scholarly journals The Constitutionality of Providing Public Funds for U.S. Houses of Worship during the Coronavirus

Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Mark Chopko

U.S. constitutional jurisprudence precludes the direct government funding of religious activity. At the same time, the jurisprudence surrounding the U.S. First Amendment Religion Clauses has evolved to support the general inclusion of religious entities in programs through which a government advances some overarching public interest, such as health care or social services, but does not involve the Government in advancing religion per se. Moreover, the most recent U.S. Supreme Court cases hold that it is a violation of the First Amendment to exclude a religious actor, solely because it is religious, from a general public program and funding on equal terms with secular actors. Pandemic relief from the federal government has been made available to houses of worship (churches, mosques, synagogues, etc.) to mitigate the economic impact of government lockdown orders and public health restrictions on assembly, by offsetting loss of revenue and avoiding the suspension or termination of employees. The extension of such relief sits precisely at the crossroads of debated legal questions about whether such assistance is aid to religion—prohibited—or neutral disaster relief on equal terms with other community-serving entities—permitted. This article concludes that the inclusion of houses of worship is constitutional, given the trend and direction of U.S. law, although the matter will continue to be debated as the effects of the pandemic recede.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin M. Holliday

Legal questions remain surrounding hateful rhetoric online, including when the government should or can legally step in and do something to prevent acts of terror or hate crimes. This Article explores the current legal landscape surrounding access to publishing online, and its benefits and costs for everyday users and private companies. Through a First Amendment lens, as well as other relevant case law, legislation, and regulation, this Article seeks to provide an understanding of the civil liberty implications of how a change in the law or policy would affect the rights of private companies and publishers and users, both readers and writers of content. This analysis focuses specifically on legal ramifications, protections, and liabilities of major social media outlets and news sites, as well as easily accessible online forums and public-facing websites of hate groups.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 463-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn J Cordery

Government funding and delivery of social services increasingly fails to meet citizens’ demands. One theory is that charities alleviate this pressure by delivering services to supplement those that governments provide (Weisbrod, 1988). When the government and market fail to meet social needs, these services are funded by donations and service charges. A second theory is that charities partner with government to fund and deliver complementary services (Salamon, 1987). This article analyses the historical choices made by New Zealand’s government and charities relating to social services funding and delivery. Charities have not responded solely to what Weisbrod (1988) calls government failure, nor have they entered into continuous partnerships with government as Salamon (1987) would suggest. Instead, funding choices appear to be mutable, placing charities and beneficiaries in precarious positions when social services funding reduces. This article encourages debate about how social services should be funded: by government, charities or the marketplace.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Fiktus

At the end of World War I, in many European countries women won the active and passive right to vote. Poland was one of the first countries, where women were allowed to participate in political life. Already at the time of establishing the Legislative Sejm (1919) the first women-MPs took their seats in Parliament. Similarly, the situation presented itself in the case of the Senate. During its first session (1922) women participated in the works of the upper chamber. The purpose of this paper is to present the participation of women in the legislative work of the Senate in various terms of office. The participation of women in the legislative work of Parliament was characterized by their involvement in issues concerning education or social services, while avoiding participation in the legislative work or that dealing with political matters. The situation presented itself differently as regards women’s involvement in the work of the Senate. A good example here was the activity of Dorota Kałuszyńska, who – during the work on the so called April Constitution of 1935 – not only participated in it very actively, but also ruthlessly attacked the then ruling camp. Another very interesting episode related to activities of women in the Senate was an informal covenant during the work on the bill to limit the sale, administration and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Belonging to different political groups: the said D. Kłuszyńska as a representative of the Polish Socialist Party, Helena Kisielewska from the Bloc of National Minorities and Hanna Hubicka of BBWR [the Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government] unanimously criticized the regulations in force, which – in their opinion – did not fulfill their role when it came to anti-alcohol protection. The participation of women as far as their number was concerned was indeed small, but the Senate (like Parliament) of the Second Republic functioned in the period when women had just begun their activity on the legislative forum. Undoubtedly, it was a very interesting period, in which women had the benefit in the form of gaining their parliamentary experience. For example, it gave rise to subsequent activities of Dorota Kłuszyńska, who actively participated in the legislative works of the Sejm in the years 1947–1952, dealing with social issues or family.


