Tag Archives: Constitution

Gay federal judge rules traditional marriage unconstitutional in California

Here’s the story from Life Site News.

Excerpt:

A federal judge has ruled that California’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman is unconstitutional, because it excludes same-sex unions.

Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, who presides over the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, declared Proposition 8 had no “rational basis” in a 138-page ruling on the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case released Wednesday afternoon.

[…]The judge dismissed the amendment, saying its restriction of marriage to heterosexual couples was “nothing more than an artifact of a foregone notion that men and women fulfill different roles in civic life.” He also added that it seemed to him proponents of Prop. 8 were defending the amendment on the basis of “moral disapproval,” which he said was “an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians” and enacted in law, “a private moral view that same-sex couples are inferior to opposite-sex couples.”

[…]Walker, however, is himself an active homosexual, and some conservative critics of the Prop. 8 case contended that Walker would be too personally invested in the case to deliver an impartial outcome.

[…]Walker also ruled that domestic partnerships did not satisfy the duty on California to let same-sex couples marry each other.

Michelle Malkin reports that pro-marriage activists are appealing:

In court papers filed Tuesday night, lawyers for the Proposition 8 defense team asked Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker for a stay of his ruling if the outcome is to declare the law unconstitutional. The motion indicates that the Proposition 8 lawyers will immediately ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the ruling if Walker rules against them.

Comments to this post will be strictly filtered in accordance with Obama’s law restricting free speech on this topic.

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Augusta State University orders student to abandon her faith to graduate

Story here from the leftist Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (H/T Wes Widner)

Excerpt:

A graduate student has filed a lawsuit accusing Augusta State University officials of violating her constitutional rights by ordering her to change her views opposing homosexuality.

Jennifer Keeton, a graduate student in the school of counseling, says in her court filing that the school threatened to expel her if she didn’t complete a remediation plan that includes diversity sensitivity workshops. Keeton had said in and out class that, according to her Christian beliefs, homosexuality is immoral and a lifestyle choice, according to her suit.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Augusta. The university has not been served with the lawsuit and officials declined to comment on the case, spokeswoman Kathy Schofe said Friday. She did say that the university does not discriminate and has policies in place to protect students if they believe they have been discriminated against.

Keeton is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a coalition of Christian attorneys. The suit accuses Augusta State officials of violating Keeton’s First  Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion.

“A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that’s exactly what’s happening here,” David French, senior counsel for the defense fund, said in a news release. “Abandoning one’s own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree.”

Keeton, who is pursuing a master’s degree in the education college’s counseling program, was told her beliefs are incompatible with the prevailing views of the counseling profession, her attorneys said in a news release.

[…]The defense fund has filed similar lawsuits against Missouri State University and Eastern Michigan University.

It’s good that the ADF is on the case, as usual.

Michele Bachmann files papers to create “Tea Party Caucus”

Meet your future President, America

Story from radical left-wing extremists at CNN.

Excerpt:

The 2010 midterms will offer Tea Party activists their first chance to elect their preferred candidates to national office. But once those candidates get to Washington, there might already be a “Tea Party Caucus” waiting to greet them.

That’s because a Tea Party favorite, GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, has filed paperwork to start such a caucus in the House.

In a letter dated July 15 and sent to Rep. Robert Brady, the Democratic chairman of the House Administration Committee, Bachmann asked to register the group for the 111th Congress.

Bachmann writes: “I would like to register the House Tea Party Caucus as a Congressional Member Organization for the 111th Congress. The House Tea Party Caucus will serve as an informal group of Members dedicated to promote Americans’ call for fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution and limited government.”

Here’s some video from Fox News – she’s looking very comfortable in this interview.

By the way, you can contribute to her 2010 election campaign here. And you should. If there’s anybody that social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and foreign policy conservatives can support, it’s Michele. She is perfect across the board. I wish she were our President right now, but we have to wait till 2012 to see what will happen.

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