Religion & Law

Coburn to Kagan: Are there any limits on Congressional Commerce Power? Can we tell Americans what to eat each day?

Posted on June 30, 2010
The video is here.

Is his gun-control concurrence Justice Thomas?s finest hour?

Posted on June 30, 2010
Wall Street Journal / Law Blog: "Those arguing for resuscitation of the Privilege or Immunities Clause pinned their hopes on Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas, both known for their 'originalist' approach to constitutional interpretation...

House Minority Leader promises to co-sponsor bill codifying Hyde

Posted on June 30, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner pledged Tuesday to the 40th annual National Right to Life Convention (NRLC) that he would sign on to legislation, soon to be introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), that would make the Hyde amendment barring taxpayer funding for abortion permanent law...

House GOP leaders push discharge petition against pro-abortion health care

Posted on June 30, 2010
LifeNews: "House Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor announced today they will sign discharge petitions promoted by Reps. Steve King and Wally Herger that would force votes in the House on legislation seeking to undermine the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law...

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Human Events liveblogging Kagan hearings with help from AUL

Posted on June 30, 2010
Human Events liveblog of the Kagan hearings is here. Contributors include Mary Harned and Dr. Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life (AUL is also covering the hearings at its own blog).

Kennedy retains his pivotal role

Posted on June 30, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "When the court returns in October, Justice Kennedy's influence is likely to grow stronger still. With the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, Justice Kennedy will be the senior justice in cases where he differs with the chief justice and Justice Antonin Scalia...

Kagan follows precedent by offering few opinions

Posted on June 30, 2010
New York Times: "Ms. Kagan?s responses, during a long and sometimes tense day of parrying with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, were similar to those of Supreme Court nominees past. But unlike her predecessors, Ms. Kagan wrote a 1995 article calling for judicial nominees to be more forthcoming...

Scrap dollar as sole reserve currency: U.N. report

Posted on June 30, 2010
Reuters: "A new United Nations report released on Tuesday calls for abandoning the U.S. dollar as the main global reserve currency, saying it has been unable to safeguard value." | World Economic and Social Survey 2010

?Gay soldiers subpoena Obama?

Posted on June 30, 2010
Politico: "The gay soldiers arrested outside the White House protesting 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will announce today that they're demanding that President Obama testify in their trial on minor civil disobedience charges . . . Their novel argument: Obama himself called on gay rights advocates to pressure him, so they were just following orders ...

No condoms for grade schoolers, Mass. school says

Posted on June 30, 2010
Associated Press: "Superintendent Beth Singer said in the letter e-mailed Tuesday that the district will clarify that elementary school-age students won't be able to get a condom if they request one from the school nurse." | For more information see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www...

China: Communist Party opens door to secretive school

Posted on June 30, 2010
Associated Press: "China threw open the gates of its secretive Central Party School on Wednesday, offering foreign journalists a rare but carefully scripted peek at the leafy campus where the country's Communist elite are trained."

Street violence hits Indian Kashmir for 3rd summer

Posted on June 30, 2010
Associated Press: "It is the third summer in a row that deadly protests have erupted, a symptom of the tensions permeating this Muslim-dominated Himalayan region, which has long chafed under Indian rule and is patrolled by hundreds of thousands of troops...

In hospital deal, how much is a Catholic identity worth? Just 3%

Posted on June 30, 2010
Wall Street Journal / Deal Journal: "[T]he Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today asked the Archdiocese to call off the sale. At issue is a buy-out clause in the purchase agreement. That clause allows Cerberus, through its Steward Health Care System arm, to pay $25 million, or about 3% of the deal?s value, for the right to terminate the Catholic identity of the system ?if it finds compliance with Catholic medical ethics to be 'unlawful or materially burdensome...

Spain court will study challenge to abortion law

Posted on June 30, 2010
Associated Press: "Spain's highest court agreed Wednesday to study whether a new abortion law allowing the procedure without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy is constitutional."

DC Circuit: En banc rehearing denied in challenge to inauguration prayer and oath

Posted on June 30, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a panel rehearing and also denied an en banc rehearing in Newdow v. Roberts. The case is an Establishment Clause challenge to prayer and use of 'so help me God' in the oath at Presidential inauguration ceremonies ...

Bankruptcy Court: Delaware Catholic Church parishes pooled fund to be distributed to sex abuse victims

Posted on June 30, 2010
Bloomberg BusinessWeek: "Delaware?s Roman Catholic parishes must share as much as $120 million with people sexually abused by priests, according to a ruling by the judge overseeing the bankruptcy of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington." | In re Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Inc...