Laws ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
William E. Thro

Rejecting the Obama Administration’s argument that the First Amendment requires identical treatment for religious organizations and secular organizations, the Supreme Court held such a “result is hard to square with the text of the First Amendment itself, which gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations.” (Hosanna-Tabor, 565 U.S. at 189). This “special solicitude” guarantees religious freedom from the government in all aspects of society, but particularly on public university campuses. At a minimum, religious expression and religious organizations must have equal rights with secular expression and secular organizations. In some instances, religious expression and religious expression may have greater rights. The Court’s 2020 decisions in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, reinforce and expand the “special solicitude” of religion. Indeed, Espinoza and Our Lady have profound implications for student religious groups at America’s public campuses. This article examines religious freedom at America’s public universities. This article has three parts. First, it offers an overview of religious freedom prior to Espinoza and Our Lady. Second, it briefly discusses those two cases. Third, it explores the implications of those decisions on America’s public campuses.


Author(s):  
Shamim Ferdous ◽  
Mohammad Deloar Hossain

Children with disabilities (CWDs) are one of the most marginalised and excluded groups in the society. Facing daily discrimination in the form of negative attitudes, lack of adequate policies and legislation, they are effectively barred from realising their rights to healthcare, education and even survival. It has been estimated that exposure towards all forms of violence against CWDs is four-time greater than that of children without disabilities. Bangladesh has an estimated 7–10 million CWDs (out of a total of 72 million children, World Health Organisation Report). Most of the time, these children are treated as a burden to their families or the community and thus become subject to violence. There are very few specialised institutions with residential facility to take care of them. So, they are institutionalised in general residential institutions at a significantly higher rate than other children. But both the special and general residential institutions have lack of skilled human resources and knowledge of the special situation and needs of CWDs. Peer groups of the CWDs are also less sensitised, which result in further stigma and discrimination of CWDs. A 2010 study was done by the Ministry of Women and children Affairs. The findings from interviews with adolescents’ aged 13–16 in 12 locations of Dhaka City revealed their extreme vulnerability. In 2010, a study by Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation that conducted a survey supported by the Save the Children Sweden–Denmark found that 51.4% of CWDs are either at risk of sexual abuse (12.5%) or have been sexually abused (38.9%).The government of Bangladesh has taken a number of legislative and policy steps that indicate commitment to advancing the rights of persons with disabilities. In terms of international instruments, Department of Social Services under Ministry of Social Welfare operates various types of institutions for the children and also CWDs. The study will adopt qualitative and quantitative methods to collect information from both primary and secondary sources and also assess the situation of government non-government organisations/religious institutions where CWDs have residential facilities in order to understand which factors contribute to increased vulnerability of these children.


2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Terpstra ◽  
R. Bryan Kethley

This study examined nearly 400 federal court cases in which substantive, or primary, selection devices were legally challenged as being discriminatory. The findings indicated that the relative frequency of occurrence of discrimination charges varied for different types of organizations. Some industry sectors and some job types were associated with a much greater risk of exposure to litigation than others. For example, the government sector appeared to have a relatively high degree of exposure to selection discrimination litigation. The findings also indicated that the outcomes of the federal court cases (whether the ruling was for the defendant/employer or for the plaintiff) varied by industry type, job type, and type of discrimination charge. Specific recommendations are offered to organizations that operate in high risk industry sectors, and that have high risk job types, with an eye toward reducing the possibility of litigation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kosukhina K.V.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the development of public initiatives in Ukraine, as well as their role in building a dialogue between the government and civil society. The connection of the public initiative with the provision of social services is considered. The interaction of civil society institutions with public authorities is determined.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Shane

