Changing the Rules of Establishment Clause Litigation: An Alternative to the Public Expression of Religion Act

In 2004, the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) threatened to sue the city of Redlands, California, if it did not remove a small cross from its city seal.\u27 The cross represented the city\u27s religious heritage and its history as a city of churches. Instead of facing the possibility of litigation and the more daunting risk of losing in court and being forced to pay the ACLU\u27s attorneys\u27 fees in addition to its own, the Redlands City Council agreed to change the seal. The City of Redlands not only could ill afford the risk of paying the ACLU\u27s attorneys\u27 fees; it also had insufficient municipal funds to replace the seal. Therefore, the city had to improvise. Blue tape covered the cross on many city vehicles, and some city employees used electric drills to obliterate the cross from their badges. After its success in Redlands, the ACLU turned its attention to the Los Angeles County seal, which contained a small cross symbolizing the Spanish missions that played an integral role in the county\u27s history. One newspaper columnist observed, The cross was about one-sixth the size of a not-very-big image of a cow tucked away on the lower right segment of the seal, and maybe a hundredth of the size of a pagan god (Pomona, goddess of fruit) who dominated the seal. The county\u27s attorneys advised that a loss in court would be costly-the county would be responsible not only for the cost of changing the seal and its own legal fees, but also for the ACLU\u27s legal fees. In what was an unpopular decision, the county supervisors voted to redesign the seal. The transition to the new seal is costing the county around $1 million and entails replacing the seal on approximately 90,000 uniforms, 12,000 vehicles, and 6,000 buildings. Events similar to these are taking place around the country. Some Americans view these events as victories over governments endorsing a particular religion in violation of the First Amendment\u27s Establishment Clause and attempting to force religion upon their citizens. Others believe that these events are examples of communities being coerced into abandoning all acknowledgment of their religious values and heritage. Debates over this issue have increased recently, especially surrounding the Public Expression of Religion Act ( PERA ), which was introduced in Congress in response to events such as those that took place in Redlands and Los Angeles. The U.S. House of Representatives passed PERA on September 26, 2006. The House forwarded the bill to the Senate, where it was referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and currently awaits action. PERA would amend federal statutes to provide that plaintiffs who challenge government action as violating the Establishment Clause would not be able to recover attorneys\u27 fees. This change would be a departure from current federal law and practice, under which plaintiffs who are successful in a lawsuit brought under the Establishment Clause may (and almost always do) recover attorneys\u27 fees from the defendant government, whether local, state, or federal. PERA\u27s proponents argue that the current fee-shifting scheme, combined with the unpredictability of the Supreme Court\u27s Establishment Clause jurisprudence, allows plaintiffs to force governments to accede to their demands and abandon all public acknowledgment of religion by greatly increasing the risk involved in defending Establishment Clause claims in court. Like PERA, this Note recognizes that plaintiffs have an inordinate amount of leverage when they bring an Establishment Clause claim. Part II of this Note examines the two main factors contributing to this leverage. The first factor is the unsettled state of Establishment Clause jurisprudence. Part II first introduces the debate concerning the original purpose of the Establishment Clause. It then discusses the many tests the Supreme Court has applied in Establishment Clause cases and examines two recent cases that scholars cite as exemplifying the muddled state of Establishment Clause jurisprudence, Van Orden v. Perry15 and McCreary County v. ACLU.16 Part II then examines the second factor, 42 U.S.C. ?? 1983 and 1988, the federal fee-shifting statutes that enable successful plaintiffs in Establishment Clause cases to receive attorneys\u27 fees from the defendant government. Part III of this Note introduces PERA. It discusses the background of the bill, presents its provisions in detail, and examines the debates surrounding the bill. Part IV critically appraises PERA and the solution it proposes. Although this Note concludes that PERA is fundamentally flawed, it also asserts that a legitimate aim can and should be extracted from the bill. This aim is to protect a government\u27s ability to defend the acknowledgment of its religious heritage. Part IV demonstrates that the Supreme Court\u27s Establishment Clause jurisprudence allows for the acknowledgment of religious heritage and explains why this acknowledgment needs protection. Part IV concludes by examining why PERA\u27s approach to this problem is flawed. Finally, Part V proposes an alternative to PERA that would make it easier for governments to defend acknowledgments of their religious heritage without reducing the incentives for governments to avoid behavior that clearly violates the Establishment Clause. This alternative exempts governments from having to pay a plaintiffs attorneys\u27 fees in Establishment Clause cases unless the challenged conduct violates clearly established law. This clearly established law standard is similar to the standard used in the Supreme Court\u27s qualified immunity jurisprudence, which this part outlines. Part V concludes by examining how courts could apply this standard in Establishment Clause cases

Desaturation during exercise is not a sufficient mechanism for prediction of osteoporosis in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis

This is the final version. Available on open access from BMC via the DOI in this recordBackground: Recent research has proposed an association between desaturation during a six minute walking test (6MWT) and osteoporosis in an elderly group of individuals with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. A causative pathway through activation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) has been proposed. Commentary: Queries regarding the statistical approaches used are identified and discussed within this correspondence. These predominate around the use of linear regression models to predict osteoporosis in a group that is already osteoporotic, presenting with extreme values for bone mineral density (BMD). Further queries are raised regarding the HIF-1α pathway, and physical activity (PA) is proposed as an upstream mechanism for both reduced exercise tolerance and low BMD. Conclusions: It is suggested that osteoporosis cannot be predicted in a group that is already osteoporotic, and that PA is likely to be the causative mechanism between desaturation in the 6MWT and low BMD in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis

