Author: ADF Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11

This post originally appeared here.

Author: ADF Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence

I have written an op-ed piece supporting the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision dismissing the challenge to Arizona’s tuition tax credit program, which Human Events published today. The article explains why the Supreme Court correctly dismissed the ACLU’s deficient lawsuit because the ACLU came to court representing taxpayers who had suffered no harm from Arizona’s school choice plan:

The Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the challenge to Arizona’s tuition tax credit plan gives needed breathing room to that state’s emerging and innovative school-choice system.  It also imposes common-sense requirements on opponents of school choice, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which now must come to court with people who have been actually harmed by the tax credit plan, and have more than just generalized complaints against it based on extreme notions of “separation of church and state.” FULL POST

Author: ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  Those timeless words from Charles Dickens’ classic A Tale of Two Cities many times describe the turning points in a church’s history.  This is especially true for two churches in Georgia – All Souls Church of God in Christ and Holiness is the Way Ministries.  Both of these churches are young start-ups in the greater Atlanta area.  They both currently meet in storefronts and both have about 40-50 members.  They are both growing and reaching their community for Christ.  In many ways, this is the best of times for these churches, where growth and excitement are tangible realities. FULL POST

Author: ADF Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence

The Speaker of the House announced today that Paul Clement will defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in current court challenges. Paul Clement served as Solicitor General under President George W. Bush and is well known as one of the most experienced and effective Supreme Court advocates in the nation. FULL POST

Author: ADF Legal Counsel David J. Hacker

FIRE has been putting the heat on Sinclair Community College (Ohio) after it punished a student for distributing pro-life literature after class.  According to FIRE’s report, a paralegal student distributed literature linking abortion and breast cancer to her fellow students after her Probate Law I class in October 2010.  (October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.)  She gave some flyers to students directly and placed other flyers on the desks of students who had left their seats. 

A couple weeks later, Sinclair’s Paralegal Program Chair met with the student about the flyers.  (Here’s where the story follows the usual university plot line.)  The Program Chair told the student that another student complained that the flyers were…drum roll please:  “offensive.”  (Where have we heard that before?)  Then the Program Chair told the student she could not distribute any literature in class.  FULL POST

Author: ADF Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence

Last Monday, the new Mayor of Washington, D.C., Vincent Gray, was arrested for impeding traffic when he and others staged a protest by blocking Constitution Avenue near the Senate office buildings. They did their acts of civil disobedience to protest two provisions in the budget agreement reached by President Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress last weekend.

The first provision prohibits the District of Columbia from spending its own tax money to fund poor women’s abortions. The second provision requires the D.C. government to give vouchers to poor children so they can afford to attend private schools (Congress gave extra money to D.C. to pay for the vouchers, so D.C. would not have to spend its own tax money). FULL POST

Author: ADF Legal Counsel David J. Hacker

Will Creeley has a spot-on analysis in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education discussing why the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act is unconstitutional and unnecessary.  Last month, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ) reintroduced the bill in Congress, which is named after the Rutgers University student who tragically took his life last year.  Sen. Lautenberg claims the purpose of the bill is “to support colleges as they put in place and strengthen anti-harassment and anti-bullying programs.”  But the bill is flush with overbroad and vague restrictions on speech:  FULL POST