Blasphemy Prosecutions In Egypt On The Rise

AP yesterday reported that since 2011, the number of blasphemy prosecutions in Egypt have risen dramatically. According to the report:

Two years ago, the military ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power, and since then the government has been waging a harsh crackdown on Islamists.

Yet in the past three years, prosecutions on charges of insulting Islam have risen dramatically. From three such cases in 2011, there were 21 cases in the courts in 2015, around half targeting Christians.... Nine of the 2015 cases led to convictions and prison sentences, while the rest are still in the courts.

Part of the rise is connected to the spread of social media.... Many of the cases have originated in comments or videos posted on the Internet.... But also, prosecutors and judges have aggressively pursued the cases, aiming to show that the state is still "protecting Islam" even as it cracks down on Islamists.

6th Circuit: Names of Applicants For Non-Profit Tax Status Are Not Confidential

In a case which is highly charged politically, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals this week held that the names, addresses, and taxpayer-identification numbers of applicants for tax-exempt status are not confidential information protected by 26 USC Sec. 6103.  The decision, United States v. NorCal Tea Party Patriots, (6th Cir., March 22, 2016), grew out of discovery requests in a lawsuit alleging that the IRS used political criteria to select applications from so-called tea party groups for special scrutiny. Washington Times reported on the decision.

North Carolina Regulates Transgender Bathroom Use and Pre-Empts Local Anti-Discrimination Laws

In a hurriedly-called special session, the North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday passed House Bill 2 (full text) regulating the use by transgender individuals of bathrooms and changing facilities in public schools and government offices.  The new law also pre-empts local employment and public accommodation anti-discrimination laws. Governor Pat McCrory signed the bill Wednesday night.

The new law requires any multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility to be designated for and used only by individuals based on the biological sex that is stated on their birth certificate. However special accommodations, such as single occupancy bathrooms, may be made.  The law also declares that

the regulation of discriminatory practices in places of public accommodation is properly an issue of general, statewide concern, such that this Article and other applicable provisions of the General Statutes supersede and preempt any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy adopted or imposed by a unit of local government or other political subdivision of the State that regulates or imposes any requirement pertaining to the regulation of discriminatory practices in places of public accommodation.

The law includes a similar declaration regarding local employment discrimination ordinances, but permits local government regulations governing their own employees that are not in conflict with state law.

As previously reported, the hurried passage of the law was designed to prevent a recently enacted Charlotte non-discrimination ordinance from going into effect on April 1. In his signing statement (full text), Gov. McCrory said in part:

The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte. This radical breach of trust and security under the false argument of equal access not only impacts the citizens of Charlotte but people who come to Charlotte to work, visit or play. This new government regulation defies common sense and basic community norms by allowing, for example, a man to use a woman's bathroom, shower or locker room.

NBC News reports that many of the state's largest employers are opposed to the new law.

Malaysian Civil Court Orders Recognition of Conversion Back To Christianity

In what the Borneo Post describes as a landmark case, a High Court judge in the Malaysian state of Sarawak has ordered the National Religion Department (NRD) to change a man's registration from Muslim to Christian and also to recognize his name change. The Star describes the decision in more detail. The man had been born into a Christian family, but the family converted to Islam when he was 8.  The court said in part:

His conversion to the Muslim faith was not of his own volition but by virtue of his parents’ conversion when he was a minor.

He is not challenging the validity of his conversion as a minor. But having become a major, he is free to exercise his right of freedom to religion and he chose Christianity.

The NRD had insisted on a letter of release from a Syariah Court, but the High Court concluded that the man's constitutionally protected religious freedom rights entitled him to obtain relief from a civil court.

In N.J., Registered Sex Offender Not Barred From Mentoring Youth In Church Ministry

In State of New Jersey v. S.B., (NJ App., March 22, 2016), a New Jersey appellate court held that  a youth ministry associated with a church, where a registered sex offender is a congregant volunteer, is not a "youth serving organization" under New Jersey's sex offender statute.  In the case, defendant had notified church pastors and elders of his prior sexual assault convictions, as required by state law.  The church nevertheless allowed defendant to supervise and mentor 12 to 17 year-olds at scheduled events of the No Limits Youth Ministry, such as outings, movie nights, concerts, youth group meetings, and day camp.  In affirming the dismissal of an indictment of defendant for participating in a "youth serving organization", the court concluded that the legislature deliberately excluded religious organizations from the definition of organizations in which sex offenders are barred.

