School Sued Over Yoga Classes Alleging Violation of “Separation of Church and State”
San Diego School District Sued For Yoga Classes
Does this one pass pass the straight-face test? A San Diego family, Stephen and Jennifer Sedlock, have sued their Encinitas school district for teaching yoga to their children and other students, alleging that the classes violate the “separation between church and state.”
According to their lawyer, ”
EUSD’s Ashtanga yoga program represents a serious breach of the public trust.” “This is frankly the clearest case of the state trampling on the religious freedom rights of citizens that I have personally witnessed in my 18 years of practice as a constitutional attorney.”
The legal position taken by the Sedlocks has also been strongly advocated for by conservative non-profit group The National Center for Law & Policy (NCLP). According to the NCLP’s white-paper, the yoga life skills taught in the classes are “
inherently religious”
and “conflict with the beliefs of Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Jews and others.”
Encinitas school district is one of the few in the nation that has full-time yoga teachers at its schools, to help students de-stress before tests. The classes were funded by a $533,000, three-year grant from the Jois Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes Asthanga yoga.
$1 Million to be Paid in “Casual Pepper Spray” UC-Davis Lawsuit
$1 Million Awarded to Victims of Pepper Spray
A California federal judge has approved the $1 million settlement of the lawsuit brought against University of California – Davis by students who were the victims of the shocking “casual pepper spray” incident at the Occupy protests that took place on the campus back in November 2011. The students were videotaped being saturated with pepper spray at close range by UC Davis police officer John Pike, as they sat on the ground with their hands under their seats.
According to the ACLU, “What happened on November 18 was among the worst examples of police violence against student demonstrators that we’ve seen in a generation. The early resolution to this lawsuit means that the students can begin the process of moving on and we can work with the University to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again at the University of California.”
In the wake of the incident, UC-Davis formed a task force to investigate the incident and analyze the police officers’r esponse to the protests. Their report stated that “The pepper spraying incident that took place on November 18, 2011 should and could have been prevented,” and determined that the police force as well as University administration were all responsible for poor handling of the incident.
As part of the settlement:
- $730,000 will be paid to the students who were arrested and pepper-sprayed;
- $250,000 will be paid to the attorneys for fees and costs;
- $20,000 will be paid to the ACLU for future work with UC-Davis to develop new policies on student demonstrations, crowed management, and the use of force;
- $100,000 has been set aside to compensate other students or individuals who were pepper-sprayed or wrongfully arrested;
- A formal written apology will be made by the UC-Davis Chancellor to each student or alumni who was pepper-sprayed or arrested;
- UC-Davis will assist students who were negatively affected in their academic performance to apply for an academic records adjustment.
U.S. Supreme Court to Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin Residents: Go Ahead and Record Police
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling refusing to hear the Illinois state government’s appeal of a court decision that blocked the state from prosecuting citizens who record the police. For citizens under the jurisdiction of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin), the Supreme Court’s decision means that it is basically unconstitutional for residents to be prosecuted for recording police in the performance of public duties, for example, when citizens are pulled over, arrested, or otherwise stopped, at least under any law that resembles the one at issue in this case. Continue reading
UC-Berkeley Asks Court to Dismiss Multi-Million Dollar First Amendment / Excessive Force Lawsuit Brought by Student Protestors Beaten by UC-Police
Photos of the UC-Berkeley Protests of November, 2011
The UC-Berkeley police, officials, and other administrators who were sued in a multi-million dollar First Amendment and excessive force lawsuit by student protestors during the Occupy protests of 2011 are now asking the Court presiding over the case to throw out the lawsuit.
The suit was filed on behalf of 24 protesters against 17 defendants, including four UCPD officers and detectives, three Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies, Chief of Oakland Police Department Howard Jordan, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and five other campus administrators.
The lawsuit arose out of the Occupy protests in Berkeley in November, 2011. In videos of the altercations between students and police, police used batons to beat with batons some protesters who refused to leave tent/encampment areas. UC-Berkeley had forbidden students, some of whom were protesting the rising cost of tuition at UC schools, from protesting in the area.
The UC-Campus’s motion to dismiss will be heard by the Court next week, on Nov. 13.
The Case for Ending the Death Penalty, by a Former Supporter
Prop. 34 will replace California’s death penalty with life without possibility of parole.
I once supported the death penalty. But as an attorney now representing individuals who have been deprived of civil rights in California’s prison system, I am compelled to speak out about why the death penalty must be eliminated in California, and throughout the nation. Continue reading
No Justice for Guatemalans Force-Injected with STDs by US “Researchers” Conducting Experiments in the 1940s
No justice for Guatemalans
This story is just sad. A federal court judge has dismissed the lawsuit brought against U.S. officials by Guatemalans who had been subject to experiments by U.S. researchers in the 1940s by being deliberately injected with STDs without their knowledge or consent. The researchers had purportedly been studying the effects of penicillin, and were testing the drug’s effect on sexually-transmitted diseases by using Guatemalan natives as human guinea pigs.
Although the judge commented that the study was “deeply troubling,” the dismissal was based on federal law that prohibits claims to be brought against U.S. officials for injuries that took place in a foreign country. The judge granted the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, ending the suit.
Apparently, last year, Gautemalan officials identified almost 2,100 natives that were the subject of experiments, being infected with syphlis, gonorrhea, or chancroid. The research was hidden for decades until a Wellesley College medical historian uncovered the records in 2009.
Do as I say, not as I do, America.
Attorney Rabeh M. A. Soofi
Phone: (213) 632-9390
Fax: (213) 986-3485
Email: rsoofi@sb-lc.com
Twitter: @rabehsoofi