Religion & Law

In France, civil unions gain favor over marriage

Posted on December 16, 2010
"Whatever their reasons, and they vary widely, French couples are increasingly shunning traditional marriages and opting instead for civil unions, to the point that there are now two civil unions for every three marriages."

Senate plans weekend work to ratify START, pass spending bill

Posted on December 16, 2010
The Hill: "The upper chamber is expected to vote on final passage of the tax package shortly after noon Wednesday, which will clear the way for debate to begin on the nuclear arms treaty and the 1,924-page spending bill." Heritage Foundation: Release the START Negotiating Record

Daniel Henninger at WSJ: What are taxes for?

Posted on December 16, 2010
Daniel Henninger writing in the Wall Street Journal [full text via Google News]: "Do we pay taxes to support federal, state and local government, to reduce the deficit, or just maybe for something else? . . . What balance between the private and public economies will best allow the U...

GOP will paralyze Senate floor with reading of 1,924-page spending bill

Posted on December 16, 2010
The Hill: "Republicans will paralyze the Senate floor for 50 hours by forcing clerks to read every single paragraph of the 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill."

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

NC: High Point prayer policy resurfaces

Posted on December 16, 2010
WXII: "A High Point City Council member plans to renew his campaign to allow sectarian prayers at meetings."

Obama?s see-no-evil, do-nothing Justice Department ignores voting rights

Posted on December 16, 2010
J. Christian Adams writing in The Washington Examiner: "One thing worse than a hypocrite is a hypocrite in government office. The Obama Department of Justice has plenty of hypocrites. Nowhere are they more apparent than when they attack the voting rights record of the Bush Justice Department...

Barcelona: Islamist stronghold on the Mediterranean

Posted on December 16, 2010
Hudson New York: "The three cables, all of which are from the US Embassy in Madrid, say that Catalonia has become 'a prime base of operations" for Islamic terrorists; and thanks to uncontrolled immigration the region, it now has a "large Muslim population susceptible to jihadist recruitment...

Same-sex ?marriage? supporters plan new vote in NY Senate

Posted on December 16, 2010
WSJ (AP): "New York's most influential advocates for gay rights say the chances are better than ever to legalize same-sex marriage, even in a Republican-controlled Senate."

LifeSiteNews: Ireland?s pro-life laws violated woman?s rights: European court

Posted on December 16, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The European Court of Human Rights has found that Ireland?s constitutional legal protections for the unborn violated the right to privacy of one of the three applicants in a mixed decision in the much-anticipated ABC case. The Court ordered the Irish government to pay ?15,000 to the third applicant within three months...

Video: Pro-life license plates set to debut in NJ

Posted on December 16, 2010
CBS: "A woman?s freedom to choose has taken to the roads. New license plates pushing an anti-abortion pro-life position are about to arrive in New Jersey . . . Dr. Elizabeth Rex of the Children First Foundation said the plate is all about adoption awareness...

Senate omnibus bill has abortion concerns, approval tanks

Posted on December 16, 2010
LifeNews: "Senate Democrats introduced an omnibus spending bill yesterday to keep the federal government running into the next fiscal year and the measure contains abortion concerns. The introduction of the bill, which Republicans and pro-life advocates are already opposing, comes as new polling data shows Congress? approval rating continues at rock bottom...

Kansas doctors want to bring abortions back to Wichita

Posted on December 16, 2010
LifeNews: "Mila Means has reportedly purchased abortion equipment from the now-closed Women?s Health Care Services formerly operated by Tiller and plans to begin doing abortions on Saturdays at her medical office near East Harry and Webb Road in Wichita...

Alaska abortion notification law takes effect

Posted on December 16, 2010
Reuters: "Parents of girls under the age of 18 seeking an abortion in Alaska must be notified, under a new law that took effect on Tuesday after a state judge rejected arguments against it."

Leah Ward Sears: Why the marriage gap is bad for America

Posted on December 16, 2010
"This means . . . reconnecting marriage and parenthood in the public imagination, encouraging both religious and secular civic organizations to reach out to Americans from less-privileged backgrounds, and also urging state lawmakers to reconsider how existing divorce laws are helping -- or hurting -- our families...

Iowa: Legal challenge to judicial retention vote is questioned

Posted on December 16, 2010
Des Moines Register: "Three lawyers who challenged the results of Iowa's Supreme Court retention vote could have raised questions about the ballot before the election, a Drake University law professor said Wednesday. Because they didn't, the lawyers will most likely have difficulty proving their case, the professor and other legal scholars said...

