Religion & Law

European Court Affirms Crucifixes May be Displayed in Public Schools

Posted on March 24, 2011
C-FAM: The final decision can be summarized by the concurring opinion of Judge Giovanni Bonello who wrote, ?The Convention has given this Court the remit to enforce freedom of religion and of conscience, but has not empowered it to bully States into secularism or to coerce countries into schemes of religious neutrality...

ADF wins one for freedom of speech, religion

Posted on March 24, 2011
One News Now: The L.A. Unified School District is an $8 billion entity; trying to get them to take any action is difficult at best, and in this case, although it took the filing of a federal lawsuit and an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, it was certainly good news," Cortman says.

Bachmann to form exploratory committee in June, possibly earlier

Posted on March 24, 2011
CNN: CNN has exclusively learned that Rep. Michele Bachmann will form a presidential exploratory committee. The Minnesota Republican plans to file papers for the committee in early June, with an announcement likely around that same time.

Wisconsin?s Battle Supreme: Liberals in the state are trying to make the April election for a state supreme court justice a referendum on Governor Walker.

Posted on March 24, 2011
Wall Street Journal: State supreme court justice elections are typically slam dunks for the incumbent unless there is a scandal or a high-profile court decision that galvanizes opposition. In this case, incumbent David Prosser is caught in the crossfire over collective bargaining issues...

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A Surprising Supreme Court Snapshot

Posted on March 24, 2011
Linda Greenhouse writes at the NY Times: "Among common impressions of the current Supreme Court are that Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas are joined at the hip and that the majority tilts reflexively in favor of corporations and employers."

Iowa: New justices will campaign when facing retention vote

Posted on March 24, 2011
Des Moines Register: "Iowa's three new Supreme Court justices said they are prepared to campaign in 2012 when they face a retention vote."

Justices Grapple With Issue of Right to Lawyers in Child Support Cases

Posted on March 24, 2011
NY Times: "Members of the Supreme Court appeared frustrated Wednesday during an argument about whether poor people facing jail time for failing to pay child support are entitled to court-appointed lawyers. It seemed that there were procedural and practical problems with almost every potential ruling...

Australia: Religious teaching in govt schools challenged

Posted on March 24, 2011
ABC.net.au: A Melbourne law firm has begun a legal challenge against the way religion is taught in Victorian government schools.

Florida lawmakers file glut of abortion bills

Posted on March 24, 2011
Miami Herald: From reviving a measure to require a woman to receive an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion to a blanket ban that would pose a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade, at least 18 bills are filed.

Catholic League: ?Catholic Views on Gay Marriage?

Posted on March 24, 2011
Catholic League: Indeed, as a practicing Catholic, I never once heard a homily on homosexuality; even passing references have been few. A recent ABC News and Washington Post poll disclosed that, for the first time, the majority of Americans favor homosexual marriage (53 percent)...

High-Profile Conservative Group Files Lawsuit Against Obama Administration Over Health Care Waivers

Posted on March 24, 2011
Fox News: Fox News has learned the group is seeking documents to better understand how HHS makes decisions to grant waivers to the new health care law. Click here to read the Crossroads GPS lawsuit.

Heritage Foundation: Detroit?s Liberal Nightmare

Posted on March 24, 2011
Heritage Foundation: "What happens when a city buys the liberal dream hook, line and sinker? Just take a look at the City of Detroit. The once-great city lost 237,493 residents over the last decade according to the 2010 Census, bringing it to 713,777 ? a population plunge of 25%...

Cal. ?Lawmakers May Force Schools to Spend Scarce Funds on Gay-Friendly Instruction?

Posted on March 24, 2011
Pacific Justice Institute: In a move that some parents and educators see as further proof that state legislators have lost touch with economic realities, the California Senate Education Committee on Wednesday will consider a bill that would require schools to spend scarce resources to become more gay-friendly...

Book: ?Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation?s Top Advocates.?

Posted on March 24, 2011
SCOTUS Blog interviews the author, Ross Guberman: "There are a lot of books about legal writing out there; what separates this one from the others? The book focuses on what goes right, not what goes wrong. It crystallizes 50 concrete writing techniques through hundreds of bite-sized, timely, and diverse examples from recent high-profile cases and appeals...

