Digital Commons Network^™

Muslims And Religious Liberty In The Era Of 9/11: Empirical Evidence From The Federal Courts, Gregory C. Sisk, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In our continuing empirical study of religious-liberty decisions in the federal courts, American Muslims were at a distinct and substantial disadvantage in raising free exercise or accommodation claims between 1996 and 2005. With other variables held constant, the likelihood of success for non-Muslim claimants in Religious Free Exercise claims was 38%, while the probability of success for Muslim claimants fell to 22% (with an even higher disparity among court of appeals judges). In sum, Muslim claimants enjoyed only about half the chance to receive accommodation of their religious beliefs and practices as did claimants from other religious communities.

Drawing on …

Funding Stem Cell Research: The Covergence Of Science, Religion & Politics In The Formation Of Public Health Policy, Edward A. Fallone

Marquette Elder's Advisor

No abstract provided.

Perspectives - Alyssa Bellew Of The Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church Of Pasadena, James Hagy

Rooftops Project

At manyplaces of worship, responsibility for oversight of the physical facilities falls to administrative staff as one more adjunct to an already busy schedule. At others, property tasks may be left to volunteers. The “on-the-job training” may often be self-taught. Professor James Hagy explores these challenges with Alyssa Bellew, Administrative Director of Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church.

Roger Nash Baldwin And The American Civil Liberties Union, Mathias Alfred Jaren

Mathias Alfred Jaren

The thesis for this essay is that social work, acting for the benefit and welfare of others, can be accomplished effectively by non-lawyers employing an agenda of political and legal interventions. Legal interventions even as uncomplicated as filing an amicus curiae brief for some unknown defendant being prosecuted for an offense against his government can have significant and important long term implications. This thesis is examined in the context of a life devoted to civil liberties - The Life and times of Roger Nash Baldwin.

Secularization By Incorporation: Religious Organizations And Corporate Identity, Bruce B. Jackson

First Amendment Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hungary's New Constitution And Its New Law On Freedom Of Religion And Churches: The Return Of The Sovereign, Renáta Uitz

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

June 28, 2012: Materialism, The Supernatural And The More, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Materialism, the Supernatural and the More“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Toward A Meaning-Full Establishment Clause Neutrality, Bruce Ledewitz

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Some form of government neutrality toward religion, in contrast to a more pro-religion stance or a turn toward nonjusticiability, is the only interpretation of the Establishment Clause that can potentially lead to a national consensus concerning the proper role of religion in American public life. But to achieve that goal, neutrality theory must acknowledge and engage the need for the expressions of deep meaning on public occasions and in the public square generally. Current neutrality doctrine promotes a silent and empty public square. This article proposes an interpretation of neutrality that would allow a symbol-rich, meaning-full public square without violating …

Higher Law Secularism: Religious Symbols, Contested Secularisms, And The Limits Of The Establishment Clause, Zachary R. Calo

Chicago-Kent Law Review

There are two dominant traditions of understanding the secular, both with long genealogical resonance in western thought: Christian secularity and secularism. The former links the secular to a theological narrative, while the latter defines the secular as standing over and against religion. Constitutional debate has commonly framed the issue of religious symbols as demanding resolution in favor of one of these traditions. Rather than offering a way to overcome the divide and the culture war it generates, the Court's jurisprudence has instead concretized the binary. Only by cultivating a new understanding of the secular in law might there emerge an …

An Early Tragedy Of Comparative Constitutionalism: Frank Goodnow And The Chinese Republic, Jedidiah Kroncke

Washington International Law Journal

This article recovers a lost episode in the neglected early history of comparative constitutionalism in the United States. In 1913, pioneering comparative lawyer Frank Goodnow went to China to assist the new Chinese Republic in the writing of its first constitution. Goodnow’s mission reflected the growing interest of the United States in China’s legal development in this era, and his constitution-writing project won broad support from the U.S. legal profession. Goodnow’s tenure ultimately generated great controversy when he advised China’s leaders to adopt a constitutional monarchy rather than continue on as a republic. This article describes this controversy and how …

The Second Great Awakening: A Christian Nation?, Geoffrey R. Stone

Georgia State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Avoiding Independent Agency Armageddon, Kent H. Barnett

