New Minnesota Judge Pick Represented Conservative Christian Groups

The Minnesota Independent reports that on Tuesday, Minnesota's Gov. Tim Pawlenty appointed attorney Jamie L. Anderson to a vacancy created by a retirement on the state's 4th District (Hennepin County) Court. Anderson is the wife of the Governor's chief of staff and has represented conservative religious groups in high profile cases.  She represented the Minnesota Family Council in its effort to intervene as a defendant in a case challenging Minnesota's ban on same-sex marriage. In 2009, she was one of the lawyers who represented the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Minnesota in a case in which it was seeking an equal right with secular groups to to send Christian literature home with students. In 2007, Anderson was a lobbyist for born-again-Christian Frank Vennes who was a large donor to evangelical groups. However Anderson's primary areas of practice are business law, wills and trusts, probate and real estate. In appointing Anderson, Gov. Pawlenty bypassed the state's Commission on Judicial Selection which makes recommendations to the governor.  Legally governors may bypass the Commission and others have also done so.

Catholic Group Criticizes 20 Colleges For Inviting "Scandalous" Commencement Speakers

The Cardinal Newman Society yesterday issued a "Special Report" criticizing 20 Catholic colleges and universities for inviting as commencement speakers this year public figures or politicians who support abortion rights or same-sex marriage.  The detailed list of schools faulted for scheduling "scandalous commencement speakers and honorees" includes Boston College whose commencement speaker is Secretary of State John Kerry, Georgetown University whose commencement speaker is Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, and Villanova University whose commencement speaker is Dr. Jill Biden.  As is typical, honorary degrees are being awarded by the various universities to their commencement speakers as well.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Zachary R. Calo, Islamic Headscarves, Religious Pluralism, and Secular Human Rights, (International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies Conference, Santiago, Chile, September 2011).
• Zachary R. Calo, Human Dignity and Health Law: Personhood in Recent Bioethical Debate, (Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, Forthcoming).
• Robert J. Miller, The International Law of Colonialism: A Comparative Analysis, (August 30, 2011).
• Mark Strasser, Parents, Religious Convictions, and Public School Curricula, (Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, pp. 547-569, 2011).
• Howard Kislowicz, Judging the Rules of Belonging, (U.B.C. Law Review, Vol. 44, No. 2, p. 287, 2011).
• Zachary R. Calo, Catholicism, Liberalism and Human Rights, (Journal of Christian Legal Thought, Forthcoming).
• Lorin C. Geitner, Westboro Baptist and the Limits of Religious Speech, (Orange County Lawyer, Forthcoming).
• Victor M. Muniz-Fraticelli, The Distinctiveness of Religious Liberty, (July 29, 2011).
• Douglas E. Abrams, Reason and Passion: Justice Jackson and the Second Flag Salute Case (Part I), (Precedent, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 22-26, Summer 2011).
• Steve Sanders, The Constitutional Right to (Keep Your) Same-sex Marriage: Why the Due Process Clause Protects Marriages that Cross State Lines, Even if Conflict of Laws Cannot, (August 24, 2011).

From SmartCILP and elsewhere:

• Vol. 26, No.2, Journal of Law and Religion has recently appeared.
• Sept./Oct. 2011 issue of Liberty: A Magazine of Religious Freedom has recently appeared.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Jay Wexler, Government Disapproval of Religion, (Boston University School of Law, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper No. 11-32, July 2011).
• Pol Morillas, Hezbollah’s Identities and their Relevance for Cultural and Religious IR, (ICIP Working Papers 2009/4, Dec. 2011).
• Kenneth L. Marcus, Bullying as a Civil Rights Violation: The U.S. Department of Education’s Approach to Harassment, (July 11, 2011).
• Christopher C. Lund, Understanding the Ministerial Exception, (North Carolina Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 1, Fall 2011).
• Haider Ala Hamoudi, Book Review: Constitutional Theocracy by Ran Hirschl, (Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Forthcoming).
• Nicole Stelle Garnett and Margaret F. Brinig, Catholic Schools, Charter Schools, and Urban Neighborhoods, (University of Chicago Law Review, 2012).
• Nicole Stelle Garnett, A Winn for Educational Pluralism, (Yale Law Journal Online, May 2011).
• Lucia Ann Silecchia, Pope John Paul II's Evangelium Vitae and the 'Horizon of the Good', (Journal of Christian Legal Thought, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2011).
• Jonathan Caleb Landon, Usury and the Church: A Christian Response to Payday Lending, (May 6, 2011).
• Charles J. Russo and William E. Thro, Another Nail in the Coffin of Religious Freedom? Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, (Education Law Journal, Vol. 12, 2011).
• Jeffrey A. Parness, Civil Unions and Parenthood at Birth, (Illinois Bar Journal, Vol. 99, October 2011).

