Religion & Law

Christian Teacher Wants to Pray on High Court Steps

Posted on July 16, 2010
Christian Post: "A Christian legal firm has threatened U.S. Supreme Court officials with a lawsuit unless they state in writing that people can quietly pray on the court's grounds. A letter was sent by the Alliance Defense Fund on Thursday on behalf of a Wickenburg, Ariz...

Students Allegedly Ordered to Stop Praying Outside Supreme Court Building

Posted on July 16, 2010
Fox News: "According to Nate Kellum, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, a police officer ?abruptly? interrupted the prayer and ordered the group to cease and desist. 'They were told to stop praying because they were violating the law and they had to take their prayer elsewhere,' Kellum told FOX News Radio...

?Same-sex marriage in District narrowly upheld by D.C. Court of Appeals?

Posted on July 16, 2010
Washington Post: "Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which has been battling gay unions, said: 'The decision from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals today means that those living in our nation's capital are being denied their most fundamental freedom -- the right to vote...

Supreme Court Case Regarding Pickets Could Weaken First Amendment Protections

Posted on July 16, 2010
Liberty Counsel: "The case involving controversial protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers is raising concerns about the future of First Amendment protections for all Americans. Liberty Counsel is concerned about the effects this case could have on First Amendment rights and has filed an amicus brief with the U...

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7th Circuit: Asylum case questions whether coerced abortion under China?s one-child policy is persecution

Posted on July 16, 2010
"Whether in China?s prudish culture the pulling down of an 18-year-old girl?s pants by officers who were using force to try to extract urine from her, jailing her until her family paid a fine equal to a third of her year?s wages, and feeding her tainted food in the jail amounted to persecution is an issue in the first instance for the Board to decide...

Split court: DC citizens can?t vote on marriage

Posted on July 16, 2010
Michael Foust of Townhall (Baptist Press): "The suit was brought by D.C.-area pastor Harry Jackson, former D.C. delegate Walter Fauntroy and others who were represented by attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund and StandforMarriageDC.com . . . Austin R...

?D.C. Court of Appeals rejects anti-gay marriage move?

Posted on July 16, 2010
Windy City Times: "While Bishop Harry Jackson, a pastor in Maryland, has been the public face of this litigation, the truth is that outside groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund are the driving force behind these anti-equality measures...

Coalition May Appeal D.C. Marriage Ruling to Supreme Court

Posted on July 16, 2010
Charisma: "This case involves the fundamental right of individual Americans to vote," said Byron Babione, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and a member of its Marriage Litigation Center. "It is an extremely important issue and one which could be very attractive to the Supreme Court...

Attorney: Obscenity case ?critical?

Posted on July 16, 2010
One News Now: "A major pornography trial involving an adult film producer who has criticized the prosecution of obscenity cases is under way in Washington, DC. Pat Trueman, special counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and former chief prosecutor of Department of Justice obscenity cases, tells OneNewsNow the case is a holdover from the Bush administration ...

Supreme Court Backs Homosexuals Against Christians, But Crucial Issue Sent Back to Lower Court

Posted on July 16, 2010
National Catholic Register: "The Supreme Court has given a California public law school the go-ahead to defund a Christian student club for restricting membership to Christians willing to abstain from sex until marriage . . . 'It seems self-evidently nonsensical,' agreed Greg Baylor, chief counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund...

?DC?s gay marriage law survives court challenge?

Posted on July 16, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "The DC Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Washington was within its rights to block a popular vote on same-sex marriage because the results could violate its human rights law. The city legalized gay marriage in March . . ...

Foundation to fight restriction of prayer at Supreme Court

Posted on July 16, 2010
Spero News: The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to U.S. Supreme Court officials on July 15 that urges them to stop their police officers from prohibiting people from quietly praying outside the court building . . . ?Christians shouldn?t be silenced for exercising their beliefs through quiet prayer on public property,? said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum...

4th Circuit upholds Virginia mixed alcohol restrictions on sexually oriented businesses

Posted on July 16, 2010
Plaintiffs are three nightclubs where women give erotic dance performances wearing only g-strings and pasties. The clubs brought First Amendment, vagueness, and overbreadth challenges to Virginia?s alcohol licensing program, which allows the clubs to serve beer and wine but not mixed beverages.

Sources: Obama Administration Vetting N.Y. Lawyer for D.C. Circuit

Posted on July 16, 2010
Blog of the Legal Times: "Caitlin Halligan, a top lawyer in the Manhattan district attorney's office, may be headed to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit."

