Federal Court Enjoins Illinois Hike In Fees For Lobbyists, Partly on Establishment Clause Grounds

In American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois v. White, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119476 (ND IL, Dec. 23, 2009), an Illinois federal district court issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against enforcement of Illinois amended Lobbyist Registration Act. At issue were large increases in registration fees that were scheduled to go into effect January 1. ACLU alleged that the portion of the registration fee diverted to the Illinois General Fund and other amounts in excess of the cost of administering the statute are an unconstitutional tax on speech. It also claimed that the exemptions in the law for media lobbyists and lobbyists for churches and religious organizations amount to speaker-based discrimination as well as a violation of the Establishment Clause. (See prior posting.) Finding that the federal Tax Injunction Act does not divest the court of jurisdiction over the suit, the court held that the ACLU had demonstrated a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits:

[T]he ACLU has proffered figures derived from public records showing that the LRF has run an approximately $ 100,000 surplus for the last two fiscal years, during which the Secretary collected lobbyist registration fees one-third as large as the fees authorized in the Amended Act. .... These surpluses suggest that the Secretary may be unable to show that the three-fold increase in the lobbyist registration fee adequately relates to the costs of administering the Amended Act....

Moreover, on its face the statute appears to privilege religious over non-religious speech. The ACLU is therefore also likely to prevail on its claim that the Amended Act's exemptions for religious organizations and the newsmedia impermissibly discriminate against the ACLU based on the content of its speech. Indeed, by only exempting religious speakers who are "full-time employees of a religious organization" and who speak to the legislature about "protecting the right of the members [of that organization] to practice the religious doctrines of that church or religious organization" the statute also requires another content-based determination focused on religious speech.....

The ACLU's likelihood of success on its establishment clause challenge is equally plain..... On its face the content based determinations discussed above require the state to set the boundaries of a religious organization's exempt advocacy by inquiring into what the doctrines of a church or religious organization are and how the lobbying activities promote them. Requiring such an examination is likely to violate the establishment clause by fostering excessive government entanglement in religion....

Queen Elizabeth Delivers Christmas Speech

Britain Queen Elizabeth II's 2009 Christmas Speech was broadcast today (full text). In it, she focused on the entire Commonwealth. She said in part:

Each year that passes seems to have its own character. Some leave us with a feeling of satisfaction, others are best forgotten. 2009 was a difficult year for many, in particular those facing the continuing effects of the economic downturn....

It is 60 years since the Commonwealth was created and today, with more than a billion of its members under the age of 25, the organisation remains a strong and practical force for good....

We know that Christmas is a time for celebration and family reunions; but it is also a time to reflect on what confronts those less fortunate than ourselves, at home and throughout the world. Christians are taught to love their neighbours, having compassion and concern, and being ready to undertake charity and voluntary work to ease the burden of deprivation and disadvantage. We may ourselves be confronted by a bewildering array of difficulties and challenges, but we must never cease to work for a better future for ourselves and for others.

The London Telegraph's coverage of the speech links to a video of it.

President Obama and First Lady Send Christmas Greetings

In a joint remarks released yesterday (full text), President Obama was joined by First Lady Michelle Obama to offer Christmas wishes to families across the country. Much of the address (billed as the President's Weekly Address) was directed to the American military and their families, offering thanks and support to them. The President reminded all Americans that:

even in these tough times, there's still so much to celebrate this Christmas. A message of peace and brotherhood that continues to inspire more than 2,000 after Jesus' birth. The love of family and friends. The bonds of community and country. And the character and courage of our men and women in uniform who are far from home for the holidays, away from their families, risking their lives to protect ours.

Final Defendants Sentenced In Tax Fraud Scheme By Hasidic Rabbi

According to a press release issued Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, a California federal district judge has sentenced Grand Rabbi Naftali Tzi Weisz, the Brooklyn, New York, Grand Rabbi of Spinka, to two years in prison for orchestrating a money-laundering tax evasion scheme. Weisz plead guilty last summer to a criminal conspiracy charge (see prior posting), admitting to a scheme in which several of his charitable organizations solicited donations with secret promises to refund large percentages of the donations back to donors who deducted the entire amounts on their tax returns. A pre-sentence report concluded that this practice among certain Hasidic sects has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of unreported income. The final defendant in the case, Yaacov Zeivald, was sentenced to 4 months in prison for his part in the fraud. Five others have already been convicted and sentenced in the scheme.

