Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- Prime Minister Youssef Chahed of Tunisia issued an order prohibiting anyone wearing a niqab, a religious covering for the face with only an opening for the eyes, from entering public institutions and government offices, citing security reasons.
- A federal district judge upheld a Maine law that prohibits state funds from being used as tuition to fund a child’s education at a religious secondary school through the state’s school choice program.
- A pastor filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville (FL), claiming his free speech and free exercise rights were violated when his opening prayer at a city council meeting was cut off by the council president who thought the invocation was too political.
- Germany’s Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig ruled that motorcyclists must wear a helmet and cannot be exempted from the rule on religious grounds, rejecting the appeal of a Sikh man who argued a helmet would not fit over his turban.
- The New York Archdiocese filed a lawsuit against thirty-two of its insurers for not paying claims of abuse victims.
- A federal judge temporarily blocked from taking effect Ohio’s new fetal heartbeat law, which bans abortions once a fetus’s heartbeat is detected.
- The Department of Veteran Affairs announced that it is revising its policies to allow religious literature, symbols, and displays to exist in public areas at its facilities.
