Pennsylvania court bars eminent domain taking for religious school News
Pennsylvania court bars eminent domain taking for religious school

[JURIST] A Pennsylvania appeals court ruled Monday that the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority [official website] violated the constitutional separation of church and state when it seized a woman's home to help Hope Partnership for Education [education website], a religious group, build a private school. In a 4-3 decision [PDF text], judges of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the seizure of the property through the use of eminent domain [JURIST news archive] was an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause [backgrounder] due to entanglement between church and state. In a 2005 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled in Kelo v. New London [opinion text; JURIST report] that eminent domain could be used to seize homes for private redevelopment projects. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.