Religion & Law

The Defense of Marriage Act: The Crossroad of Love and Legislation

Posted on July 13, 2009
Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers: "When it passed DOMA, Congress effectively restricted existing constitutional rights. DOMA poses a serious threat to fundamental personal privacy rights. By creating a sex-based classification, DOMA impedes on a person's right to choose a spouse...

Constitutional scholarship in the United States

Posted on July 13, 2009
International Journal of Constitutional Law: "The relative autonomy of constitutional law, and hence of constitutional law scholarship, is not a natural fact. It is historically and socially constructed out of the forms of trust that a society is willing to repose in the claims of independent legal expertise...

Global Legal Pluralism

Posted on July 13, 2009
Annual Review of Law & Social Science: "This review discusses how legal pluralism engages with legal globalization and how legal globalization utilizes legal pluralism. It demonstrates how several international legal disciplines -comparative law, conflict of laws, public international law, and European Union law - have slowly begun to adopt some ideas of legal pluralism...

The Unbearable Lightness of Marriage in the Abortion Decisions of the Supreme Court: Altered States in Constitutional Law

Posted on July 13, 2009
William & Mary Bill of Rights: "This essay-article responds to efforts to put the Supreme Court?s abortion cases on a stronger footing by justifying them under the equal protection clause (rather than the due process clause--the basis for the Court?s decision in Roe v...

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?Police: Abortion Protesters, Including ?Jane Roe?, Arrested at Sotomayor Hearing?

Posted on July 13, 2009
ABA Journal: "Police arrested three abortion opponents, among them Norma McCorvey, aka plaintiff "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade, saying they disrupted the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings at the U.S. Senate today in Washington, D.C."

Free speech forbidden in ?free speech area? at Georgia Southern Univ.

Posted on July 13, 2009
lliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Monday against Georgia Southern University officials on behalf of a Christian man arrested for sharing his faith in the campus?s ?free speech area.?

Senate May Vote on ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? Tomorrow

Posted on July 13, 2009
"Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand [NY] . . . may introduce an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill tomorrow to put an 18-month moratorium on dismissing gay service members . . . "

?Court Appears to Support Constitutionality of Online Gambling Bill?

Posted on July 13, 2009
Citizen Link: "The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) was the subject of oral arguments this week before a three-judge panel on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals."

Church of England unity endangered by Swedish moves to ?gender neutral? marriage

Posted on July 13, 2009
Daily Telegraph: "The latest fears have been raised over plans by the Church of Sweden, which is formally linked to the Church of England through an agreement called the Porvoo Declaration, to make its marriage liturgy 'gender neutral' so that same-sex couples can have traditional wedding services for the first time...

?Sotomayor Supported Censoring Biblical Verse on Homosexuality from New York City Billboard?

Posted on July 13, 2009
Eugene Volokh writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "That's the headline on a CNSNews.com article. But if you look closely at what Judge Sotomayor actually did, the headline ? and some other statements of the rest of the story ? doesn't really fit. "

Calls to rescind NYU prof?s. appointment for advocating criminalization of homosexual sex

Posted on July 13, 2009
David Bernstein writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "Inside Higher Ed has a story about the ongoing controversy over Thio Li-ann of the National University of Singapore, who will be teaching International Human Rights at NYU as a visitor this Fall. As IHE report, she is an 'outspoken opponent of gay rights...

German Government Levels Crippling Fines, Threatens to Seize Custody of Son from Homeschooling Family

Posted on July 13, 2009
"Another legal battle is brewing in Germany as yet another German family faces ruinous fines and the loss of custody of their son, because they have committed the crime of homeschooling."

Senate Committee Votes to Permanently Kill Mexico City Policy

Posted on July 13, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "The Senate Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to codify President Obama's overthrow of the Mexico City Policy by approving an amendment to open U.S. funding for abortion-promoting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide."

Catholic League: ?Surgeon General Pick is Excellent?

Posted on July 13, 2009
a href="http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1640">Catholic League: "Catholic League president Bill Donohue praised President Barack Obama for his selection of Dr. Regina Benjamin as the new Surgeon General . . . "

Senate Panel Also Agrees to Obama?s Plan to Fund Abortions in Nation?s Capital

Posted on July 13, 2009
LifeNews: "Following a vote by their colleagues in the House, members of a Senate committee agreed to President Barack Obama's request to fund abortions in the nation's capital. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee defeated an effort to restore the Dornan Amendment to prohibit such abortion funding...

