Religious Law

Lawsuit Challenges Pennsylvania Lawmakers’ Year of the Bible Resolution

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has filed a suit challenging a Pennsylvania House resolution that declares 2012 the Year of the Bible. The suit claims the resolution violates the establishment clause, report the Associated Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The lawsuit says the resolution “sends a message to the citizens…

Mar 27, 2012 1:02 PM CDT

South Dakota Governor Signs Law Banning Courts from Enforcing Religious Codes

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has signed a bill designed to prevent courts from applying Islamic law. The revised measure bars courts and governmental agencies from enforcing any provisions of any religious code, according to Gavel to Gavel, a newsletter of the National Center for State Courts. The bill was…

Mar 13, 2012 3:48 PM CDT

Law Profs Sign Letter Calling Obama’s Contraception Compromise Unacceptable

Clarification: Several law professors have signed a letter that says President Obama’s compromise on contraception coverage is unacceptable. Primary authors of the letter include Catholic University president John Garvey, Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon and Princeton University jurisprudence professor Robert George, the Deseret News reports. Others signing the letter…

Feb 16, 2012 5:29 PM CST

Federal Judge’s Order Takes Swipe at Politicians Who ‘Demagogued’ School Prayer Case

A federal judge whose writing attracted a newspaper’s attention earlier this year is back in the news again, this time for taking a swipe at his critics. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio approved a settlement in a school prayer case last Thursday and added an unusual personal…

Feb 14, 2012 12:00 PM CST

11th Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Suit by Worker Who Wouldn’t Give Same-Sex Relationship Counseling

A federal appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by a former counselor who claimed her constitutional rights were violated when she was laid off after refusing to provide relationship counseling to a gay woman. In a ruling (PDF) Tuesday, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…

Feb 8, 2012 12:22 AM CST

Student Faces Backlash After Winning Legal Battle Over Prayer Hanging on School Wall

A Rhode Island girl who successfully waged a legal battle to get a prayer removed from the wall of her high school auditorium is now suffering the wrath of her deeply religious neighbors. Jessica Ahlquist, 16, has gotten online threats, and police have escorted her at school. A state lawmaker…

Jan 27, 2012 11:18 PM CST

CAIR Calls Gingrich ‘Relic of an Ugly Era’ over Shariah Law Criticism

The Council of American Islamic Relations is blasting Newt Gingrich for saying he would not back a Muslim for president unless the candidate renounces Shariah law. Gingrich made his remarks Tuesday during a town hall appearance in South Carolina, according to Fox News and the Huffington Post. Asked if he…

Jan 19, 2012 1:20 PM CST

Posner Gets Creative with Photos Again, Pictures Bob Marley in Prisoner Rights Opinion

The federal appeals judge who pictured an ostrich in an opinion has turned to photography again, this time in a decision on a prisoner’s suit over shorn dreadlocks. “Dreadlocks can attain a formidable length and density,” the Jan. 13 opinion (PDF) says. A photo of the late reggae musician Bob…

Jan 17, 2012 11:30 AM CST

Supreme Court Bars Narcoleptic Lutheran Teacher’s Suit Against Church School

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a narcoleptic Lutheran school teacher who claimed retaliation when her church school refused to rehire her after disability leave. The unanimous opinion (PDF) by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. found that the school was protected from suit under the “ministerial exception” to…

Jan 11, 2012 3:57 PM CST

10th Circuit Says Federal Judge Got It Right, Correctly Blocked Okla. Voter Ban on Shariah Law

A federal appeals court in Denver today gave a green light to a lawsuit over an Oklahoma voter initiative that approved a state constitutional amendment banning state courts from looking to Islamic religious law in their rulings. Executive director Muneer Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had standing to…

Jan 10, 2012 8:59 PM CST

Daunting Dubai: Security Officials Nearly Force Cancellation of IBA Annual Meeting

Corrected: Two years ago, the International Bar Association agreed to convene its 2011 annual gathering in Dubai, a key vote of confidence for the Persian Gulf city-state, even as its economy was teetering toward insolvency. But the meeting, which took place in October and usually draws 5,000 lawyers from across…

Jan 1, 2012 10:20 AM CST

Retired Lawyer’s Menorah Suit Against Homeowners Association Settles in Time for the Holiday

A retirement community in Leesburg, Fla., now has a 6½-foot-tall menorah inside its social hall as a result of a lawsuit filed by a resident who is a rabbi and former lawyer. Rabbi Arthur Grae had a practice in New York focusing on labor and constitutional law before his retirement,…

Dec 22, 2011 4:02 PM CST

‘Talaq’ Text Is Valid for Divorce, Imam Says; But Bombay High Court Demands More in Different Case

An Islamic imam who oversees a mosque in Ghaziabad, India, has declared a marriage void on the basis of a text message a man sent to his wife stating “talaq” three times. The couple were married three months ago, but the wife returned to her parents’ home early on and…

Dec 15, 2011 6:19 PM CST

Feds Raid Fringe Amish Group’s Compound, Arrest 7 in Alleged Hair-Cutting Hate Crimes

Responding to alleged attacks that had struck fear into the hearts of residents of pacifist Amish communities in multiple Midwestern states, federal authorities raided the Ohio compound of a breakaway Amish group this morning and arrested seven men. They are accused of hate crimes in a bizarre series of hair-cutting…

Nov 23, 2011 9:55 PM CST

Vatican Plans Legal Action over Benetton’s Faked Ad Showing Pope Lip Kissing Cleric

Benetton’s new “Unhate” ad campaign showing photoshopped pictures of world leaders smooching each other on the lips has managed to generate lots of free publicity—as well as legal action. The Vatican has announced it will take “proper legal measures” to stop publication of a photo of the Pope kissing an…

Nov 18, 2011 1:43 PM CST