Religion & Law

Iowa: Justice selection will be left to new gov Branstad

Posted on November 15, 2010
"[T]he panel isn't scheduled to make recommendations until January, likely leaving the choice to Gov.-elect Terry Branstad."

Pro-life groups in IA, MD push back against late-term abortionist

Posted on November 15, 2010
LifeNews: "Nebraska-based late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart may be hoping to expand his abortion business to Iowa and Maryland but pro-life groups in both states promised to push back."

Iowa Governor-elect says court commission should take its time

Posted on November 15, 2010
"The judicial nominating commission is not balanced. You have 12 Democrats and only one Republican on it, so I think to really restore credibility to the court system, it?s important that they not try to rush to judgment."

Iowa: Democrat Gronstal says he won?t change stance on marriage amendment

Posted on November 15, 2010
"Democrats in the Iowa Senate Sunday re-elected Michael Gronstal as their majority leader. But in a two-hour-long closed-door meeting, some Democratic Senators lobbied Gronstal to allow a vote on the issue of same-sex marriage."

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Jay Sekulow and Grégor Puppinck: Is there room left for religious freedom in Turkey?

Posted on November 15, 2010
Jay Sekulow and Grégor Puppinck writing at New Europe: "Turkey is a real cause of concern for religious freedom, both in Turkey and in Europe. The ECLJ, as an NGO dedicated to the promotion of Religious freedom, we believe secularism is not the appropriate response to contend with Islamism and Pluralism...

Suspected Islamist sect members kill Nigerian soldier

Posted on November 15, 2010
Reuters: "Suspected members of a radical Islamist sect in northern Nigeria killed one soldier and seriously injured a second in a drive-by shooting, the latest in a series of such attacks, police said on Monday."

1st Circuit turns away attack on Pledge of Allegiance

Posted on November 15, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the court in April that argued that the historical practice of reciting the phrase as part of the Pledge in no way violates the U.S. Constitution.

Obama: Fed action not designed to weaken dollar

Posted on November 12, 2010
Associated Press: "Staking his ground in the global fight over the world's major currencies, President Barack Obama on Friday disputed claims that the U.S. was deliberately weakening the dollar while accusing China of manipulating its yuan."

?Transgender? people find their voice at NC school

Posted on November 12, 2010
Associated Press: "But her voice still gave her away - callers would refer to her as 'sir' when she answered the phone. So Hatch came to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where speech pathologists teach transgender people how to speak like the people of the sex they're becoming or have become...

Like marriage, committed relationships may protect against stress

Posted on November 12, 2010
USA Today: "A research team from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., studied 501 masters of business administration students (348 men and 153 women) and found the romantic bond of being in a committed relationship alters hormones that can buffer against stress...

Reasons for having sex influence satisfaction, study finds

Posted on November 12, 2010
Yahoo (LiveScience): "The research, reported online Oct. 22 in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, finds that both men and women are more satisfied when having sex out of love and commitment, while mercenary types don't have much fun in bed - having sex to get material goods or to get ahead was associated with a less satisfying experience...

Planned Parenthood abortion biz president makes about $400,000

Posted on November 12, 2010
LifeNews: "New documents uncovered about the Planned Parenthood Federation of America reveal the president of the national abortion business makes almost $400,000 annually in combined salary and benefits."

Stocks drop on China inflation worries

Posted on November 12, 2010
Associated Press: "Stocks are falling as investors worry China might try to slow its surging economy to combat inflation."

Out-of-wedlock births in Michigan: Everyone pays a high price

Posted on November 12, 2010
Michigan Family Forum Policy Brief: "A woman's marital status at the time of pregnancy is a significant factor in putting her child at risk. Nearly two-thirds of out-of-wedlock births and many of the subsequent health problems are paid for with public funds...

Pat Buchanan: The Fed trashes the dollar

Posted on November 12, 2010
Pat Buchanan writing at Townhall: "The Fed is committed to buy $600 billion in bonds from banks and pay for them by printing money that will then be deposited in those banks. The more dollars that flood into the economy, the less every one of them is worth...

G-20 refuses to back US push on China?s currency

Posted on November 12, 2010
Associated Press: "Leaders of 20 major economies on Friday refused to back a U.S. push to make China boost its currency's value, keeping alive a dispute that raises fears of a global trade war amid criticism that cheap Chinese exports are costing American jobs...

