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Mirror of Justice 

Dedicated to the development of Catholic legal theory.
Post Frequency: 46.4/day Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 15:50:36 Recent Entries: 3708
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The Prop. 8 decision
Posted on August 04, 2010To the surprise of (I suspect) no one, a federal trial-court judge has struck down California's law affirming that legal marriage is limited to relationships between one man and one woman. Here is the (very long) opinion. Nutshell version: the...
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Posted on August 03, 2010Chris Tollefsen has postedthis essay on the "abiding significance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki", 65 years after those cities were bombed with nuclear weapons. As I noted in my recent post, below, responding to Anne Rice, it is often the case...
Anne Rice and the "plight of the liberal Catholic"
Posted on August 03, 2010Yikes! I go away to climb in Wyoming, and come back to MOJ to find it in the grip of vampires! (I kid, I kid.) Seriously, though: Unlike Steve, I find not much to particularly admire, and quite a bit...
Steve is correct...
Posted on August 03, 2010Steve is correct: the link to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops November 2006 Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper is not working. But not to be deterred from reading this important text, I did some...
Are Catholic Liberals Welcomed By Catholic Bishops?
Posted on August 03, 2010Rick Garnett maintains that Catholic liberals are not really put upon, but are welcome among U.S. Catholic Bishops. I do not think this is so. In its statement "Happy Are Those Who are Called to His Supper" (unfortunately the link...
Ann Rice and Christianity
Posted on August 02, 2010On Facebook, Ann Rice has announced that she continues to follow Christ, but is no longer a Christian. On July 28, she said, ?For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm...
The Condition of following Christ
Posted on July 31, 2010As today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, I have been pondering over and praying about the condition of following Christ. As one who has also made his solemn profession of the four public vows in the Society,...
Sex Abuse and Women's Ordination: The Plight of the Liberal Catholic
Posted on July 30, 2010Father Roy Bourgeios, a prominent activist for social justice, gave a homily at a service in which , contrary to Catholic doctrine a woman was ordained as a priest. He was excommunicated four months later. Father Steven Kiesle asked to...
The culture of life makes a San Fran appearance
Posted on July 29, 2010Perhaps I've grown a bit jaded, but I find myself pleasantly surprised that government officials in California would spend $50 million to save the lives of those who do not want to be saved.
Corporate donations get interesting . . .
Posted on July 29, 2010Putting aside the merits of same-sex marriage, it is impossible not to note the continuing signs of the cultural shift that has happened (and is happening) in this country over the past few years. Five years ago, could anyone imagine...
Finally! We solved the religious liberty problem!
Posted on July 29, 2010In the New York Times, Feisal Mohamed offers a "third way" between Varro and Augustine in matters of religious liberty. Varro distinguished "natural theology" from "civil theology" -- the latter referring to the theology acceptable in public observance -- while...
Quote of the day
Posted on July 29, 2010Check out Joe Carter's short essay at First Things. Great quote: It is often said that for national security conservatives, it is always 1938. A corollary is that for us religiously-oriented conservatives, it?s always 1968. Our society is always having...
Another look at authority and relativism
Posted on July 29, 2010Over the past several weeks, a number of us have provided a variety of thoughts regarding the intersection of authority and relativism. In this regard, I just read with great interest the posting of Professor Maureen O?Connell of Fordham University...
God and Gettysburg
Posted on July 27, 2010In the current issue of First Things, our own Robby George has this short piece, about the strange decision by the American Constitution Society to include, in its pocket-sized edition of landmark American documents, a version of the Gettysburg Address...
Sex In and Out of Intimacy
Posted on July 26, 2010Laura Rosenbury is a productive and original scholar. That said, I disagree with almost everything she has been writing recently (see, e.g., here and here), and her new article appears to be no exception, at least judging from my quick...
Kagan, the Court, and Religious Liberty
Posted on July 26, 2010Here is an op-ed of mine, which appeared in today's edition of USA Today, about the Court's recent (and upcoming) religious-liberty decisions, and about the way that a Justice Kagan should approach such cases. A bit: . . . What...
My Take on the Healthcare/Abortion Issue
Posted on July 22, 2010I've been sufficiently consumed in associate-dean duties that I haven't blogged for months about anything, including the debate over the health-care law and abortion. I have, however, written a memorandum posted on the Democrats for Life of America website, arguing...
Res Omnes
Posted on July 22, 2010Over the past several days, many things?all things?in the world, in the Church, and within this web log have caught my attention. While I am still trying to take stock of all these things, I found it necessary to reflect...
