Free Republic

Lawyers for a Massachusetts pastor have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him by a foreign homosexual advocacy group accusing him of “crimes against humanity.” During a 90-minute hearing on Monday in U.S. District Court, Judge Michael Ponsor said the lawsuit filed by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) against Springfield-based minister Scott Lively poses a test of free-speech protection and the rights of sexual minorities to equal protection under the law. Ponsor heard arguments from lawyers representing both Lively and SMUG. SMUG, represented in court by the George Soros-funded “Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR),” accused Lively of...

The U.S. Supreme Court soon will hear a key case on corporate liability. The case -- Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum -- has two questions at issue. They are: * Whether corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute is a merits question or a question of subject-matter jurisdiction. * Whether a corporation can be held liable in a federal common law action brought under the Alien Tort Statue -- such as for violations of the law of nations such as torture, extrajudicial executions or genocide -- may instead be sued in the same manner as any other private party defendant...