Religion & Law

OH: Lake Local appoints legal counsel over values statement

Posted on December 21, 2010
CantonRep.com: "Appointed legal counsel to represent the district in the dispute over the district?s values statement. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has threatened to sue the district for valuing a 'belief in God' in the statement. The board removed the phrase last December and has tabled approval of the strategic plan, including the values statement, this year...

NC: King to hold lottery to pick flags for Veteran?s Memorial

Posted on December 21, 2010
Winston-Salem Journal: "The only flags that will fly next year at the Veteran's Memorial will be Christian ones, based on applications the city has received from about 80 King residents . . . [Joe Infranco], an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund who helped craft the policy, and City Attorney Walter Pitt have said that the policy follows legal guidelines because it allows individuals to express their religious views, which are protected by the First Amendment...

Christian groups react to DADT repeal

Posted on December 21, 2010
Charisma Mag: "Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Litigation Counsel [Daniel Blomberg] says the Senate?s cave-in to pressure from activists to impose homosexual behavior on our military will place our troops? religious liberties in unprecedented jeopardy."

Court says ?no? to nurse?s conscience rights

Posted on December 21, 2010
OneNewsNow: "A New York nurse has lost her appeal of a court decision involving a work incident that she believes violated her conscience rights . . . 'Unfortunately, the Obama administration has now taken the position that it will not enforce rights under the Church Amendment and has tried to set aside regulations passed in the Bush administration to give the Church Amendments more teeth and to protect pro-life healthcare workers,' [ADF Attorney Steve Aden] laments...

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USA Today: DADT repeal raises concerns for chaplains

Posted on December 21, 2010
USA Today: "The Alliance Defense Fund's [Daniel Blomberg] argues that by bowing to activists, the Senate is placing the religious liberty of troops and chaplains in 'unprecedented jeopardy . . . No Americans, and especially not our troops, should be forced to abandon their religious beliefs...

Law Review: Originalism and Summary Judgement

Posted on December 21, 2010
Brian T. Fitzpatrick, Originalism and Summary Judgement (December 16, 2010). Ohio State Law Journal, Vol. 71, No. 5, p. 919, 2010; Vanderbilt Law and Economics Research Paper No. 10-38; Vanderbilt Public Law Research Paper No. 10-47. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn...

NC Supreme Court and Minnesota Court of Appeals on second-parent adoptions

Posted on December 21, 2010
Leonard Link: "The latest chapter in litigation over second-parent adoptions -- two appellate decisions issued in recent days -- bears this out, as the North Carolina Supreme Court overruled both trial and intermediate appellate courts to find that a second-parent adoption approved five years ago was 'void ab initio,' while Minnesota's intermediate appellate court found that a trial judge erred by sanctioning an attorney for raising a similar argument in seeking to set aside an eight-year-old second-parent adoption decree...

UK court strikes down forced-marriage law

Posted on December 21, 2010
Hindustan Times: "Campaigners against forced marriages were left worried after a British court, ruling on an immigration matter on Tuesday, struck down a law aimed at preventing such marriages. The High Court overturned a ban on married people from outside Europe joining their British spouses if they are below 21 years of age...

Malta: Attorney General appeals in ?transsexual marriage? case

Posted on December 21, 2010
Times of Malta: "The Attorney General has filed an appeal from a court sentence which had granted Joanne Cassar the right to marry a man after her gender reassignment surgery."

Report cites abuses from China?s one-child rule

Posted on December 21, 2010
New York Times: "Thirty years after it introduced some of the world?s most sweeping population-control measures, the Chinese government continues to use a variety of coercive family planning tactics, from financial penalties for households that violate the restrictions to the forced sterilization of women who have already had one child, according to a report issued by a human rights group...

Ireland: Abortion rate will rise if legalized

Posted on December 21, 2010
Independent: "The evidence is clear. Legalisation increases abortion rates dramatically. Irish figures for abortion remain comparatively low because we have not legalised abortion in this country. We have an average rate of approximately 6,000 abortions per annum (4,422 performed last year in the UK)...

Ark Encounter park get preliminary OK from Kentucky tourism board

Posted on December 21, 2010
Miami Herald: "A state tourism board gave preliminary approval Monday for a religious theme park to apply for up to $37 million in state tax incentives."

FFRF objects to cross atop Tenn. public library

Posted on December 21, 2010
FFRF: "Crosses belong on churchtops, not on public libraries, even in the bible belt. That's the gist of the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Dec. 10 letter to library officials in Hawkins County, Tenn., about the display of an illuminated Latin cross atop a Christmas tree decoration in Church Hill...

Lieberman sees a next step for ?same-sex rights? in gov?t

Posted on December 21, 2010
The Day: "With the historic repeal of the 'don't ask, don't tell' law, Sen. Joe Lieberman says the next step for gay rights is to ensure that same-sex partners of federal employees receive the same benefits as heterosexual spouses."

