Obama To Visit The Vatican In March

According to NBC News, the White House announced today that President Barack Obama will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on March 27. The President's visit to the Vatican will be part of a trip to Europe which also involves meetings in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. A White House statement says in part: "The president looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality." Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Vatican on Jan. 14 to meet with his counterpart Secretary of State of the Holy See Pietro Parolin. (State Department press release.)

States Concerned Over Costs and Demand For Prison Kosher Food

Today's New York Times carries a front page story titled You Don’t Have to Be Jewish to Love a Kosher Prison Meal, focusing on the added cost to prison systems of serving kosher food ($7 per day vs. $1.54 in Florida) and the feigning of Jewish religious beliefs by some inmates in order to be placed on kosher diets:

Some states, like New York, do nothing to try to discern who is feigning Jewishness. In California, inmates talk with a rabbi who will gauge, very generally, a prisoner’s actual interest. 

But some Jewish groups in Florida are pushing for greater control, which may pose a difficult legal hurdle.

NY Appeals Court: Religious Tract Given Defendant By Deputy Sheriff Does Not Lead To Mistrial

In People of the State of New York v. Robles, (NY App. Div., Jan. 16, 2014), a New York intermediate appellate court held that a lengthy colloquy which the trial judge had with defendant charged with burglary and robbery sufficiently protected defendant's right to decide whether or not to testify at trial, despite improper conduct by a deputy sheriff.  As recounted by the court:

As defendant was being transported from the courtroom to the jail at the conclusion of the second day of trial, a deputy sheriff slipped a religious tract [created by Ten-Four Ministries] into defendant's pocket. The document acknowledged defendant's legal right to remain silent, but exhorted him to forgo that right and confess. "Yes, you have the right to remain silent," it stated. "You have the right to remain in your sins. But please don't. Your conscience testifies against you. Confess your sins . . ." or "spend eternity in a prison called hell." When the parties appeared before Supreme Court the following day, defense counsel moved for a mistrial, arguing that the deputy's actions constituted official interference with defendant's decision on whether to testify.

At trial, defendant did not testify, but was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison.  Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

Maldives President Refuses To Sign Sexual Offenses Bill Because of Conflicts With Shariah Law

Minivan News reported last week that in the Maldives President Abdulla Yameen returned to the parliament (People's Majlis) for reconsideration a Sexual Offenses Bill passed in late December by a vote of 67-2.  The President sent parliament a 46-page memo (full text in Dhivehi) setting out concerns the Attorney General had raised about the bill, including that some of the provisions are contrary to Islamic Shariah. After the Majilis passed the bill, Vice President of the Fiqh Academy Dr Mohamed Iyaz Abdul Latheef criticized the bill as inconsistent with Islamic law because it categorized as rape non-consensual intercourse with one's wife while divorce or dissolution proceedings are pending, during a mutually agreed separation, or in order to intentionally transmit a sexually transmitted disease. Dr. Iyaz said: "With the exception of forbidden forms of sexual intercourse, such as during menstrual periods and anal intercourse, it is not permissible under any circumstance for a woman to refrain from it when the husband is in need," even if the woman has filed for divorce. Also, he said, the woman's consent would not be needed when after a conditional divorce the man decides to renew the marriage during the waiting period.

Oregon Agency Says Bakery Discriminated In Refusing To Furnish Cake For Same-Sex Wedding

The Oregonian reports that last Friday the state of Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries found substantial evidence that a Gresham, Oregon bakery-- Sweet Cakes by Melissa-- violated Oregon's public accommodations anti-discrimination law (ORS 659A.403) when the bakery refused a year ago to furnish a cake for a lesbian couple's wedding.  The bakery owners said doing so would violate their Christian religious beliefs.  Under Oregon law, the finding leads to an informal conciliation process. If that does not result in a settlement, the state agency can bring charges before an administrative law judge. (See prior related posting.)

