Religion & Law

Groups Urge Congressional Hearings on Faith Based Initiative

Posted on June 30, 2010
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...

Court Says Pooled Investment Funds Are Part of Delaware Diocese Bankruptcy Estate

Posted on June 30, 2010
In In re Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Inc., (DE Bankr., June 28, 2010), a Delaware federal bankruptcy court held that funds in a pooled investment program operated by the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington are part of the bankruptcy estate. Individual parishes have over $2...

Prop 8 Opponents Say CLS v. Martinez Supports Them

Posted on June 30, 2010
Earlier this month, lawyers made their closing argument in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8 that bans same-sex marriage. A decision has not yet been handed down in the case. (See prior posting.) Plaintiffs, who claim that gays and lesbians are a protected class for constitutional purposes, say language in Monday's Supreme Court decision in Christian Legal Society v...

Kagan's Religion Comes Up In Unusual Contexts At Confirmation Hearings

Posted on June 30, 2010
JTA reports that at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings yesterday on the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan, the nominee referenced her religion in two unusual contexts. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned Kagan on remarks she made at Harvard Law School welcoming Israeli Supreme Court Judge Aharon Barak in which she called the activist jurist her "judicial hero...

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En Banc Rehearing Denied In Challenge To Inauguration Prayer and Oath

Posted on June 30, 2010
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...

Reasons For Belgian Raid On Church Headquarters Disclosed

Posted on June 29, 2010
Today's New York Times reports new information explaining the raids by Belgian police last week on church offices and a cathedral in the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels. The Pope criticized police tactics. (See prior posting.) The Times reports that the raids stemmed from a formal accusation by Godelieve Halsberghe, former head of an internal church commission handling sexual abuse cases, that the Church was hiding information...

New Australian Prime Minister Says She Will Not Pretend Religious Beliefs For Votes

Posted on June 29, 2010
In Australia last week, the governing Labor Party changed its leaders, naming Julia Gillard as Prime Minister-- the first woman to hold that post. (Huffington Post). Gillard is expected to call elections for as early as August. (news.com.au). The Australian today reports on a refreshing honesty by Gillard in responding to views about her religious beliefs...

Advocacy Groups React To CLS v. Martinez

Posted on June 29, 2010
Many advocacy groups and interested parties have issued statements on yesterday's Supreme Court decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. Here is a sampling:ACLUAlliance Defense FundAmerican Center for Law & JusticeAmerican Jewish CommitteeAmericans United for Separation of Church and StateBaptist Joint CommitteeBecket Fund for Religious LibertyChristian Legal SocietyFoundation for Individual Rights in EducationHastings College of LawInterfaith AllianceUnion of Orthodox Jewish CongregationsCitizens Link suggests that the decision may have limited impact because few if any other schools have an "all-comers" rule for student groups...

Report Released on Canadian Zoning Laws and Religious Freedom

Posted on June 29, 2010
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada announced yesterday the release of a report titled Zoned Out: Religious Freedom in the Municipality. The report outlines the protections for religious freedom in Canada and focuses on municipal zoning laws that may violate the religious freedom of congregations seeking to relocate.

Cert. Denied In Abuse Suit Against Vatican

Posted on June 29, 2010
The Supreme Court yesterday denied certiorari in Holy See v. Doe, (Docket No. 90-1). (Order List.) In the case, a Seattle man is attempting to hold the Vatican liable for abuse by a priest in the 1960's. The 9th Circuit held that plaintiff could proceed against the Vatican on a respondeat superior theory under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act's tortious act exception...

Pakistan Monitoring Major Websites For Sacrilegious Content

Posted on June 28, 2010
According to Salon, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority under order from the Ministry of Information Technology is monitoring seven major websites for sacrilegious content. The sites being monitored are: Yahoo, Google, MSN, Hotmail, YouTube, Amazon and Bing...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on June 28, 2010
From SSRN:Brian Michael McCall, Consulting the Architect when Problems Arise ? The Divine Law, (June 24, 2010).Eugene Volokh, Freedom of Speech and the Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Tort. Cardozo Law Review, UCLA School of Law Research Paper No...

Belgian Police Search of Cathedral and Church Offices Condemned

Posted on June 28, 2010
Yesterday, according to Zenit, Pope Benedict XVI in a letter to Belgian Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard condemned the methods used last Thursday by Belgian police in searching the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Malines-Brussels in a sexual abuse investigation...

Supreme Court Upholds Hastings Law School's All-Comers Policy for Registered Student Organizations

Posted on June 28, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today in a 5-4 decision upheld the non-discrimination policy of Hastings College of Law that requires registered student organizations to allow any student to participate. The policy was challenged by the Christian Legal Society which requires members to sign a Statement of Faith and abide by it, so that non-Christians and those who engage in "unrepentant homosexual conduct" are excluded...

Religious Limits On Arbitrators Invalidated By British Appellate Court

Posted on June 27, 2010
In Jivraj v. Hashwani, (EWCA, June 22, 2010), Britain's Court of Appeal held that Britain's Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations 2003 invalidate a provision in a private commercial arbitration provision requiring that arbitrators are to be drawn from members of a particular religious community...

