Born in Texas, Katherine is now a lawyer in the northwestern United States.
We’ve heard how Lowe’s, after receiving pressure from the (one-man-operation) Florida Family Association, decided to pull its ads from the new show All-American Muslim. Not cool. But now Ted Lieu, a California state senator, has threatened Lowe’s with the “encouragement of boycotts” and an examination of potential legislative remedies if Lowe’s does not apologize to Muslims and run its ads on the show. That’s not cool either. It’s great that Lieu called out Lowe’s for being bigoted and ignorant, and… Read more
… or so say the folks over at Liberty Counsel: Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, commented: “Macy’s policy which allows men to use the women’s dressing room is fraught with problems. This policy will cause significant problems and will alienate the majority of Macy’s customers. Macy’s has essentially opened women’s dressing rooms to every man. The LGBT agenda has become the theater of the absurd.” Some background on Staver’s statement: A Macy’s employee in San… Read more
It’s official: Religious organizations can no longer use NYC public schools to hold worship services after hours. The legalese: The Supreme Court recently declined to review a Second Circuit decision, Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York, which upheld New York City Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) § 5.9 (now SOP § 5.11), which prohibited the use of school property for religious services. What’s really going on: In 1994, the Bronx Household… Read more
Gary Mortara, pastor at the Faith Fellowship Church in San Leandro, CA, wanted to move his congregation into a bigger building (PDF). The plans he submitted to the city, though, called for use of a building located in an area of town that was zoned for a job promotion initiative and did not permit religious assembly, so Mortara’s plans were rejected. Done deal, right? Not so fast. This is where the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act comes in…. Read more
As it turns out, stores that accept food stamps can be disqualified from participating in the food stamp program if they violate certain regulations, such as accepting food stamps as payment for ineligible goods like cigarettes. If this disqualification would cause “hardship” to the food stamp customers, however, store owners might be charged a fine rather than be disqualified. In a recently-filed lawsuit, Mehrab #1 Corp. v. United States, a Chicago grocer who sold Zabiha-Halal meats was disqualified from the… Read more