Today Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Last week President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation (full text) formally declaring January 20, 2014, as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday. The Proclamation reads in part:

During his lifelong struggle for justice and equality, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions, offered a redemptive path for oppressed and oppressors alike, and led a Nation to the mountaintop. Behind the bars of a Birmingham jail cell, he reminded us that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." On a hot summer day, under the shadow of the Great Emancipator, he challenged America to make good on its founding promise, and he called on every lover of freedom to walk alongside their brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile MLK biographer Stewart Burns has published a new book, Cosmic Companionship, a narrative anthology of Dr. King’s spiritual teaching. (Press release.)

Looming in the background of Dr. King's memory are at least two lawsuits involving family and friends tussling over rights to his papers and words. In a suit filed in August 2013, described by Mother Jones, the King estate (controlled by King's sons Martin III and Dexter) sued the King Center (controlled by King's daughter Bernice). The suit complains about the Center's storage and care of King's property and threatens to terminate the Center's license to use King's intellectual property. In a second lawsuit filed in October (as reported by the New York Times) 86-year old Harry Belafonte sued all three of King's surviving children over three documents of Dr. King's that Belafonte says were given to him by King, King's widow and a close aide. However when Belafonte attempted to auction off the documents for charity through Sotheby's, the King estate wrote Sotheby's challenging Belafonte's ownership of the documents. So Belafonte has sued in a New York federal district court asking for the court to declare him the owner of the documents.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Dalma Demeter & Thilini Perera, Religious Influences Over Arbitral Proceedings: Personalising or Jeopardising Justice?, (Patricia Easteal (ed.), Justice Connections (2013, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK)).
• Marco Ventura, Dynamic Law and Religion in Europe: Acknowledging Change: Choosing Change, (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper 2013/ 91 (Dec. 1, 2013)).
• Upankar Chutia, Natural Law Theory and Its Influence in Indian Laws Relating to Fundamental Rights (Article 14, 19 and 21) and Case Laws Relating to It, (January 3, 2014).
• Michael Stokes Paulsen, Is Religious Freedom Irrational? Reviewing Why Tolerate Religion? By Brian Leiter. (Princeton University Press 2013), (Michigan Law Review, 2014, Forthcoming).
• Charles J. Reid, Tradition in Revolution: Harold J. Berman and the Historical Understanding of the Papacy, (Rechtsgeschichte - Legal History, Rg. 21, pp. 219 – 223, 2013).
• Pasquale Annicchino, The New Guidelines on Freedom of Religion and LGBTI Rights in the External Action of the European Union, (European Human Rights Law Review, 6, 2013, pp. 624-630).
• Spencer Churchill, Duty or Dignity? The Clash of Originalist and Liberal Perspectives on Corporate Free Exercise, (September 20, 2013).
• Victor C. Romero, Reading (into) Windsor: Presidential Leadership, Marriage Equality, and Immigration Policy, (Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice, Vol. 23:1, pp. 1-28 (2013)).

Ohio Appeals Court: Congregants' Claims For Accounting for Church Funds Properly Dismissed

Smith v. White, (OH App., Jan. 17, 2014) is a suit by 36 members of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Missionary Church (including deacons and trustees) charging the pastor with breach of fiduciary duty and charging the pastor along with other church officials with conversion; civil conspiracy; unjust enrichment; fraud; and breach of contract. The suit alleged  wrongful concealment of the misappropriation of church funds, including those in the pastor's retirement account, and sought an accounting. In this opinion by an Ohio appellate court the majority affirmed the trial court's conclusion that it lacked jurisdiction over the claims because of 1st Amendment considerations, saying:

Although we have some doubt that a request for an accounting of finances necessarily implicates whether a pastor should be removed for misconduct, we are required to follow our prior decision on the basis of stare decisis, which “is designed to provide continuity and predictability in our legal system.” ...Matters of ecclesiastical abstention are often not clear-cut, and the depositions of the parties (although not cited by the trial court) do indicate a desire to remove the pastor – which implicates an ecclesiastical decision.

