Religion Law Commons^™

God's Green Earth? The Environmental Impacts Of Religious Land Use, Kellen Zale

Maine Law Review

Boulder County, Colorado has been at the forefront of the environmental movement for decades. Starting with its citizens’ vote in 1967 to implement a tax specifically to preserve open space, the city has long been known for its progressive environmental policies. At the center of Boulder’s environmental protection efforts is a comprehensive system of land use regulations designed to mitigate the slow chokehold of ever-encroaching development on wetlands and open space, on groundwater and soils, and on wildlife and native species. Numerous communities across the country have followed Boulder’s much-praised model and enacted their own environmental zoning laws to protect …

Fault In The Law: The Influence Of The Penitentials On The Anglo-Saxon Legal System, Erika Nagy Lert

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Religious Arbitration And Its Struggles With American Law & Judicial Review, Sukhsimranjit Singh

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Alienation Of Church Property Under The New Code Of Canon Law, Reverend Donald Heintschel

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Alienation Of Church Property Under The New Code Of Canon Law, Thomas A. Rayer

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Columbia Law Experts Denounce Doj Religious Liberty Guidance As Attack On Religious Liberty And Fundamental Equality Rights, Public Rights/Private Conscience Project

Center for Gender & Sexuality Law

Columbia Law School’s Public Rights/Private Conscience Project (PRPCP) denounces the memorandum released today by the Department of Justice (DOJ) entitled the “Federal Memorandum for Religious Liberty Protections.” This document, and its implementation guidance misinterpret the meaning and scope of religious liberty under the Constitution and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), demonstrating this administration’s continued commitment to elevating a particular set of religious beliefs over the safety and equality rights of women, LGBTQ people, people of color, and religious minorities.

The Ecclesiastical Tribunals Field Hospital For Wounded Marriages: The New Matrimonial Processus Brevoir, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

This article will focus on explaining the new marriage annulment processes of the Latin Church, which are found in the Motu proprio Mitis ludex Dominus lesus, although the same processes apply to the processes in the Eastern Churches. Any differences that exist between the two processes are due to the distinct ecclesiastical structure between one Church and another.

This explanation will advance the following points: (1) marriage; (2) reasons for a new matrimonial process; (3) guiding principles for the new process; (4) pastoral footprint of service to the faithful in ecclesiastic tribunals; (5) actualization of the ecclesiastic structure; (6) the …

Adjudicating Religious Sincerity, Nathan S. Chapman

Washington Law Review

Recent disputes about the “contraception mandate” under the Affordable Care Act and about the provision of goods and services for same-sex weddings have drawn attention to the law of religious accommodations. So far, however, one of the requirements of a religious accommodation claim has escaped sustained scholarly attention: a claimant must be sincere. Historically, scholars have contested this requirement on the ground that adjudicating religious sincerity requires government officials to delve too deeply into religious questions, something the Establishment Clause forbids. Until recently, however, the doctrine was fairly clear: though the government may not evaluate the objective accuracy or plausibility …

Exorcising The Clergy Privilege, Christine P. Bartholomew

Journal Articles

This Article debunks the empirical assumption behind the clergy privilege, the evidentiary rule shielding confidential communications with clergy. For over a century, scholars and the judiciary have assumed generous protection is essential to foster and encourage spiritual relationships. Accepting this premise, all fifty states and the District of Columbia have adopted virtually absolute privilege statutes. To test this assumption, this Article distills data from over 700 decisions — making it the first scholarship to analyze state clergy privilege jurisprudence exhaustively. This review finds a privilege in decline: courts have lost faith in the privilege. More surprisingly, though, so have clergy. …

Bequests And Gifts To The Church Under The Code Of Canon Law, Reverend Daniel J. Ward

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Property And Contracts In Church Law, Reverend Jordan Hite

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Official Catholic Directory: Civil And Canon Law Requirements, J. Michael Fitzgerald

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Memorandum, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. V. Colo. Civil Rights Comm., __ U.S. __ (2017): Legislative History Of Sb08-200, Matt Simonsen

Research Data

This legal Memorandum on the legislative history of a 2008 amendment to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) was researched and written by Matt Simonsen, J.D. Candidate 2019, University of Colorado Law School, and submitted to law professors Craig Konnoth and Melissa Hart. The Memorandum is cited in Brief of Amici Curiae Colorado Organizations and Individuals in Support of Respondents, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, __U.S.__ (2018) (No. 16-111).

4 p.

"The legislative history primarily identifies two issues that SB08-200 was designed to resolve: (1) the need for dignity and access to justice for LGBT people and …

Master File, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. V. Colo. Civil Rights Comm., __ U.S. __ (2017): Legislative History Of Sb08-200, Matt Simonsen

Research Data

This Master File of the legislative history of a 2008 amendment to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) was researched and compiled by Matt Simonsen, J.D. Candidate 2019, University of Colorado Law School, and submitted to law professors Craig Konnoth and Melissa Hart. The SB08-200 Master File is cited in Brief of Amici Curiae Colorado Organizations and Individuals in Support of Respondents, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, __U.S.__ (2018) (No. 16-111).