From SmartCILP and elsewhere:

• John R. Dorocak and Lloyd E. Peake, Political Activity of Tax-Exempt Churches, Particularly After Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and California's Proposition 8 Ban On Same-Sex Marriage: Render Unto Caesar What Is Caesar's, [Abstract], 9 First Amendment Law Review 448-485 (2011).
• K. Eli Akhavan, Basic Principles of Estate Planning Within the Context of Jewish Law, Probate and Property, July/Aug. 2011, pg. 60.

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Samuel J. Levine, Foreword: Conference on Religious Legal Theory: RLT IV: Expanding the Conversation, (30 Touro L. Rev. 1 (2014)).
• Dallan F. Flake, Image is Everything: Corporate Branding and Religious Accommodation in the Workplace, (University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 163, 2014-15).
• Asifa Quraishi-Landes, Rumors of the Sharia Threat are Greatly Exaggerated: What American Judges Really Do with Islamic Family Law in Their Courtrooms, (New York Law School Law Review, Vol. 57, No. 245, 2013).
• John M. A. DiPippa, God and Guns: The Free Exercise of Religion Problems of Regulating Guns in Churches and Other Houses of Worship, (March 21, 2014).
• John M. Breen & Lee J. Strang, The Forgotten Jurisprudential Debate: Catholic Legal Thought's Response to Legal Realism, (March 24, 2014).
• Micah Schwartzman, Religion as a Legal Proxy, (San Diego Law Review, Forthcoming).
• Micah Schwartzman, Religion, Equality, and Public Reason, (Boston University Law Review, Forthcoming).
• Yaniv Heled, On Patenting Human Organisms or How the Abortion Wars Feed into the Ownership Fallacy, (Cardozo Law Review, Vol. 36, 2014, Forthcoming).
• Jessica Feinberg, The Survival of Non-Marital Relationship Statuses in the Same-Sex Marriage Era: A Proposal, (Temple Law Review, Vol. 87, Forthcoming).

From SSRN (Affordable Care Act and Religious Freedom):

• Heidi Muller, Hobson's Choice: For-Profit Corporations and the Exercise of Religion, (November 17, 2013).
• Scott Harrington, No Soup for You! Religion in the Post-PPACA Era, (March 18, 2014).
• Zoe Robinson, The Contraception Mandate and the Forgotten Constitutional Question, (Wisconsin Law Review, Forthcoming 2014).
• Toni M. Massaro, Nuts and Seeds: Disclosure of Religious Exemptions, (Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 14-10 (March 2014)).

From SSRN (Non-U.S. law):

• Lotem Perry-Hazan, From the Constitution to the Classroom: Educational Freedom in Antwerp's Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Schools, (Journal of School Choice, 2014, Forthcoming).
• Lotem Perry-Hazan, Court-Led Educational Reforms in Political Third Rails: The Cases of Israeli Haredi Schools' Curricula and Admission Policies, (March 18, 2014).
• Jill Marshall, The Legal Recognition of Personality: Full Face Veils and Permissible Choices, (10 International Journal of Law in Context 64-80 (2014)).
• Robert J. Delahunty, The Returning Warrior and the Limits of Just War Theory, (Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion, 2014).

From SmartCILP:

• Mark W. Cordes, The First Amendment and Religion After Hosanna-Tabor, 41 Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly 299-355 (2014).
• Alvaro Hasani, Compatibility of Democracy and Islam...Or the Lack Thereof: A Closer Look At Whether the "Arab Spring" Was Ever Capable of Culminating Into a Viable Democracy in the Arab World, 15 Scholar 715-743 (2013).
• Ken Matheny, The Disappearance of Labor Unions and the Social Encyclicals of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XIV, 23 Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal 1-35 (2014).

