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Wednesday, July 23, 2008 "Court affirms Va. council's prayer policy": The Associated Press provides a report that begins, "The Fredericksburg City Council's policy prohibiting a member from opening meetings with a prayer mentioning Jesus does not violate his free-speech rights, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the Rev. Hashmel Turner's lawsuit challenging a nonsectarian prayer policy adopted by the council in 2005. The court said the policy does not violate Turner's rights because the prayer is 'government speech,' not individual speech." Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote today's ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. "Part of Fla. Pledge of Allegiance law stricken": The Associated Press provides this report. My earlier coverage of today's Eleventh Circuit ruling appears at this link. "Judge to Moussaoui jury: You got it right." The Associated Press provides this report. Posted at 06:10 PM by Howard Bashman Tenth Circuit declares unconstitutional Colorado's refusal to provide scholarships to otherwise eligible students who attend accredited Colorado colleges deemed "pervasively sectarian": Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell issued today's ruling on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel. Today's ruling states, "We find the exclusion unconstitutional for two reasons: the program expressly discriminates among religions without constitutional justification, and its criteria for doing so involve unconstitutionally intrusive scrutiny of religious belief and practice." The Tenth Circuit's ruling reverses a federal district court's decision that rejected the constitutional challenge to this exclusion. May a State require parental permission in order to exempt a student from having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school? In an opinion issued today, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit holds that a federal district court erred in ruling that this aspect of Florida's Pledge of Allegiance statute -- requiring parental permission before a student will be excused from reciting the Pledge -- was facially unconstitutional. Posted at 02:47 PM by Howard Bashman "Defense Lawyer Files to Dismiss MySpace Case": The Washington Post has a news update that begins, "The case against a Missouri mother accused of creating a fake MySpace page to harass a 13-year-old girl should be tossed out of court because if she is guilty as charged, then so are millions of Internet users every day, her attorney said in court documents filed today." WSJ.com's "Law Blog" makes the motions to dismiss available via a post titled "Lori Drew Moves to Dismiss Indictment in MySpace Suicide Case." "Candidates Strongly Disagree On Abortion": This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on today's broadcast of NPR's "Morning Edition." Posted at 08:45 AM by Howard Bashman "Disability protections ordered for sexually incapacitated": Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers has an article that begins, "A South Carolina breast-cancer survivor has beaten the State Department and convinced judges in Washington that the inability to have sex is a disability protected under federal anti-discrimination laws." My earlier coverage of last Friday's D.C. Circuit ruling appears at this link. "3rd Circuit Strikes Down COPA -- Again": Shannon P. Duffy has this article today in The Legal Intelligencer. You can access yesterday's Third Circuit ruling at this link. "Conspiracy idea floated at war-crimes trial; An al Qaeda 9/11 conspiracy theory and conflicting portrayals of Osama bin Laden's former driver dominated the opening arguments in the first U.S. war-crimes tribunal since World War II": Carol Rosenberg has this article today in The Miami Herald, along with an article headlined "Sketch artist greeted with new Gitmo obstacle." Today in The Los Angeles Times, Carol J. Williams reports that "Bin Laden's driver knew 9/11 target, lawyer says." The New York Times reports that "Two Sides at Guantanamo Trial Paint Starkly Different Pictures of the Defendant." The Washington Post contains an article headlined "Witness: Hamdan Had 2 Missiles When Arrested." And USA Today reports that "Prosecutors paint bin Laden aide as top al-Qaeda insider." Happy birthday to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy: According to the "Today in History" feature from The Associated Press, Justice Kennedy turns 72 today. Posted at 08:15 AM by Howard Bashman "Court's dilemma over cuts in Medi-Cal fees": Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, "A federal appeals court that halted and then reinstated a 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal fees for prescription drugs has received a conflicting set of warnings: from pharmacists, who say the reduction means patients will lose access to vital medicines; and from state health officials, who say suspending the cut would deepen California's fiscal crisis." Posted at 08:03 AM by Howard Bashman "Pa. high court OKs forced drugging of mentally ill death-row inmates": Today in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Emilie Lounsberry has an article that begins, "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday dealt setbacks to four death-row inmates, including two mentally ill prisoners from Philadelphia who can now be forcibly medicated in order to make them mentally competent to continue their appeals." And The Associated Press reports that "Pa. court OKs forced drugging of death row inmates." Yesterday's ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion, a concurring opinion, and a dissenting opinion. And that court's ruling yesterday in a second, related case consisted of a majority opinion and a dissenting opinion.  
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