esterday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments (link to transcript) in the Louisiana abortion case, Russo v. June Medical Services. This case is a challenge to a new Louisiana state law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital within 30 miles. Because the admitting privileges requirements can be…
Category: Privacy
Guest Opinion: Endless exemptions for faith? Hobby Lobby case not a simple one
By Robert J. Ray – Realistically, can a government allow every employer to customize the rules without descending into administrative chaos? Justice Antonin Scalia argued in Oregon v. Smith that one’s religious beliefs don’t negate the need to comply with valid laws.
On the other hand, freedom of religion is a crucial principle that must be defended. But how far?
Federal Judge: Christian Owned For-Profit Company Must Comply with HHS Mandate
Hobby Lobby is appealing the ruling. Ultimately, for the Greens, it may come down to the question of whether a business can serve both “God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24).
Selfish Freedom: The Overreach of the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act
By Jason Hines – n Illinois appellate court rendered an interesting decision last week.[1] The court upheld a lower court ruling that Illinois pharmacists do not have to sell “Plan B” pills to customers if they have religious objections to the use of the product. “Plan B” is the brand name of a drug that…
Sikh Group Develops App to Report Airport Profiling (CNN)
EXCERPT: Airline travelers who feel they’ve been harassed at airport check-ins by screeners now have a speedier outlet on which to complain right at their fingertips. The Sikh Coalition, a civil rights advocacy group, on Monday released a mobile application on iPhones and Android phones giving passengers who feel they’ve been racially or religiously profiled…
Apple Bids Adieu to ‘Jew or not Jew?’ iPhone App in France (CNN)
EXCERPT: “Jew or not Jew?”: That is just part of the question. An iPhone app bearing this name has been yanked from Apple’s App Store in France amid threats of a lawsuit and demands for its removal. The app, still available elsewhere, pulls together a database of thousands of famous Jews – including movie stars,…
Religious Groups Object to Covering Birth Control (Fox News)
EXCERPT: They defied the bishops to support President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Now Catholic hospitals are dismayed the law may force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees. A provision in the law expanded preventive health-care benefits for women, and the administration said last week that must include birth control…
Analysis: Obama Administration Declines to Defend Part of the Defense of Marriage Act
Today Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama Administration announced that the Justice Department will no longer attempt to defend Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) (which defines “marriage” as between one man and one woman and “spouse” as a member of the opposite sex) from challenges in states that recognize gay marriage.
UK – Health and safety
Health insurance works by protecting your assets from the high cost of medical care. Without it, your entire life savings could be wiped out by a $300,000 medical bill. It’s very complicated, and many people are overwhelmed and annoyed with the process. Here’s an explanation of health insurance, and how it got to be the…
Bill would give president emergency control of Internet (CNET)
EXCERPT: Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors….