Courts Commons^™

Brief Amicus Curiae Of The Society Of Catholic Social Scientists In Support Of Respondent, Stephen M. Krason, Richard W. Garnett

Court Briefs

No. 99-138
Jenifer Troxel v. Tommie Granville

On Writ Of Certiorari To The Supreme Court Of Washington

From the Summary of the Argument

The fundamental rights of parents to direct and control the upbringing of their children and the autonomy of the family have been recognized time and again by this Court. These rights and this autonomy are not creatures of positive law, but are grounded in the natural moral order. The family is the "building block" of civil society and has as its natural end, or telos, the nurturing and development of flourishing human persons and good citizens. …

Petitioners' Reply Brief, William H. Meub, Orland Campbell Jr., Richard W. Garnett, Michael Stokes Paulsen

Court Briefs

No. 99-628
Cynthia Andrews v. Vermont Department of Education

On Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari To The Vermont Supreme Court

From the Petitioners' Reply Brief

The question presented in this case is whether the First Amendment allows government to discriminate on the basis of religion in funding school-choice education programs that include private schools. In the Petition, we showed (1) that this issue is nationally important; (2) that this issue is recurrent; and (3) that this issue has generated extraordinary and pervasive conflicts among lower and federal state courts, and between decisions of lower courts and this Court.

Brief Of The National Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Lisa Kemler, Richard W. Garnett

Court Briefs

No. 99-116
Jeffrey Allan Fischer v. United States of America

On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

From the Summary of the Argument

We agree with the Petitioner that the Court of Appeals misread Section 666(b). Section 666 was designed to protect the integrity of federal funds by outlawing bribery in connection with the administration of those funds, and the plain meaning of the language the statute employs is adequate to achieve that purpose. The Court of Appeals, on the other hand, exploded the well defined limits that the statute's text imposes …

Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari, William H. Meub, Orland Campbell Jr., Richard W. Garnett, Michael Stokes Paulsen

Court Briefs

No. 99-628
Cynthia and Douglas Andrews v. Chittenden Town School District

On Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari To The Vermont Supreme Court

From the Reasons for Granting the Writ

This is a case about discrimination - discrimination against "religious ideas, religious people, [and] religious schools." Board of Educ. of Kiryas Joel v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687, 717 (1994) (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment). Vermont provides an immensely valuable benefit - tuition - to eligible residents and their high-school-age children. Petitioners have been denied this educational benefit solely because they have chosen a religious …

Brief On Appeal Of Defendant-Appellant The Board Of Education Of The Kiryas Joel Union Free School District, George Shebitz, Julia R. Cohen, Nahal Motamed, Nathan Lewin, Richard W. Garnett, Anthony J. Bellia Jr.

Court Briefs

No. 81319
Louis Grumet v. George Pataki

From the Introduction

Chapter 390 is tainted only by its history. On its face, it is a neutral law that raises no serious constitutional doubt. Its objective, as described by the Appellate Division -- "to create a constitutionally valid educational program which meets the special education needs of the disabled students residing in the Village of Kiryas Joel, Orange County" -- is unquestionably legitimate. All the statutory criteria it specifies were ratified by this Court in its Kiryas Joel II opinion as "related to legitimate educational concerns." 90 N.Y. 2d at 72. What …

Brief Amicus Curiae Of The National Jewish Commission On Law And Public Affairs ("Colpa"), Agudath Israel Of America, And Union Of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Of America, Et Al., Dennis Rapps, David Zwiebel, Nathan Diament, Nathan Lewin, Richard W. Garnett

Court Briefs

No. 96-17342
Lisette Balint v. Carson City, Nevada

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada
No. CV-N-96-00141-HDM

From the Argument

In Balint v. Carson City, Nevada, 144 F.3d 1225, 1229 (9th Cir. 1998), a panel of this Court held that an employer who uses an "existing, bona fide seniority-based shift-bidding system" is never required to accommodate an employee's religious needs, no matter how great the burden that system imposes on an employee's faith or how slight the burden an accommodation would impose on the employer. This ruling, if sustained, would insulate the basest …

