Free Republic

Feb 5, 9:10 AM (ET) By STEVE LeBLANC (AP) Mary Bonauto, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the Massachusetts gay marriage lawsuit, speaks...Full Image   BOSTON (AP) - Legislators opposed to gay marriage are planning ways to circumvent the ruling by the state's highest court that paves the way for same-sex marriages as early as May. "The court has overstepped its boundary and has not let the legislative process to unfold the way it has on other issues," said Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty. The 4-3 advisory ruling Wednesday by the Supreme Judicial Court creates a legislative dilemma that could force many...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) A federal judge struck down Virginia's ban on a type of late-term abortion Monday, saying the law violated privacy rights and failed to make an exception for the health of the woman. U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams called the ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortion ``impermissibly void for vagueness.'' The judge blocked the law last July, the day it went into effect, calling it a ``no-brain case.'' He also has challenged the use of the term ``partial birth infanticide'' by the law's backers, saying it was an attempt to alarm the public. Virginia's law outlawed...

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Tuesday that he could support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The Massachusetts Supreme Court last month struck down that state's ban on same-sex marriage, saying it is unconstitutional and giving state lawmakers six months to craft a way for gay couples to wed. Bush has condemned the ruling before, citing his support for a federal definition of marriage as a solely man-woman union. But though he has said he would support whatever is "legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage," he and his advisers have shied away from specifically...

Reports that main portions of McCain-Feingold are now being upheld! People currently wading through a decision of over 300 pages.

Joshua Claybourn comments on his blog and on HR regarding the controversy over a Christmas tree that has been removed from the IU Law School at IUPUI. Professor Florence Roisman complained that the tree, even undecorated, was "a symbol of Christianity on government property". Channel 6 in Indianapolis has a story here, the Indianapolis Star report is here, and the Indiana Daily Student reports on the matter here. The IDS has a great parody in its' December 8 staff editorial. The Supreme Court has ruled that Christmas trees are secular symbols. This makes sense. Christmas itself has become a secular...

Mass. Supreme Court rules that illegal for state to deny marriage license to gay couples.