Current Legal Battles

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Dance Teacher Fired for Using Religious Music in Class Goes to Trial

City: 
El Cajon, CA
Date: 
09/01/2009

A dance teacher , who was terminated from her job after a complaint was made that she used religious music in her instruction, is in trial this week. The single complaint which cost the teacher her job came from a school staff member rather than a parent or student. In addition to secular music on the day in question, the instructor, Kathy Villalobos, used a rendition of Dona Nobis Pachem, Canon in D and O Si Funi Mungu. Dona Nobis Pachem is a baroque piece by J.S. Bach and is sung in Latin.

School Board Maintains Parent-friendly Policy Regarding Confidential Medical Services

City: 
Modesto, CA
Date: 
08/27/2009

Early this week, the school board of Modesto took a “side-door” to maintain the current relatively parent-friendly policy of opt-in/opt-out in regard to Confidential Medical Services (CMS). The board was considering a controversial new policy that would allow students to leave campus for “confidential medical services” – including abortions – without their parents’ knowledge.

PJI Launches Center for Public Policy, Efforts to Reform CPS

City: 
Sacramento, CA
Date: 
08/21/2009

Pacific Justice Institute
PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release August 20, 2009
Contact: President Brad Dacus (916) 857-6900

PJI Launches Center for Public Policy, Efforts to Reform CPS

Sacramento – The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) is launching its new Center for Public Policy (CPP), a 501(c)(4) organization, this week in an effort to assist California legislators to enact laws benefiting all Californians.

Pacific Justice Institute Launches Office in San Francisco Bay Area

City: 
Oakland, CA
Date: 
08/17/2009

Pacific Justice Institute announced today that it has opened an office to serve the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The office is located in downtown Oakland, 10 minutes from San Francisco and Berkeley.

Alameda Parents File Suit Over Denial of Opt-out Requests

City: 
Alameda, CA
Date: 
08/12/2009

A group of parents filed a lawsuit today against Alameda Unified School District after the District denied their requests to excuse their young children from controversial lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) instruction.

PJI Offers Solution to Lodi Prayer Controversy

City: 
Lodi, CA
Date: 
08/06/2009

Attorneys for Pacific Justice Institute sent a legal memorandum today to the Lodi City Council offering a solution to a controversy that has erupted in the city over invocations before City Council meetings.

Modesto School Board May Let Students Get Abortions Without Parents' Knowledge

City: 
Modesto, CA
Date: 
07/28/2009

The school board of Modesto City Schools District is considering a controversial new policy that would allow students to leave campus for “confidential medical services” – including abortions – without their parents ever knowing about it.

Court Suggests Church Split; Case Heads to Ninth Circuit

City: 
San Francisco, Ca
Date: 
07/21/2009

A church in the Bay Area is appealing to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal trial court rejected its claims that the City of San Leandro unlawfully denied a rezoning request. In the decision being appealed, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton suggested the growing congregation split up its “operations” and activities among multiple locations, rather than renovating a larger property it had purchased.

Critics Dispute Attorney General’s Link Between Recent Killings, Push for Hate Crimes Bill

City: 
Washington, D.C.
Date: 
06/16/2009

Opponents of the federal hate crimes bill took exception to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s comments today that several recent shootings demonstrate the need for the bill.

Holder pointed to the recent shootings of a soldier in Arkansas, an abortion doctor in Kansas and a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. He then said that, in order to stop such attacks, Congress should pass the hate crimes bill, which creates new federal crimes for violence based on characteristics of victims such as race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and religion.

School Censors Second-Grader’s Talent Show Performance

City: 
Oakley, CA
Date: 
06/10/2009

The parents of a seven-year-old are questioning a school’s decision not to allow their daughter to participate in the school talent show—all because she chose a religious song.

Second-grader Bette Ouellette performed sign language to one of her favorite songs in an audition for an after-school talent show at Vintage Parkway Elementary School in Oakley. She was praised for her talent, but school officials insisted that she could not perform at the talent show because the song was Christian. The Ouellettes were not aware of any other children being told that they could not participate.