Religion & Law

Penna Dexter: Christian Legal Society Case

Posted on July 12, 2010
Penna Dexter writes at the Christian Post: "In what kind of a world does a Christian group not have the right to restrict its membership to practicing Christians? According to the United States Supreme Court: in today's world . . . ADF's Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence says, the schools that have such a policy often apply it inconsistently...

IN: School official says on-campus religious-ed program likely to end

Posted on July 12, 2010
First Amendment Center (AP): "A Fort Wayne schools official says the district likely will stop sending students to a religious-instruction program on school grounds that triggered a federal lawsuit . . . "

ABA: Federal judgeships need filled

Posted on July 12, 2010
LegalNewsline: "American Bar Association President Carolyn Lamm says the increasing number of vacancies in the nation's lower federal courts is affecting the efficiency and fairness of the justice system."

NYC mayor: Investigating mosque is un-American

Posted on July 12, 2010
Boston Globe (AP): "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood."

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China Stalls U.N. Efforts Against North Korea

Posted on July 09, 2010
WSJ: "China is blocking a United Nations Security Council move to condemn North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean warship, say diplomats familiar with the negotiations, marking a rankling divide on the issue between the Washington and Beijing."

What?s Wrong About ?8: The Mormon Proposition?

Posted on July 09, 2010
James Turner writes at the Wall Street Journal: ""8: The Mormon Proposition" chronicles the role the church played in enshrining a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in California by supporting the 2008 passage of Proposition 8. As a spotlight on the suffering of same-sex couples and individuals who are rejected by family and church leaders, the film succeeds ...

RAND study: Legalizing marijuana will increase use. Is this what parents want for their kids?

Posted on July 09, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "Legalizing marijuana is on the November ballot in California. A RAND study says making pot legal will cut the drug's cost and increase use. My parents intervened with me when I was a kid and it worked. Today's parents must now take a stand against legalization...

Justice Ginsburg Eager for Kagan?s Arrival

Posted on July 09, 2010
Blog of the Legal Times: "'I am so glad that Elena is joining us,' Ginsburg told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, according to this dispatch from the Aspen Daily News. Ginsburg was introduced by retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and engaged in a dialogue with journalist and law professor Jeff Rosen...

Hadley Arkes: Judge Tauro Does DOMA

Posted on July 09, 2010
Hadley Arkes write at the National Review Bench Memos Blog: "Judge Joseph Tauro, in the federal district court in Boston, took it upon himself to strike down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). With that stroke he would remove one of the key barriers standing in the way of imposing same-sex marriage on the nation as a whole...

?Unions Outspending Corporations on Campaign Ads?

Posted on July 09, 2010
Eugene Volokh writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "The Washington Post reports on the post?Citizens United spending: 'So far this year, $24.7 million in independent spending has been reported to the Federal Election Commission, campaign filings show. Unions have spent $9...

Dale Carpenter: The DOMA Equal Protection Decision

Posted on July 09, 2010
Dale Carpenter has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy discussing yesterday's federal DOMA rulings.

Whole federal regulatory infrastructure and Obamacare endangered by radical Federal DOMA ruling?

Posted on July 09, 2010
"As much as liberals might applaud the result, they should be aware that the logic of his arguments, taken seriously, would undermine the constitutionality of wide swaths of federal regulatory programs and seriously constrict federal regulatory power ...

Groups back judge on prayer

Posted on July 09, 2010
Winston Salem-Journal: "Several religious and nonprofit organizations have lent their support to a U.S. District Court judge's ruling that bans sectarian prayer before government meetings."

Finding Former Lesbian Partners Were Family Members, Brooklyn Judge Dismisses Petition to Reclaim Apartment After Split-Up

Posted on July 09, 2010
Leonard Link: "New York City Civil Court Judge Laurie L. Lau ruled on June 2 that the owner of a four-apartment building in Brooklyn could not treat her former same-sex partner as a mere "licensee" who could be forced to vacate the apartment in which they had lived together at the owner?s option, since they were "family" members under the precedent of the 1989 New York Court of Appeals decision, Braschi v...

YouTube Channel Launched in War on Illegal Pornography

Posted on July 09, 2010
"The Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography today announced the launching of a new YouTube Channel in its efforts to educate the public on the harm from pornography. The site, http://www.youtube.com/user/PornHarms, provides a wide variety of educational videos on the harm from pornography to children, the extreme violence against women prominently depicted in popular porn today, the significant incidence of addiction to pornography, the links between sex trafficking and pornography and many other damaging effects of pornography...