Veterans of Foreign Wars warns that DADT repeal could end all-volunteer military

Posted on December 21, 2010
CNSNews: "Veterans of Foreign Wars issued a statement warning that implementation of the new law should proceed with caution and take into consideration the opposition of nearly 60 percent of combat troops who say the repeal will have 'a negative or very negative impact on unit cohesion and performance...

EHCR ruling won?t impact Malta abortion restrictions, judge says

Posted on December 21, 2010
Times of Malta: "Malta?s strict anti-abortion laws will not be affected by the recent judgment of Europe?s supreme court relating to abortion in Ireland, according to a Maltese judge who sat on the case."

Time for CA bishops to follow Phoenix bishop?s example?

Posted on December 21, 2010
California Catholic Daily: "Catholic Healthcare West granted money to the San Francisco Health Plan, a health care program that provided funding for abortion to children as young as 12. Worse than this, the San Francisco Health Plan does not provide parental notification or consent for these services, meaning that one?s 12-year old daughter could have an abortion performed upon her through the plan without a mother or father?s knowledge or consent, and with the financial backing of a Catholic institution...

Ireland: Terminally ill woman refused abortion in Cork hospital

Posted on December 21, 2010
Irish Central: "A woman who was terminally ill with cancer was refused an abortion at Cork University hospital and had to travel to Britain to have the procedure."

Harvard, Yale open up to ROTC plans after DADT vote

Posted on December 21, 2010
CNN: "The presidents of Harvard and Yale universities have expressed interest in ROTC programs after Congress voted to repeal the military's controversial 'don't ask, don't tell' policy that has banned openly gay and lesbian service members."

Same-sex couple adoption ruled invalid in North Carolina

Posted on December 21, 2010
News Observer: "North Carolina's highest court on Monday voided a state senator's adoption of her former domestic partner's biological son, a move that appears to close a method for same-sex couples to adopt unless the legislature steps in." Opinion is here.

Judge Bernice Donald nominated to 6th Circuit

Posted on December 21, 2010
Judgepedia: "President Barack Obama nominated Judge Bernice Donald to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit."

Obama names seven to U.S. District Courts

Posted on December 21, 2010
Judgepedia: "President Barack Obama nominated seven judges to U.S. District Courts across the nation."

Spain: Party leader Rajoy softens stance on same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on December 21, 2010
Typically Spanish: "The Partido Popular leader, Mariano Rajoy, is now saying that before overturning gay marriage legislation in Spain he will wait to see what the Constitutional Court decides over the appeal placed to it by his party. Rajoy says he will also see what the people think before eliminating the law which allows couples of the same sex to get married...

UK: ECHR same-sex ?marriage? legal challenge bid stalled by paperwork

Posted on December 21, 2010
BBC: "A bid by eight British couples to challenge the UK's ban on gay marriages and heterosexual civil partnerships has been postponed, campaigners have said. Campaign group Equal Love postponed the legal challenge at the European Court of Human Rights to next month...

KS: Two churches battle mission ?driveway? tax

Posted on December 21, 2010
KCTV: "The suit was filed Monday by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of First Baptist Church of Mission and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. Mission assessed the church property and parsonage of First Baptist Church at nearly $1,000 and St...

ACLU says no Merry Christmas for Nevada school?

Posted on December 21, 2010
Gather: "Virgin Valley High School won?t be having a Merry Christmas this year. Alliance Defense Fund Attorney [David Cortman] said an agreement was reached between the school and the Nevada ACLU disallowing Christmas activities. Employees and teachers are banned from saying ?Merry Christmas?, but are they?"

Concern and uncertainty: Religious liberty questions after DADT repeal

Posted on December 21, 2010
WORLD Mag: "Will chaplains be allowed to preach on what the Bible says about homosexuality without being accused of hate speech? Will conservative denominations pull their endorsement of chaplains? . . . 'We hope that our nation?s leaders will work to ensure that none of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are ever made to choose between serving their country or obeying their God as result of this damaging policy decision,' said Alliance Defense Fund?s [Daniel Blomberg]...

Erik Stanley: Kansas town sued for taxing church attendance

Posted on December 21, 2010
ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "ADF filed a lawsuit against the City of Mission, Kansas, after the City instituted a 'driveway tax' and applied it to churches and other non-profits . . . the charge is a property tax in disguise...

Alan Sears: In Wisconsin, a victory for life and conscience

Posted on December 21, 2010
ADF President and CEO Alan Sears writing at Inside the Issues: "Call it a 'two-fer': a long-awaited decision out of Wisconsin last week that scored a major victory for both the sanctity of life and religious freedom ? specifically, the right of medical workers to honor their conscience...

Author of pedophilia guide on his way to Fla. jail

Posted on December 21, 2010
Breitbart: "Phillip Greaves of Pueblo, Colo., will be booked into the Polk County jail Tuesday. Officials say his first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday."

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