Review and synthesis of problems and directions for large scale geographic information system development

Problems and directions for large scale geographic information system development were reviewed and the general problems associated with automated geographic information systems and spatial data handling were addressed

Computational Simulation and 3D Virtual Reality Engineering Tools for Dynamical Modeling and Imaging of Composite Nanomaterials

An adventure at engineering design and modeling is possible with a Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) that uses multiple computer-generated media to let a user experience situations that are temporally and spatially prohibiting. In this paper, an approach to developing some advanced architecture and modeling tools is presented to allow multiple frameworks work together while being shielded from the application program. This architecture is being developed in a framework of workbench interactive tools for next generation nanoparticle-reinforced damping/dynamic systems. Through the use of system, an engineer/programmer can respectively concentrate on tailoring an engineering design concept of novel system and the application software design while using existing databases/software outputs.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

CA19-9 as a Potential Target for Radiolabeled Antibody-Based Positron Emission Tomography of Pancreas Cancer.

Introduction. Sensitive and specific imaging of pancreas cancer are necessary for accurate diagnosis, staging, and treatment. The vast majority of pancreas cancers express the carbohydrate tumor antigen CA19-9. The goal of this study was to determine the potential to target CA19-9 with a radiolabeled anti-CA19-9 antibody for imaging pancreas cancer. Methods. CA19-9 was quantified using flow cytometry on human pancreas cancer cell lines. An intact murine anti-CA19-9 monoclonal antibody was labeled with a positron emitting radionuclide (Iodine-124) and injected into mice harboring antigen positive and negative xenografts. MicroPET/CT were performed at successive time intervals (72 hours, 96 hours, 120 hours) after injection. Radioactivity was measured in blood and tumor to provide objective confirmation of the images. Results. Antigen expression by flow cytometry revealed approximately 1.3 × 10(6) CA19-9 antigens for the positive cell line and no expression in the negative cell line. Pancreas xenograft imaging with Iodine-124-labeled anti-CA19-9 mAb demonstrated an average tumor to blood ratio of 5 and positive to negative tumor ratio of 20. Conclusion. We show in vivo targeting of our antigen positive xenograft with a radiolabeled anti-CA19-9 antibody. These data demonstrate the potential to achieve anti-CA19-9 antibody based positron emission tomography of pancreas cancer

Manufacturing reshoring and its limits:the UK automotive case

This paper explores the meaning of reshoring and its drivers in the case of UK manufacturing and in particular its automotive sector. Drawing on interviews, policy reviews and a range of recent surveys, the paper finds that while reshoring is a discernable trend in UK manufacturing, it is less pronounced than many have claimed and that – in the UK case at least - there are severe limits as to how far this reshoring trend can go, particularly in relation to the availability of skills and finance in the supply chain. This is in turn raises questions over the stance of British policy and whether more could be done, with comparisons made to US experience

Wildlife hazards from 1080 baiting

ONE-SHOT oat baiting with sodium fluoroacetate (1080) is a relatively safe method of trail baiting rabbits. The hazard to wildlife is small and every effort is made to further reduce the hazard by selective application of the poison

Development of probabilistic models for quantitative pathway analysis of plant pest introduction for the EU territory

This report demonstrates a probabilistic quantitative pathway analysis model that can be used in risk assessment for plant pest introduction into EU territory on a range of edible commodities (apples, oranges, stone fruits and wheat). Two types of model were developed: a general commodity model that simulates distribution of an imported infested/infected commodity to and within the EU from source countries by month; and a consignment model that simulates the movement and distribution of individual consignments from source countries to destinations in the EU. The general pathway model has two modules. Module 1 is a trade pathway model, with a Eurostat database of five years of monthly trade volumes for each specific commodity into the EU28 from all source countries and territories. Infestation levels based on interception records, commercial quality standards or other information determine volume of infested commodity entering and transhipped within the EU. Module 2 allocates commodity volumes to processing, retail use and waste streams and overlays the distribution onto EU NUTS2 regions based on population densities and processing unit locations. Transfer potential to domestic host crops is a function of distribution of imported infested product and area of domestic production in NUTS2 regions, pest dispersal potential, and phenology of susceptibility in domestic crops. The consignment model covers the several routes on supply chains for processing and retail use. The output of the general pathway model is a distribution of estimated volumes of infested produce by NUTS2 region across the EU28, by month or annually; this is then related to the accessible susceptible domestic crop. Risk is expressed as a potential volume of infested fruit in potential contact with an area of susceptible domestic host crop. The output of the consignment model is a volume of infested produce retained at each stage along the specific consignment trade chain

Experiment and modelling of birefringent flows using commercial CFD code

It is well-known that certain fluids are birefringent and when flows are viewed in polarised light interference fringes are observed. The fringes are caused by a phase shift in the light passing through the fluid and are proportional to the integral of the maximum shear strains in the fluid. In order to understand what is happening within the three dimensional flow and overcome the difficulties due to this integration, additional computational or experimental information is needed. In this work, a commercially available computer code (Fluent) is used for the first time to model the flows. The flow data are then exported to a spreadsheet where the shear rates are integrated across the field and then banded for graphical output. The results from this are then compared to results generated from birefringent flow experiments and the agreement is found to be good since the modelled fringes show the same patterns as those in the experiment. This novel use of computational and experimental techniques together will allow quantitative analysis of three-dimensional flows in the future. Currently, there are still a lot of empirical variables involved in fitting the computational fringes to the experiment, but the results of this preliminary study show that this is a promising approach to this type of problem