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Home arrow Blog arrow David Hamilton Senate Confirmation Hearing Set
David Hamilton Senate Confirmation Hearing Set E-mail

On Wednesday at 2:30, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee's website, Judge David Hamilton will have his confirmation hearing. Hamilton was nominated by President Obama to fill a vacancy on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and is sure to have many church-state questions following his decision in the Indiana House legislative prayer case (subsequently overturned after the Hein decision). There, citing the Supreme Court's opinion in Marsh, he ruled unconstitutional the House Speaker's practice of opening each session with a sectarian prayer.

The hearing will be webcast, but check back during the day as I will have quotes and comments on any dialogue related to that case. In his now-controversial opinion, Hamilton was very strong and unequivocal in his critique of Speaker Bosma's policy, and I'm hoping that will come through clearly in his confirmation hearing as well.

 
 
Back to School!
In a decision from late July that I missed, a district judge in Texas ruled against a local school in its decision to black out religious messages in some Christmas cards being sold as part of a fundraiser. Its an interesting case: school officials were concerned about running afoul of the separa...
 
Quote of the Day
From former George W. Bush speechwriter and policy advisor Michael Gerson in a Washington Post op-ed: The Christian fundamentalist view of Islam bears a striking resemblance to the New York Times' view of Christian fundamentalism -- a simplistic emphasis on the worst elements of a com...