WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a federal law requiring state prisons to accommodate inmate religions.
Justices unanimously sided with Ohio inmates, including a witch and a Satanist, who had claimed they were denied access to religious literature, ceremonial items and time to worship.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the 2000 law, which was intended to protect the rights of prisoners, is not an unconstitutional government promotion of religion.
"It confers no privileged status on any particular religious sect, and singles out no bona fide faith for disadvantageous treatment," Ginsburg wrote.
The law requires states that receive federal money to accommodate prisoners' religious beliefs unless wardens can show that the accommodation would be disruptive.
Opponents of the law had argued that inmate requests for particular diets, special haircuts or religious symbols could make it harder to manage prisons.
"We do not read (the law) to elevate accommodation of religious observances over an institution's need to maintain order and safety," wrote Ginsburg. "We have no cause to believe that (the law) would not be applied in an appropriately balanced way, without sensitivity to security concerns."
Justices left open the door for a future challenge, on grounds that the law as applied overburdens prisons.
Tuesday's decision overturns a ruling by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had struck down part of the law, called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, on grounds it violated the separation of church and state.
The Ohio case is Cutter v. Wilkinson, 03-9877.
2005年5月31日星期二
2005年5月30日星期一
400 copies of the Koran destroyed for one fake reported
Larry King aired a pre-taped interview with Vice President Dick Cheney on CNN this evening.
On one segment, Cheney said that during Hamid Karzai's state visit to Washington, the first repurcussions of the false Newsweek "Koran desecration" at Gitmo story were being acted out in various locations in Afghanistan.
Cheney quoted Karzai as having told him and President Bush that in Jalalabad in the northern part of his country, inflamed rioters attacked one of their own Afghan cultural centers and burned it to the ground.
Inside of the cultural center there had been over 400 especially fine copies of the Koran.
"They destroyed over 400 copies of the Koran," Cheney told Larry King, ".......all because of a false report that one copy of the Koran had been flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo."
Cheney then cracked his world famous wry, crooked smile and that segment ended!
On one segment, Cheney said that during Hamid Karzai's state visit to Washington, the first repurcussions of the false Newsweek "Koran desecration" at Gitmo story were being acted out in various locations in Afghanistan.
Cheney quoted Karzai as having told him and President Bush that in Jalalabad in the northern part of his country, inflamed rioters attacked one of their own Afghan cultural centers and burned it to the ground.
Inside of the cultural center there had been over 400 especially fine copies of the Koran.
"They destroyed over 400 copies of the Koran," Cheney told Larry King, ".......all because of a false report that one copy of the Koran had been flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo."
Cheney then cracked his world famous wry, crooked smile and that segment ended!
2005年5月29日星期日
2005年5月28日星期六
Ex-VP of CBS spoke out: Open Letter to Americans
Blaring from network and cable TV: ?Democrats forced the Senate to put off a final vote this week on John R. Bolton?s nomination to be U.N. ambassador, the latest setback for the tough-talking nominee President Bush has called "strong medicine for corruption and inefficiency at the United Nations.?
This was done by another filibuster that might delay the vote until June, thus shattering the myth that the two parties had joined together in a bond of trust that would end the obstruction that has kept Bush appointees from getting an up and down vote.
When is Bill Frist, the Senate Majority Leader and his fellow conservatives going to learn that the Democrats are no longer the party represented by Zell Miller? Remember that former President Ronald Reagan started off as not only a Democrat but also as the president of a labor union. He became a Republican because he believed his party had moved to the left, away from his personal and business philosophy. If President Reagan were alive today, he would be shocked to see how much more to the left the Democrat party has gone since he left office. He might even think of it as having become the new Socialist Party.
The Democrats are now street-smart and PR savvy. They know how easy it is to con many Republicans who still believe in one?s word of honor. They know how to create polls that will shape public opinion, and how to make a majority of Congress bow to the rule of the minority.
