Anti-Shariah Bills Under Review

May 1, 2011 8:20 AM CDT

Texas Immune from Prisoner Damages Suit Under Religious Rights Law, Supreme Court Rules

Sovereign immunity protects the state of Texas from a damages lawsuit by a prisoner who contends worship restrictions violated his rights under federal law, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-2 decision. The state did not waive sovereign immunity to private suits for money damages by accepting federal…

Apr 20, 2011 2:50 PM CDT

Kagan Bested Sotomayor in First-Dissent Sweepstakes, Analyst Says; Does Scalia Have a Rival?

Justice Antonin Scalia, known for his pointed and quotable dissents, may have some competition. Justice Elena Kagan’s first dissent shows she may be able to rival Scalia, according to legal analyst Andrew Cohen, writing for the Atlantic. He cautions that it may be too early to make predictions, but he…

Apr 7, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Once High-Ranking Priest, Now Defrocked, Sues Accuser Who Testified in Church Trial for Defamation

Found guilty by a church tribunal in 2006 of sexually abusing a minor decades ago and subsequently defrocked, a high-ranking former New York priest has now turned the tables on his accuser. Onetime monsignor Charles Kavanagh, 73, has filed a defamation suit against the former seminary student in federal court…

Mar 30, 2011 6:25 PM CDT

Supreme Court to Decide Whether Lutheran School Teacher Can Sue for Retaliation

Corrected: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a Lutheran elementary school can be sued for retaliation by a narcoleptic teacher who wanted to return to work after a disability leave. The religious school in Redford, Mich., fired teacher Cheryl Perich for insubordination after she reported for work…

Mar 28, 2011 2:42 PM CDT

Lawyer’s Lie Re Her Claim to Channel Thoughts of the Dead to Client Results in 1-Year Suspension

A hearing officer had recommended only a six-month suspension for Arizona attorney Charna Johnson, who admittedly had claimed to serve as a medium channeling the thoughts of a client’s dead wife to him but denied sexual involvement with the man. But the disciplinary commission of the state supreme court said…

Mar 23, 2011 8:05 PM CDT

Upset About Bankruptcy Case, Amish Seek Unsuccessfully to Settle $33M Matter Outside Court

When Monroe Beachy filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, members of the Amish community weren’t happy. Not so much because they might have been fleeced by the alleged Ponzi schemer with whom they had invested as a trusted member of their religious group but because they were being forced into…

Mar 21, 2011 10:00 PM CDT

Kozinski’s ‘Ornery’ Panel Dissent Carries the Day in En Banc Headscarf Ruling

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit by a Muslim woman forced to remove her scarf in a courthouse holding cell in California. The en banc 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco said the federal law protecting prisoners’ religious rights also applies to courthouse detentions,…

Mar 16, 2011 3:20 PM CDT

Mich. Attorney General Backs Student Who Refused to Counsel Gay Patients

A graduate student kicked out of Eastern Michigan University after refusing to work with gay patients in its counseling program has won the backing of the Michigan attorney general. Former student Julea Ward contends she could not counsel a gay client because of her religious beliefs that homosexuality is immoral,…

Mar 15, 2011 1:04 PM CDT

5th-Grader’s Church Christmas Party Fliers at Center of Discrimination Lawsuit

A Christian-based group of lawyers filed a federal discrimination lawsuit in Scranton on Friday after a fifth-grade girl’s request to distribute fliers for her church Christmas party was denied by a Pennsylvania school district. The Alliance Defense Fund filed the suit against the Pocono Mountain School District on behalf of…

Mar 8, 2011 8:44 PM CST

Lawyer Runs Ads Seeking Milwaukee Clergy Abuse Victims

A Minnesota lawyer known for his suits against the Catholic Church will run print and television ads asking Milwaukee clergy abuse victims to come forward. Lawyer Jeffrey Anderson says victims will have a limited time to make claims because the Milwaukee Archdiocese has sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to…

Mar 4, 2011 12:55 PM CST

6th Circuit Rules Against Ohio Judge’s Modified Ten Commandments Poster

An Ohio judge who hung a new Ten Commandments poster in his courtroom after losing a legal battle over the first didn’t fare any better the second time around. The new Ten Commandments poster displayed by Judge James DeWeese of Richland County had compared the Commandments’ 10 “moral absolutes” with…

Feb 3, 2011 1:07 PM CST

Facebook Removes ‘Adventists for Life’ Page After Infringement Complaint

Facebook has removed a page for a group calling itself Adventists for Life after the Seventh-Day Adventists claimed trademark infringement. Seventh Day Adventist spokesman Garrett Caldwell told the Washington Post that “Adventist” and “SDA” are trademarked and registered names. “We are working hard to try to protect the name and…

Feb 1, 2011 12:00 PM CST

Tax Counsel to House Panel Is Targeted in Protest for Refusing Ex-Wife a Religious Divorce

A tax lawyer for the Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee has become a high-profile target in an unusual public dispute over his refusal to give his ex-wife a religious divorce. Although Aharon Friedman, 34, is civilly divorced from Tamar Epstein, 27, after only a few years of…

Jan 4, 2011 9:46 PM CST

5th Circuit to Rehear Case of Grade School Students’ Confiscated Jesus Pencils

Do grade school students who want to distribute religious-themed pencils and pens have a First Amendment right to do so? The issue will be reconsidered by the en banc 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in New Orleans, How Appealing reports. In a June decision, amended in November (PDF),…

Dec 23, 2010 4:52 PM CST