The majority also refused to apply a fraud or collusion exception, and concluded as well that plaintiffs had failed to follow internal church procedures to deal with their complaints.

Judge Froelich dissented in part concluding that the court should hear the claims for fraud and for an accounting because "an accounting and whether certain defendants subjectively sought to defraud the plaintiffs are impartial, objective concepts, detached from any ecclesiastical concerns."

Two Women Charged With Murder After Purported Exorcism

In Germantown, Maryland, two women have been charged with first degree murder and attempted murder in the fatal stabbing of two children (ages 1 and 2) and the serious wounding of two others (ages 5 and 8) while attempting to perform an exorcism Thursday night or Friday morning. According to yesterday's  Washington Post, one of the women charged is the children's mother (28 year old Zakieya Avery) and the other is a 21 year old woman (Monifa Sanford) who lived with the family. Police said that the women saw the enemy as the Devil and were trying to release something bad they believed was affecting the children.

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

In State of New Mexico ex rel Peterson v. Aramark Correctional Services, LLC, (NM App., Jan. 15, 2014), a New Mexico appeals court held that an inmate's prior suit under the state Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not bar on issue preclusion or claim preclusion grounds a qui tam action under the state Fraud Against Taxpayers Act against the company that had a contract to provide prison meals.

In Nelson v. Jackson, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5222 (SD OH, Jan. 15, 2014), an Ohio federal magistrate judge recommended denying a Jewish inmate's summary judgment motion because of factual questions about whether plaintiff's beliefs in keeping kosher and not using a microwave on Saturdays are sincerely held. The court also denied summary judgment on plaintiff's complaint that meat and dairy were served together to him in the same meals.

In Dixie v. Virga, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5892 (ED CA, Jan. 15, 2014), a California federal magistrate judge recommended permitting a Muslim inmate to proceed with various of his free exercise and RLUIPA challenges to a decision to prohibit inmates in the Enhanced Outpatient Program from attending Jumu'ah prayer sessions with inmates from the General Population. Plaintiff's equal protection challenge was dismissed with leave to amend.

In Evans v. Jabe, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6454 (ED VA, Jan. 17, 2014), a Virginia federal district court dismissed a Muslim inmate's complaint that his free exercise and RLUIPA rights were infringed when in a lock down period that occurred during Ramadan 2010, six times breakfast trays were incomplete or not timely.

In Cohen v. Wagner, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6426 (ED PA, Jan. 16, 2014), a Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed, with leave to amend, a Jewish inmate's complaint that the food he was served was not kosher and that his religious text (Tanach) was destroyed.

Egyptian Voters Approve New Constitution By 98.1% Vote

Egypt's new constitution has been approved by 98.1% of the voters in Egypt according to an announcement by the Supreme Electoral Committee. Ahram Online reports the official voting statistics.  38.6% of Egypt's 53.4 million voters voted in the Jan. 14-15 referendum, with 19,985,389 voters voting "Yes".  Expatriates (who voted between Jan. 8 and 12) also approved the constitution by a 98.1% vote with 15.7% of the 64,000 registered voting. Wikipedia has a more detailed breakdown of the voting data. Nabil Salib, head of the Supreme Electoral Committee said: "Now that God has supported us in legalizing our constitution, we ask for his aid in achieving the remaining two stages of the road map: the presidential and parliamentary elections." (RT News). The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the vote.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement yesterday saying in part: "The draft Egyptian constitution passed a public referendum this week, but it's what comes next that will shape Egypt’s political, economic and social framework for generations." The New York Times yesterday reported on election results and U.S. reaction. This prior posting sets out the provisions in the new constitution relating to religion and state.