Helen Alvare vs. Commonweal
Posted on July 21, 2010Eduardo: It's not clear from your recent post whether you yourself read the article by Helen Alvare to which the editors of Commonweal responded. You quoted the editors' characterization of her argument, not her argument itself. If you haven't read...
Alvare and Commonweal
Posted on July 21, 2010Robby is right that I did not intend to weigh in on the Alvare, Commonweal debate. I was primarily interested in the question raised in the editors' post and was relying on their characterization of Alvare's argument (which I have...
St. Bernard, pray for us
Posted on July 20, 2010This post has nothing to do with Catholic Legal Theory (except, I suppose, in the sense that climbing mountains can be seen as a metaphor, maybe, for seeking the truth). I am going to try to climb the Grand Teton...
A Kinship of Faiths
Posted on July 20, 2010About ten days ago, I had an exchange with Rick (in this post and its comments, stemming from Rick's earlier post here) about the Dalai Lama's views about the relationship among religions. For those interested in the subject, I highly...
James Kugel on "Religion and the Secular State"
Posted on July 20, 2010Here is an interesting essay by Prof. James Kugel, called "Religion's Place in the Secular State and Armed Conflicts of Today." Here is the introduction: The relationship between religion and the state is one of the most hotly contested and...
The Scope of the Bishops' Teaching Authority
Posted on July 20, 2010I noticed this article in NCR and had meant to post something on it. I continue to think it odd that the Vatican would be upset that the sisters supported health care reform based on their own understanding of what...
Douthat's Tribalism
Posted on July 19, 2010I don?t usually read Douthat?s column. But today?s headline caught my eye. I figured from the title that he was going to blame liberals for racial hostility on the Right. That?s not quite what he did. Nevertheless, I found his...
Alvare on Commonweal on the PPACA
Posted on July 16, 2010Helen Alvare has a strongly reasoned piece up at Public Discourse on Commonweal's apparently willful naivete about the coming effects of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Check it out.
"It's a redefinition of marriage"
Posted on July 16, 2010Andrew Sullivan used to argue, and some people still do, that recognizing same-sex partnerships as legally valid marriages would not harm the institution of marrage, understood as a monogamous and sexually exclusive relationship, and would, indeed, result in greater monogamy...
The Legal Strategy of the Christian Legal Society
Posted on July 15, 2010Mike Dorf has an interesting essay at Dorf on Law speculating on the legal strategy of the Christian Legal Society in its recent Supreme Court case. Why did the lawyers stipulate to the all-comers policy in the lower courts? Why...
Response to Patrick re: judicial power, textualism, natural law, and the like
Posted on July 15, 2010Thanks, Patrick, for your response. I do not think I disagree with much -- if any -- of what you say, as a matter of principle. My purpose (no pun intended) in resisting (what I *think* is) the Arkes view...
Save the date: Abortion conference at Princeton
Posted on July 15, 2010This October, pro-life and pro-choice advocates will gather at Princeton for a conference designed to facilitate a public discourse of "open hearts, open minds, and fair-minded words." Participants include John Finnis, Peter Singer, Frances Kissling, Robin West, Helen Alvare, Dawn...
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The Justice Mills Lawyer’s Relief Act of 2007 or Multiple Avenues of Appeal of a Comprehensive Permit Still Available.
Topics: Administrative Appeal; Zoning Appeal; Mootness; Housing Ap...
Enlarging Time to Appeal Land Use Decisions in the Interests of Justice
In Gregory v. Borough of Avalon, the Appellate Division evaluated ...
Mirror International Prenuptial Agreements
We frequently recommend mirror prenuptial agreements for people wi...
Anna Nicole Smith's Legal Troubles
Court cases and legal issues related to Anna Nicole Smith
Personal information/online harassment?
Quit talking with people on message boards that support these activities. The se...
Is there a time limit where someone can't be convicted of a sexual crime after the child has told someone?
The statute of limitations can differ from state to state. Look into it by conta...
My children's school is falsely charging me with truancy. The local district justice works for the school in the most blatently open way. And his wife works for the district, too! They have violated private health record
I am no lawer by any means, so I would love for someone to verify what I have to...

Personal information/online harassment?
Quit talking with people on message boards that support these activities. The se...
Is there a time limit where someone can't be convicted of a sexual crime after the child has told someone?
The statute of limitations can differ from state to state. Look into it by conta...
My children's school is falsely charging me with truancy. The local district justice works for the school in the most blatently open way. And his wife works for the district, too! They have violated private health record
I am no lawer by any means, so I would love for someone to verify what I have to...








