Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Law -- Only in America

In honor of my husband, who believes blog entries should be shorter, here are a couple legal highlights.

First, I found this interesting article When God is in the Lyrics in TIME online. It highlights a case in which a little girl was told she could not sing Awesome God in a after-school talent show. The Alliance Defense Fund and ACLU joined together to fight for her First Amendment right to do just that. I am proud to be an attorney trained by the Alliance Defense Fund and had to smile when I saw the coalition God crafted for this case.

Second, in Michigan a teenage boy is suing his mother for his family history. Right now there is no common law that would require the mother to reveal the identity of the father. In Indiana there isn't statutory law either that I'm aware of. The interesting twist is the boy's stepfather, who DNA tests have shown is not his biological father, is helping him fund the lawsuit. Attorneys fear this would frequently be the case as fathers, who are deemed to be legal fathers if not biological fathers, seek a way to stop paying child support. Depending on how the Michigan court rules, this could create an entirely new area of litigation in the family law arena.

6 comments:

~michelle pendergrass said...

Wow. Both of those are interesting cases. I'm sure you'll update us?! ;)

Anonymous said...

Ummm...correct me if I am wrong but the ACLU is usually against anything that has to do with God. So, they are defending this little girl to sing "Awesome God?" Maybe you mean the ACLJ?

Anyhoo, very very interesting cases.

Cara Putman said...

Actually, it is the ACLU. That's what makes the case so interesting. There are a small, but increasing, number of cases where organizations that traditionally would be on opposite ends are ending up together in court cases.

Anonymous said...

That really is interesting. And I dubbed them ACLU (Anti-Christian litigation Unit.)

Thanks for the input.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting blog. Found you via the Writer Interrupted ring. Blessings.

Cara Putman said...

So glad you found us, Victoria. Hope you'll stop by again.

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