Britain To Appoint Its First Catholic Woman As Ambassador to the Vatican

Posted on June 27, 2010
London's Sunday Telegraph today reports that Britain's coalition government will reach out to Catholics through a high profile appointment for Britain's next ambassador to the Vatican. The Foreign Secretary has endorsed naming former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, who would be the first Roman Catholic woman to hold the position...

DC Circuit: Researchers Have Standing To Challenge Change In Stem Cell Grant Policy

Posted on June 27, 2010
In Sherley v. Sebelius, (DC Cir., June 25, 2010), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, reversing the trial court, held that two doctors who specialize in adult stem cell research have "competitor standing" to challenge the Obama administration's lifting of limitations on NIH funding of embryonic stem cell research...

$1.15M Settlement Reached In Church Zoning Case

Posted on June 27, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund announced Friday that a $1.15 million settlement had been reached in St. Benedict Center v. Town of Richmond, a suit in New Hampshire state court in which a conservative Catholic religious organization brought constitutional and RLUIPA challenges to various zoning rulings restricting its building of a chapel and religious school...

Compromise Lets Israel's High Court Release School Parents From Jail

Posted on June 27, 2010
In Israel, a compromise has led to the release from jail of the fathers of 35 girls enrolled in the Beit Ya'acov school in the town of Emmanuel. As previously reported, Israel's High Court ruled that a group of parents of the Slonim Hasidic sect would be imprisoned for two weeks for contempt if they did not obey the court's previous order to send their girls back to a school where they study together with Sephardi girls...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on June 27, 2010
In Gunn v. Kentucky Department of Corrections, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60530 (WD KY, June 18, 2010), a Kentucky federal district court rejected an inmate's equal protection, free exercise and RLUIPA claims growing out of his treatment by the prison chaplain...

Pagan Group Is Suing To Obtain Property Tax Exemption

Posted on June 26, 2010
Today's Greene County (NY) Daily Mail reports on the long-running controversy between a Pagan sect and the town of Catskill over whether an historic inn owned by the sect is entitled to a tax exemption. The Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, a 501(c)(3) religious organization, purchased the former Central House in 2002...

Concerns of Britain's Office for Judicial Complaints Over Judge's Comments Are Disclosed

Posted on June 25, 2010
Britain's National Secular Society (NSS) reports today that a press release earlier this month by Britain's Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) clearing part-time judge Cheri Booth (wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair) of charges of judicial misconduct omitted concerns that OJC had about her conduct...

Court Says Hawaii Church's Challenge To Cannabis Laws Is Not Ripe

Posted on June 25, 2010
In Oklevueha Native American Church of Hawaii v. Holder, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61844 (D HI, June 22, 2010), an Hawaii federal district court dismissed on ripeness grounds a pre-enforcement challenge to federal drug laws by a church that uses cannabis in its religious ceremonies and by its spiritual leader...

Secularists Begin Billboard Campaign Objecting To "Under God" in Pledge

Posted on June 25, 2010
The North Carolina Secular Association this week, in time for Independence Day, launched a billboard ad campaign objecting to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Yesterday's Christian Post carries a photo of the billboard that appears throughout the state...

New Focus On Elena Kagan's Religious Liberty and Church-State Views

Posted on June 25, 2010
As hearings on the nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court approach, more focus is now being given to her views on religious liberty and church-state separation. Brookings Institution fellow Melissa Rogers suggests that Kagan may be more sympathetic to free exercise claims than is Justice Stevens whom she is replacing...

Hindu American Leader Writes On Political Candidates From Dharma Faiths

Posted on June 25, 2010
An op-ed by Aseem Shulka, co-founder of the Hindu American Foundation, published Wednesday by the Washington Post, laments the fact that the two best known Indian-American political figures, both with backgrounds in Dharma faiths, emphasize their Christianity...

Fired Prison Chaplain States Valid 1st Amendment Claim

Posted on June 24, 2010
In Holmgren v. State of Minnesota, (MN Ct. App., June 22, 2010, a Minnesota state appellate court held that a former prison chaplain's First Amendment free expression may have been violated when she was fired for speaking out against a new program being considered by the state which she believed would violate the Establishment Clause...

Native Americans Seek To Stop Reservoir Construction At Cemetery Site

Posted on June 24, 2010
In Santee, California, efforts are underway on several fronts to prevent the Padre Dam Municipal Water Board from proceeding with construction of a reservoir and pipeline in an area that was a burial ground for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians. East County Magazine reported yesterday that after human remains and artifacts were discovered, a state Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order to stop construction on part of the project...

New York Legislature Passes Anti-Bullying Bill

Posted on June 24, 2010
WGRZ News reports that on Tuesday the New York state Senate passed by a vote of 58-3 an anti-bullying bill, the Dignity For All Students Act. The bill which was previously approved by the state Assembly bars discrimination or harassment of students by school employees or other students...

Archdiocese Accused of Fraud In Sex Abuse Lawsuit Seeking To Skirt Statute of Limitations

Posted on June 24, 2010
USA Today reports on a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles (CA) alleging fraud and negligence in allowing Rev. Jeffrey Newell to continue to serve as a priest long after sex abuse charges against Newell were reported to church officials in 1994...

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