News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.
Justice Neil Gorsuch declined to grant emergency relief to a pair of Colorado churches. (Art Lien) In the latest battle over restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice Neil Gorsuch rejected a request from two Denver-area churches to block the enforcement of Colorado’s disaster law. Denver Bible Church and Community…
Wood Gavel A Texas judge who is Christian was banned by another judge from opening his courtroom proceedings with a prayer, thereby granting victory to the Freedom from Religion Foundation, a secular non-profit legal organization based in Wisconsin, a report said. The judge ruled in favor of the FRFF, an…
A federal judge has ruled against Montgomery County Judge Wayne Mack’s practice of opening his court with a prayer said by a member of a volunteer chaplain program. Southern District of Texas Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Friday deemed the prayers violated the Establishment Clause, which is the Constitutional provision prohibiting…
Association of Christian Schools International logo. The Association of Christian Schools International, a Colorado Springs-based organization founded in 1978 that aims to advance “excellence in Christian schools by enhancing the professional and personal development of Christian educators and providing vital support functions for Christian schools.” ACSI has over 2,200 member…
By Leisa Boley Hellwarth Missouri was the first state to pass a truth in labeling law. And Missouri was the first state to have the constitutionality of the law challenged. On Aug. 28, 2018, Missouri Rev. Code Sec. 265.494(7) became law. This Statute prohibits the misrepresentation of a product as…
Some time ago, the IRS issued an Audit Techniques Guide on the taxation of lawsuits, awards, and settlements. As many tax practitioners can attest, there are a multitude of tax issues involving any one of these issues. In any event, and although the Audit Technique Guide (“Audit Guide”) is somewhat…
The Supreme Court of Canada Building on May 12, 2021 (Jolson Lim/iPolitics) In a 9-0 decision on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that there is no underlying legal contract when someone joins a voluntary organization, even if that organization has a constitution and by-law, and, even if that…
COMMENTARY: A decision in the Sandra Pavez case in Chile will have broad implications for the protection of religious liberty globally. Cathedral of San Bernardo, Chile. (photo: Wikimedia Commons) Reconciling respect for Catholic teaching on sexuality with the demands of the LGBT movement is aided by a robust protection of…
Whether or not a religious belief is sincerely held by an applicant or employee is rarely at issue in most religious discrimination lawsuits. With both the EEOC and DFEH guidance requiring employers to accommodate an employee who has a sincerely held religious belief that prevents an employee from receiving any…
Cabinet for Health and Family Services (shown) and Sunrise Children’s Service have not come to an agreement on a 21-year-old case, say Sunrise’s counsel. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — A long-standing case between Sunrise Children’s Service, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and a former Sunrise employee is far from…
Cabinet for Health and Family Services (shown) and Sunrise Children’s Service have not come to an agreement on a 21-year-old case, say Sunrise’s counsel. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (KT) — A long-standing case between Sunrise Children’s Service, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and a former Sunrise employee is far from…
More than 159 million people voted in the 2020 federal election and 2021 Senate runoffs, giving Democrats “trifecta” leadership of the White House, Senate, and House. Since then, Republican-controlled state legislatures around the country have teed up hundreds of bills aimed at making it harder to vote. Proponents of these…
BREAKING: RIZZO CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES FAITH LEADERS ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLUMSTED – Today, the Rizzo for Governor Campaign announced the formation of the Faith Leaders Advisory Council, comprised of religious leaders of different faiths and religious denominations. The Council will meet regularly to address first amendment issues in New…
BOSTON, May 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On behalf of New Life South Coast in New Bedford, Massachusetts, First Liberty Institute, the Massachusetts Family Institute, and the global law firm Jones Day, today filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, New Bedford Mayor Jonathan Mitchell, and several other officials…
The 2021 National Day of Prayer: 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." The 2021 National Day of Prayer: 2 Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there…
People wave to each other at the end of the Easter Sunday service at St. James Catholic Church, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., April 4, 2021. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud Minnesota has resolved a lawsuit by two Minnesota churches challenging the state’s restrictions on the size of…
The writer is a legal adviser for the International Commission of Jurists. IT has been more than 10 years since Pakistan ratified the ICCPR and the Convention against Torture, and even longer since it became party to other core UN human rights treaties such as CEDAW and ICESCR. By becoming…
Photo by Hakan Nural/Unsplash/Creative Commons (RNS) — On April 28, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law a bill eliminating the state’s religious exemption for mandatory school vaccinations. Three days later, a lawsuit was filed in federal court claiming the law violates the constitutional rights of three mothers — Greek…
Erwin Chemerinsky. Photo by Jim Block. For the last two decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently restricted the ability to sue out-of-state defendants without their consent. But in Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial District , the court allowed an out-of-state company to be sued. The decision, handed…
A common rallying cry of the right in America, to justify regressive morality laws, is often to say that "America was founded as a Christian country" with "Judeo-Christian values" while the common response from the left is to declare that the United States was founded as an explicitly secular country…
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Rodriquez , as well as a related case brought by the Thomas More Law Center, which challenge a California policy requiring nonprofits to disclose the names of their anonymous donors. The policy was initially created by…
Published in NH Bar News (4/21/2021) In the past several years a number of religious accommodation cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court, an interesting trend where the religious beliefs and rights of individuals and businesses conflict with other fundamental rights of employees, students, and even the public. The cases…
The Michigan Department of Corrections says it is not required to provide kosher meat and dairy to Jewish inmates to supplement vegan meals, arguing they must buy those foods themselves from the prison commissary . (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) CINCINNATI (CN) — Jewish inmates who wish to observe the Sabbath…
In The Challenge of Pluralism , Stephen V. Monsma and J. Christopher Soper posed a question facing every democratic society: “How far can a democratic polity go in permitting religiously motivated behavior that is contrary to societal welfare and norms?” During the past year of the pandemic, states and local…
The Supreme Court’s current term is winding down , but there are still several cases to be decided – and, as with most terms, a controversy over church-state matters looms. Fulton vs. City of Philadelphia is among the cases still to be decided. It centers on a requirement that private…