Posted on 01/14/2005 9:34:54 AM PST by Jay777
A federal judge is scheduled to rule today on a California atheist's lawsuit seeking to bar clergy-led prayer during President Bush's second inauguration next week. Judge John D. Bates yesterday heard oral arguments in the case during a two-hour hearing before a packed courtroom in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Michael Newdow, the 50-year old Sacramento, Calif., lawyer who filed the suit against President Bush last month, took part in the proceedings by telephone. Outside the courthouse, representatives of religious groups protested Mr. Newdow's suit. The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, executive director of the Christian Defense Coalition, and the Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, held a brief prayer service before the hearing. They also carried petitions with 22,000 signatures they have collected supporting prayer in the inauguration, saying they will present the documents to the court today. They also plan to give copies to the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Mr. Newdow pressed his claim that any prayers acknowledging a deity, Christian or otherwise, violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." "The government is coming out and saying, 'OK everybody, while you watch, we are a Christian nation,' " Mr. Newdow said. "It is a declaration to the nation and the world that we are a Christian nation." ...
(Excerpt) Read more at aclj.org ...
Ping!
Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) - http://www.alliancedefensefund.org
Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) - http://www.thomasmore.org
American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) - http://www.aclj.org
The Rutherford Institute - http://www.rutherford.org/
Stop the ACLU Coalition - http://www.stoptheaclu.org
Here are a few examples of how two of those organizations are fighting back:
ADF Contacts Over 3,600 School Districts Over Attempts To Censor Christmas
ADF: 700 lawyers ready to fight ACLU lawsuits
ADF: Pentagons' Warning About Boyscouts Is Absurd
Thomas More Law Center: Town of Palm Beach Pays $50,000 In Attorney Fees Apologizes To Women In Nativity Lawsuit
Additional information:
The ACLU must be destroyed: Joseph Farah supports Boy Scouts, urges Americans to fight back
Citizens mobilized to stop ACLU (seeks to consign group to 'ash heap of history')
ACLU fulfilling communist agenda
Revealing FACTS on the ACLU from its own writings
See how YOUR Senator or Representative ranks with the ACLU
This yahoo group just started on December 3, 2004 and is looking for new members
Let me know if you would like to join my ACLU ping list
He phoned in his lawsuit?
Prayer heavenward <>
I dont understand how he can stop the President from his right as a citizen to expressing religion. It isn't as if it is a rule that the President have a bible to swear by, but it is his personal preference that one be there....
If Newdow wins, just how does the court plan to stop Bush from using the Bible?
Please take Newdow out to the wood shed and use some wood on him. He must have never had any used when he was young with an attitude like that.
One hopes that the ruling is "BAILIFF, SLAP THE PLAINTIFF'S PEE-PEE!"
So now unelected judges are given the right to prevent people from exercising their liberty to state their religious beliefs?
How the He!! does this nut get his case moved to the head of the class?
He sure did phone it in. What a joker.
He can't. He is a publicity hound; the next Madeline Murray O'Hare. He intends, I believe, to support himself through donations of those who agree with this idiocy.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
Where in this has Congress made a law in regards to anything? Should be summarily tossed out with extreme prejudice.
I would bet money that Newdow never complained about Clinton carrying around the world's largest Bible as he went back to the White House to receive Monica's favors. The difference? He knew that Clinton's Bible still had the shrink wrap on it.
There doesn't have to be a ruling. The court could throw out the suit as being frivolous. We don't have to patronize every agenda-driven nut that wants to sue.
And then the judge should order him to pay all fees for the opposing side, and to pay the costs of operating the court to hear this frivolous case.
technically yes, but just think of the furor if they were to rule against the President on this one....
There really isnt a way to change this except by term limits for judges.
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