Belgium's Constitutional Court Invalidates Required Religious Education Courses

Flanders Today reported earlier this month that Belgium's Constitutional Court has struck down the requirement that all students in elementary or secondary school take either a religious education course in one of the six recognized religions, or take a course in ethics.  In a religious freedom challenge to the requirement, the Court held that parents can now opt out of the requirement for their children, without being required to explain the reasons for their decision. [Thanks to Paul de Mello for the lead.]

U.N. Tribunal Convicts Former Serb Leader of Genocide

The United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in a press release yesterday announced the highest level conviction yet in the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from territory claimed by Bosnian Serbs in the 1990's:

Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today convicted Radovan Karadžić, former President of Republika Srpska (RS) and Supreme Commander of its armed forces, of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war committed by Serb forces during the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), from 1992 until 1995. He was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment.

Karadžić was convicted of genocide in the area of Srebrenica in 1995, of persecution, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts (forcible transfer), terror, unlawful attacks on civilians and hostage-taking. He was acquitted of the charge of genocide in other municipalities in BiH in 1992.

The Office of the Prosecutor issued a statement welcoming the convictions. New York Times reports on the conviction.

University's Limits on Religious Speech Create 1st Amendment Concerns

In Faulkner v. University of Cincinnati, (SD OH, March 23, 2016), an Ohio federal district court refused to dismiss a suit against the University of Cincinnati by one of its former lower level administrators, Mark Faulkner, who was sent a "corrective action" letter from the University's Office of Equal Opportunity and Access.  The letter was issued after he made references to Jesus and Biblical teachings in a lecture on "servant leadership" that he was asked to deliver at a leadership training course.  In the letter, Faulkner was told that he  "should refrain from using biblical quotations during presentations and work related interactions." The court said in part:

The University’s asserted interest in avoiding an employee’s discomfort at hearing biblical references (or in another context, hearing references to Buddhist teachings or the Quran, or the principles of atheism) simply and plainly do not outweigh Faulkner’s interests in free speech and in the free exercise of his religious principles.

The court also refused to dismiss a vagueness and overbreadth challenge to the University's Discriminatory Harassment Policy.

2nd Circuit Affirms Win By Rockland County Villages Charged With Anti-Hasidic Discrimination

In the long battle between Hasidic residents and others in parts of Rockland County, New York, the Second Circuit has affirmed the district court's dismissal (see prior posting) of a complaint by Mosdos Chofetz Chaim, a Hasidic religious educational institution, that local villages discriminated against Hasidic Jews in actions opposing the building of a 60-unit adult student housing development.  In Bernstein v. Village of Wesley Hills, (2d Cir., March 23, 2016), the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that plaintiffs' had not produced sufficient evidence for a jury to find disparate treatment or discriminatory animus.  Instead, it said the villages had a genuine concern about environmental impact of the development. Lower Hudson Journal News reports on the decision.

"Unfit" Parent Loses Right To Assert Religious Objection To Immunization of Her Children

In In re Deng, (MI App, March 22, 2016), a Michigan state appeals court held that a court can order immunizations for children placed in foster care after the children's parents have been found unfit despite the mother's religious objections to vaccination of her children. The court said in part:

We recognize that, were respondent a fit parent entitled to the control and custody of her children, MCL 333.9215(2) would undoubtedly allow her to forego the immunization of her children otherwise required by the Public Health Code on the grounds of a religious objection. However, this provision is inapplicable on the present facts for the simple reason that the children are not being immunized as a result of provisions in the Public Health Code.... [R]ather, ... the court exercised its broad authority to enter dispositional orders for the welfare of a child under its jurisdiction....

MLive reports on the decision.