New Jersey Supreme Court controversy

Posted on December 16, 2010
New York Times: "When Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey chose not to renominate Justice John Wallace Jr. to the State Supreme Court in May, it was a case of political overreach. The situation is now a national disgrace, thanks to the governor, the State Senate president, Stephen Sweeney, and Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto...

Delaware Supreme Court to decide constitutionality of suspending statute of limitations in sex-abuse cases

Posted on December 16, 2010
News Journal: "The Delaware Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that could undermine, if not cripple, all 150 pending priest sexual-abuse lawsuits in Delaware. In the case of James Sheehan v. Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and Salesianum School, the religious order challenges the constitutionality of the Delaware Child Victims Act of 2007...

DC Circuit upholds FTC jurisdiction over purported religious organization

Posted on December 16, 2010
Religion Clause: "In Daniel Chapter One v. FTC, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 25496 (DC Cir., Dec. 10 2010), the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that an organization's formal legal status as a religious corporation sole does not prevent the Federal Trade Commission from regulating its advertisements for dietary supplements...

Indonesia: American man gets jail time for blasphemy

Posted on December 16, 2010
Associated Press: "An Indonesian court has sentenced an American businessman to five months in jail for marching into a mosque during Islamic prayers and ripping cables from the loud speakers."

Pope calls Christians the most persecuted

Posted on December 16, 2010
Associated Press: "Pope Benedict XVI singled out Christians as the religious group that suffers from the most persecution on Thursday, denouncing lack of freedom of worship as an 'intolerable' threat to world security."

SCOTUSblog: Delay on health care appeal?

Posted on December 16, 2010
SCOTUSblog: "The Justice Department, disagreeing with a strategy preferred by the state of Virginia, plans to go to a federal appeals court rather than directly to the Supreme Court when it appeals a federal judge?s ruling Monday against the new health insurance mandate...

WV resort will host chief justices

Posted on December 16, 2010
Charleston Daily Mail: "A major conference of chief justices from around the country will be at the resort in 2014, and officials say the meeting of prominent judicial leaders could be a long-term boost for West Virginia tourism. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robin Davis announced Tuesday that the joint meeting of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators is set for July 2014...

Marines: A vote for repeal is a vote to sacrifice soldiers

Posted on December 16, 2010
FRC: "Anyone who's trying to pick a fight with the Marines over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' should have to answer this question, which Gen. James Amos turned on a hostile reporter yesterday: 'Have you been out with the Marines in an intense firefight, you personally?' The President certainly hasn't...

Austria: Judge rules that yodeling offends Muslims

Posted on December 16, 2010
IsraelNationalNews.com: "The citizen, 63-year-old Helmut G., was told by the court that his yodeling offended his next-door Muslim neighbors, who accused him of trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin."

U.S. a refuge for homeschoolers ? for now

Posted on December 16, 2010
The Desert Rock Voice: "The Alliance Defense Fund (www.alliancedefensefund.org) provided funding to the Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org) in their effort to assist the Romeikes . . . Two million or about 4% of school-age children in the United States are homeschooled...

Feds force Okla. bank to remove crosses, Bible verse

Posted on December 16, 2010
KOCO: "A small-town bank in Oklahoma said the Federal Reserve won?t let it keep religious signs and symbols on display . . . The examiners came to Perkins last week. And the team from Kansas City deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller?s counter and buttons that say 'Merry Christmas, God With Us...

Stats link polygamy to sex trafficking, domestic violence

Posted on December 16, 2010
Toronto Star: "Rose McDermott, who teaches political psychology at Brown University in Rhode Island, testified Thursday at a B.C. Supreme Court reference case examining polygamy that she?s conducted a statistical analysis of polygyny ? in which a man has multiple wives...

?We may not like polygamy, but decriminalization makes sense?

Posted on December 16, 2010
Marina Adshade, economist at Dalhousie University, writing in the Globe and Mail: "In the economic sense a policy is not optimal if someone can be made better off without making others worse off. If this is the criterion, then it has to be that criminalization of polygamy not be an optimal policy...

Sessions: No way to ?master? massive spending bill before vote

Posted on December 16, 2010
CNSNews: "Sen. Jeff Session (R.-Ala.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that there is ?no way? someone could master the full 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill before Congress votes on it later this week."

Europe escapes forced abortion rule

Posted on December 16, 2010
Charisma Mag: "'No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless, and no one should force any sovereign nation to give up its right to protect life in its constitution if it so chooses,' says ADF Legal Counsel [Roger Kiska], who is based in Europe...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.