Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Cert. Denied In Three Cases of Interest

Yesterday, as the U.S. Supreme Court opened its Fall Term, it denied certiorari in a number of cases. (Order List). Among them were three cases that relate to law and religion issues:

In Lucero v. Texas (No. 07-1429), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the jurors' verdict was not affected by their reading of a passage fro the Bible during their deliberations. Christian Science Monitor reported on the denial of cert.

In Boldt v. Boldt (No. 07-1348), a change of custody case, a now-divorced mother who is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church sought to prevent her former husband-- a convert to Judaism-- from having their 12-year old son circumcised. The Oregon Supreme Court remanded the case for the trial court to decide whether the child wants the circumcision. (See prior posting.) The Seattle Times reported on the denial of cert.

In Stanton v. Arizona Life Coalition (No. 07-1366), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the free speech rights of Life Coalition were violated when the Arizona License Plate Commission denied its application for a special "Choose Life" license plate. The AP reports on the denial of cert. [Thanks to Alliance Alert for the lead.]