The orderly and effective operation of our national system of government was intended to depend to an exceptional degree upon certain norms of cooperation among its competing branches. The strength of those norms is essential to securing the primary political asset that our government design was intended to help realize: an especially robust form of democratic legitimacy. From this standpoint, it is constitutionally worrisome that norms critical to inter-branch cooperation are coming under heedless assault. To illustrate the problem, this article revisits four critical episodes that have involved destabilizing and antidemocratic initiatives, each undertaken by a branch of the national government while in the control of the current, very conservative generation of Republican party leadership: the Iran-Contra affair, the government shutdown of 1995, the impeachment of President Clinton, and the Senate stonewalling of President Clinton's judicial nominations. The repeated willingness of the Republican Party's most conservative elements to engage in such initiatives is not rooted in political conservatism per se. It reflects rather the narrowing social and ideological base of the Republican Party, and is consistent with a contempt for democratic pluralism that characterizes the constitutional outlook of leading Republican legal theorists. Unless matters are improved, the United States may otherwise be headed towards a new political equilibrium that does considerable violence to America's modern practice of democratic legitimacy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Melly Anggraeni ◽  
Hardi Warsono ◽  
Ida Hayu Dwimawanti

In the context of poverty reduction, the Government mandates the distribution of Non-Cash Food Assistance. Non-Cash Food Aid, hereinafter abbreviated as BPNT, is a policy of the Central Government in the form of food social assistance in the form of non-cash given to Beneficiary Families (KPM) every month through electronic accounts and is only used to buy food in E-warong in collaboration with banks. In BPNT distribution management in Rembang Regency, the planning aspect begins with the data collection and validation of population data, with the aim of channeling BPNT on target. Organizing is done in coordination between the Ministry of Social Affairs, Social Services, Women's Empowerment and Family Planning District. Rembang, BNI, and e-warong agents in each district. The implementation was carried out in stages, by distributing non-cash assistance of Rp 110,000.00 per family. Supervision is carried out in coordination with BNI, because the distribution system uses electronic money. The obstacle faced is that there are still residents who are eligible for assistance, but have not been distributed by BPNT. So in the future there needs to be up to date data validation. In the future, the distribution will be more on target.


2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 3

THERE IS PLENTY OF ACTIVITY throughout the world focusing on encrypting personal health (and other) information on credit card-sized plastic ?smart? cards. These cards are embedded with a computer chip and could provide easy access to essential health information. As with many new technologies, there is debate about smart cards in health. In July 2004 the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing at that time, the Hon Tony Abbott, announced that ?Australians will have access to a new Medicare smart card as part of the government?s electronic health agenda to improve the quality and accessibility of patient information across the health system?.1 This led to the introduction of the Health and Social Services smart card initiative. The business case for this initiative suggested that this card could replace around 17 government issued ?health? cards, while improving proof of identify arrangements.2 While in opposition, the Labor Party opposed the notion of the smart card, claiming it was an identity card by stealth,3 and at the time of writing, it appears that the health smart card has been put on the backburner while the Government sorts out the priorities. In this issue, Mohd Rosli and his Melbourne colleagues report on a study of patient and staff perceptions about health smart cards (page 136). In this study, 270 emergency department patients and 92 staff completed self-administered questionnaires. The findings among patients and staff generally supported the introduction of smart cards with the majority reporting that the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. The majority of the respondents indicated that the cards should be brought into use, and that they would use one if offered. However, the study did find that a large proportion of staff and patients were not aware of health smart cards at all. A fundamental change in the structure of our relationship with the government had been proposed through the Health and Social Services smart card initiative, and yet the findings of this study suggest that the Australian public was ill prepared to discuss the implications. Where is the information sharing, the discussion and the debate that can help shape our health care system for the future? In our last issue of 2008 we included a call for student papers. I would like to remind all readers of this important initiative, reproduced overleaf, as I believe this is an effective way to begin to encourage the necessary discussion and debate.


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