Red Mass and Modernized Website Herald Opening of Supreme Court's 2014 Term

The Supreme Court's new term opens today.  To mark the occasion, the annual Catholic Red Mass was held yesterday in Washington's Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.  According to the Legal Times, four of the Court's six Catholic Justices (Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas) and two of its three Jewish Justices (Breyer and Kagan) attended. So did a number of D.C. lower court judges.

Tomorrow the Court will hear oral arguments in a religious accommodation case-- Holt v. Hobbs.  At issue is whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act permits Arkansas to bar a Muslim prison inmate from growing a one-half inch beard. (See prior related posting.) All the briefs filed in the case are available from SCOTUSblog.

The Court usually issues a long list of certiorari denials on its first day of the term, and might grant review in additional cases as well.  Among the most closely watched are a number of petitions for review in same-sex marriage cases.

The Court also begins the Term displaying a revamped website with a modernized look and improved navigation features. (Court press release.)

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Steven H. Resnicoff, Extraordinary Sources of Jewish Law: the Example of Capital Punishment,, (Steven H. Resnicoff, Chapter 8 of Understanding Jewish Law, LexisNexis, 2012).
• Rene Provost, Magic and Modernity in Tintin au Congo (1930) and the Sierra Leone Special Court, (June 25, 2012).
• Nicolai N. Petro, The Role of the Orthodox Church in a Changing Russia, (ISPI Analysis #121, Institute for the Study of International Politics, Milan, Italy, June 2012).
• David A. Grenardo, Samuel D. Davis and Thomas M. Gutting, Take One Step Forward: Federal Courts Continue to Find that Volunteers are Shielded from Retaliation Based on Protected Speech Under the First Amendment, (First Amendment Law Review, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2011).
• Lewis D. Solomon, God and Human Destiny: A Jewish Perspective, (GWU Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2012-53).
• Richard S. Myers, Same-Sex Marriage, Education, and Parental Rights, (Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, Vol. 2011, No. 2).
• Richard S. Myers, Assessing the Legal Bases for Conscientious Objection in Healthcare, (Life and Learning XVIII: The Proceedings of the Eighteenth University Faculty for Life Conference 57-82, J. Koterski ed. 2011).
• Mehmet Asutay and Zulkifli Bin Hasan, An Analysis of the Courts’ Decisions on Islamic Finance Disputes, (ISRA International Journal of Islamic Finance, 3 (2), 41-71, 2011).
• Kimberley Brownlee and Richard Child, Can the Law Help Us to Be Moral?, (Warwick School of Law Research Paper No. 2012/17).
• Kimberley Brownlee, Conscientious Objection and Civil Disobedience, (Warwick School of Law Research Paper No. 2012/15).

Recent Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Kaiponanea T. Matsumura, Consent to Intimate Regulation, (North Carolina Law Review, Vol. 96, No. 4, 2018).
• Margo A. Bagley, The Morality of Compulsory Licensing as an Access to Medicines Tool, (Minnesota Law Review, Forthcoming).
• Paul T. Babie, Parliamentary Prayer and the Establishment of Religion, (February 2018) 40(1) the Bulletin of the Law Society of South Australia 12-15).
• Noel D. Johnson & Mark Koyama, The State, Toleration, and Religious Freedom, (Advances in the Economics of Religion, Edited by Iyer, Rubin and Carvalho. Palgrave, 2018).
• Robert G. Natelson, Why Nineteenth Century Bans on 'Sectarian' Aid are Facially Unconstitutional: New Evidence on Plain Meaning, (19 Federalist Soc. Rev. 98 (2018)).
• Thaddeus Mason Pope, How to Respond to a Patient's Discriminatory Request for a Different Clinician, (ASCO Post (April 10, 2018)).
• Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Taking North American White Supremacist Groups Seriously: The Scope and the Challenge of Hate Speech on the Internet, (International Journal of Crime, Justice, and Social Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 2 (2018): 38-57).

