New Rabbinic Court Judges Appointed In Israel Amidst Controversy

In Israel yesterday, according to the Jerusalem Post, 15 new judges were appointed to vacancies in rabbinic courts amidst strong criticism by women's rights organizations who say the new judges will not be sympathetic to the problem of women whose husbands refuse to grant them a divorce. Twelve of the 15 new judges are haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jews). A modern Orthodox member of the selection committee and 2 members from the Israel bar association walked out of the meeting when the committee refused to appoint more non-haredi judges. Opponents blame Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, saying that he could have suspended the meeting until a compromise was worked out. However, new appointment had already been delayed for 4 years as justice ministers have refrained from convening the selection committee because of political power struggles. Haaretz says that many of the 15 judges appointed are relatives of politicians, public figures or veteran rabbinic court judges, and only one has a background in law. (See prior related posting.)

NC Governments Respond To Requests For Non-Sectarian Invocations

Cities and counties in North Carolina struggle with policies on invocations at council meetings, after the ACLU sent letters to many of them urging them to eliminate sectarian prayer. Yadkin County officials have decided to move to non-sectarian prayers to open their board meetings according to today's Myrtle Beach Sun-News. County attorney James Graham says that residents probably will not notice the difference.

However in Thomasville, North Carolina, after heated debate, city council voted 6-1 last night for a policy that permits sectarian prayer. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that the new guidelines provide for council members to volunteer-- on a rotational basis-- to offer an invocation as a private citizen before council meetings formally begin. However the policy states: "No guidelines or limitations shall be issued regarding an invocation's content except that the Council shall request by the language of this policy that no prayer should proselytize or advance any faith, or disparage the religious faith or nonreligious views of others." Backers of the prayer policy say organizations like the ACLU want to strip Christians of their free speech. The Alliance Defense Fund has offered to defend the city in any challenge to its new policy.

Thailand Considering New Regulation Of Islamic Affairs

In Thailand, a 35-member security committee has drafted the Islamic Affairs Administration Draft Bill. The law will now be submitted to the cabinet for consideration. Today's Bangkok Post says that if enacted, the bill will replace the three existing laws. It will create a 31-member National Islamic Council to help oversee the selection of Islamic leaders. The Council will also consider and interpret controversial issues. Council members will be Islamic leaders and experts selected from registered Islamic religious schools around the country. Also, a state-run National Islamic Affairs Administration Office under the Prime Minister's Office, to oversee and promote Islam, will be created.

British Schools Will Be Permitted To Ban Niqab

Great Britain's Department for Education and Skills will issue Guidelines for schools that will permit a ban on Muslim girls wearing full face veils. BBC News today reported on the new Guidelines on uniforms that are expected after a school in Buckinghamshire won its attempt to ban a 12-year old girl from wearing a niqab. (See prior posting.) The Guidelines say that while efforts should be made to accommodate religious clothing, schools need to be able to identify pupils to maintain order and to identify intruders. Also a teacher may not be able to judge a student's engagement with learning if the student's face cannot be seen.

Utah Delays Decision On FLDS Law Enforcement Officers

Utah's Peace Officer Standards and Training Academy voted Monday to put off a determination of whether to remove certification of officers in the Colorado City, Arizona Town Marshal's office, who also patrol Hildale, Utah. (Decertification process.) The two towns are the home of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who engage in polygamy and arranged marriages. The Associated Press yesterday reported that Utah decided it would await the completion of an investigation being carried out by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. The investigation began after allegations that officers had were more loyal to the FLDS Church than to the civil law. Peter Stirba, an attorney for the marshals, says the officers could benefit from more training, but that the officers "support the law of the land and ... take their oaths of office seriously and sincerely."

Egypt Moves Toward Constitutional Ban On Muslim Brotherhood As Politcal Party

The Associated Press reports that yesterday Egypt's Parliament approved a controversial set of constitutional amendments, including one that bans the formation of any political party based on religion. This provision is designed to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from gaining power. (See prior posting.) Under Art. 189 of Egypt's Constitution, the amendments are required to be approved by a vote of the people in order to go into effect. Reuters today reports that the referendum on the amendments is expected to take place quickly-- probably next Monday, March 26-- presumably in order to prevent opponents from rallying voters to oppose the changes.

UPDATE: Lebanon's Daily Star reported on March 22 that both Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition Kefaya movement will boycott the March 26 referendum on Egypt's proposed constitutonal amendments in order to deny legitimacy to them.