Objections To ".kosher" Top Level Domain Name Rejected

Earlier this week, the International Chamber of Commerce issued an "Expert Determination" rejecting objections to the application by Kosher Marketing Assets for rights to the new Internet general top level domain name ".kosher". In Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America v. Kosher Marketing Assets, L.L.C., (Intl. Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 14, 2014), the expert acting under ICANN rules issued an opinion rejecting objections by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, and backed by 11 other kosher certification organizations.  Objectors' primary concern was that the domain would promote only one certifying agency, OK Kosher, and products certified by it, and would thereby "usurp the communal word ‘kosher’, such that it will become exclusively associated with KMA and OK Kosher in the minds of food manufacturers and consumers."  The Expert disagreed, saying in part:

having regard to the assurances given by the Applicant and to the current safeguards, ...  there is today no serious ground for the accusation that the Application is designed to confer “monopoly status” on the Applicant over “.kosher” domain names and to permit the Applicant to engage in “exclusionary practices”, or in any event that it could lead to such a result. Nor does it seem likely that upholding the Application would lead to a “usurpation” of kosher by the Applicant or, more simply, that the Objector will not be permitted to register a domain under “.kosher”.

BNA Electronic Commerce & Law Report [subscription required] reports on the decision.

Vatican Reports To U.N. Committee on Priest Abuse; Releases New Data On Priests Defrocked

On Thursday, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's Permanent Observer to the United Nations in Geneva, made a presentation (full text) to the U.N. Committee on the Convention of the Rights of the Child. AP reports:

the Holy See was interrogated for eight hours about the scale of [clergy sex] abuse and what it was doing to prevent it.

Vatican Radio, on Thursday interviewed  Bishop Charles Scicluna about the U.N. hearing. Scicluna described the hearing as "grueling," but said:

I think that we put out in a very clear, coherent way to the international community that the Holy See “gets it”....

Meanwhile, AP reported yesterday that in an annual report just released, the Vatican says that Pope Benedict XVI defrocked 260 priests in 2011 and 124 in 2012 in the Church's reaction to clergy sex abuse. Responding yesterday to the newly disclosed numbers, SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) issued a press release criticizing the Vatican, saying: "The Vatican's focus should be on prevention, not on damage control on the tail end after a priest, nun, seminarian, brother or bishop has already assaulted dozens of boys or girls."Abuse

Washington Archdiocese Files Cert Petition Before DC Circuit Appeals Court Rules On Contraceptive Mandate Challenge

Last week, the Washington, D.C. Catholic Archdiocese filed a petition for certiorari (full text) with the Supreme Court, asking the high court to review the D.C. federal district court's decision on the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate without waiting for a decision from the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  The petition in Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. Sebelius, (filed 1/8/2014) argues that the case involves issues of imperative public importance already before the court in other cases. In the case, the federal district court issued an opinion upholding the challenge to the compromise for religious non-profits as to one of the plaintiffs, but not for the others. (See prior posting.)

Federal Court Refuses To Reconsider Abstention In South Carolina Episcopal Church Dispute

In vonRosenberg v. Lawrence, (D SC, Jan. 15, 2014), a South Carolina federal district court denied a motion for reconsideration of its August 2013 decision to abstain and decline jurisdiction over a trademark infringement case growing out of the controversy between a large break-away portion of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and the smaller number of parishes that remain loyal to The Episcopal Church.  The court there held that the trademark dispute is part of a larger dispute over ownership of the Diocese's property being litigated in state court.  In denying reconsideration, the court said that the motion is based merely on disagreement with the court's earlier abstention ruling. TitusOneNine blog discusses this week's decision from the perspective of break-away churches. [Thanks to John Chilton for the lead.]

Russia Is Digitizing Disputed Jewish Book Collection

As previously reported, last year the Russian State Library and the Russian Culture Ministry instituted a lawsuit against the U.S. Library of Congress in the Moscow Arbitration Court to obtain return of seven books on loan to the Library from Russia.  The books are part of one of two expropriated collections of valuable Jewish religious books and manuscripts which U.S. courts have ordered the Russian government to return to Chasidei Chabad of United States. Interfax reported yesterday that a preliminary hearing in the Moscow court has been adjourned because the court has not yet received a reply receipt indicating that the court papers were received by the Library of Congress. Interfax disclosed that 4,500 books from one of the collections, the Schneerson collection, that are stored at the Russian State Library are currently being inventoried, scanned and digitized at the rate of 500 to 700 books per month. Russia and the Russian branch of Chabad want the Schneerson collection to remain in Moscow's Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, a museum controlled by Chabad. The U.S. Chabad organization wants the books returned to them in the United States. (See prior posting.)