Judge rejects Schwarzenegger minimum wage request

Posted on July 16, 2010
Yahoo News (AP): "A judge on Friday declined to force the state controller to comply with an order by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pay state workers minimum wage while the state remains without a budget . . . Deputy Controller Hallye Jordan said the decision means state workers will continue to receive their full wages in July and August...

Fri. July 16th at 9 pm EST ? Greg Baylor on the Hannity Show: Students prohibited from praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on July 16, 2010
ADF attorney Greg Baylor will be on Hannity on Fox News Channel tonight, Friday July 16th, live at 9:30 PM Eastern. He will be in studio discussing the situation involving Arizona students prohibited from praying outside SCOTUS.

Is the ?Kennedy Court? Over?

Posted on July 16, 2010
Linda Greenhouse writes at the NY Times: "But during this past term, Justice Kennedy was in dissent in 5 of the 18 cases decided by five-vote majorities (a figure that amounts to one-quarter of the 73 cases decided with signed opinions, down from 31 percent in the previous term and 40 percent in the term before that...

Argentina: A judge refused to marry gay couples because ?it is against the law of God?

Posted on July 16, 2010
InfoRegion (Google Translation): The General Peace Judge Covello Marta Pico that he does not marry a same-sex couples because this contrary to their religious convictions: "Nobody is going to change my thinking. Someone is going to marry those couples, if they have orders, but not me, "said the magistrate.

West Virginia governor names replacement for Senator Byrd

Posted on July 16, 2010
Reuters: "Governor Joe Manchin on Tuesday appointed his former general counsel, Carte Goodwin, as interim successor to Senator Robert Byrd, who died last month at age 92 after 57 years in Congress."

Gitmo Detainees Serve Time By Playing Games, Talking to Family on Skype, Taking Classes

Posted on July 16, 2010
Fox News: "President Obama has not fulfilled his pledge to close the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, but he has brought Skype, Playstation3 and "life skills" classes to the detainees at the island facility." (Notably: This report, dated July 13th, is not showing up in Google News...

Dale Schowngerdt on Chris Fabry Live: The Mass. Federal DOMA rulings

Posted on July 15, 2010
ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt appeared on Chris Fabry Live to discuss the Massachusetts Federal DOMA rulings | MP3 8:56 mins

DC Court of Appeals: OK to lock out voters on marriage

Posted on July 15, 2010
ADF, Stand4 Marriage DC seriously considering appeal to U.S. Supreme Court

Doug Napier on the Hugh Hewitt Show: 888 905 PRAY and other ADF cases, initiatives and projects

Posted on July 15, 2010
ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss some of ADF's latest initiatives. | MP3 7:40 mins| www.adfonhugh.org

Seth Schuknecht on the Hugh Hewitt Show: The Blackstone Legal Fellowship

Posted on July 15, 2010
Hugh Hewitt interviewed Seth Schuknecht, an intern in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. | MP3 5:45 Mins

Three Neglected Economic Lessons from American History

Posted on July 15, 2010
Mark Hendrickson writes at Grove City College Center for Vision and Values: "Here are three of the most vitally important lessons from American economic history that are widely neglected today: 1) the history of our money, 2) the Constitution?s built-in bulwark against runaway government spending, and 3) government?s counterproductive responses to economic recessions...

Senate Republicans Respond to Berwick Appointment, Seek Hearing, Block Judges

Posted on July 15, 2010
"Berwick is the new director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services who has praised British programs that ration care . . . "

Obama Admin First Defends Abortion $ in Health Care, Now Promises None

Posted on July 15, 2010
LifeNews: "Officials in the Obama administration are scrambling to respond to evidence showing the new health care law President Barack Obama signed will fund elective abortions in Pennsylvania and New Mexico -- and possibly in more states. The Obama administration promises that won't happen...

More Senators Oppose, Support Pro-Abortion Supreme Court Pick Kagan

Posted on July 15, 2010
LifeNews: "More members of the Senate are announcing their positions on the nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme."

Why Better Bar Exams are Not the Answer

Posted on July 15, 2010
Ilya Somin writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "But I see no reason to believe that bar associations would ever adopt a system whose goal is to protect consumers rather than advance the interests of incumbent lawyers. Even if the bar exam were written by a more objective body, it would still be vulnerable to 'capture' by lawyers, and still likely to be inferior to market mechanisms as a means of weeding out bad attorneys ...

N.C. judges Diaz and Wynn play Senate confirmation waiting game

Posted on July 15, 2010
McClatchy DC: "Nearly six months have gone by since Judges Albert Diaz of Charlotte and James Wynn of Raleigh landed on the to-do list of the full U.S. Senate, and still they have not received confirmation votes. Both men are nominated for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ...

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