Reports and Transcript of "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Arguments in Supreme Court

Accounts of today's Supreme Court oral arguments in Morse v. Frederick (see prior posting) have been posted by the Student Press Law Center, the Associated Press; and Education Week. The full transcript of the oral arguments is also available online. The Education Week report says:

Justice Stephen G. Breyer seemed to capture the court’s concerns.... "It's pretty hard to run a school where kids go around at public events publicly making a joke out of drugs," Justice Breyer told Douglas K. Mertz, the lawyer representing former high school student Joseph Frederick.... [However] Justice Breyer said he worried that if he took the student’s side, "we’ll suddenly see people testing limits all over the place in the high schools. But a rule that's against your side may really limit people's rights on free speech. That’s what I’m struggling with."

McCain Says He Needs Evangelical Support To Win

CBN News today reports on an interview with John McCain who says that he needs support of Christian Evangelicals to win the 2008 presidential nomination. McCain says he has met with a number of leaders of the Christian right, but not with James Dobson "because he has said he prays that I will not be the nominee of the party. I'm not sure where we start the conversation." McCain agreed that he had not been as outspoken on the right-to-life issue as some Evangelicals would like. Some Evangelicals also dislike McCain's championing of campaign finance reform. McCain said he is trying to reach out to religious liberals and moderates as well as to conservatives.

Supreme Court Hears Arguments Today In Student Speech Case With Implications For Religious Freedom

Today the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in a high-school student free speech case that some say could have significant implications for religious expression in public schools. The case, from the 9th circuit, is Morse v. Frederick, No. 06-278 (see prior posting). In 2002 in Juneau, Alaska, high school students were released from classes to watch the torch for the Winter Olympics-- on its way to Salt Lake City-- pass by. In hopes of getting TV notice, student Joseph Frederick unfurled a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus". The school's principal quickly tore down the banner and suspended Frederick for 10 days. Frederick sued for damages.

The Washington Post last week described the case as "the most important student free-speech conflict to reach the Supreme Court since the height of the Vietnam War". A number of Christian conservatives-- while they do not like the student's apparently pro-drug message-- nevertheless strongly defend Frederick. Religion News Service quotes Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, who said: "in my opinion this is probably one of the most dangerous cases to religious freedom in the last decade - because you don't think it's about religion". Christian groups argue that a win for the school could empower schools to engage in "viewpoint censorship" to restrict controversial speech-- from anti-abortion T-shirts to student-run Bible clubs.

Meanwhile, SCOTUS blog on Saturday suggested that the case is complicated by basic disagreement on many of the facts. The parties differ over whether or not Frederick was taking part in a school-sponsored event and disagree over the meaning of the message on Frederick's banner.

Law Memo has links to the briefs of the parties and of all the amici, as well as to the petition for cert. and related documents.

New Articles on Law and Religion

From SSRN:
Gregory C. Sisk, John Paul II: The Quintessential Religious Witness in the Public Square, Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, Vol. 45, p. 241, 2007.

From SmartCILP:
Garrett Epps, Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others: The Rehnquist Court and "Majority" Religion, 21 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 323-347 (2006).

Noah Feldman, Division, Design, and the Divine: Church and State in Today's America, 30 Oklahoma City University Law Review 845-862 (2005).

Richard W. Garnett, Modest Expectations?: Civic Unity, Religious Pluralism, and Conscience, (Reviewing Noah Feldman, Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem--And What We Should Do About It; and Kevin Seamus Hasson, The Right to be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America.) 23 Constitutional Commentary 241-269 (2006).

Jay D. Wexler, The Endorsement Court, 21 Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 263-306 (2006).

Historian Says Napoleon's Relations With Jews Could Be Pattern For Muslims In France Today

Yesterday's International Herald Tribune carried an interesting article by historian Michael Goldfarb suggesting that the experience of Jews in Napoleonic France 200 years ago has relevance to Muslims in France today. In response to questions by Napoleon, the Jewish community opted for integration into French society-- at considerable price to the manner in which Judaism had traditionally been practiced. Goldfarb asks whether it is imaginable that French Muslims today would commit to French definitions of secularism, integration, faith and patriotism.

Exclusion of Prison Ministry Workers From Jury OK'd

In People v. Nerys, (CA Ct. App., March 15, 2007), a California appellate court rejected a criminal defendant's claim that the prosecution acted unconstitutionally when it excluded from the jury "people who participate in a religious or spiritual prison ministry". The court held that these individuals do not constitute a cognizable group.