Florida Counties' Schools Allow Bible Distribution For Religious Freedom Day

In Orange and Collier counties in Florida yesterday, public schools marked Religious Freedom Day by allowing the the Florida Family Policy Council and World Changers of Florida to distribute Bibles to high school students under the schools' policy on outside distribution of materials.  The Orlando Sentinel reports that softcover and hardcover New International Version Bibles were placed by volunteers on unmanned tables in accessible locations where students could pick them up. A lawsuit by the Central Florida Freethought Community was filed last year when Orange County school officials only permitted the group to make some of its literature available for students. (See prior related posting.)

Spokane Diocese Suing Its Bankruptcy Lawyers For Malpractice

AP reported on Wednesday that the Catholic Diocese of Spokane has refiled in federal bankruptcy court its bankruptcy malpractice lawsuit against the law firm of Paine Hamblin and two lawyers who were members of the firm. The firm handled the reorganization of the diocese that began with bankruptcy filings in 2004 and ended in 2007 after a $48 million settlement with 175 abuse victims. (See prior posting.)  The malpractice suit seeking return of millions of dollars in legal fees and more millions of dollars in damages was originally filed in 2012, but dismissed on technical grounds. The 2012 suit was described by the Spokane Spokesman-Review:

The diocese... says ... that bankruptcy lawyers Shaun Cross and Greg Arpin failed to explore other means of ending the abuse scandal ... [and] blames the lawyers for writing a bankruptcy plan that failed to assess and adequately fund the risk of new claims, which nearly forced the foreclosure of churches. The lawsuit also accuses the attorneys of a conflict of interest, in shielding former Bishop William Skylstad from testifying in the first civil trial alleging sex abuse by filing for bankruptcy on the eve of that suit.

The law firm says it provided excellent representation in guiding the diocese out of a crisis that included over 180 clergy sex abuse claims.

Today Is Religious Freedom Day

Today is Religious Freedom Day, the anniversary of the passage in 1786 of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.  President Obama yesterday issued a Proclamation (full text) which urged "every country to recognize religious freedom as both a universal right and a key to a stable, prosperous, and peaceful future." The Proclamation also reads in part:

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, penned by Thomas Jefferson, declared religious liberty a natural right and any attempt to subvert it "a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either." The Statute inspired religious liberty protections in the First Amendment, which has stood for almost two and a quarter centuries.

Today, America embraces people of all faiths and of no faith. We are Christians and Jews, Muslims and Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, atheists and agnostics. Our religious diversity enriches our cultural fabric and reminds us that what binds us as one is not the tenets of our faiths, the colors of our skin, or the origins of our names. What makes us American is our adherence to shared ideals -- freedom, equality, justice, and our right as a people to set our own course.

Today, Melissa Rogers and Eric Treene posted on the White House blog a tribute to Religious Freedom Day, emphasizing the importance of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

USCIRF Says US Should Raise Plight of Religious Minorities At Geneva II Syrian Peace Conference

The Geneva II, UN-backed peace conference on Syria will begin in Montreux, Switzerland on January 22. (Background.) On Tuesday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a press release calling on the U.S. government "to emphasize the plight of religious minorities and the protection of religious freedom for all Syrians" during the Conference. USCIRF Chairman Robert George said:

The Alawite and Christian communities, who are not aligned with either side of the conflict, are inadequately represented by the opposition coalition and the Assad regime does not represent their concerns. The United States needs to work to ensure their views are considered and heard.