Suit Charges NY Community College With Anti-Semitic Hiring Practices

A lawsuit filed last month in federal district court in New York charges the Brooklyn-based Kingsborough Community College and Stuart Suss (who served variously as its Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Interim President) with discrimination against faculty and faculty candidates whose dress or appearance was obviously Jewish (labeled in the complaint as "Outward Jews").  The complaint (full text) in Lax v. City University of New York, (ED NY, filed 2/16/2016) alleges that in 2000 Jews comprised a large percentage of department chairs and of the college-wide Personnel & Budget Committee, but that since then Suss has engaged in hiring and personnel practices designed to reduce or eliminate the number of outward Jews on the faculty and on the P&B Committee in violation of Title VII and New York state and city anti-discrimination laws. Yesterday's Algemeiner has more on the lawsuit.

Lawsuit Filed Against Mystic Rabbi By Woman Who Paid $214,000 For Matrimony and Torahs

The New York Post reported  yesterday on a lawsuit filed against Rabbi Chaim Sharabi, a controversial mystic in the Orthodox Borough Park community, by a woman who claims she paid Sharabi $214,000 after he promised to find her a husband and to purchase three Torah scrolls in her name to be placed in synagogues in Brooklyn and in Israel.  Plaintiff Cecilia Lifschitz says that Sharai never performed on his promises.  Sharabi says he did match Lifschitz with a man, but that things did not work out between them, and that he did purchase the Torah scrolls.

RLUIPA Challenge To Fire Safety Rules By Faith-Based Organization Fails

Affordable Recovery Housing v. City of Blue Island, (ED IL, March 23, 2016), involves a challenge to the action of officials of a Chicago suburb who evicted residents of a recovery home that used faith based methods to treat drug and alcohol abuse.  The city acted because the facility failed to comply with safety regulations requiring fire sprinklers in buildings that house overnight guests. In the case, an Illinois federal district court held that the city's action did not violate various provisions of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act nor similar provisions of  the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, saying in part:

Plaintiff argues that Blue Island’s eviction of its 73 residents substantially burdened its ability to exercise its religion by effectively rendering religious exercise impracticable. However, the City’s eviction was pursuant to its fire safety code, not its zoning ordinance. Because Blue Island was not “impos[ing] or implement[ing] a land use regulation”..., this action falls outside of the regulatory scope of RLUIPA and IRFRA.

The court also rejected plaintiff's free exercise claim, saying that any burden is merely "the incidental effect of a neutral, generally applicable, and otherwise valid regulation...."

Transcript of Arguments In Zubik Case Is Now Available

The full transcript of today's oral arguments in Zubik v. Burwell, the contraceptive coverage mandate accommodation case, is now available. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog has an interesting analysis of the arguments.

Supreme Court Will Hear Oral Arguments Today In Contraceptive Coverage Mandate Accommodation Challenge

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Zubik v. Burwell and six other cases consolidated for argument with it. (Hearing List.)  The cases all involve challenges to the Obama Administration's Affordable Care Act accommodation for religious non-profits.  Religious non-profits that object to including coverage for contraceptive services in their employee health plans may opt out in favor of coverage that is furnished instead directly by the organization's insurer or third-party administrator. Although there is a split among circuits on the issue, all of the cases being argued today involve appeals court decisions upholding the mandate.  The cases raise fundamental issues of interpretation and application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The Court has allotted 90 minutes for oral argument of the consolidated cases. Argument time for the religious non-profits will be divided between former Solicitor General Paul D. Clement and Jones Day partner Noel J. Francisco. Arguing for the government will be U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr.  The SCOTUSblog case page furnishes links to the dozens of briefs from parties and amici that have been filed, as well as links to extensive commentary on the cases. A transcript of the oral arguments should be available later in the day from the Supreme Court's website.

While the arguments are taking place, outside the Supreme Court building a rally is planned by Little Sisters of the Poor, the non-profit that has been the face of the challengers on social media and in an op-ed last week in the New York Times. Planners say that hundreds of religious women, college students, and clergy will participate.  An op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post by Prof. Douglas Laycock counters the arguments by Little Sisters.

With the recent death of Justice Scalia, it is possible that the Court could split 4-4 in the case, which would result in affirmance of the Circuit Court decisions.  The first such 4-4 affirmance was published today in a case involving interpretation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Chabad Center Sues New Jersey Town Claiming Discrimination

A lawsuit was filed in a New Jersey federal district court yesterday by the Chabad Jewish Center of Toms River, New Jersey and Rabbi Moshe Gourarie. The suit claims that the town violated plaintiffs' free exercise and equal protection rights by refusing permission for the Chabad Center, which usually attracts fewer than 15 people, to operate out of a large home and garage on 8 acres on Church Road purchased by Gourarie in 2011. As reported by NJ Advance Media:

The town changed the zoning of that section of Church Road in 2009 to ban churches from operating there and since then, the township has engaged in a systematic practice of discrimination against ultra-Orthodox Jews and are seeking to have them contained in neighboring Lakewood where there is a large population of Orthodox Jews, the complaint contends....