From SSRN (Religious Law):

• Ghassan Abdul-Jabbar, The Major Themes of Hadith and Its Characteristics, (The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture, Vol. 1, Foundations of Islam (2016)).
• Mohammed A. Arafa, Transitional Justice, the Seeds of Change: Secular Law or Divine (Islamic) Law, Quo Vadis?, (Creighton Law Review, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2018).
• Christopher P. Guzelian, Silver: A Morally Good Money, (Procesos de Mercado, vol. 15 (2018).
• Doron M. Kalir, Rethinking Religious Objections (Old-Testament Based) to Same-Sex Marriage, (Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, Vol. 33, 2018, Forthcoming).
• Jonathan C. Augustine, The Fiery Furnace, Civil Disobedience and the Civil Rights Movement: A Biblical Exegesis on Daniel 3 and Letter from Birmingham Jail, (Richmond Public Interest Law Review, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2018).

From SmartCILP and elsewhere:

• Ran Hirschl, Ayelet Shachar, Competing Orders? The Challenge of Religion to Modern Constitutionalism, 85 University of Chicago Law Revies 425-455 (2018).
• J. William Callison, Dangling Threads: Hobby Lobby and Corporate Law Issues, 48 University of Memphis Law Review 447-461 (2017).
• Andrew L. Seidel, Dating God: What Is “Year of Our Lord” Doing in the U.S. Constitution?, [Abstract], 3 Constitutional Studies 129-151 (2018).

Mexican Electoral Tribunal Orders Sanctions Against Catholic Archdiocese

According to yesterday's National Catholic Reporter, Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal issued a ruling on July 1ordering the country's Interior Ministry to sanction the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico City for critical comments made by the Archdiocese's spokesman last August.  The Tribunal found that comments urging Catholics vote against political parties that support more liberal abortion laws and same-sex marriage violated  Mexico's electoral code. The Electoral Tribunal pointed to the need to keep church and state separate.  Mexico's Interior Ministry is responsible for regulating religious associations, but it is unclear whether the Electoral Tribunal has jurisdiction to order the Interior Ministry to take action.  The Archdiocese plans to appeal.

California High Court Accepts Certified Question On Standing In Prop 8 Challenge

Last month in Perry v. Schwarzenneger -- the challenge to the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 that bars same-sex marriage-- the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals certified to the California Supreme Court the question of whether under California law "official proponents of an initiative measure" have, under state law, a sufficient interest to give them standing to defend the constitutionality of the initiative when the public officials refuse to do so. (See prior posting.) Yesterday, the California Supreme Court granted the certification request. AP reports that the Court may hear oral arguments as early as September.

Proponents of Prop 8, Anticipating Loss, File Advance Motion For Stay Pending Appeal

The federal district court for the Northern District of California has announced that it will issue its decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger-- the challenge to the constituitonality of California's Proposition 8 banning same sex marriage-- today. In anticipation of the decision, yesterday proponents of Proposition 8 (apparently anticipating a loss) filed a Motion for Stay Pending Appeal accompanied by a memorandum in support of the motion. (Full text of filing.) Plaintiffs responded today with a letter (full text) saying they intend to respond if a response is warranted and asked to be heard on the motion. Today's Silicon Valley Mercury News reports on the filing.

President Obama's Brand of Christianity Is Analyzed

CNN's Belief blog on Sunday carried a lengthy analysis of President Obama's Christian faith, titling the article The Gospel According to Obama. This excerpt gives a flavor of the article:

Historians may remember Obama as the nation’s first black president, but he’s also a religious pioneer. He’s not only changed people’s perception of who can be president, some scholars and pastors say, but he’s also expanding the definition of who can be a Christian by challenging the religious right’s domination of the national stage.

When Obama invoked Jesus to support same-sex marriage, framed health care as a moral imperative to care for “the least of these,’’ and once urged people to read their Bible but just not literally, he was invoking another Christian tradition that once dominated American public life so much that it gave the nation its first megachurches, historians say....

Some Christians, however, still see Obama as the “other.” He doesn’t act or talk like other Christians, says the Rev. Gary Cass, a conservative Christian president of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission..... Cass says he’s never heard Obama say he’s “born-again.” There’s no emotional conversion story to hang onto.

