May 2011 Archives

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the City of Dearborn in a First Amendment case this week.

Dearborn, Michigan; once the home of Henry Ford, is now an American city with a population that is about 30 percent Arab-American, housing America's largest mosque.

First Amendment, large ethnic Arab population -- during this period of our country's history it doesn't take a legal genius to put the pieces of this puzzle together.

At issue this time was not a mosque controversy, it was a giant Arab party, the Arab International Festival, to be precise. And this time, the issue didn't involve masses of people wanting to keep Arab-Americans out; it involved masses of Arab-Americans wanting to keep certain people in.

Dearborn authorities arrested four members of a Christian group named "Acts 17 Apologetics" for allegedly breaching the peace at the Dearborn Festival when they tried to preach to the droves of Arab-Americans attending the festival. According to The Associated Press, the festival had offered Christian evangelist George Saieg a free booth in 2010, but he and his followers were barred from walking around freely on the sidewalks with literature trying to convert those Muslims in attendance to Christianity.

If a Federal Judge belongs to an all-white, all-male club, is it an issue? Is he partaking in racial discrimination?

Now, let's throw in the fact that this is no small club. It has 600 voting members, all white males.

Does that change things?

Well, according to The New York Times, a 10-8 decision of the Judicial Council of the Sixth Circuit allowed Judge George C. Paine II to keep his membership in the Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville.

An anonymous ethics complaint was filed last year against Judge George Paine, citing his membership in such a club. While the complaint was eventually dismissed by the Judicial Council, there were four separate dissents filed in the case, writes The Associated Press.