Free Republic

........What does religious freedom look like? As America gets more religiously diverse, the concept is becoming harder to define. The bishops poured resources into their “Fortnight for Freedom” effort, which warned that Americans’ liberty to practice religion is at risk. It featured overflow mega-Masses with special prayers for the protection of religious liberty. A slew of lawsuits are pitting the president against some of the most prominent Catholic institutions in the nation. What do we mean when we talk about the freedom to practice religion in America? Who gets to define it? And when should religious liberty yield to other...

Judge rules it's ok to lie about military service Aaron Gee Only in the twilight zone or California can a law that was passed to protect people from fraud be declared unconstitutional because "there is no evidence these lies hurt anyone". A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in a 2-1 decision that it's OK to lie about your military service. Their rational was that fibs about one's military service don't actually harm anyone. This ruling contradicts years of precedent where the Supreme Court has explicitly stated that false statements of fact are not entitled to...

The judges on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have used a case from Cobb County, Ga., to proclaim that praying "in Jesus' name" is acceptable at county board meetings when other constitutional provisions are followed.

Letter to Editor, 3-1-05; Ledger-Enquirer “Dark Days in History” Since 1962, there have been 10 landmark court decisions that undermined Christian values and the family. June 17, 1962: Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court restricts prayer in schools. January 22, 1973: Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court makes killing unborn babies legal. November 17, 1980: Stone v. Graham, the Supreme Court strikes down a Kentucky statute requiring display of the Ten Commandments in public schools. June 30, 1994: Madsen v. Women’s Health Center, the Supreme Court upholds the creation of “buffer zones” around abortion clinics, severely restricting pro-life free speech....

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said yesterday that federal courts have endangered national security by ruling against the Bush administration on issues related to the war on terrorism. In his first public remarks since he announced Tuesday that he would resign, Ashcroft told a meeting of conservative lawyers here that court decisions limiting President Bush's powers are part of "a profoundly disturbing trend" in which the judicial branch is injecting itself into matters that should be up to the executive branch. "The danger I see here is that intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations in these critical areas...

....Nader drew nearly 3 percent of the popular vote in 2000, when he was on the ballot in 43 states. His campaign wants to secure ballot access in at least as many states this year. Nader's effort to get his name before voters in one key battleground state, Pennsylvania, was given new life yesterday by that state's Supreme Court, which overturned a lower court ruling that had barred him from the ballot and ordered a review of his petitions. But judges in Arkansas and New Mexico ruled yesterday that Nader should not appear on their respective states' ballots. In Ohio...

A former music minister in Mount Juliet wants to withdraw his guilty plea to possession of unregistered machine guns. Mark Lancaster's request came after a federal appellate court ruled the U.S. ban of automatic weapons doesn't apply to homemade versions. Lancaster, 43, was arrested in January after ATF agents and Mount Juliet police found 15 World War Two-era machine guns at his home.