Law & Court

Teens plotted to buy guns and attack Jewish people after Sydney bishop was stabbed, police allege

By Rod Mcguirk — April 29, 2024
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Five teens, aged 14 to 17, were charged in a Sydney court on Thursday last week with a range of offenses including conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act.
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Australian police arrest 7 alleged teen extremists linked to stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church

By Mark Baker and Rod Mcguirk — April 24, 2024
SYDNEY (AP) —The seven, aged 15 to 17, were part of a network that included a 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing a bishop in a Sydney church on April 15, police said.

Do homeless people have constitutional rights?

By Kevin Nye — April 22, 2024
(RNS) — Overwhelmingly, faith groups who filed for Johnson v. Grants Pass did so against criminalizing homelessness.

Teenager is charged with terrorism offenses in stabbings of bishop and priest at Sydney church

By Mark Baker and Keiran Smith — April 19, 2024
SYDNEY (AP) — A crowd of up to 600 people converged on the church after the attack, some demanding that police hand over the boy.

Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Sydney clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says

By Mark Baker and Rod Mcguirk — April 17, 2024
SYDNEY (AP) — Kheir is among several community leaders who have accused police of unnecessarily raising community tensions with a premature declaration on Tuesday that the attack at Christ the Good Shepherd Church fit the definition of a terrorist act.

Tensions rise in Australia after a bishop and priest are wounded in a knife attack in a church

By Rod Mcguirk and Mark Baker — April 16, 2024
SYDNEY (AP) —Video of the attack spread quickly on social media and an angry mob converged on the church demanding vengeance.

Vatican complains after French court rules in favor of nun dismissed from religious order

By Nicole Winfield — April 15, 2024
ROME (AP) — The case is highly unusual, because it represented a secular civilian court essentially determining that the Vatican’s in-house canonical procedures grossly violated the nun’s fundamental rights.

Guilty plea by leader of polygamous sect near the Arizona-Utah border is at risk of being thrown out

By Associated Press — April 15, 2024
PHOENIX (AP) — Authorities say Bateman created a sprawling network spanning at least four states as he tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Documentary portrays asylum-seeking family helped by a Seattle synagogue

By Yonat Shimron — April 11, 2024
(RNS) — ‘All We Carry’ follows a Honduran couple and their son as they make their way from Mexico to Seattle, where they settle for three years until an immigration court hears their asylum claim.

How allowing abortion for secular reasons means allowing it for religious reasons

By Mark Silk — April 9, 2024
(RNS) — States’ abortion laws may not be ‘underinclusive.’

Spiritual libertarianism swatted down in Wisconsin

By Mark Silk — April 3, 2024
(RNS) — Conservative legal groups are trying to erase a distinction between religious employers and religious activity.

Oklahoma court considers whether to allow the US’ first publicly funded Catholic school

By Sean Murphy — April 3, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board violated both the law and the state and federal constitutions.

Man pleads guilty to attacking Muslim state representative in Connecticut

By Associated Press — April 3, 2024
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Rep. Maryam Khan was attacked while attending a service at the XL Center arena in Hartford with her family to mark Eid al-Adha, the end of the Hajj.
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