In claiming discrimination, the suit notes that the zone permits activities at the adjacent American Legion, a church, Ocean County College, the county fire academy and other sites that are not residential uses.

(See prior related posting.) [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

North Carolina Legislature Aims To Repeal City's Transgender Rights Ordinance

In February, the Charlotte, North Carolina City Council approved changes to the city's Non-Discrimination Ordinance.  According to a City Council press release issued in February, the changes "add marital and familial status, sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity to the list of protected characteristics in the existing Non-Discrimination Ordinances." As reported then by Al.com, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said he would fight the Ordinance that is scheduled to go into effect on April 1. Now the legislature is apparently poised to implement that fight in a special session of the legislature called for today.  Yesterday, Lt. Governor Dan Forest issued a press release announcing:

Senate and House leaders announced Monday they have obtained the necessary three-fifths majority in both chambers and will convene a special session on Wednesday to address a radical Charlotte City Council ordinance allowing men to share public bathrooms and locker rooms with young girls and women.

The announcement from the legislative leaders said: "We aim to repeal this ordinance before it goes into effect to provide for the privacy and protection of the women and children of our state." Human Rights Campaign and Equality North Carolina issued a release calling the special session a costly and outrageous step.

In Utah, "In God We Trust" License Plate Now Costs Less

As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah Governor Gary Herbert on Monday signed into law H.B. 127 (full text), making the state's "In God We Trust" license plates available for the standard licence plate fee. The law removes the prior $5 specialty plate surcharge for this plate design. Three plate designs are now available for the standard fee.  In signing the bill, Herbert referred to Utah's creation by people seeking refuge from religious persecution. As reported on the Governor's blog, he added: "Our nation’s motto bears extra importance at a time when free worship of God and religious rights are being challenged."

Diocese of Gallup Files Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan

As previously reported, in late 2013 the Catholic Diocese of Gallup, which encompasses parts of New Mexico and Arizona, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in order to deal with mounting sex abuse claims against the diocese.  Yesterday the Diocese finally filed its proposed Plan of Reorganization. (Full text of Disclosure Statement describing the Plan.)  The Disclosure Statement begins by admitting:

It is impossible to overstate the tragedy of the Abuse that was inflicted on the children and teenagers of the Diocese. Such Abuse was perpetrated by priests or others purporting to do the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church. Instead of fulfilling their missions, such perpetrators inflicted harm and suffering on the children and teenagers of the Diocese. Much of this harm was inflicted at a time when the Debtors did not have insurance that covered such claims, or had insurance with an insurer that is now insolvent. 

The Plan, which must receive judicial approval and then be voted on by creditors, ultimately was the product of court-ordered mediation. As reported by the Wall Street Journal:

The plan relies on at least $22 million to repay victims as well as lawyers and other creditors. Of that amount, $11.55 million would come from a settlement in which diocesan insurer Catholic Mutual will buy back its policies. The diocese itself is slated to contribute just over $3 million to the plan....

Other insurance carriers, the Diocese of Phoenix, some of the Diocese of Gallup’s parishes, two Franciscan religious orders and two foundations that support the diocese will also contribute to the restructuring plan....

Supreme Court Denies Review In Oklahoma License Plate Controversy

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certorari in Cressman v. Thompson,  (Docket No. 15-709, cert. denied 3/21/2016) (Order List). In the case, the 10th Circuit rejected a compelled speech challenge to Oklahoma's vehicle license plates whose design show a Native American shooting an arrow towards the sky. Plaintiff claimed that the depiction is based on a Native American legend, and in violation of his Christian beliefs the depiction teaches there are multiple gods and that the arrow is an intermediary for prayer. (See prior posting.) AP reports on the Court's denial of review. [Thanks to Tom Rutledge for the lead.]