http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022306539.html
Category: Supreme Court
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.
In Defense of Separation
In the past few months there has been a renewed debate about the principles surrounding the first amendment, and especially about what scholars call the religion clauses – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Prior to the midterm elections in November, Christine O’Donnell asserted that…
Religious Liberty 2010 – A Year in Review
By Jason Hines – 2010 has been an interesting year in the area of church-state relations, both at home and abroad. While we cannot cover every event of magnitude that took place this year in this forum, we will touch on some of the more important events have taken place over the last 365 days….
Michael Newdow – Question to Justice Scalia: Does the Establishment Clause Permit the Disregard of Devout Catholics?
Dr. Michael Newdow, an attorney and physician famous for his litigation on church-state issues from an atheist perspective, and and previous article contributor to ReligiousLiberty.TV, has now published an important law review article for the Capital University Law Review that discusses the history of American religious freedom and tolerance and why the majority should carefully consider the…
Americans United Praises Justice Stevens’ Record On Church And State
Americans United for Separation of Church and State today praised Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens for his record of support for church-state separation and expressed the hope that his replacement will hold similar views.
Church-state advocates urge strong successor for Stevens (ABP)
EXCERPT from American Baptist Press: WASHINGTON (ABP) — With the Supreme Court’s oldest and longest-serving member announcing April 9 his retirement, advocates for strong church-state separation urged that Justice John Paul Stevens’ replacement be as devoted to preventing government establishment of religion as the retiring jurist. However, some called for a successor who can improve…
Faith, Freedom, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Liberty Magazine)
By David A. Pendleton – Ever since President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court, the chattering classes have speculated endlessly regarding the impact she might have on the future of American jurisprudence. She would bring wide-ranging experiences to the Court: prosecutor, civil litigator, federal trial judge, federal appellate judge, law…
Doug Kmiec on a Court Packed with Catholics (Wall Street Journal)
If Judge Sonia Sotomayor is confirmed by the United States Senate, she will be the 6th Catholic among the 9 United States Supreme Court justices. Doug Kmiec, my constitutional law professor in the area of the Bill of Rights at Pepperdine University, discusses what this will mean in a recent interview with Suzanne Sataline of…
Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor’s rulings on religious issues
University of Toledo law professor Howard M. Friedman has compiled a list of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s rulings on religion clause issues at his blog, Religion Clause. Sotomayor has served on the Second Circuit since 1998. She served as a federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York from 1992 to 1998.