449 p.

The Code Of Canon Law And Civil Law, James E. Serritella

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Book V: Temporalities Under The Revised Code Of Canon Law, Reverend James K. Mallett, S.T.L., M.Ch.A

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Overview Of The Revised Code Of Canon Law, Monsignor John A. Alesandro

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

A Model For Ecclesial Mediation At The Local Level, Roger A. Kenyon

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Code Of Canon Law Provisions On Labor Relations, Donald H. J. Hermann

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

An American Experiment: Teaching Canon Law To Students Of Common Law, Ladislas Orsy, S.J.

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Paliotta V. State Dep’T Of Corrections, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 58 (Sept. 14, 2017), Anna Sichting

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined it must consider the sincere religious beliefs of the individual when evaluating claims under the Free Exercise Clause and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). It is improper to evaluate those claims under the centrality test, which attempts to determine if the individual’s beliefs are central to a tenant of the religion in question. Once the sincere belief is shown, the courts must then fully examine the remaining considerations under the Free Exercise Clause and the RLUIPA.

Canon Law Implications Of Real Estate Transactions - Impact Of The New Canon Law, Reverend Adman J. Maida, J.D., Vice Chancellor & General Counsel, Diocese Of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Diocesan Real Estate Transactions - Canon And Civil Law Implications, Bernard C. Huger, Huger & Cramer St. Louis, Missouri

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

What Constitutes A Religious Use For Zoning Purposes, Robert S. Walker

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Eclecticism, Nelson Tebbe

Nelson Tebbe

This short piece comments on Kent Greenawalt's new book, Religion and the Constitution: Establishment and Fairness. It argues that although Greenawalt's eclectic approach carries certain obvious costs, his theory cannot be evaluated without comparing its advantages and disadvantages to those of its competitors. It concludes by giving some sense of what that comparative calculus might look like.

Smith In Theory And Practice, Nelson Tebbe

Nelson Tebbe

Employment Division v. Smith controversially held that general laws that were neutral toward religion would no longer be presumptively invalid, regardless of how much they incidentally burdened religious practices. That decision sparked a debate that continues today, twenty years later. This symposium Essay explores the argument that subsequent courts have in fact been less constrained by the principal rule of Smith than advocates on both sides of the controversy usually assume. Lower courts administering real world disputes often find they have all the room they need to grant relief from general laws, given exceptions written into the decision itself and …

Free Exercise And The Problem Of Symmetry, Nelson Tebbe

Nelson Tebbe

This Article identifies a difficulty with the neutrality paradigm that currently shapes thinking about the Free Exercise Clause both on the Supreme Court and among its leading critics. It proposes a liberty component, shows how it would generate more attractive results than neutrality alone, and defends the liberty approach against likely objections. A controversial neutrality rule currently governs cases brought under the Free Exercise Clause. Under that rule, only laws and policies that have the purpose of discriminating against religion draw heightened scrutiny. All others are presumptively constitutional, regardless of how severely they burden religious practices. Critics have attacked the …

Nonbelievers, Nelson Tebbe

Nelson Tebbe

How should courts handle nonbelievers who bring religious freedom claims? Although this question is easy to grasp, it presents a genuine puzzle because the religion clauses of the Constitution, along with many contemporary statutes, protect only religion by their terms. From time to time, judges and lawyers have therefore struggled with the place of nonbelievers in the American scheme of religious freedom. Today, this problem is gaining prominence because of nonbelievers’ rising visibility. New lines of social conflict are forming around them, generating disputes that have already gone legal. In this Article, I argue that no wholesale response will do. …

Religion And Marriage Equality Statutes, Nelson Tebbe

Nelson Tebbe

To date, every state statute that has extended marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples has included accommodations for actors who oppose such marriages on religious grounds. Debate over those accommodations has occurred mostly between, on the one hand, people who urge broader religion protections and, on the other hand, those who support the types of accommodations that typically have appeared in existing statutes. This article argues that the debate should be widened to include arguments that the existing accommodations are normatively and constitutionally problematic. Even states that presumptively are most friendly to LGBT citizens, as measured by their demonstrated …

Privatizing And Publicizing Speech, Nelson Tebbe

Nelson Tebbe

When and how should governments be permitted to use private-law mechanisms to manage their public-law obligations? This short piece poses that question in the context of Summum, which the Supreme Court decided earlier this year, and Buono, which it will hear in the fall. In both cases, the government manipulated formal property rules in order to fend off constitutional challenges. In Summum, the government took ownership of a religious symbol in the face of a free speech challenge, while in Buono it shed ownership of land containing another sectarian symbol in an effort to moot an Establishment Clause problem. Although …