Scholarly Works

In Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Congress’ use of two layers of tenure protection to shield Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) members from the President’s removal. The SEC could appoint and remove PCAOB members. An implied tenure-protection provision protected the SEC from the President’s at-will removal. And a statutory tenure-protection provision protected PCAOB members from the SEC’s at-will removal. The Court held that these “tiered” tenure protections unconstitutionally impinged upon the President’s removal power because they prevented the President from holding the SEC responsible for PCAOB’s actions in the same …

Umass Boston – Brazilian Immigrant Center Partnership, Tim Sieber, C. Eduardo Siqueira, Natalicia Tracy, Gaston Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Brazilian Immigrant Center (BIC) does organizing, advocacy and training to reduce marginalization of Brazilian immigrants, promoting their engagement as workers & civic participants. A worker’s center, BIC supports and defends workers’ rights under current state & US labor laws. BIC helps workers mediate complaints with employers, and refers others for class action suits, or intervention by the Mass. Attorney General or US Dept. of Labor. A special focus at present is organizing mostly women domestic workers, and BIC has a new Law and Policy Clinic, a Domestic Worker Mediation Program, and an Immigration Justice Project staffed by two full-time …

The Demise Of Dynasty Trusts: Returning The Wealth To The Family, Lucy A. Marsh

Lucy A Marsh

One of President Obama’s targets in the new budget is the elimination of Dynasty Trusts. Whether or not that is accomplished, there should be new discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of Dynasty Trusts. This article provides analysis and data which should be of use in such a discussion.

The Introduction explains the concept of Dynasty Trusts, and sets forth the fundamentals. The historical perspective for Dynasty Trusts is examined – and the various benefits and drawbacks are analyzed. Finally, a solution is proposed.

A Dynasty Trust is a private trust established by an individual, called the settlor. The settlor …

Are Same-Sex Marriages Really A Threat To Religious Liberty?, Eric Alan Isaacson

Eric Alan Isaacson

Some have contended that same-sex couples' marriages pose a grave danger to the religious liberty of social conservatives whose faith traditions do not bless same-sex unions. Those who oppose recognizing same-sex couples' right to marry have even contended that their clergy and churches might be subject to hate-crime prosecutions and loss of tax-exempt status if same-sex couples may lawfully marriage. This article seeks to answer those objections, pointing out that many limitations on religious marriages -- such as Roman Catholic doctrine barring remarriage by those who are civilly divorced -- parallel religious rules similarly limiting or withholding recognition from same-sex …

Spring 2012 Magazine

Ergo

No abstract provided.

The Story Behind Vidal V. Girard's Executors: Joseph Story, The Philadelphia Bible Riots, And Religious Liberty, Jay Alan Sekulow, Jeremy Tedesco

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Expanding The Federal Common Law?: From Nomos & Physis And Beyond, Sam Kalen

Sam Kalen Mr.

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in AEP v. Connecticut, as well as a prominent Seventh Circuit case last year, reflect an emerging effort to test the federal judiciary’s willingness to expand the federal common law to include claims for interstate pollution. There is an assumption, including by the Supreme Court, that a federal common law for public nuisance exists, and that the pressing question is whether to expand that common law. Building on existing scholarship and a more thorough review of the cases than has occurred in the past, this article attempts to prompt a searching dialogue about the jurisprudential …

The Demise Of Dynasty Trusts: Returning The Wealth To The Family, Lucy A. Marsh

Lucy A Marsh

No abstract provided.

The Demise Of Dynasty Trusts: Returning The Wealth To The Family, Lucy A. Marsh, Michelle M. Slaton

Lucy A Marsh

No abstract provided.