Sotomayor Opening Statement: Text

Posted on July 13, 2009
The Text of Sotomayor's Opening Statement is here.

ACLJ seeks to revive whistleblower?s suit against Planned Parenthood

Posted on July 10, 2009
Eric Young reports in The Christian Post: "According to P. Victor Gonzalez, the former PP employee that the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is representing in this case, PP affiliates in California had marked up the supposed cost of various birth control drugs when seeking government reimbursement, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of overbilling-at taxpayer expense...

SC abortion protest dispute moves closer to trial

Posted on July 10, 2009
Phil Sarata reports in the Times & Democrat: "It has become more likely that a state GOP official?s lawsuit against the City of Orangeburg over an abortion protest will go to trial. The Rev. Charles Butler and the city had both asked U.S. District Judge Margaret B...

Guarm: Cruz revises same-sex civil union bill

Posted on July 10, 2009
Sabrina Salas Matanane reports at KUAM: "After several controversial town hall meetings were held on legislation that would allow for same-sex civil unions on Guam, Acting Speaker of the 30th Guam Legislature B.J. Cruz has introduced an amended version of Bill 138...

Catholic League: Justice Ginsburg Needs to Explain Herself

Posted on July 10, 2009
Catholic League: "Catholic League president Bill Donohue says U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs to explain her recent comment on abortion and eugenics . . . There is another reason why Ginsburg needs to clarify her remark. Before she was seated on the Supreme Court in 1993, she hired 57 law clerks over a period of 13 years...

Michigan: Legislative bills endanger conscience, promote abortion and contraception

Posted on July 10, 2009
Forum Online, the online newsletter of the, The Michigan Family Forum reports: Democratic state lawmakers have introduced a package of bills they say will help deal with the rising rate of STDs and unplanned pregnancies among teens. However, the bills will also promote abortion, sex ed programs that do not emphasize abstinence, and override the conscience rights of medical professionals...

Federal lawmakers consider domestic partner benefits

Posted on July 10, 2009
Alyssa Rosenberg reports at Government Executive: "The 2009 Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 2517) would grant the partners of gay and lesbian federal workers access to the full range of benefits currently available to the spouses of heterosexual employees...

Miami: Schools to preach the dangers of ?sexting?

Posted on July 10, 2009
Kathleen McGrory reports in the Miami Herald: "The Miami-Dade school district wants to be a national leader in combating teenage 'sexting,' the practice of sending sexy or nude photos over a cellphone. On Thursday, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he would like to work with government and law enforcement agencies to develop a cutting-edge School Board policy -- and preach the dangers of sending racy pictures...

Toys R Us apologizes over computer porn

Posted on July 10, 2009
Associated Press: "Retail giant Toys R Us has apologised to a mother and her eight-year-old daughter after they came across pornographic images on a computer in one of its stores."

Alabama: Houston County considers SOB regulations

Posted on July 10, 2009
WSFA 12 reports: "The Houston County Commission is considering legislation to regulate adult entertainment in the county. The proposed law could also ban future establishment from opening."

Maine: Winslow officials mull SOB ordinance

Posted on July 10, 2009
Scott Monroe reports in the Morning Sentinel: "A month after the town of Vassalboro adopted an ordinance to regulate sex-oriented businesses, Winslow town officials plan to discuss whether they should join Waterville and China in debating a similar law...

CT: East Lyme zoning panel establishes SOB regulations

Posted on July 10, 2009
Amy Renczkowski reports in The Day: "The Zoning Commission unanimously voted Thursday to regulate adult businesses in East Lyme and tacked on more than a few restrictions."

Congress considers politicized bullying bill

Posted on July 10, 2009
Nima Reza reports at CitizenLink: "The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a so-called bullying bill that would require public schools to spell out special categories in their discipline policies, including 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' ...

Differences between non-embryonic and embryonic stem cells

Posted on July 10, 2009
Dr. Jan F. Dudt, Jonathan D. Moore, and Dr. Durwood B. Ray write in Philadelphia's Bulletin: "Christians committed to the sanctity of human life should look with favor on technologies that preserve and/or improve human life. Consequently, non-embryonic stem-cell advances should be embraced when they: 1) respect the consent and preserve the dignity of the stem-cell donors, 2) enhance the health of the stem-cell recipient, and 3) protect human life at every stage of development...

Pope concerned about Seoul?s private school law

Posted on July 10, 2009
AFP reports: "In 2005 South Korea's parliament approved a law that required a quarter of directors at private schools to be from outside the organisation."

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