Not only has the Senate minority been able to limit the federal judge appointees to just three out of seven or more, they were even able to deceive Senator John McCain and his fellow moderate Republicans that they would end their use of the filibuster to delay, thus creating a new era of peace and trust.
The future Supreme Court, under President Bush, will have Congress decide whether it will be a Constitutional or a Legislative Court.
If the latter, our nation will become a secular and socialist nation; if the former, we will return to a country and culture envisioned by our founding fathers.
This will also depend on the makeup of our Congress in 2006 and the will of the American people. The anti-American culture and pro-socialist movement set in motion by Antonio Gramsci, the great Italian Socialist in the late 30s?, is now in full swing in America, having been allowed to slowly grow in power and influence over the past decades. Gramsci?s theory was that this would be the only way to take over America?his vision is now coming to fruition.
Our grandchildren will live in the country that we will leave them. And that country will be shaped by the next formation of the Supreme Court, whether it will be constitutional or legislative.
Do Americans have the courage to demand that their members of Congress vote for Constitutional judges, to put America?s interests above political ambition and to end the obstructionist tactics that are not letting our government solve the many problems that threaten our economy and security?
Do Americans also have the will to vote into Congress in 2006 those members who will put our nation?s culture and heritage above the desires of the secularists and socialists?
Only the near future will decide this. We now say to the American voters -in the words of the tennis buffs --- ?The ball is now in YOUR court!?
About the Writer: Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and a former vice president of both CBS and Gannet. He resides in Indio, California, where he write op-eds that appear in several local newspapers. Lee receives e-mail at.
This was done by another filibuster that might delay the vote until June, thus shattering the myth that the two parties had joined together in a bond of trust that would end the obstruction that has kept Bush appointees from getting an up and down vote.
When is Bill Frist, the Senate Majority Leader and his fellow conservatives going to learn that the Democrats are no longer the party represented by Zell Miller? Remember that former President Ronald Reagan started off as not only a Democrat but also as the president of a labor union. He became a Republican because he believed his party had moved to the left, away from his personal and business philosophy. If President Reagan were alive today, he would be shocked to see how much more to the left the Democrat party has gone since he left office. He might even think of it as having become the new Socialist Party.
The Democrats are now street-smart and PR savvy. They know how easy it is to con many Republicans who still believe in one?s word of honor. They know how to create polls that will shape public opinion, and how to make a majority of Congress bow to the rule of the minority.
Not only has the Senate minority been able to limit the federal judge appointees to just three out of seven or more, they were even able to deceive Senator John McCain and his fellow moderate Republicans that they would end their use of the filibuster to delay, thus creating a new era of peace and trust.
The future Supreme Court, under President Bush, will have Congress decide whether it will be a Constitutional or a Legislative Court.
If the latter, our nation will become a secular and socialist nation; if the former, we will return to a country and culture envisioned by our founding fathers.
This will also depend on the makeup of our Congress in 2006 and the will of the American people. The anti-American culture and pro-socialist movement set in motion by Antonio Gramsci, the great Italian Socialist in the late 30s?, is now in full swing in America, having been allowed to slowly grow in power and influence over the past decades. Gramsci?s theory was that this would be the only way to take over America?his vision is now coming to fruition.
Our grandchildren will live in the country that we will leave them. And that country will be shaped by the next formation of the Supreme Court, whether it will be constitutional or legislative.
Do Americans have the courage to demand that their members of Congress vote for Constitutional judges, to put America?s interests above political ambition and to end the obstructionist tactics that are not letting our government solve the many problems that threaten our economy and security?
Do Americans also have the will to vote into Congress in 2006 those members who will put our nation?s culture and heritage above the desires of the secularists and socialists?
Only the near future will decide this. We now say to the American voters -in the words of the tennis buffs --- ?The ball is now in YOUR court!?
About the Writer: Lee Ellis is a retired journalist and a former vice president of both CBS and Gannet. He resides in Indio, California, where he write op-eds that appear in several local newspapers. Lee receives e-mail at
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