Relatives fear for health of Pakistani woman facing blasphemy death sentence

Posted on March 24, 2011
Catholic Culture: Asia Bibi, the Pakistani woman who faces a death sentence after being convicted of violating the nation's blasphemy law, has undertaken a rigorous Lenten fast, prompting relatives to fear for her health.

?Canada to assist persecuted gay refugees?

Posted on March 24, 2011
Toronto Star: Through the project, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will work with the Rainbow Refugee Committee to share the cost of sponsoring gay, lesbian, transgender, transsexual and bisexual refugees overseas to Canada.

Arizona House approves ban on some abortions

Posted on March 24, 2011
The Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday approved controversial legislation that would make the state the first in the nation to ban abortions conducted due to the race or gender of the fetus.

Iranian Christians to stand trial for blasphemy

Posted on March 24, 2011
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has been informed that five Iranian Christians, who were recently sentenced to one year?s imprisonment for crimes against the Islamic Order at the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz, will stand trial in a lower court on blasphemy charges in fifteen days time.

Oxford ethicist: use IVF to create only smart babies

Posted on March 24, 2011
LifeSiteNews: for Practical Ethics claims that humanity has a ?moral obligation? to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) to select the most intelligent embryos for the good of society, with the obvious implication that the less intelligent ?surplus? embryos should simply be destroyed.

Wisconson: ?Appeals court sends union bill appeal to Supreme Court?

Posted on March 24, 2011
How Appealing provides links to news reports and the certification order to the state Supreme Court.

David Cortman: ?Bullying: The Left?s Trojan Horse?

Posted on March 24, 2011
ADF attorney David Cortman writes at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: No one likes bullying (except maybe the bully). It should not be tolerated?regardless of the reason for it. So is one type of bullying worse than any other? Does the student that is being bullied feel any better if he is being bullied for certain, more politically correct reasons, but not others? Don?t think so...

Gary McCaleb: What? Could The Magna Carta Be ?Homophobic??

Posted on March 24, 2011
ADF attorney Gary McCaleb at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Thus, when ADF opposes same-sex ?marriage? in the civil realm, it isn?t defending some ?homophobic? limitation of rights, as our opponents love to claim. ADF is instead defending liberty on a deeply reasoned, philosophical foundation...

Answer to Family Breakdown is ?Social Fatherhood,? UN Says

Posted on March 24, 2011
C-FAM: The cohesion of the American family is about the worst in the world, according to a new UN report. Rather than recommending policies reinforcing traditional family roles, the study recommends social policies reflecting the new reality . . . he report promotes the concept of ?social fatherhood,? which ?encompasses the care and support of males for children who are not necessarily their biological offspring...

Bill to regulate non-surgical abortions to AR House; would affect 2 Planned Parenthood clinics

Posted on March 24, 2011
The Republic: A bill that would require facilities that provide non-surgical abortions to be regulated by the Arkansas Health Department has advanced to the House.

UN rights body ditches religious ?defamation? idea

Posted on March 24, 2011
AP: The U.N.'s top human rights body has replaced its traditional condemnation of religious 'defamation' with a resolution underlining the right of individuals to freedom of belief.

?Ohio?s Governor Moves Against Unions?

Posted on March 24, 2011
Wall Street Journal (full text access via Google): "For weeks, the nation's attention has been drawn to the storm in Madison over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to limit the power of government unions. Yet 500 miles to the southeast, in Columbus, Ohio, Gov...

Turkey seizes draft copies of journalist?s book

Posted on March 24, 2011
AP on Yahoo: The court ordered police to seize all draft documents and copies of investigative journalist Ahmet Sik's book, which reportedly focuses on the influence of an Islamic group within the police force.

Indiana marriage amendment advances to full Senate

Posted on March 23, 2011
House Joint Resolution 6 has already cleared the House and now moves to the full Senate, where it is expected to pass with little resistance.

Alabama legislators consider Nebraska-style bill to block abortion at 20 weeks

Posted on March 23, 2011
The Republic: "The legal director for the ACLU of Alabama, Allison Neal, says the legislation would violate court rulings that states can't ban abortions before viability."

Philly abortion doc agrees to freeze most assets

Posted on March 23, 2011
Mercury News: Lawyer Jack McMahon says the Gosnells have agreed to freeze those assets at the request of a Virginia family suing Gosnell over their mother's death from a botched abortion.

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