Legal issues
jrosenhouse | December 5, 2011Since it now seems that Newt Gingrich has a decent shot at becoming the Republican nominee for President, let me encourage you to have a look at this post, by Sarah Posner. She provides an impressive rundown of Gingrich's many jaw-dropping statements about church and state. If you're currently drinking any water, I recommend swallowing now. Here's a quick taste:
At that announcement, Boston later wrote in the November 1994 issue of Church and State magazine, Gingrich called the 1963 Supreme Court school prayer decision “bad law, bad history and bad culture.” He lauded David Barton's book…
jrosenhouse | December 23, 2010I am sorry to do yet another post about Michael Ruse, but I do feel the need to reply to his latest. Partly I feel compelled to reply because of this remark:
In the case of people like me, those who endorse the independence option, our fellow nonbelievers are scornful to an extent equaled only by their comments about Pope Benedict. We are labeled “accommodationists” or “appeasers,” and reviled. Just earlier this week I got flak for suggesting that perhaps St. Augustine on original sin was not the last word on the subject and that a more evolutionary friendly interpretation can be found in…
jrosenhouse | August 8, 2010By now you have no doubt heard that a federal judge in California has struck down Proposition Eight, a voter referendum that outlawed gay marriage. Go here for a quick summary of the basic facts.
I have not had a chance yet to read the entire decision, and I do not intend to attempt a legal analysis of its merits. I am very happy about it, of course, as should anyone who cares about basic justice and the rights of homosexuals. There were two things that struck me, however, upon hearing the news of the judge's decision.
First, as I mentioned in this post, a few weeks ago I spent an…
jrosenhouse | August 19, 2009Speaking of crazy right-wingers, the Supreme Court's resident lunatic has been up to his old trick again. Alan Dershowitz administers the proper spanking:
I never thought I would live to see the day when a justice of the Supreme Court would publish the following words:
This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is `actually' innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any…
jrosenhouse | June 5, 2009Chris Mooney has posted his latest salvo in his ongoing discussion with Jerry Coyne. Sadly, I think he has muffed it pretty badly.
Coyne, of course, can take care of himself. I am inserting myself into this discussion simply because I think this is an important and interesting topic. So let's have a look.
The trouble starts early in Mooney's post when he writes:
I believe the central reason we have such massive problems with the teaching of evolution to be precisely this--millions of America believe, incorrectly, that they must give up their faith in order to learn about it or accept it.…
jrosenhouse | May 25, 2006A three judge panel for the eleventh circuit court of appeals has vacated the decision of the lower court in the Cobb County sticker case. At issue here was the decision by the Cobb County School Board to include the following stickers in its high school biology textbooks:
This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of liiving things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.
Now, there can be no serious question that this sticker is deeply stupid. There can also be no…