Groups urge Congressional hearings on Faith Based Initiative

Posted on June 30, 2010
Religion Clause: "On June 18, thirty national organizations comprising the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination, sent a letter (full text) to the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee urging it to hold hearings on the current status of the Faith-Based Initiative...

Supreme Court refuses review of school rules on distributing materials

Posted on June 30, 2010
Religion Clause: "On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Morgan v. Plano Independent School District, (Docket No. 09-1131). (Order List.) In the case, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found that rules adopted in 2005 by a Texas school district restricting the times and places at which students can distribute written materials are constitutional, at least on their face...

SCOTUSblog: Kagan Confirmation Hearings | Day 3

Posted on June 30, 2010
SCOTUSblog: "Partnering with PBS NewsHour, SCOTUSblog is again offering live coverage of Elena Kagan?s confirmation hearings before the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both the NewsHour live video of the event, and our live-blogging narrative and commentary, will appear below...

Building a liberal trojan horse at the Justice Department

Posted on June 30, 2010
Townhall: "[Thomas Perez, President Obama?s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights] now wants to modify this longstanding structure by creating a new 'Policy and Strategy Section' that would be comprised exclusively of 'career' attorneys. This section would not have any enforcement responsibilities, but would be entrusted with formulating all of the Division?s key 'policy' decisions on how to enforce civil rights laws and what the priorities of the Division should be on such hot-button issues as 'racial profiling, immigration reform, and domestic compliance with international human rights obligations...

Jonah Goldberg: The unBorkable Elena Kagan

Posted on June 30, 2010
Townhall: "Although the Bork inquisition was a largely partisan affair, the consequences have yielded a bipartisan sham. Republican and Democratic nominees alike are trained to say as little as possible and to stay a razor's width on the side of truthfulness...

Kagan, ACOG and the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban: The Politicization of ?Science?

Posted on June 30, 2010
Jonathan Adler writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "Was 'language purporting to be the judgment of an independent body of medical experts devoted to the care and treatment of pregnant women and their children' actually 'nothing more than the political scrawling' of then Clinton White House staffer Elena Kagan ...

Greg Baylor on Fox News: The CLS ruling

Posted on June 30, 2010
ADF attorney Greg Baylor appeared on Fox News to discuss the Supreme Court's ruling in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. | MP4 2:24 mins

NCEE releases report evaluating charter school impacts

Posted on June 30, 2010
Institute of Education | National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance: "On average, charter middle schools that held lotteries were neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving math or reading test scores, attendance, grade promotion, or student conduct within or outside of school...

Senators debate terms of cybersecurity overhaul

Posted on June 30, 2010
The Hill: "A debate is emerging in the Senate over key aspects of recently introduced cybersecurity legislation, including which agency should be in charge of protecting the country's civilian networks and how much authority the president should have in the event of a cyberattack...

Landrieu balks at giving Lautenberg Byrd?s subcommittee chairmanship

Posted on June 30, 2010
The Hill: "Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is fighting party leaders' decision to name Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) interim chairman of the Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee. ... The subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which will play an important role helping Gulf Coast residents recover from the BP oil disaster...

Study: DC Opportunity Scholarship Program benefits participants

Posted on June 30, 2010
EducationNews.org: "As the Obama administration and Congress move to phase out Washington DC?s Opportunity Scholarship Program, a new evaluation of the popular voucher plan finds widespread benefits for student participants, including significantly greater high school graduation rates...

MO becomes second state to enact AUL?s ?Pregnant Woman?s Protection Act?

Posted on June 30, 2010
Americans United For Life: "On June 25, 2010, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed House Bill 2081 into law, ensuring that a pregnant woman can use deadly force to protect the life of her unborn child. The new law is based on innovative AUL model legislation: the 'Pregnant Woman?s Protection Act...

Phyllis Schlafly: Constitution is endangered if Kagan OK?d

Posted on June 30, 2010
Phyllis Schlafly writing at Investor's Business Daily: "Now that Obama is president, he has the power to nominate Supreme Court justices who will 'break free' from the Constitution and join him in 'fundamentally transforming' America. That's the essence of his choice of Elena Kagan as his second Supreme Court nominee...

Obama?s oil spill to-do list

Posted on June 30, 2010
Heritage Foundation | The Foundry: "The Heritage Foundation has offered a great deal of research and analysis related to the current crisis. It can be found indexed here. Starting today, we will also highlight the top actions the federal government must take immediately to assist the citizens of the Gulf as they cope with this tragedy...

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