Religion & Law

The changing American family

Posted on April 01, 2011
A new study shows that, of American women with two or more children, 28% have children with multiple fathers -- roughly the same percentage of American adults who have college degrees.

"What Do Deities Maximize?"

Posted on April 01, 2011
Don't miss Larry Solum's fantastic April Fool's scholarly papers. My favorite is the abstract from Richard Posner's piece, "What Do Deities Maximize?" and this line in particular: "Given omnipotence and omniscience, it follows that all states of affairs already accord...

Opening Day in Philly

Posted on April 01, 2011
It's snowing this morning in Philadelphia, but the Phillies are opening their season at 1:05pm at Citizens Bank Park against the Astros. Hope is a theological virtue in the Christian tradition, and in this instance it's aided by the best...

The Lives of Great Religious Books

Posted on April 01, 2011
Princeton University Press has an intriguing new series. It is discussed by Jeremy F. Walton at the The Immanent Frame. Here is what Princeton has to say about the series together with the current list in the series. Future books...

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School choice coming to Indiana

Posted on March 31, 2011
Indiana's House has passed what looks to be a meaningful, if small-scale, school-choice measure. (A number of legislators, as readers might know, had left the state for Illinois, in an effort to prevent this -- and other -- developments.) If...

Vince Rougeau to be dean of Boston College Law School

Posted on March 31, 2011
It has been announced by Fr. Leahy that my colleague, and former MOJ-blogger, Vince Rougeau will succeed John Garvey as the Dean of Boston College Law School. Readers will certainly be familiar with Vince's writings, both popular and scholarly, regarding...

The Quasi-Trolley Problem

Posted on March 31, 2011
One of my favorite issues in criminal law is the choice of evils -- the rule that the defendant is justified if, setting aside certain side-constraints, he breaks the law in order to avoid or abate some other, much graver...

Another pro-life (but racially charged?) billboard

Posted on March 31, 2011
We've already discussed a NYC billboard from the same organization, and this one -- headed for the south side of Chicago -- is sure to trigger some heated debates. Putting aside the troubling claims (e.g., accusations of genocide) made by...

Allen on the Italian crucifix case

Posted on March 31, 2011
Here's John Allen, weighing in on the Lautsi case, which has already been mentioned several times here at MOJ. He writes, of the decision: The outcome could recalibrate Catholic attitudes towards secularism at the gut level, providing a powerful boost...

Arizona bans race- and sex-based abortions

Posted on March 31, 2011
Story here. A constitutional-law-teaching friend of mine once (mischievously?) wrote an examination that involved evaluating a federal ban (one that, the exam stated, relied on Congress's power to "enforce" the 14th amendment's equal-protection requirement)...

Something New from New

Posted on March 31, 2011
The other day I took up Russell Shaw?s argument that, although most Americans now identify themselves as pro-life they do not vote that way. (See here). When they enter the ballot box they are not convinced that abortion is ?the...

Marriage and Procreation

Posted on March 30, 2011
Most people suppose that there is some connection between marriage, as a human institution, and procreation. After all, if humans did not reproduce sexually, nothing resembling the institution of marriage would likely have emerged in human cultures. Yet many people...

Cash for Conviction Rates?

Posted on March 30, 2011
This story is a few days old, but I flag it because while I was initially very skeptical, I am now somewhat uncertain. A DA in Colorado has instituted a system of bonuses for line ADAs: try at least 5...

6th Annual Conference on Catholic Legal Thought

Posted on March 30, 2011
See the attached schedule. To request registration form please email Michael Scaperlanda at mscaperlanda@ou.edu. Download Schedule 2011

Ave Maria Law Review symposium on Rights of Conscience

Posted on March 30, 2011
The Ave Maria Law Review (Vol. 9; Issue 1)(2010) has just published a symposium on "The Future of Rights of Conscience in Health Care." The symposium grew out of a conference that Lynn Wardle (BYU) and I organized. The conference...

