

Posted on January 10, 2011
LifeNews: "Speaker John Boehner, the pro-life Republican who heads the House of Representatives, has postponed votes originally planned for next week on repealing the ObamaCare health care law and stopping funding of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood...

2nd Circuit ruling opens the door to more nudity

Posted on January 10, 2011
New York Post: "The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the $1.21 million worth of fines that the FCC levied against ABC after alleging that the network violated broadcast indecency standards for daring to show actress Charlotte Ross' naked behind during a 2003 episode of 'NYPD Blue...

Fox News: Arizona mourns death of beloved federal judge

Posted on January 10, 2011
Fox News: "Washington D.C. lawyer [Matt Bowman] did a two-year clerkship for Roll from 2003-2005. He applied on the hope that their common membership in the Knights of Columbus might work to his advantage. They first met during Bowman's job interview ...

WSJ: Judge remembered as fair-minded

Posted on January 10, 2011
Wall Street Journal: "'He would sit at a table with them, eat with them, answer endless questions. He would give all of himself,' said [Alan Sears], a longtime friend and the president of the Alliance Defense Council, a conservative legal organization based in Arizona...

LifeNews: After Giffords shooting, blame game begins on abortion

Posted on January 10, 2011
LifeNews: "Federal Judge John Roll, 63, was among those killed, and he was stopping by the event on the way back from attending Mass. He had been appointed by pro-life President George Bush in 1991 at the recommendation of Sen. John McCain . . . Meanwhile, the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group, condemned the shooting death of Judge John Roll: 'Chief Judge Roll was a great lawyer, sound jurist, and a long-time friend,' ADF general counsel [Alan Sears] told LifeNews...

Victim Profile: John Roll, 63, Arizona federal judge

Posted on January 10, 2011
Ashby Jones and Nathan Koppel writing at WSJ Blogs / Dispatch: "Judge Roll often visited law schools to give guest lectures. His presentation might end mid-afternoon, but he would invariably stick around campus until late at night, talking with students...

WSJ: Family, colleagues grieve for judge

Posted on January 10, 2011
Wall Street Journal: "John Roll, the Arizona federal judge killed Saturday by a gunman at a political event, was seen in the legal community as a conservative and even-handed jurist and to those who knew him personally, a man devoted to his family and his Roman Catholic faith ...

Erik Stanley: Christian school sues for right to use its own building

Posted on January 10, 2011
ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of Tree of Life Christian Schools against the City of Upper Arlington, Ohio. The lawsuit is the result of the City?s denial of zoning approval for Tree of Life to operate its ministry at its building in Upper Arlington ...

In mourning

Posted on January 10, 2011
WORLD: "Had U.S. District Judge John M. Roll not been following his daily habit of attending Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in North Tucson, it is unlikely he would have lost his life . . . No doubt many who knew Roll hold fast to the same confidence his friend [Alan Sears] had...

Albert Mohler: Why the creation-evolution debate is so important

Posted on January 10, 2011
Albert Mohler writing in The Christian Post: "I am willing to accept the authority of science on any number of issues. I am fundamentally agnostic about a host of other scientific concerns - but not where the fundamental truth of the Gospel and the clear teachings of the Bible are at stake...

Canada: Constitutional reference case on polygamy will go down to the wire

Posted on January 10, 2011
The Vancouver Sun: "Evidence so far has been overwhelming that polygamy is inherently harmful both to individuals and to society. That's the bar that government lawyers must leap in order for Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court to conclude that it's okay to override the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and freedom of expression...

Fla., Ky., Neb., bills would restrict abortion access, insurance coverage

Posted on January 10, 2011
Medical News Today: "Bills proposed in Florida and Nebraska would target health insurance coverage of abortion, while the Kentucky Senate approves a measure that would add requirements before a woman can receive an abortion. Summaries appear below."

UK: Catholic schools feel under attack from political critics

Posted on January 10, 2011
Telegraph: "The Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, chairman of the CES, criticised secularists, teachers? leaders and their 'friends in parliament' who have called for faith schools to be abolished . . . Bishop McMahon?s criticism came as the CES published new research showing that Catholic state schools consistently outperform state primary and secondaries for exam results, discipline and maintaining low truancy rates...

RIM ordered to block porn sites in Indonesia

Posted on January 10, 2011
eWeek Europe: "BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has two weeks to block porn websites from its smartphones in Indonesia or risk being shut down, the Indonesian government has said."

New York religious communities step up to reduce abortion

Posted on January 10, 2011
Washington Examiner: "Decrying the latest abortion numbers, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish leaders in NYC declared how they are providing practical support for women . . . Religious leaders often see what politicians do not ? the long-term effects of abortion on women, men, and society...

Polygamy long considered ?unnatural? and criminal in western cultures: prof

Posted on January 10, 2011
Winnipeg Free Press: "A law professor says polygamy has been defined as a crime in western cultures for centuries because it has been considered 'unnatural and dangerous.'"

Independent commission to continue work on government?s televangelist review

Posted on January 10, 2011
CNN: "Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a Christian financial accreditation group, to pick up where his office's review of televangelists and taxes left off . . . Their task is to take a look at the recommendations from the Grassley review, such as evaluating whether churches and houses of worship should file the yearly detailed financial reports that other nonprofits file, called the IRS Form 990...

University of Kentucky prepares for trial on religious discrimination charge

Posted on January 10, 2011
Lexington Herald-Leader: "The University of Kentucky has found itself smack in the middle of a religious discrimination case that is being watched nationwide . . . The trial will determine whether a scientist who has posted Internet opinions regarding biblical interpretation of the universe's creation was not hired because of religious discrimination ? and, if so, how much the university owes him for lost wages and emotional distress...

Mexican bishop emphasizes importance of religious freedom

Posted on January 10, 2011
Catholic News Agency: "Archbishop Jose Martin Rabago of Leon, Mexico recently reflected on the necessity of religious freedom. 'As he recalled Pope Benedict XVI's message for the World Day of Peace, the archbishop noted that religious freedom is the foundation for all other rights a society needs in order to live in justice...

Paul Gottfried: Dick Morris?s New Right

Posted on January 10, 2011
Paul Gottfriend writing in The American Conservative: "Morris and other 'conservative' commentators have pushed the established Right leftward on social issues, while brandishing a sword against those with more modest foreign-policy goals . . . The neoconservatives have backed the Religious Right for tactical reasons, because it helps put wind in their sails ...

New Zealand: McDonald?s under fire for blocking websites advocating homosexual behavior

Posted on January 10, 2011
New Zealand Herald: "McDonald's is under pressure to change the internet access policies at its restaurants because gay websites are not accessible."

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