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Law

The “Federal Strategy” to Impose Same-Sex “Marriage”: Good News for Defenders of Marriage? PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
alvare_h.jpgIt is well-known by now that the effort to overturn California’s Proposition 8 lost at the California Supreme Court.  Proposition 8 is the citizens’ initiative which overturned that same court’s prior decision ‘finding” a right to same-sex “marriage” within the California Constitution. Gay rights’ reaction to the latest court ruling has included calls for another citizen vote on the subject in 2010.  Leading same-sex marriage proponents have not tended to support the alternative strategy of bringing their cause before a U.S. federal court. The U.S. Constitution gives the federal courts jurisdiction to hear claims that state action violates federal constitutional guarantees. In the case of same-sex marriage, plaintiffs would argue before a federal court that state laws reserving marriage for opposite-sex couples violates both the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
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06/16/2009
 
Iowa Supreme Court Decision Overturns Ban on Same Sex Marriage PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
alvare_h.jpgIt must be said first that the Iowa Supreme Court decision  (Varnum v. O’Brien, No. 07-1499,  April 3, 2009) which invented a state constitutional right to same sex “marriage” is very hard to read.  By this I don’t mean to say that it is intellectually complex for any reader possessing legal training.  I mean that it is hard on a rational reader’s desire for logic and hard on a fair reader’s sense of justice.  It is hard for those who know something about U.S. constitutional law or family law because seven out of seven of Iowa’s Supreme Court justices summarily jettisoned or ignored much of the accumulated wisdom in both of those fields. It is particularly hard on those who, like me, suspect that some government leaders -- in this case judges -- care far too much for fickle public opinion and far too little for children. All of our suspicions are confirmed.   It is hard because the Iowa judges openly shake their collective finger at people who won’t support same sex “marriage,” characterizing such people as bigots and as obstacles to progress. Finally, it is hard to read the Iowa Supreme Court’s swipe at some religions (you can guess which ones), and its suggestion that people of faith who are on the wrong side of this question, should remember their “place.”
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04/23/2009
 
Can a woman really be “free” if she’s putting family first? Should the government “free” her? PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
alvare_h.jpgI have noticed a critical mass of scholars and policymakers suggesting lately that if mothers of minority- aged children (under 18) really felt free to choose their work/home “balance,”  they would choose to work outside the home for  more hours than they are presently working.  Consequently, this argument continues, the government might have to step in to give them what they really want by means of some combination of laws and policies pushing and pulling them out of the kitchen and into the office, factory,  etc.
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03/31/2009
 
Fathers: In or Out? PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   

alvare_h.jpgOccasionally, there is a flurry of media attention to the issue of “responsible fatherhood.”   Promise Keepers will gather thousands of men at a rally or Bill Cosby will call on Black men to get more involved. But there’s much more to the modern “fatherhood” issue than these discrete news items.  The federal government has its own fatherhood initiative, which sponsors studies and projects intended to encourage men to be stable, involved fathers. States, cities, and churches too, are participating in these efforts. Sociological and other scientific journals – including the journals Fatherhood  and Sex Roles – are monthly publishing the results of empirical studies about the role of the father, or about the relationships between fathering and child outcomes. Chances are, too, that the sociology or psychology department at your local university is participating in one or more of these.

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02/12/2009
 
California's Proposition 8: A Battle for Definitions PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
alvare_h.jpgIt is well-known by now that Californians voted November 4 to ban “same-sex marriage” in their home state.  By a vote of 52% to 48%, voters passed a ballot initiative successfully titled by its “enemies” as an initiative to “Eliminate the Right of Same Sex Couples to Marry.” The verb “eliminate” was used to refer to the fact that an earlier decision of the California Supreme Court (In re Marriage Cases, 43 Cal. 4th 757, (2008)) had discovered in the California Constitution’s equal protection clause a “right of marriage” for same-sex couples, albeit acknowledging that “marriage” in California up to that time had always connoted the union of one man and one woman.
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12/03/2008
 
Marriage and Family in the Presidential Election Campaign, and Beyond PDF
by Helen Alvaré, J.D., Senior Fellow in Law   
obama_mccain.jpgA review of both presidential candidates’ platforms and speeches tells us a lot of importance about where both stand regarding the crucial topics of marriage and family. Often, one has the sense that for both candidates, “family” is a group of persons who happen to be the convenient receptacle channeling the delivery of whatever government benefits each is promising.
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10/30/2008
 
Contemporary Threats To Healthcare Freedom of Conscience (1) PDF
by Denise M. Burke   

Denise M. Burke is the Vice President & Legal Director, Americans United for Life

denise_m_burke.jpgOver the last few decades, abortion advocates and others have launched a concerted campaign to force hospitals, healthcare institutions, health insurers, and individual healthcare providers to provide, refer for, or pay for elective abortions, abortifacient drugs, contraceptives, assisted reproductive procedures such as in vitro fertilization, and sterilizations.  Their determined effort to eviscerate the concept of individual conscience and the freedom to follow one’s religious, moral or ethical beliefs from the medical profession has resulted in the following:

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05/16/2008
 
Interview with Mr. Paul E. Rondeau - Researcher on Crucial Policy Concerns in Present Day Culture PDF
by Elizabeth Moncher, MS, MSW   
paul_rondeau.jpgPaul E. Rondeau’s social marketing research provides an in depth look at the psychological conditioning efforts of the anti-life movement that have been employed in the secular media, classroom and popular culture.  Culture of Life's Elizabeth Moncher touches upon the key areas of social conditioning found among our youth in an interview with Mr. Rondeau.
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05/16/2008
 
Parental Involvement Laws for Abortion: Protecting Both Minors and Their Parents PDF
by Maggie Datiles, Esq. Staff Attorney, Americans United for Life   

maggie.jpgThe on-going court battle in Illinois over the state’s permanently-enjoined parental notification law has once again brought parental involvement laws to the forefront of the cultural and legal fight against abortion.

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04/18/2008
 
The States Must Act to Protect Marriage PDF
by Joe Capizzi, Ph.D.   
This time is now for a Constitutional Convention.
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06/07/2006
 
Marriage Letter Takes Swipe at Post-Modern Language PDF
by Bill Saunders, Esq.   
A broad coalition of religious leaders have taken a stand for traditional marriage and asserted that words have meaning and are not endlessly malleable in the service of partisan causes.
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05/04/2006
 
Broad Group of Religious Leaders Unite in Support of Marriage Amendment PDF
by Mark Adams   
An unprecedented coalition of religious leaders, including 16 Catholic bishops, have joined together in calling for a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. A letter released this week calling for such an amendment was signed by 50 religious leaders and included clerics from the Catholic Church, seven Protestant denominations, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Judaism and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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04/26/2006
 
GOP Policy Committee Says Marriage Amendment Needed to Stop Courts PDF
by Mark Adams   
An important Senate committee says in a new policy paper that if a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman is not passed, state and federal courts may eventually impose same-sex marriage. The paper says that advocates of same-sex marriage plan to challenge state marriage laws producing a patchwork of laws across the country that "will inevitably end up playing out in the courts, as same-sex marriage puts new stresses on the legal system."
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04/05/2006