DES MOINES, Iowa -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says Iowa voters have sent a national message by ousting three state Supreme Court justices over the gay marriage issue.

Huckabee was in Des Moines on Sunday courting evangelical conservatives.

He told reporters the decision by the state's voters to oust the justices resonated across the country. He thinks it will also add momentum to a larger movement over the gay marriage issue...

Pro-military advocates are warning against the dangers of letting federal district court judges start making significant Pentagon policy, saying it would essentially turn the military over to a network of political appointees who could be swayed by various pressure groups.

If a district court judge in one unilateral order can strike down a legal ban on open gays in the military, as did federal Judge Virginia A. Phillips, then such judges also could strike down the prohibition on women in land combat, or rules on wearing a uniform, or requirements for grooming, or even the war against al Qaeda.

Judge Phillips went beyond ruling the gay ban unconstitutional and letting appeals courts weigh in: She ordered the Pentagon to stop enforcing it — worldwide...

Detroit (AP) - A federal judge on Thursday upheld the authority of the federal government to require everyone to have health insurance, dealing a setback to groups seeking to block the new national health care plan.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in Michigan by a Christian legal group and four people who claimed lawmakers exceeded their power under the Constitution's commerce clause, which authorizes Congress to regulate trade.

But Judge George Caram Steeh in Detroit said the mandate to get insurance by 2014 and the financial penalty for skipping coverage are legal. He said Congress was trying to lower the overall cost of insurance by requiring participation...

A recent poll shows that several judges who voted for homosexual "marriage" in Iowa may be on the search for new jobs by the time the retention election comes to pass.

According to the Des Moines Register, it is possible that all the judges will be removed, even though no Iowa judge has ever lost a judicial retention election.

"A stunning new poll shows that three of the seven judges who voted to impose 'gay marriage' in Iowa are in real trouble in their judicial retention elections, and this is shocking for Iowa because it's never happened in living memory," explains Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage. "No one can remember a time a judge did not win their judicial retention election"...

Attorneys have filed briefs before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge's ruling on August 4 that deemed California's marriage amendment unconstitutional.

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Jim Campbell tells OneNewsNow the Proposition 8 case has the potential to impact marriage and the use of the democratic process nationwide.

"What the lower court said here in essence is that it violates the United States Constitution to define marriage and to preserve marriage as the union between a man and a woman," Campbell explains. "So if that decision were to be upheld, it could have ramifications throughout the entire country"...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The federal judge who overturned California's same-sex marriage ban has more bad news for the measure's backers: He doubts they have the right to challenge his ruling that gay couples can begin marrying next week.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker on Thursday rejected a request to delay his decision barring Proposition 8 from taking effect until high courts can take up an appeal lodged by its supporters. One of the reasons, the judge said, is he's not sure the proponents have the authority to appeal since they would not be affected by or responsible for implementing his ruling.

By contrast, same-sex couples are being denied their constitutional rights every day they are prohibited from marrying, Walker said...

Judicial activism has again trumped voters' rights. That's the assessment of attorneys reacting to Thursday's turn of events in the seemingly never-ending legal battle over California's Proposition 8.

A California judge who last week overturned Prop. 8 yesterday rejected a request to delay his decision striking down Prop. 8 from taking effect until high courts can take up an appeal lodged by its supporters. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker gave marriage traditionalists until August 18 at 5:00 p.m. (Pacific) to obtain a ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on whether homosexual "marriages" should start before the court considers their broader appeal...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- From the outset of President Barack Obama's nomination of pro-abortion activist Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, her confirmation was virtually guaranteed. Today, the day after the Senate approved the nomination, Curt Levy of the Committee for Justice tries to find the silver lining.

With Democrats controlling nearly 60 votes, the ability of pro-life advocates and their Republican allies in the Senate to stop the nomination was difficult from the start.

But Levy, one of the top conservatives monitoring judicial nominees, says there is a silver lining that bodes well for those opposed to judicial activists who may be appointed to the high court in the future...

Conservative groups that oppose Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination are hoping that her statement of support for Israeli Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak will become a flash point in her confirmation hearings, which start Monday.

As video of Kagan’s introduction of Barak circulated online Wednesday, organizations like anti-abortion group Americans United for Life and the Traditional Values Coalition used the Kagan-Barak connection, in the absence of any written legal decisions by Kagan, to bolster their argument that she would be an activist judge if confirmed.

According to Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty, Kagan has indicated her willingness to use international law in interpreting U.S. cases, which Lafferty said is a pillar of Barak’s judicial philosophy...

At an award ceremony held at Harvard Law School in September 2006, Dean Elena Kagan introduced the winner of the annual Peter Gruber Foundation Justice Prize, newly-retired President Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel. In her remarks, Dean Kagan called Aharon Barak “my judicial hero.”[1]

The press release issued by the Gruber Foundation announcing the award stated: “President Barak is renowned for championing an activist judiciary and the rule of law and democracy.”[2]

In her introduction, Ms. Kagan noted there have been many “famous and great judges Harvard Law School [has been] associated with”....