TRENTON, NJ - The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to hear a case from six same-sex couples seeking the right to "marry," saying the case needs to wind its way through the lower courts first.

Gay couples unsuccessfully sued New Jersey four years ago for the right to marry. They claim that by creating civil unions, the state has not fulfilled a court order to treat them the same as heterosexual couples seeking to marry.

The Supreme Court said Monday that it cannot consider whether the civil union law provides equal rights to same-gender couples until there is a trial record....

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama’s nominee to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Robert N. Chatigny, did legal work as a private defense attorney in 1992 for convicted serial killer Michael Ross and then, in 2005, as a federal district judge, led a proceeding that resulted in a delay in Ross’ execution. Chatigny says he forgot about the earlier work and should have recused himself from the matter.

“Had I recalled it, I would have recused myself,” Chatigny wrote in a questionnaire last month for the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In 1992, Chatigny reviewed motions filed on behalf of Ross and exchanged a letter with Ross, work that did not involve direct representation of the killer. In early 2005, however, as a U.S.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In an apparent attempt to send a message to President Barack Obama that they will not support a radical nominee for Supreme Court, Senate Republicans on Thursday delayed by a week a vote on the nomination of pro-abortion law professor for an appellate court position.

The committee approved four district court nominees yesterday, but Republicans used their rights as the minority to delay a vote on Liu until next week.

As a result, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a pro-abortion Vermont Democrat, scheduled a new vote meeting on Liu for May 13...

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers Wednesday denounced a federal judge's recent ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional and said they were calling on President Obama to aggressively appeal the decision.

"What brings us together today is a misguided court decision which threatens the longstanding tradition of this country," said Rep. Frank Wolf, Virginia Republican. "I urge the Obama administration to appeal this decision and to dedicate the best and brightest minds of the Justice Department to this case."

Mr. Wolf, a co-sponsor of the legislation President Reagan signed in 1988 that designated the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer, also was joined by approximately 30 Republican and Democrat lawmakers from the Congressional Prayer Caucus in issuing a House resolution calling for an appeal of the April 15 decision by a federal judge in Wisconsin...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Despite protests from Republicans, a pro-abortion nominee President Barack Obama put forward for a federal appeals court position is receiving a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Obama nominated pro-abortion professor Goodwin Liu for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Liu is a professor at the liberal University of California, Berkeley and he came under fire earlier this month when officials discovered he left 117 questions blank on the official Senate judicial questionnaire.

The hearing is going forward today notwithstanding Republican objections to the short period of time they've had to review Liu’s recent submission of papers correcting those problems...

(CNSNews.com) - Conservative legal experts say a federal district judge in Wisconsin had no legal basis for declaring the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional – and predict the decision cannot stand.

“If the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, then the Constitution itself if unconstitutional,” Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Va., told CNSNews.com.

“The National Day of Prayer – or prayer itself – is older than the Constitution,” Staver said. “There is no question it will be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court”...

A hearing for a controversial appeals court nominee was postponed Wednesday, after Republicans used an obscure procedural rule to suspend several committee meetings.

Goodwin Liu, 39, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, was up for a spot on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Republicans have been champing at the bit to grill Liu, who has described the Constitution as a living document, advocated for same-sex marriage and suggested health care is a right. The nomination is getting extra attention because conservatives are concerned that he could be on the fast track for the Supreme Court...

Last weekend the San Francisco Chronicle "outed" Proposition 8 Judge Vaughn Walker as an active practitioner of the homosexual lifestyle: "The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay," revealed the Chronicle.

Judge Walker has presided over California's Prop. 8 case filed by homosexual extremists who seek to manufacture a constitutional "right" to so-called "same-sex marriage." The legal odd-couple of former Bush attorney Ted Olson and Gore lawyer David Boies have partnered to represent the activist plaintiffs.

The revelation that Judge Walker apparently chooses to engage in homosexual conduct, if true, would explain much of his bizarre behavior throughout this trial.

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported "the biggest open secret" in the legal challenge against Proposition 8 is that the judge who is hearing the trial "is himself gay."

The paper reports many gay politicians in the northern California city say Chief District U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker has never taken pains to hide his gay orientation.

Conservatives following the case say Walker has already proven a pro-gay bias. They point out the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his attempt to skirt federal rules by broadcasting the trial.

"From the outset, Walker's entire course of conduct in the anti-Prop 8 case has reflected a manifest design to turn the lawsuit into a high-profile, culture-transforming, history-making, Scopes-style show trial of Prop 8's sponsors," Ed Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, writes in the National Review Online blog, "The Corner"...

Iowa residents are letting lawmakers know how they feel about the legalization of homosexual marriage by the state Supreme Court, and the issue is expected to be a major battleground in 2010.

January 11 and 12, Iowa residents will be at the state capitol lobbying lawmakers to give voters the chance to decide on the issue by amending the state constitution. Bryan English of the Iowa Family Policy Center tells OneNewsNow they plan to send a strong but polite message through the effort titled "Two Days For Marriage."

"We expect to be able to exercise our constitutional right to vote, and we also expect that our elected representatives won't stand in our way," English states, warning that "any elected representative who stands between the people of Iowa and their constitutional right to vote on the definition of marriage is risking their political future"...