Nashville May Permit Fugitives To Surrender At Churches

The Tennessean today reports that Nashville may join several other U.S. cities and implement a program that would permit some 38,000 non-violent offenders with outstanding criminal warrants to surrender for arrest at selected local churches. Under Operation Fugitive Safe Surrender, those who turn themselves in would be booked at the churches, get a new court date, and be freed without posting a bond. Several criminal justice agencies must still give final approval to participation and the U.S. Marshals Service must still give final approval for funds for the program. (See prior related posting.)

Podcast of Debate On Church-State Available

NPR offers an interesting broadcast and podcast of a debate on government and religion, titled Is America Too Damn Religious? The Oxford style debaters are Rev. Barry Lynn, Susan Jacoby and Alan Wolfe for the proposition. Against the proposition are Jean Bethke Elshtain, Albert Raboteau and William Galston. A 50 minute and a 94 minute version of the debate is available, as are short written excerpts. The debate is entertaining and worth the investment of time to listen.

Preacher's Claim Against University Is Moot

A Pennsylvania federal district court has dismissed as moot a civil rights claim by a preacher growing out of his citation for trespassing growing out of his open-air preaching on the campus of West Chester University. In Marcavage v. West Chester University, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18162 (ED PA, March 15, 2007), a Pennsylvania federal district court found that the university has adopted a new policy on the right of individuals to engage in expressive activities on campus. It also found that defendants had qualified immunity in enforcing the university's old policy.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases All Involve Muslim Prisoners

In Smith v. Nuttal, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18354 (WD NY, March 14, 2007), a New York federal Magistrate Judge rejected the complaint of a Muslim prisoner that he was required to accommodate his religious dietary requirements through the religious alternative meal served to Muslims, and was not permitted to receive the kosher alternative meal that was available to Jews and Hebrew Israelites which contained meat more often.

In Small v. Sirmons, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18410 (ED OK, March 14, 2007), an Oklahoma federal court dismissed the claim of a prisoner that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was not allowed to abstain from off-premise work on Fridays in order to attend Jumah prayer services at his prison facility. Instead he was given time to pray alone at his work site.

In Harvey v. West, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17861 (SD IL, March 14, 2007), an Illinois federal Magistrate Judge rejected claims of a Muslim prisoner that he was not always allowed to attend Muslim services, Muslim services sometimes started late, and he was told that he could attend only one service a week. Also rejected were general claims of discrimination and a claim that he was harassed when attempting to practice his religion.

In Talbert v. Smith, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17108 (WD VA, March 9, 2007), a Virginia federal district court permitted a Nation of Islam member to move forward with a RLUIPA claim that prison officials illegally confiscated Muslim lessons from him.

Korean Conscientious Objectors To Go To United Nations

Today's Korea Times reports that eleven conscientious objectors will submit a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee arguing that Korea's refusal to recognize conscientious objectors to military service violates their basic human rights to freedom of thought and religion. Since 2001, 3,655 Koreans have refused to serve in the military for religious and moral reasons. Most of them have been sentenced to prison terms. Korea's Constitutional Court has upheld the government, but the National Human Rights Commission in 2005 recommended a change in government policy. (See prior posting.)

Proposal In Israel To Expand Rabbinic Court Jurisdiction

Haaretz reports today that Israel's Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann will submit to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation the draft of a bill to expand the jurisdiction of religious courts to include not only family law, but other civil and family matters involved in a divorce proceeding as well, where both parties to the case agree. The bill is designed to overrule a holding by the High court of Justice last April that held that rabbinic courts could not arbitrate financial disagreements in a divorce case. (See prior posting.) Opponents of the legislation fear that women will be coerced by their husbands or the courts themselves to agree to religious court jurisdiction over economic matters. Last July, the Cabinet voted against a similar proposal.

Oklahoma Court Says Christian Medi-Share Is Insurance Company

Friday's Tulsa World reported on a decision earlier this month by an Oklahoma state court that Medi-Share, a Christian organization that pools member money to pay medical bills, is offering contracts for insurance and is not exempt from regulation by Oklahoma's state Insurance Department. Medi-Share had claimed that since it does not guarantee that medical bills will be paid, it is not an insurance company. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland says that now the state will "treat Medi-Share like an insurance company." Medi-Share is likely to appeal the court's decision. Four other states have made similar rulings, while Kentucky has decided that Medi-Share is not insurance.

Hindu to Become Acting Chief Justice In Pakistan

In the face of protests over the removal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf (Associated Press), it was announced today that the Court's only Hindu judge --who is next in line for the post -- will be sworn in as acting Chief Justice. Some experts had expressed concerns that a Hindu could not preside over cases involving Shariah (Islamic law). (Zee News.)