Appeals Court Affirms Conviction of Street Preacher For Disorderly Conduct

In Commonwealth v. Marcavage, (MA App., Dec. 23, 2009), a Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the conviction of a street evangelist who was arrested on Halloween night, 2007, in the city of Salem and charged with disorderly conduct under M.G.L., Ch. 272, S.53. Michael Marcavage, director of a proselytizing group, visits Salem every Halloween to preach to the crowds that gather there to celebrate. Many in the crowd complained about Marcavage waving a Bible too close to them. Eventually a police officer ordered Marcavage to stop using a megaphone. He resisted confiscation of the megaphone, argued, and then went limp. He fell into a fountain, bringing police officers to the ground with him. He was then arrested. The court affirmed his conviction, finding that his conduct amounted to "tumultuous behavior". It said: "we find nothing in the record to support the inference that the decision to curtail the defendant's use of the megaphone was in any way connected with the content of his speech."

Orthodox Jewish Medics Say Volunteer Fire Company Refused Accommodation

According to yesterday's Baltimore Sun, three medics who are Orthodox Jew, have filed complaints with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations and the U.S. EEOC, complaining that the Pikesville Volunteer Fire Co. has been unwilling to permit them to ride on emergency calls. The fire company says that the men's religiously mandated (but short-trimmed) beards might interfere with breathing masks that the Pikesville department was considering buying for its medic corps. However, according to one of the medics, Matthias Goldstein, medics have never been required to wear the masks. The three men say that the real reason for the refusal is Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company's resentment over their involvement with Hatzalah-- a competing volunteer rescue organization organized by Orthodox Jews in neighboring Northwest Baltimore. There have been conflicts between the two groups when Hatazalah responds to a call near or over the county line. A Pikesville spokesman denies the charge, and says this is purely a safety issue.

11th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Challenge To Park Rules Limiting Feeding the Poor

Last Thursday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in First Vagabonds Church of God v. City of Orlando. In the case, a Florida federal district court found that Orlando's Large Group Feeding Ordinance violates the speech rights of an activist group that feeds the poor and infringes the free exercise rights of a church that holds Sunday services, including the sharing of food, in a downtown city park. The Ordinance requires a permit to feed more than 25 people in any downtown park, and limits a group to two permits per park in a 12 month period. (See prior posting.) According to the Fulton County Daily Report, at last Thursday's oral argument, two of the judges on the panel expressed some skepticism over the district court's holding. However Judge Rosemary Barkett sharply questioned the city's lawyers, asking whether the food distribution actually put a burden on the parks.

2nd Circuit: World Trade Center Recovery Did Not Violate Free Exercise Rights

In World Trade Center Families for Proper Burial, Inc. v. City of New York, (2d Cir., Dec. 23, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by families of 9/11 victims to force New York City to reclaim the finely-sifted residue of the World Trade Center debris now at the City's Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island and move it to a more suitable location, and to create a cemetery for the 1,100 who perished without identifiable remains. They argue that the sifted residue itself has become hallowed.

One of the claims put forward by plaintiffs was that the City's recovery efforts violated their right to the free exercise of religion. The court rejected the claim, concluding that the City's efforts did not target religious beliefs and that the City had a compelling interest in clearing the World Trade Center debris efficiently and economically. The court also rejected plaintiffs' due process claims, holding that they have no property interest in unidentifiable human remains, and that their dissatisfaction with the way the city handled recovery efforts did not rise to the level of a constitutional violation. The court concluded:

On a human level, plaintiffs' claims are among the most compelling we have ever been called on to consider. They have endured unimaginable anguish, and they seek nothing more than the knowledge that their loved ones lie in rest at a place of their choosing. We regret that we cannot bring them solace...

The decision was handed down only a week after the court heard oral arguments in the case. The New York Times reported on the arguments.

Police Protect Atheist Sign In Illinois Capitol

Next to the Christmas tree and near a nativity scene in the Illinois State Capitol Building, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has placed a sign reading:

At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.