Brief Of National Jewish Commission On Law And Public Affairs ("Colpa"), Agudath Harabonim Of The United States And Canada, Agudath Israel Of America, Union Of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Of America ("U.O.J.C.A."), National Council Of Young Israel, Rabbinical Alliance Of America, Rabbinical Council Of America, And Torah Umesorah -- National Society Of Hebrew Day Schools, As Amici Curiae In Support Of Plaintiffs-Appellants, David G. Webbert, Nathan Lewin, Richard W. Garnett, Dennis Rapps

Court Briefs

No. CUM 98-281
Robert Bagley v. Raymond School Department

On Appeal from the Cumberland County Superior Court

From the Argument

This is a straightforward case. Under Maine law, parents who live in cities and towns without government-run public schools may send their children to private schools at public expense. The plaintiffs are parents who live in such a town and who desire to send their children to Cheverus High School, a well respected Catholic school in Portland, Maine. The defendants refuse to pay for the plaintiffs' children's education for one reason and one reason only: Cheverus is a religious school. …

Brief Of Chabad Of Pittsburgh As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Defendant-Appellants, Nathan Lewin, Richard W. Garnett, Charles H. Saul

Court Briefs

No. 98-5021
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey v. Bret Schundler

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

From the Introduction

Jersey City's Holiday Display, through which the City was "pleased to celebrate the diverse cultural and ethnic heritage of its people" (Op. at 4), was entirely consistent with First Amendment "first principles." The previous decisions in this case, which demonstrate a palpable suspicion and distrust toward religious symbols and which reflect the mistaken assumption that the Constitution mandates a "naked public square," purged entirely of religious content and influence, are not.

Brief Of National Jewish Commission On Law And Public Affairs ("Colpa"), Agudath Harabonim Of The United States And Canada, National Council Of Young Israel, Rabbinical Alliance Of America, Rabbinical Council Of America, Torah Umesorah -- National Society Of Hebrew Day Schools, Agudath Israel Of America, And Union Of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Of America ("U.O.J.C.A.") As Amici Curiae In Support Of Defendants-Appellees, Nathan Lewin, Richard W. Garnett, Dennis Rapps

Court Briefs

No. 97-1117
Doris Simmons-Harris v. John M. Goff, Sue Gatton v. John M. Goff

On Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas for Franklin County

From the Argument

In United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 552 (1995), the United States Supreme Court reminded us to "start with first principles." Accordingly, the Court reaffirmed just last summer in Agostini that it is a fundamental "first principle" of constitutional law that the First Amendment's Religion Clauses require government neutrality -- not hostility, fear, or suspicion -- towards religion. See 117 S.Ct. at 2014. Ohio's Pilot Program, which increases individual freedom …

Brief Amicus Curiae, Urging Reversal, On Behalf Of - John J. Russell, Bishop Of Richmond; Lawrence Cardinal Shehan, Archbishop Of Baltimore; Paul A. Hallinan, Archbishop Of Atlanta; Philip M. Hannan, Archbishop Of New Orleans; Robert E. Lucey, Archbishop Of San Antonio; Joseph B. Brunini, Apostolic Administrator Of Natchez-Jackson; Lawrence M. Defalco, Bishop Of Amarillo; Joseph A. Dirick, Apostolic Administrator Of Nashville; Thomas K. Gorman, Bishop Of Dallas-Ft. Worth; Joseph H. Hodges, Bishop Of Wheeling; John L. Morkovsky, Apostolic Administrator Of Galveston-Houston; Victor J. Reed, Bishop Of Oklahoma City And Tulsa; L. J. Reicher, Bishop Of Austin; Thomas Tschoepe, Bishop Of San Angelo; Ernest L. Unterkoefler, Bishop Of Charleston; Vincent S. Waters, Bishop Of Raleigh; The National Catholic Conference For Interracial Justice; And The National Catholic Social Action Conference, William M. Lewers C.S.C, William B. Ball

Court Briefs

No. 395
Richard Perry Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia

On Appeal from the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia

From the Summary Statement of the Case

Appellants, Richard Perry Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving, were convicted on January 6, 1959, in the Circuit Court of Caroline County, Virginia, under an indictment charging that "the said Richard Perry Loving being a White person and the said Mildred Delores Jeter [Loving] being a Colored person, did unlawfully and feloniously go out of the State of Virginia, for the purpose of being married and with the intention of returning to the State of …