Aristotle's Internet: Free Speech Values Online, Ari E. Waldman

Ari E Waldman

While the Internet has changed dramatically since the early 1990s, the legal regime governing online speech and liability is still steeped in an early myth of the Internet user, completely hidden from others, in total control of his online experience, and free to come and go as he pleases. This false image of the “virtual self” has also contributed to an ethos of lawlessness, irresponsibility and radical individuation online, allowing hate and harassment to run wild. I argue that the myth of the online anonym is not only false as a matter of technology, but also inaccurate – it does …

Aristotle's Internet: Free Speech Values Online, Ari E. Waldman

Ari E Waldman

While the Internet has changed dramatically since the early 1990s, the legal regime governing online speech and liability is still steeped in an early myth of the Internet user, completely hidden from othes, in total control of his online experience, and free to come and go as he pleases. This false image of the “virtual self” has also contributed to an ethos of lawlessness, irresponsibility and radical individuation online, allowing hate and harassment to run wild. I argue that the myth of the online anonym is not only false as a matter of technology, but also inaccurate – it does …

Why Roe V. Wade Is Wrong, Richard Maloy

Richard Maloy

No abstract provided.

Making The Anomalous Even More Anomalous: On Hosanna-Tabor, The Ministerial Exception, And The Constitution, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

In Hosanna–Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Court held that the First Amendment incorporates the ministerial exception and, further, found that the plaintiff fell within that exception and so could not press her claim. However, courts and commentators hoping for clarification of Religion Clauses jurisprudence more generally or even for a firm constitutional grounding of the ministerial exception may well be disappointed. The Court has raised more questions than it has answered, and has provided such little helpful guidance to the lower courts that Hosanna-Tabor is likely to lead to greater confusion in the …

The Ohio Constitution, Jefferson's Danbury Letter And Religion And Education, David W. Scott Dr.

David W Scott Dr.

Summary of article entitled “The Ohio Constitution of 1803, Jefferson’s Danbury Letter and Religion in Education” Never done before, this article brings together existing scholarship on the Ohio constitution of 1803, President Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, and the education provision of the Northwest Ordinance. In so doing, it provides support for the conclusion that the section on religion of the Ohio constitution of 1803 represented a consensus in the early days of the Republic in regard to church and state. This Constitution was developed and supported by Jeffersonians at both the state and national level. It includes …

Humanitarian Aid Is Never A Crime? The Politics Of Immigration Enforcement And The Provision Of Sanctuary, Kristina M. Campbell

Journal Articles

In September 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the federal criminal conviction of humanitarian Daniel Millis for placing water for migrants crossing the United StatesMexico border in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.1 In 2008 Mr. Millis, an activist with the Sierra Club and the Tucson faith-based organization No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes,2 had been found guilty of “Disposal of Waste” pursuant to 50 C.F.R. § 27.94(a), in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.3 No More Deaths, along with other faith-based organizations in Southern Arizona,4 have adopted the slogan “Humanitarian …

A Brief Summary Of Decisions From The Arkansas Supreme Court Affecting Gays And Lesbians, Anthony L. Mcmullen

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Half of Arkansans believe that sex-sex relationships should not be afforded legal recognition, including recognition in the form of a civil union or domestic partnership. Further, Arkansas is one of thirty states to constitutionally define marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman. Nonetheless, the gay and lesbian civil rights movement has been afforded protection in the courts through Arkansas Supreme Court decisions protecting same sex couples' rights.

Starting in 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court has provided at least some protection to same sex couples and their families through decisions where the Court could have declined to …

The Civil Rights Movement And The Constitution, Wilson Huhn

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This presentation of March 3, 2012, describes the influence that the Civil Rights Movement has had on the interpretation of the Constitution. The Civil Rights Movement not only broadened our understanding of the principle of equality under Equal Protection, it also expanded opportunities for Freedom of Expression and the Right to Privacy. In addition, the Civil Rights Movement stimulated the courts to recognize the power of Congress to enact legislation under the Commerce Clause and Section 5 of the 14th Amendment. Finally, as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, the Supreme Court has moved to a more realistic, consequentialist …

"That Most Congenial Lawyer/Bibliographer", Mary Whisner

Librarians' Articles

Ms. Whisner delves into Morris L. Cohen's Bibliography of Early American Law, demonstrating how much information it contains that will be interesting and useful for law librarians.

Armchair Jury Consultants: The Legal Implications And Benefits Of Online Research Of Prospective Jurors In The Facebook Era, Adam J. Hoskins

Minnesota Law Review

No abstract provided.