Religion & Law

Germany: No death penalty drug to US

Posted on January 24, 2011
Associated Press: "The leading medical association and key pharmaceutical companies in Germany, where anti-death penalty sentiment is strong, said Monday they would not support exporting a drug to the U.S. that is needed for lethal injections there."

House GOP leader says no federal bailout of states

Posted on January 24, 2011
Associated Press: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told reporters Monday that he believes states already have the tools they need to ease crushing budget deficits since they can cut spending, raise taxes and pressure public employee unions to renegotiate pension benefits...

Islamist movement at forefront of Tunisia?s protests

Posted on January 24, 2011
The Daily Telegraph: "Tunisia's underground Islamic movement has emerged at the forefront of nationwide protests against its leadership and appears set to emerge as the strongest political force in elections."

Why a gruesome PA abortion clinic had not been inspected for 17 years

Posted on January 24, 2011
Marian Wang writing at ProPublica: "In the mid-1990s, the administration of Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, a pro-choice Republican, ended regular inspections of abortion clinics?a policy that continued until just last year. According to the grand jury report [PDF] released this week by Philadelphia prosecutors, Pennsylvania health officials deliberately chose not to enforce laws to ensure that abortion clinics provide the same level of care as other medical service providers...

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Genetically selecting ?gay? embryos?

Posted on January 24, 2011
WorldNetDaily: "If two homosexual men want to use in vitro fertilization to conceive a baby and then use genetics technology to ensure the baby is also 'gay,' while disposing of any 'straight' embryos, would the law have any ethical problems with that? America's leading ethicist in the field of human reproduction has written a paper that argues future homosexual couples should have 'the right' to do exactly that...

White House lawyer picked to be solicitor general

Posted on January 24, 2011
Associated Press: "A White House official says that a deputy counsel to the president, Donald Verrilli Jr., is to be nominated Monday as the next U.S. solicitor general."

Egypt bans media reporting of church bomb probe

Posted on January 24, 2011
Reuters: "Egypt's general prosecutor on Monday banned media reporting of the investigation into a deadly New Year's Day church bombing, saying any revelations could hinder the work of investigators."

Mass. gov. wants to end private lawyers for poor

Posted on January 24, 2011
Boston.com (AP): "The governor on Monday said he wants to instead hire about 1,000 staff attorneys. Patrick said the change could save the state an estimated $45 million a year."

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Abortion as a Tea Party issue

Posted on January 24, 2011
Kathryn Jean Lopez writing at National Review Online: "Has our financial mess brought us to the brink of getting beyond the culture wars? It?s a question that we might see play out on Capitol Hill in the coming months as the new majority seeks to make the late pro-life congressman Henry Hyde proud, by defunding Planned Parenthood and prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion...

Bill would let ?sexting? NJ teens avoid charges

Posted on January 24, 2011
Boston.com (AP): "New Jersey teenagers caught texting or posting sexually explicit photos online could avoid prosecution under a measure that would give first-time offenders the chance to complete a diversionary program."

Marjorie Dannenfelser: Time for pro-lifers to ?flex our muscle?

Posted on January 24, 2011
ABC / The Note: "'It?s time for us to flex the muscle that we just flexed in this election, and do everything we can in this congress to protect those human lives,' Dannenfelser says in her first annual 'State of the Unborn' address." | SBA List press release.

DeMint to skip CPAC

Posted on January 24, 2011
CNN Political Ticker: "Republican South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint is opting out of an appearance at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), making him the latest Republican to the criticize what some have seen as a pro-gay tilt to the prominent conference...

Wyoming: Lawmakers consider civil unions

Posted on January 24, 2011
Star-Tribune: "Even as the Wyoming Legislature moves toward a stricter ban on gay marriage this year, there?s also a possibility Wyoming could become the third state to recognize civil unions."

FL: Volusia officials may look at gender identity discrimination measure

Posted on January 24, 2011
The Daytona Beach News Journal: "The Volusia County Council plans to schedule a discussion, probably for one of its March meetings, of a human-rights ordinance similar to one enacted in Orange County in November. That law bars discrimination -- in both the public and private sectors -- based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and gives victims of such discrimination a legal method of recourse...

Chuck Schumer warns of ?crisis? in Judiciary

Posted on January 24, 2011
Politico: "Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, already exercising his expanded authority in the new Congress, says he is helping broker a bipartisan push to confirm a slew of federal judges and has kicked off plans to empower younger senators."

Illinois court holds Rahm Emanuel isn?t eligible to run for Mayor of Chicago

Posted on January 24, 2011
Eugene Volokh writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: "The 2?1 decision is Maksym v. Board of Election Commissioners, decided today; thanks to How Appealingfor the pointer. Emanuel can of course appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court."