A Bit of Humor On A Serious Topic...

For those who have been promising themselves that they will listen to the full Supreme Court oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, the same-sex marriage cases argued last week, but have not gotten around to it, the task has now perhaps become more inviting with the posting on YouTube of the arguments synchronized with John Oliver dog clips:

7th Circuit En Banc: Ministerial Exception Applies To Hostile Work Environment Claims

In Demkovich v. St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Calumet City, (7th Cir., July 9, 2021), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, held by a vote of 7-3 that the ministerial exception doctrine applies to protect religious organizations from  hostile work environment claims alleging minister-on-minister harassment. A 3-judge panel had reach the opposite conclusion. At issue is derogatory and demeaning comments made to the church's gay music director by the church's pastor. The majority opinion, written by Judge Brennan, said in part:

This case concerns what one minister, Reverend Dada, said to another, Demkovich. Adjudicating Demkovich’s allegations of minister-on-minister harassment would not only undercut a religious organization’s constitutionally protected relationship with its ministers, but also cause civil intrusion into, and excessive entanglement with, the religious sphere.

Judge Hamilton filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Judges Rovner and Wood, saying in part: 

[P]laintiff is not asking the court to pass on the substance of the Catholic Church’s religious doctrines or practices. Civil courts have nothing to say about whether the Church should permit same-sex marriage, for example, or whether the Church should have a hierarchical supervisory structure. The Church was free to decide whether to retain plaintiff or fire him. But plaintiff’s hostile work environment claims allege conduct that constituted abuse under neutral, generally applicable standards that would be enforceable on behalf of a non-ministerial employee. That conduct is, by definition, not necessary to control or supervise any employee.

Bloomberg Law reports on the decision.

Cert. Denied In Other DOMA Cases

Last Thursday, a day after issuing its same-sex marriage decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court cleaned up its docket by denying certiorari in several other cases challenging the constitutionality of DOMA.  The Court denied review in Windsor v. United States (Docket No. 12-63) and Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group v. Windsor, (Docket No. 12-785). It also denied review in Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group v. Gill (Docket No. 12-13), Department of Health & Human Services v. Massachusetts, (Docket No. 12-15), and Massachusetts v. Department of Health & Human Services, (Docket No. 12-97). (See prior related posting.) (June 27 Order List.)

Christian Teacher Did Not Show That Her Removal Was Retaliation for Protected Speech or Beliefs

In Barr v. Tucker (SD GA, Feb. 21, 2023), a Georgia federal district court denied a preliminary injunction to plaintiff whose position as a substitute elementary school teacher was terminated after she complained to her own children's teachers and to the principal about the school librarian's reading aloud to classes a book that contains illustrations of same-sex couples with school-age children. The court explained:

Plaintiff told Defendant Tucker [the school principal] that she believed the book was '"inappropriate for young children, conflicted with her Christian faith, and appeared to bean effort to indoctrinate young children into a progressive ideological agenda[]" and asked that her children be excused from the read-aloud program.

Plaintiff contended that the school had retaliated against her for her exercising her free speech and free exercise rights. The court disagreed, saying in part:

... Plaintiff's inquiries principally addressed her personal concerns about exempting her children from the read-aloud program, and the context of her speech suggests she spoke on a matter of private or personal interest.

Accordingly ... Plaintiff has failed to establish a substantial likelihood of success in showing she spoke on a matter of public concern .... As a result. Plaintiff has also failed to establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of her First Amendment [free speech] retaliation claim....

The Court accepts, as Plaintiff alleges, that her sincerely held religious beliefs include ''that God created marriage to be between one man and one woman, and that family formation should occur within the confines of heterosexual marriage."... However, at this stage. Plaintiff has not established that she is substantially likely to succeed on showing that Defendants substantially burdened her religious beliefs by terminating her.

It is not clear that Defendants called for Plaintiff's removal due to her religious beliefs....

Defendants maintain they removed Plaintiff due to her inappropriately timed interactions with her children's teachers and concern about how she would support students or parents that identify as gay, not because of her beliefs about marriage and family formation.

