Free Republic

CV NEWS FEED // A federal judge Wednesday dismissed a challenge to Indiana’s pro-life law which was filed by The Satanic Temple (TST). As reported by WISH-TV, TST “sued to force the state to allow it to provide mail-order drugs for its members in Indiana to have an abortion.” The satanist group “claimed Indiana’s new abortion law, passed in 2022, violated the state’s religious freedom law as well as the Fifth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” TST is based in Massachusetts and operates a virtual “health clinic” that prescribes abortion-inducing drugs. The organization has named its “telehealth”...

WASHINGTON (CNS) — A federal court in Indiana sided with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and one of its Catholic high schools in a lawsuit filed by a former guidance counselor who said her contract was not renewed because of her same-sex union. The Sept. 30 ruling in Fitzgerald v. Roncalli High School and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, relied on previous Supreme Court rulings that have emphasized a ministerial exception protecting a religious school’s hiring and firing practices from government intrusion. The recent decision echoes a nearly identical ruling from a year ago based on a lawsuit filed against the same...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Indianapolis Public Schools to allow a 10-year-old transgender girl to rejoin her school’s all-girls softball team while a lawsuit continues against a state law that bans transgender females from competing in girls school sports. U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson in Indianapolis issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday on behalf of the girl, finding that she “has established that she has a strong likelihood of succeeding on the merits” of her claim. “She has also established that she would suffer irreparable harm for which there is no adequate legal remedy,” Magnus-Stinson wrote in her...

A federal judge is standing by a previous ruling that an Indiana transgender student must be allowed to use the boys restroom. Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, an Obama appointee, has denied a motion from the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville to put on hold a previous injunction forcing John R. Wooden Middle School to allow the transgender student to use the boys bathroom, WTHR-TV reported. Pratt ruled the district failed to show evidence that proved it would suffer "irreparable harm" if the student was allowed to use the boys restroom. "In addition, the School District has not presented any new...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Friday ordering a central Indiana middle school to allow a transgender student to have access to the boys restroom. The order issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt requires John R. Wooden Middle School to allow the seventh-grader identified only as A.C. to have access to the restroom while litigation continues. Pratt cited Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. “The overwhelming majority of federal courts — including the...

A federal district court on Wednesday tossed out a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, filed by a former Catholic school guidance counselor fired for entering a same-sex marriage contract. Judge Richard Young of the Southern District of Indiana on Aug. 11 ruled that the former Roncalli Catholic High School counselor, Lynn Starkey, qualified as a minister of religion; thus, the archdiocese and school were exempt from federal workplace discrimination prohibitions, regarding her termination of employment. Young wrote that “the court concludes the ministerial exception bars all of Starkey's claims.” He granted summary judgement to the archdiocese in the case,...

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted a motion to stay regarding a lower court decision allowing Jackson County to include the Nativity scene in its annual holiday display this year in front of the courthouse while the judges decide on the case. Liberty Counsel represents Jackson County, Indiana against the ACLU. Liberty Counsel recently presented oral argument before the three-judge panel defending the Nativity scene display at the Jackson County Courthouse. The holiday display which includes the Nativity has been ongoing for many years. After the 2019 display, the lower federal court ruled against the display. In addition to...

In Woodring v. Jackson County, Indiana, (SD IN, Nov. 3, 2020), an Indiana federal district court refused to stay its final judgment pending appeal in a case challenging the annual display of a creche on the county courthouse lawn. The court said in part: Because the crèche straddles the sidewalk subdividing the lawn and the more-secular figures are placed on the periphery, the venerable magi and hallowed manger share center stage. Id. Since the primary focus of the display is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, a reasonable observer would believe that Jackson County was endorsing a particular...

Chief District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled Friday in Indiana that the execution would be delayed because of concerns from the victims’ family about the coronavirus pandemic. The Justice Department (DOJ) argued that the judge’s order misconstrued the law and asked the appeals court to immediately overturn the ruling. The appeals court found that the claim from the victims’ family “lacks any arguable legal basis and is therefore frivolous." The Justice Department also argued that while the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has taken measures to accommodate the family and implemented additional safety protocols because of the pandemic, the family’s concerns “do...

Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, of the Southern District of Indiana, sided with the family of Lee's victims, who had pleaded for a delay given the coronavirus pandemic. Lee's death was expected to usher in a new era for the death penalty in the United States, and three other men convicted for murdering children were slated to be killed in the coming weeks. Earlene Peterson -- whose daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law were tortured, killed and dumped in a lake by Lee and an accomplice -- has opposed Lee's execution, telling CNN last year that she did not want it done in her...