CBS News reports that William J. Kelly, a conservative activist and candidate for state comptroller, yesterday attempted to take down the sign, but was briefly detained and told to leave the building by Capitol police (who wrote up an incident report) when he turned the sign around so that it was face down. Kelly says the sign constitutes "hate speech" and mocks religion. He says that anyone going to look at the Christmas tree would be confronted by the sign because of its placement. Capitol police say it is their duty to protect any property in the Capitol building. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Rifqa Bary Case Moves Ahead As Her Lawyers Wait For Her To Turn 18

There have been new developments in the case of Rifqa Bary, the Ohio teenager who fled from her parents' home to a pastor in Florida, saying she feared her father would kill her because she had converted from Islam to Christianity. The 17-year old girl is now in foster care in Ohio. The Christian Science Monitor reports that an Ohio judge has approved a recommendation by an Ohio Children's Services Board caseworker (see prior posting) that calls for Rifqa and her family to discuss their views of religion with each other as a first step toward reunification. However the judge did not order the girl and her parents to meet face-to-face. Rifqa's lawyers want her to remain in foster care until she turns 18 and is legally entitled to make her own decisions. On Tuesday, the parents' lawyer also withdrew a motion they had filed seeking to have Christmas cards that were being sent to Rifqa screened by social workers. (See prior posting.)

Airline Settles With EEOC Over Failure To Grant Religious Accommodation

Yesterday's Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports that Mesaba Airlines (a subsidiary of Delta) has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC. A federal district court judge in Milwaukee on Tuesday approved a $130,000 settlement in the suit brought on behalf of five individuals who were refused accommodations of their religious beliefs. The consent decree will also require monitoring and training. The suit was initially filed on behalf of former customer-service agent Laura Vallejos was fired when she refused to work on the Jewish Sabbath. Subsequently the EEOC identified four Christians who were refused customer service jobs because they wanted time off to attend Sunday church services. Mesaba has since dropped its "no shift swap" policy and also no longer employs customer service agents.

County Reverses Order On Removing Stars and Angels From Christmas Trees

Bowing to a storm of criticism from around the world, Acting Sonoma County (California) Administrator Chris Thomas yesterday rescinded his request that stars and angels be removed from Christmas trees in county buildings. (See prior posting.) The original ban was put in place after a complaint by an activist who has a long history of opposing government use of religious symbols. According to yesterday's Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat, Administrator Thomas now says that county employees should just use their best judgment as to appropriate decorations in public spaces. Thomas said his original decision was based on concerns that the county would be seen as endorsing a particular religion, but he changed his mind after a conversation with County Supervisor Shirlee Zane convinced him that there were varying opinions on whether that was the case. Meanwhile, Barry Collins, a trial attorney in the Public Defenders Office, had put up a Christmas tree with a star in the lobby of his building to protest Thomas' ban. Collins is Jewish, but says he does not believe the star is a religious symbol. He contends it is symbolic of American tradition, like stars on the American flag. He points out there is a star on the White House Christmas tree. The entire issue will be discussed a a future county supervisors' meeting.

"War on Christmas" Subsides

An interesting article in Canada's National Post yesterday documents the reduced intensity of the this year's "War on Christmas" in the United States:

Because the furor was media-driven in the first place, media mentions seem as good a metric as any. After 2005, Google Trends shows a continuous decline in searches for and mentions of the "war on Christmas." Media mentions of a "war on Christmas" have fallen steadily as well, according to Nexis: There were 431 articles mentioning it as of Dec. 17, 2006; 187 by that time in 2007; 155 in 2008; and 97 in 2009. Even Fox News, the network that pushed the story in the winter of 2005, has essentially stopped talking about it: At this time in 2005, Fox had aired 80 episodes explicitly referring to the "war on Christmas"; in 2006, there were 24; in 2007, 11; in 2008, five; and three so far this year. The departure in 2008 of Fox News host John Gibson, who penned The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot To Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought, may have had something to do with it.

As a result, some groups dedicated to secularism and the separation of church and state — the anti-Christmas warriors — have gotten fewer invitations to debate the issue on radio and TV.

Baghdad Conference Focuses On Future of Iraqi Christians

AINA this week reported on a conference held in Baghdad on Dec. 11-12 to discuss the future of Iraq's Christian community. Attended by over 120 leaders of Christian groups and former and current government officials, the conference made dozens of recommendations, mostly to the government of Iraq, but some to Kurdistan, the UN, the international community and Iraqi Christians themselves. The recommendations (set out in the AINA report) ranged from urging Iraq's federal government to provide greater security for Christians and other minorities to urging Christian satellite channels to refrain from programming that encourages Christians to leave for Western countries.