ACLU, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch won?t stand up to Islam

Posted on November 12, 2010
Islamist Watch: "By shielding Islamic people, religion, ideologies, governments, and societies from the open criticism routinely applied to all others, these rights groups effectively favor oppressors over victims . . . Their unwillingness to apply the same standards to critics of Islam, Islamists, and the Muslim world as to those supporting them amounts to hypocrisy and dereliction of a self-imposed duty to promote rights standards evenhandedly...

Helen Alvaré: Abortion law is family law

Posted on November 12, 2010
Helen Alvaré writing at Public Discourse: "[I]t is becoming increasingly apparent that abortion is about family relationships, not simply a contest between the state and a woman who happens to be pregnant. Scientific discoveries about human development and the testimonies of women who have had or have considered an abortion suggest that it is family law rather than constitutional law that provides the best means of understanding the issue of abortion...

EU in Kosovo probes organ trafficking

Posted on November 12, 2010
Associated Press: "At least seven people, including a former senior health ministry official, are suspected of involvement in an international network that falsely promised poor people payment for their kidneys and then sold the organs for as much as euro100,000 ($137,000)...

How obscene is video game violence?

Posted on November 12, 2010
USA Today: "Expanding the obscenity umbrella would have a dramatic impact on America's popular culture. Highly violent films or television programs without a hint of nudity or sexual content could potentially lose First Amendment protection. And if we decide that some ideas are so horrendous that they can be added to the obscene list, how can we ever put a cap on government intrusion?"

Does the timing of ?gay rights? litigation matter?

Posted on November 12, 2010
Mike Dorf writing at Dorf on Law: "Federal district courts have recently taken action on gay rights on three fronts: (1) Perry v. Schwarzenegger found a right of same-sex couples in California to marry; (2) Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and its companion case invalidated the provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages that are legal under state law (there Massachusetts); and (3) Log Cabin Republicans v...

U.S.: ?Don?t interrupt gay ban?

Posted on November 12, 2010
Lyle Denniston reports at SCOTUSblog: "The Obama Administration, continuing its defense in court of the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the U.S. military, urged the Supreme Court on Wednesday not to interrupt that policy while its constitutionality is being tested in lower federal courts...

The Obamacare burden to your state budget

Posted on November 12, 2010
Conn Carroll writing at the Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: "The crisis facing states across the country is that Obamacare forces states to massively expand their already burdensome Medicaid rolls. Starting in 2014 states must expand Medicaid to all non-elderly individuals with family incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level...

Brent Bozell: The vast child-fattening conspiracy

Posted on November 12, 2010
Brent Bozell writing at Townhall: "[I]f the issue isn't indecency, but instead, say, obesity, so many of those titans of 'tolerance' suddenly become the censors. Behold San Francisco, the paradise of permissive sexual attitudes. The city council may welcome flowers in your hair, but they have just voted to ban 'Happy Meal' toys unless the 'happy' menu is low in fat and sodium, and includes fruits and vegetables...

Nine out of 10 write-in votes for Murkowski went unchallenged

Posted on November 12, 2010
The Hill: "Almost 90 percent of the first round of write-in ballots counted in Alaska on Wednesday were unchallenged votes for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R). Repubican challenger Joe Miller's campaign observers challenged 8.5 percent of the ballots, but were only successfully in setting aside 1...

Health rules are waived more often

Posted on November 12, 2010
New York Times: "As Obama administration officials put into place some of the new rules that go into effect under the federal health care law, they are issuing more waivers to try to prevent some insurers and employers from dropping coverage and also promising to modify other rules because many of the existing policies would not meet new standards...

7 of nation?s 10 richest counties are in DC area

Posted on November 12, 2010
WTOP: "The D.C. area makes plenty of Top 10 lists, and this one shows its residents make the big bucks. According to a new report from Newsweek, seven of the nation's 10 richest counties are in this region."

Interracial marriage and Mormon polygamy: ADF debates at the University of Virginia Law School

Posted on November 12, 2010
Jordand Lorence writing at Speak Up Movement: "I want to dispel a false argument made by those seeking to redefine marriage. They frequently argue that marriage laws are unconstitutional like old laws banning interracial marriage . . . "

ACSTO: So what did the Supreme Court think?

Posted on November 12, 2010
ADF Attorney David Cortman writing at Inside the Issues: "To the attorneys defending the program, Justice Kennedy asked whether an STO would be permitted to discriminate based on race. His hypothetical assumed that no federal or state laws forbid such actions (which they do)...

Schools criticized on First Amendment rights

Posted on November 12, 2010
Daily Iowan: "[Casey Mattox], who served as legal counsel on the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez case, spoke to UI students on Wednesday about First Amendment rights and the importance of students uniting against universities when they infringe upon them...

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