Supreme Court?s Reinhardt-watch continues

Posted on January 24, 2011
Orin Kerr writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: "I don?t know which is more newsworthy: A day that the Supreme Court hands down new opinions that includes a unanimous reversal of a Ninth Circuit decision by Judge Reinhardt, or a day that the Supreme Court hands down new opinions that does not include a unanimous reversal of a Ninth Circuit decision by Judge Reinhardt...

Wyoming marriage bills advance

Posted on January 24, 2011
Star-Tribune: "Legislation to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriages from outside Wyoming advanced further in the state House of Representatives on Friday. A Senate committee also approved a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state, though not before amending it to potentially allow for civil unions...

EU sparks outrage by financing homosexualist groups in Cameroon

Posted on January 24, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "Government officials and citizen organizations in the African nation of Cameroon are denouncing a decision by the European Union to send over 300,000 euros to three local organizations that work against the nation?s anti-sodomy laws."

A guide to understanding the U.S. Gov?t debt and deficits

Posted on January 21, 2011
Insider Online: "Democrats, Independents, and Republicans have all demonstrated that they can create deficits and debt and reduce them, and they have done so with unified and divided government. We are all part of the problem and we must all be part of the solution, which will require that we commit ourselves to engaging in reasoned problem solving based on hard facts rather than scoring points in an increasingly self-destructive game of fiscal fantasy...

Montana House OKs bill for justice for pregnant women, unborn

Posted on January 21, 2011
LifeNews: "The Montana state House has okayed a bill that would provide justice and protection for pregnant women and their unborn children who are victims of violant attacks outside the context of abrotion. More than 36 other states have similar laws as does the federal government...

Texas Center for Defense of Life (TCDL) to be incorporated as nonprofit pro-life legal organization for Texas

Posted on January 21, 2011
Formed to provide legal representation and support to pro-life organizations and individuals and aggressively defend the sanctity of human life in state and federal courts

William Saletan: ?Pro-choice absolutism and the grisly abortion scandal in Philadelphia?

Posted on January 21, 2011
William Saletan writing at Slate: "It's a tale of gore and nihilism?and an occasion for pro-choice advocates to reflect on the limits of reproductive freedom . . . [According to the pro-choice absolutist view] there's no moral difference between eight, 18, and 28 weeks...

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson: The unborn are most in need of protection

Posted on January 21, 2011
Archbishop Robert J. Carlson writing in the St. Louis Review: "[A]bortion is the most serious challenge to the sacredness of human life because unborn children are the most vulnerable members of society and the most in need of our protection. They are innocent victims who must rely completely on the care and protection of others ? first of all on their mothers and, ultimately, on all of us who are God's family...

Peter Kreeft: Christian anthropology versus the Sexual Revolution

Posted on January 21, 2011
Peter Kreeft writing at the Catholic Education Resource Center: "No one speaks of a revolution in any other area of morality. No one speaks of the Property Revolution or the Bearing False Witness Revolution . . . The moral revolution is confined to sex ...

Unions see sharp membership declines again

Posted on January 21, 2011
Associated Press: "The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that unions lost 612,000 members in 2010, dropping the unionized share of the work force to 11.9 percent from 12.3 percent in 2009. That follows a loss of 771,000 workers in 2008, continuing a steady decline from the 1950s when more than a third of workers belonged to unions...

Flipping Lieberman?s Senate seat to pro-life side tough task

Posted on January 21, 2011
LifeNews: "Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, one of the most prominent members of the US Senate, announced this week he would not seek reelection in 2012 . . . Connecticut is incredibly favorable to pro-abortion candidates."

Hawaii Gov.: Claims record of Obama?s birth exists, but can?t produce the vital record

Posted on January 21, 2011
Mail Online: "Abercrombie said on Tuesday that an investigation had unearthed papers proving Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961 . . . Abercrombie suggested that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within the vital records maintained by the Hawaii Department of Health...

Pacific Justice Institute: DOMA heads to 1st Circuit

Posted on January 21, 2011
Pacific Justice Institute: "The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is heading to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. In two separate cases, one brought by same-sex couples married in Massachusetts and the other by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a judge struck down a challenged section of the law which defines marriage for the purpose of interpreting federal statutes, regulations and administrative bureaus whenever the word 'marriage' or 'spouse' is used...

Robert Verbruggen: Most abortions serve as nothing more than birth control

Posted on January 21, 2011
Robert Verbruggen writing at National Review Online: "[T]he majority of abortions ? far from all, but the majority ? serve as nothing more than routine birth control: Most women who have abortions became pregnant by willingly engaging in high-risk sexual activity, and many resort to abortion more than once ...

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