Free Republic

A federal appeals court has determined a federal judge was right to throw out a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama’s decision to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a decision throwing out a lawsuit challenging the funding, which President George W. Bush stopped and Obama allowed just months after entering office. The bringers of the lawsuit argued Obama’s executive order forcing taxpayer funding violated the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law that prohibits taxpayer of any scientific research that results in the destruction of human embryos, unborn children at...

This week, Congress sent President Bush a bill easing restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, but so far Bush isn't in a big rush to veto the bill as promised. Bush did say the bill "puts scientific research and ethical principle into conflict" rather than providing "a balanced approach that advances scientific and medical frontiers without violating moral principles." Stem cell research is among the president's least favorite issues. It's too fraught and ambiguous and lacks the clear political and moral distinctions that he prefers. As with the clean air issue, Bush is hoping technology and private...