Free Republic

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the city of Terrell, Texas, after the city's ban on religious activities on city-owned property prompted a local church to file a lawsuit, according to the Liberty Legal Institute. As WorldNetDaily reported, the legal group helped Purpose Life Church sue the city in March after officials ousted the congregation from the Kaufman County YMCA. The church had been leasing space at the Y for church services. Though the YMCA leases the facility from the city, municipal regulations still apply in the building. The church held services at the Y for...

Government can't join Scouts in their lawsuit Federal judge bars filing in Fiesta Island dispute The U.S. Justice Department can't join the Boy Scouts in their legal fight to continue leasing a Fiesta Island aquatics center from the city, a federal judge has ruled. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. has refused to let the Justice Department file a brief in support of the Boy Scouts, which has been involved in a protracted dispute with the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU, representing a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple who have sons wanting to become Scouts, argues that the Scouts...

Supporters of so-called "domestic partner" benefits have suffered a legal setback in Michigan.A federal judge has denied requests made by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Women's Law Association, the University of Michigan, and Wayne State University to file amicus or "friend of the court" briefs in support of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The school system was sued earlier this year by the Thomas More Law Center for providing insurance benefits to the same-sex partners of its employees.The Michigan-based public interest law firm asserted in its lawsuit that offering insurance benefits to the same-sex partners of public school employees...

The National Rifle Association has filed a brief in support of what backers are calling a potential landmark gun-rights case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sponsored primarily by KeepAndBearArms.com, or KABA, a pro-gun rights website and organization, the case challenges "the California semi-auto rifle ban on the basis of Second Amendment protection of our individual right to keep and bear arms," according to the group's website. M-16a2, banned in California. California lawmakers banned a number of rifles under the Assault Weapons Control Act in 1989, but a decade later, the state also restricted the sale, manufacture, or importation into...

Friend of the Court Brief filed in United States Supreme Court Contact: Maria Heil of Second Amendment Sisters, 877-797-4857 (press only) or email: press@2asisters.org AUSTIN, TX-August 8, 2003-A friend of the Court brief has been filed by the nation’s leading pro-self-defense women’s organization, Second Amendment Sisters, Inc.(SAS) In July, a Petition for Writ of Certiorari was filed in the United States Supreme Court in the case of Silveira, et al. vs. Lockyer, et al. This week, Second Amendment Sisters filed an Amicus Curiae (or Friend of the Court) brief supporting the Petitioners and citing reasons for the Supreme Court to...

<p>ASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is poised to rule on affirmative action at the University of Michigan, and if it reaffirms the right of American colleges to use race in selecting students, that will be due in part to what has become known as the ''military brief.''</p>

QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Does the United States Constitution protect the right to engage in homosexual sodomy? 2. Does the United States Constitution forbid the States to make legal classifications based on a person's choice to engage in sexual activity with another person of the same sex? INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE The States of Alabama, South Carolina, and Utah submit this brief as AMICI CURIAE in support of the respondent State of Texas, urging this Court to affirm the judgment of the Texas Court of Appeals and not to recognize homosexual sodomy as a fundamental constitutional right or as a suspect...

BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF THE CENTER FOR THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF THE CONSTITUTION IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTINTEREST OF AMICUS IN THIS CASE * The Center for the Original Intent of the Constitution (COIC) operates under the auspices of Patrick Henry College. The COIC contends that the interpretation of the Constitution according to the original intent of the Founders provides the only sure safeguard for the preservation of limited government and individual rights. The COIC exists to systematically research and advocate constitutional interpretation according to the principle of original intent. Our Founders established a federal government with limited and enumerated powers....