Recent Scholarly Articles of Interest

From SSRN:

• Robert W. McGee & Galina G. Preobragenskaya, The Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Empirical Study of Opinion in Kazakhstan, (October 2007).
  
• Hany Besada, Egypt's Constitutional Test: Averting the March Toward Islamic Fundamentalism, (CIGI Working Paper No. 28, August 2007).
  
• Edward J. Eberle, German Religious Freedoms: The Movement Toward Protection of Minorities, (Oregon Review of International Law, Forthcoming).
  
• Ian C. Bartrum, The Origins of Secular Public Education: The New York School Controversy, 1840-1842, (NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, Forthcoming).
  
• David A. Brennen, The Charitable Tax Exemption is About Much More than Efficiency, (2007).
  
• John Bernard Quigley, The International Court of Justice as a Forum for Genocide Cases, (Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 102, September 2007).

From SmartCILP and elsewhere:

• Russell Powell, Catharine MacKinnon May Not Be Enough: Legal Change and Religion in Catholic and Sunni Jurisprudence, 8 Georgetown Journal of Gender & Law 1-41 (2007).
  
• Roger Severino, "Or for Poorer?" How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Liberty, (Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Vol. 30, pp. 939-82, 2007).

Alabama Supreme Court Refuses to Order United Methodist Conference to Allow Church Disaffiliations

In Aldersgate United Methodist Church of Montgomery v. Alabama- West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church, Inc., (AL Sup. Ct., May 31, 2024), the Alabama Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion, applied the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine and dismissed a challenge by 44 Methodist congregations to a refusal by their parent Conference to allow the congregations to disaffiliate and retain their property. A few months before the congregations sought to disaffiliate, the Conference had changed its rules to provide that a member church could disaffiliate only after the Conference approved an eligibility statement that set out the reasons of conscience that led to the congregation's request. Prior to that, under a policy that was to expire at the end of 2023, congregations could disaffiliate and retain their property merely if they disagreed with the Chruch's policy on same-sex marriage and homosexuality. In affirming the dismissal of the case, the court said in part:

In order to grant the churches the relief they seek -- the right to vote on disaffiliation -- the trial court would have to survey the Judicial Council's ecclesiastical decisions, interpret the doctrinal scope of ¶ 2553 of the Book of Discipline, and review Conference determinations about the religious adequacy of the churches' eligibility statements.  That is, to decide any property questions, the trial court would have to adjudicate whether each of the churches had adequate "reasons of conscience...."  Resolving those issues would "inherently entail inquiry … into the substantive criteria by which [courts] are supposedly to decide the ecclesiastical question" -- whether the churches' reasons of conscience were sufficient for disaffiliation under ¶ 2553....   "But [that] is exactly the inquiry that the First Amendment prohibits."

Justice Bryan filed an opinion concurring specially which Justice Mitchell joined. Justice Cook filed an opinion concurring specially which Chief Justice Parker joined. Both opinions expressed sympathy with the churches' claim that the last-minute change in rules was engineered to prevent them from disaffiliating. Justice Mundheim filed an opinion concurring in the result, but not in the reasoning of the main opinion. Justice Sellers concurred in the result without filing a separate opinion. Justices Shaw, White and Stewart recused themselves.

Recent Articles of Interest and Call For Papers

From SSRN:

• Vivian Grosswald Curran, Book Review: Gilles Cuniberti, Grands Systèmes De Droit Contemporains (2d ed., L.G.D.J., 2011), (American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 61, p. 721, 2013).
• Lucia Ann Silecchia, On 'Unease' and 'Idealism': Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI's Educating Young People in Justice and Peace and Its Message for Law Teachers, (Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2013).
• Elizaeth Sepper, Doctoring Discrimination in the Same-Sex Marriage Debates, (Indiana Law Journal, Forthcoming 2014).
• Alan D. Miller & Ronen Perry, A Group's a Group, No Matter How Small: An Economic Analysis of Defamation, (Washington and Lee Law Review, Vol. 70, 2013).
• Amanda Reid, Private Memorials on Public Space: Roadside Crosses at the Intersection of the Free Speech Clause and the Establishment Clause, (Nebraska Law Review, Vol. 92, p. 501-561, 2013).