Defendant Gets Light Sentence From Tribal Court For Bald Eagle Act Violation

As previously reported, the long-running prosecution of Winslow Friday, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, charged with killing a bald eagle so he could use it in his tribe's Sun Dance, was transferred to a tribal court. In the case, the 10th Circuit rejected Friday's challenge to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and the Supreme Court denied cert. AP reports that yesterday Winslow Friday pleaded guilty in a Shoshone and Arapaho Tribal Court on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. He was fined $2500 and his hunting privileges on the reservation were suspended for a year. In federal court, Friday faced a possible sentence of a year in jail and a $100,000 fine. Those charges will now be dismissed.

Obama Gives Christmas Message To Children At D.C. Boys and Girls Club

On Monday, President Obama visited a Boys and Girls Club in Washington, D.C. and gave the children present a largely religious-themed message about Christmas. The White House has posted his remarks and the response by the children listening. Here is part of it:

THE PRESIDENT: I think one thing that's important to remember is that, even though there's a lot of fun at Christmas, you know, you got -- especially when it's snowy like this, so it's pretty outside, you got the Christmas tree, you got the Christmas cookies, you've got presents. You know, I think that the most important thing is just to remember why we celebrate Christmas.

CHILD: I know!

THE PRESIDENT: Do you know?

CHILD: The birth of baby Jesus.

THE PRESIDENT: The birth of baby Jesus, and what he symbolizes for people all around the world is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect. And so I just hope that spirit of giving that's so important at Christmas, I hope all of you guys remember that as well. You know, it's not just about getting gifts but it's also doing something for other people....

CHILD: I know why we give gifts to other people.

THE PRESIDENT: Why is that?

CHILD: Because the three wise men gave gifts to baby Jesus.

THE PRESIDENT: That's exactly right.... You know, the three wise men, if you think about it, here are these guys, they have all this money, they've got all this wealth and power, and yet they took a long trip to a manger just to see a little baby. And it just shows you that just because you're powerful or you're wealthy, that's not what's important. What's important is what's -- the kind of spirit you have.

So I hope everybody has a spirit of kindness and thoughtfulness, and everybody is really thinking about how can they do for other people -- treating them well, because that's really the spirit of Christmas....

THE PRESIDENT: ...[T]he thing that I want everybody to remember, the most important message I can leave is, is that you guys have so much potential -- one of you could end up being President some day. But it's only going to happen if you stay focused and you work hard in school.... That's the most important thing you can do.

Ethnic Limits For Political Positions In Bosnian Constitution Struck Down By European Court

Yesterday the European Court of Human Rights in Sejdic and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled that the provisions in the Bosnian Constitution that limit seats in the lower house of Parliament, and the country's Presidency to Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs violate the European Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A press release by the Court reporting on the decision says the arrangement, growing out of the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, violates the anti-discrimination provisions of Art. 14 of the Declaration taken together with Art. 3 of Protocol No. 1 (right to free elections),as well as Art. 1 of Protocol 12 of the Convention. The case was brought by two public figures, one a Roma and the other who is Jewish, challenging the ethnic restrictions. JTA reported on the decision.

Attorney Claims Religious Rights of Ft. Hood Shooting Suspect Are Being Infringed

According to Monday's San Antonio Express News, the attorney for accused Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan says that his client's free exercise rights are being infringed. The Muslim psychiatrist who is charged with killing 13 is subject to pre-trial conditions that require him to speak only in English with his visitors at Brooke Army Medical Center or in phone calls, unless an Army-approved translator is present. Invoking this, police guarding Hasan cut short a Friday telephone conversation he was having with his brother. Lawyer John P. Galligan says that Hasan was praying from the Qur'an in Arabic in the phone call that was cut short.

Cuban Cardinal Will Give Christmas Message On State TV

AP reported yesterday on a new sign of the improving relationship between the government of Cuba and the Catholic Church. For the second year in a row, Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega will read a Christmas message on state television. His message will include thanks for the U.S.'s recently loosened restrictions on Cuban-Americans who want to send money or travel to Cuba. Slow improvement in relations between the government and the Church began in the early 1990's.

Vatican Will Require Permission For Use of Pope's Name, Photo, Coat of Arms

Zenit reports that the Vatican issued an announcement Saturday indicating that the Holy See will be taking steps to protect its intellectual property rights in the name, picture and coat of arms of Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican Press Office said that "the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff -- his name, his picture or his coat of arms -- and/or the use of the title 'Pontifical,' must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See." The Vatican is particularly concerned with "use the Pope's name in the title of universities, schools or cultural institutions, as well as associations, foundations and other groups." [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]