News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (pictured) says he looks forward to defending the law in court. The anti-LGBTQ+ Alliance Defending Freedom has filed two lawsuits on behalf of clients who contend that Virginia’s new, inclusive civil rights law infringes on their religious liberty and freedom of speech. None of the…
Open gallery view U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor at Notre Dame University, poses in an undated photograph obtained from Notre Dame University September 19, 2020 Some notable quotes from Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a former Notre Dame law…
Harvest Rock, which has churches across the state, argued that the health order restricting indoor singing violates religious liberty. Harvest Rock, which has churches across the state, argued that the health order restricting indoor singing violates religious liberty. (Shutterstock) LOS ANGELES, CA — A Pasadena-based church lost its bid in…
Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, Friday, June 19, 2015, in Washington. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo By NICK NIEDZWIADEK 10/02/2020 03:24 PM EDT The Department of Justice is wading into the legal fight of a Washington, D.C., church seeking to nix local public health restrictions in order to hold…
Supreme Court Vacancy AP Explains(Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Some notable quotes from Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett a former Notre Dame law professor and current judge on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he was nominating Barrett…
Pastor Che Ahn delivers a sermon via YouTube on Sept. 13, 2020, at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena. (Image from YouTube) LOS ANGELES — Pasadena-based Harvest Rock Church lost its bid for an emergency order overturning Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ban on indoor singing and chanting in places of worship —…
From Melki v. Melki (Md. Ct. Spec. App.), decided Tuesday, in an opinion by Judge Kevin Arthur: In 2009, Husband and Wife were married in Tripoli, Lebanon, at an Orthodox Christian church. Husband is an Orthodox Christian, and Wife is a Catholic. The couple had met a year earlier in…
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sued Alabama over "so help me God" in voter declaration. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s mandatory religious oath for voter registration. Alabama is the only state in the country that requires voters to register on a form…
Shaw Media file photos Caption Despite significant legal precedents and a widespread acceptance by historians, educators, public officials and civilians, congressional candidate Rick Laib doesn’t believe there’s a constitutional separation of church and state. The subject arose in a discussion with the Daily Herald after Laib — a Will County…
Andrew Wommack gives a tour of the campus of Charis Bible College in Woodland Park in this Gazette file photo. A U.S. Denver District Court judge denied Andrew Wommack Ministries’ request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to override Colorado’s 175-person limit on religious gatherings under COVID-19 restrictions.…
Chike Uzuegbunam is a former student at Georgia Gwinnett College who in 2016 was stopped from sharing his faith on campus. An atheist group has filed a brief in support of a lawsuit against a Georgia college that punished a Christian student for preaching outside of a limited free speech…
Bill Foster, left, and Rick Laib. Despite significant legal precedents and a widespread acceptance by historians, educators, public officials and civilians, congressional candidate Rick Laib doesn’t believe there’s a constitutional separation of church and state. The subject arose in a discussion with the Daily Herald after Laib — a Will…
Del. Danica A. Roem (D-Prince William), the nation’s first openly transgender state legislator, wore her trademark rainbow scarf as she ran for office for the first time in 2017. RICHMOND — A wedding photographer and a group of Christian ministries have filed separate lawsuits against a new Virginia law that…
Christian churches and other ministries, plus a Christian photographer, are suing the state of Virginia over a new law that forces them to violate their core beliefs regarding sex, marriage, and gender or pay exorbitant fines. The Virginia Values Act, which took effect July 1, added “sexual orientation” and “gender…
The new U.S. Supreme Court term that opens Oct. 5 has fewer cases of interest to educators than the blockbuster 2019-20 term, which included decisions easing state aid to religious schools, eliminating employment protections for parochial school teachers, extending deportation relief for undocumented immigrants, and protecting LGBTQ workers from discrimination.…
A federal court has ruled in favor of a Brookfield woman who filed a lawsuit against the Elmbrook School District after she criticized masks, social distancing and Elmbrook School Board member Mushir Hassan at a board meeting Aug. 11 The U.S. Eastern District Court of Wisconsin ruled Sept. 25 that…
Vermont tax dollars may soon be going to faith-based elementary and secondary schools, if a case filed recently in federal district court succeeds. The case is styled Valente v. French. The lead plaintiffs are Mount Holly parents who send their son to the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Joseph Academy in…
Trending America was founded on the principle that people should be able to worship free of government interference. As any elementary school student knows (or should), that freedom–more than any other–is what motivated people to come to this New World. It was at the very heart of our founding. Yet…
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a resolution cosponsored by U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) that defends the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance and the principles of religious freedom on which it is based. Introduced by Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.), S.Res.715 notes that Congress added the words “Under God”…
Portrait of Justice Ginsburg by Simmie Knox We lost a champion of humanist values and liberal jurisprudence with the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18. One of the most powerful women in US history, she changed fundamental laws before she ever put on the robe…
Comments (0) By U.S. Sen. James Inhofe R-Oklahoma Religious liberty is a foundational American value enshrined in our Constitution, but it is increasingly under attack by those who believe it cannot coexist with our other freedoms. This is a deeply misguided and dangerous view. Fortunately, the Supreme Court issued three…
Gov. Ralph Northam at a press conference in March announces his stay-at-home executive order for all Virginians to slow the spread of COVID-19. The governor has issued nearly two dozen orders since March related to the novel coronavirus. A religious discrimination case brought by Madison County Christians against Virginia Gov.…
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against the grocery store chain Kroger, claiming that a store in Arkansas violated federal law when it fired two women who refused to wear the company apron with a gay and transgender rainbow symbol on it. The women believed wearing…
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday, was known for her strongly worded dissents. But she wrote several decisions that set precedents and policy for higher education. The decision for which Ginsburg is best known came in 1996, when the Supreme Court ruled that Virginia could not maintain…
Closed for business If hard cases make bad law, emergencies make even worse law. Our case books are littered with awful judicial decisions authorizing presidents and governors to violate core constitutional rights in the name of coping with crises. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s decision to intern more than 100,000 Americans…