From SmartCILP amd elsewhere:

• Deepa Das Acevedo, Secularism in the Indian Context, (38 Law & Social Inquiry 138-167 (2013)).
• Anthony V. Alfieri, Community Education and Access to Justice in a Time of Scarcity: Notes from the West Grove Trolley Garage Case, (2013 Wisconsin Law Review 121-143).
• Brooke Goldstein & Benjamin Ryberg. The Emerging Face of Lawfare: Legal Maneuvering Designed to Hinder the Exposure of Terrorism and Terror Financing, (36 Fordham International Law Journal 634-656 (2013)).
• Abraham M. Lackman, The Collapse of Catholic School Enrollment: The Unintended Consequence of the Charter School Movement, 6 Albany Government Law Review 1-20 (2013).
• Clark B. Lombardi, Constitutional Provisions Making Sharia "A" or "The" Chief Source of Legislation: Where Did They Come From? What Do They Mean? Do They Matter?, [Abstract], (28 American University International Law Review 733-774 (2013)).
• C.M.A. McCauliff, Dreyfus, Laicite and the Burqa, (28 Connecticut Journal of International Law 117-151 (2012)).
• SpearIt, Raza Islamica: Prisons, Hip Hop & Converting Converts, (22 Berkeley La Raza L.J. 175-201 (2012).)
• Seventh Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture: Living the Catholic Faith in Public Life. Articles by Abp. Charles J. Chaput, Helen Alvare, Patrick McKinley Brennan and Michael J. White. [Abstract]. 58 Villanova Law Review 371-470 (2013).
• Symposium:  Law, Religion, and Lautsi v. Italy. Maine Law Review, Vol. 65, No. 2 (2013).

Call For Papers:

• Section on Law and Religion Call for Papers for January 2014 AALS Annual Meeting Program: “Cooperating With Evil, Complicity with Sin.”

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

SSRN:

• Sylvie Bacquet, School Uniforms, Religious Symbols and The Human Rights Act 1998: The 'Purity Ring' Case, (Education Law Journal, 2008).
• Ehsan Zar Rokh & M. Rahman Gaeini, Iranian Legal System and Human Rights Protection,(November 20, 2008).
• Jack Lee Sammons, A Rhetorician's View of Religious Speech in Civic Argument, (Seattle University Law Review, Vol. 32, p. 367, 2008).
• Andrew F. March, Reading Tariq Ramadan: Political Liberalism, Islam, and 'Overlapping Consensus', (Ethics & International Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 399-413, Winter 2007).
• Richard W. Garnett, 'Excluding Religion': A Response, (University of Pennsylvania Law Review PENNUMBRA, Forthcoming).
• Robert K. Vischer, The Best Interests of the Child: Modern Lessons from the Christian Traditions, (THE VOCATION OF THE CHILD, P. Brennan, ed., Eerdmans, 2008; U of St. Thomas Legal Studies Research Paper No. 08-34).

SmartCILP and Other:

• Thomas M. Messner, Same-Sex Marriage and the Threat to Religious Liberty, (Backgrounder, Oct. 30, 2008).
• Jennifer E. Spreng, Conscientious Objectors Behind the Counter: Statutory Defenses to Tort Liability for Failure to Dispense Contraceptives, 1 St. Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy 337-403 (2008).
• Geoffrey R. Stone, Melville B. Nimmer Memorial Lecture. The World of the Framers: A Christian Nation?, 56 UCLA Law Review 1-26 (2008).
• Roy Whitehead, Jr., Walter Block & Patrick C. Tinsley, Christian Landlords and the Free Exercise Clause: An Economic and Philosophical Analysis of Discrimination, 33 Oklahoma City University Law Review 115-150 (2008).

New Books:

• Kent Greenawalt, Religion and the Constitution: Volume 2: Establishment and Fairness, (Princeton Univ. Press, Nov. 2008).
• David Novak, In Defense of Religious Liberty, (ISI Books, Jan. 2009).
• Peter A. Lilliback, Wall of Misconception, (Providence Forum Press, 2008).
• Stephen Miller, The Peculiar Life of Sundays, (Harvard Univ. Press, Nov. 2008), reviewed in the Toronto Star.