New Law Prof blog rankings

Posted on March 30, 2011
Paul Caron has them. MOJ continues to grow in traffic. So . . . thanks! And, tell your friends . . . I really want to catch the good folks at the "Wills, Trusts, and Estates" blog.

Regretting President Obama's lack of support for choice and opportunity in DC

Posted on March 29, 2011
The White House -- despite the occasional encouraging sign of openness to education reform -- continues to oppose even D.C.'s small experiment in school-choice for low-income kids in D.C. Sad. UPDATE: The Washington Post gets it right. We understand the...

Connick v. Thompson

Posted on March 29, 2011
Villanova Law grad Gordon Cooney and his Morgan Lewis partner Michael Banks have long represented a Louisiana man, John Thompson, who spent 18 years in prison but was acquitted on retrial after a crime lab report that the prosecution had...

Thanking President Obama for Saving Lives in Libya

Posted on March 29, 2011
There is much to criticize about President Obama?s foreign and military policy toward Libya, and one cannot help being struck by the wide breadth of criticism from both Left and Right, from both the traditional news media and modern cable-news...

Action and Omission, Constitutional and Criminal Law

Posted on March 29, 2011
Inspired by Orin Kerr's interesting post, I've been thinking a little about the contexts in which action and inaction (or omission) matter across legal disciplines, and specifically for constitutional and criminal law. Our good readers will know that, greatly to...

Child Trafficking Conference

Posted on March 29, 2011
Mary Leary at Catholic University's Law School has organized what promises to be an excellent National Press Club program on April 7 (5 -- 6:30) on "Child Trafficking: America's Role in the Problem and Solution." Among the speakers are Luis...

Glenn on "Contrasting Models of State and School"

Posted on March 29, 2011
For those who are interested in (as we all should be) the nexus of education, religion, civil-society, and family, Charles Glenn's work is invaluable. Here is his latest, "Contrasting Models of State and School": Through a historical study of two...

Aidan O'Neill on "squaring equality with religion"

Posted on March 29, 2011
Relevant, I think, to the conversation about the Court's decision to weigh in on the ministerial exception's foundations and content is this post, by Aidan O'Neill, at the U.K. Human Rights Blog. Commenting on the (to me) striking refusal of...

"Lift High the Cross": More on Lautsi

Posted on March 29, 2011
Here's Prof. John Witte (Emory), writing about the recent Lautsi decision, at Huffington Post. A bit: The Lautsi case echoes many familiar arguments that the United States Supreme Court has used over the past three decades to maintain traditional displays...

Racial segregation in America

Posted on March 29, 2011
As a college freshman, I remember lecturing my southern roommate about his region's race problem -- as only an 18 year-old who grew up in the predominantly white Chicago suburbs could do -- and he responded by asking how many...

The New North Carolina

Posted on March 28, 2011
I have been living in Raleigh for a few years now and have witnessed, even in that short time, dramatic changes in the area. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the state's population grew over the past decade by...

A new blog: "Catholic Moral Theology"

Posted on March 28, 2011
Here's a new blog that I'm sure many MOJ readers will want to visit regularly: "Catholic Moral Theology" is the group blog of "15 of the best young Roman Catholic moral theologians in North America offering their insights." According to...

A Reflection on the Life of Bill Stuntz

Posted on March 28, 2011
A number of us have commented on the life and work of Bill Stuntz, and I would like to offer my own reflection. Bill was a professor at Virginia while I was there in law school. As a Catholic student...

Happy to Be Here and Jeremy Waldron at Princeton

Posted on March 28, 2011
Thanks to Rick and company for including me. I first came across Mirror of Justice when I was a young associate at Williams & Connolly and have followed it ever since, so it's a delight to be part of the...

Penalver and Strahilevitz on Judicial Takings

Posted on March 28, 2011
Lawrence Solum, who produces the Legal Theory Blog, has commented on MOJ friend Eduardo Penalver's and Lior Strahilevitz's essay, "Judicial Takings or Due Process?" The essay argues for a deliniation of the boundaries between judicial takings and due process that...

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