NBC to change ?Today? wedding contest after homosexual protests

Posted on July 09, 2010
Hollywood Reporter: "NBC has agreed to change the rules of a "Today" show wedding contest after receiving complaints from gay activists slamming the annual event as discriminatory. The morning show's "Modern Day Wedding" contest will be opened to allow same-sex couple after network executives met with Thursday with representatives from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)...

Pink News in the UK: ?Lesbian and gay lawyers ?deterred from becoming judges??

Posted on July 09, 2010
Pink News: "According to a study by LGBT lawyers' network Interlaw, a perception of hostility to out gay judges, judicial culture and the isolation of the job puts gay and lesbian lawyers off becoming judges . . . A review of the judicial system by Liberal Democrat peer Lady Neuberger, released earlier this year, recommended the profession should strive for more sexual diversity ...

Moscow curators face 3 years in prison for mocking Christ

Posted on July 09, 2010
Google News (AP): "One painting depicted Jesus Christ as Mickey Mouse, another as Vladimir Lenin. The 2007 exhibit was part of an effort to fight censorship of the arts, but the Russian Orthodox Church was horrified. Now, after a 14-month trial, the two prominent Moscow art curators who put on the show are facing the prospect of three years in prison...

Iran imposes media blackout over stoning sentence woman

Posted on July 09, 2010
Guardian: "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned, the regime has said, but family fear she will be hanged instead."

NC: House Passes Video Gambling Ban

Posted on July 09, 2010
NC Family Policy Council: "After more than two hours of debate, and by a vote of 86?27, the North Carolina House gave final approval Wednesday night, July 7, to an enhanced ban on video gambling in the state. HB 80?Ban Electronic Sweepstakes now goes to Governor Perdue to be signed into law...

Graham criticizes Obama suit against Ariz. immigration law

Posted on July 09, 2010
The Hill: "Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and John Cornyn (Texas) have sided with the state of Arizona in its battle with the Department of Justice over a controversial state immigration law . . . "

Judge Roy Moore and Foundation for Moral Law File Brief Asking Appeals Court to Uphold National Day of Prayer

Posted on July 09, 2010
Christian Newswire: "Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law, a religious liberties legal organization in Montgomery, Alabama, filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit today defending the federal statute creating the National Day of Prayer, 36 U...

Cal. Federal judge rules on legal standard in ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? litigation

Posted on July 09, 2010
"But U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips of Riverside, in her final pretrial ruling, said Wednesday that higher court rulings in recent years have raised the bar for the government to justify laws that single out gays and lesbians for harsher treatment...

?Appeals court rejects U.S. request to restore drilling moratorium?

Posted on July 09, 2010
How Appealing links to several reports and the ruling in Hornbeck Offshore Services, L.L.C v. Salazar, No. 10-30585 (5th Cir. July 8, 2010)

July 12 Arraignment of Four Christian Missionaries Arrested at the Dearborn, Michigan Arab Festival

Posted on July 09, 2010
Thomas More Law Center: "To the jeers and shouts of 'Allah Akbar' by the Muslim crowd, the four Christian missionaries were arrested and thrown in jail on June 18, 2010 by Dearborn Police officers at the Annual Arab International Festival held in Dearborn...

29 State AG?s File Amicus Brief Supporting National Day of Prayer

Posted on July 09, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday, 29 state attorneys general joined together in filing an amicus brief (full text) with the 7th Circuit urging it to find that the National Day of Prayer does not violate the Establishment Clause. In a press release, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who led the effort said that the district court decision striking down the Day of Prayer statute (see prior posting) also threatens Memorial Day ...

California Episcopal Diocese Sues Another Break-Away Parish

Posted on July 09, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, California, continues to file lawsuits to reclaim property of break-away parishes. Episcopal Life reported today that the diocese has filed suit in state court against St. Paul's Anglican Church in Visalia, one of the 40 congregations ...

UK: Homosexual cleric blocked from becoming bishop

Posted on July 09, 2010
CCFON: "The Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) has rejected calls for Dr. Jeffrey John to be made the next Bishop of Southwark, following pressure from those opposed to his appointment including CCFON."

Landmark ruling would force U.S. to recognize ?gay marriage?

Posted on July 09, 2010
Michael Foust writes at Baptist Press: "'Individual states shouldn't have the right to impose a radical redefinition of marriage on the rest of America,' said Brian Raum, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund. 'This judge's claim that there's no reason whatsoever for marriage to be defined as one man and one woman should go down as one of the most outrageous rulings in court history...

Newspaper: Kagan?s Support for Infanticide-Abortion Should be ?Kiss of Death?

Posted on July 09, 2010
LifeNews: "The Washington Times released an editorial column today on the nomination of pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. The Times says Kagan's supporting partial-birth abortion (infanticide) should be the "kiss of death" for her nomination...

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