Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, temporarily blocked a Louisiana abortion law from taking effect.
- Follow up from last Monday’s AtW: Dominique Ray was executed Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed his appeal for an imam to be present with him at death because Ray failed to raise his claim sooner.
- President Trump spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., vowing to protect religious liberties: “I will never let you down.”
- A six-year-old boy in Saudi Arabia was beheaded in front of his mother for being a Shia Muslim while visiting a shrine to the Prophet Muhammad.
- Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) asked Neomi Rao, nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, whether she believes homosexual relationships are sinful and immoral, triggering condemnation from Senate Judiciary Republicans.
- The New Jersey Senate’s Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee voted in favor of a bill that, if passed, would enable adults with six months or less to live to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs.
- A federal judge ruled that the Diocese of Brownsville (TX) must allow federal officials to survey land around a historic chapel for possible construction of a border wall.
- Brazilian Catholic Archbishop Manoel Delson signed a decree that bans priests in his district from being alone with children following a court order requiring the archdiocese to pay almost £2.5m in compensation over the sexual exploitation of minors.
- Tennessee lawmakers have introduced legislation that, if passed, would permit adoption agencies to deny services to same-sex couples on religious grounds.
- Turkey has demanded that China shut down its concentration camps imprisoning Muslims following the reported death of a famous Uighur poet and musician.
- South Carolina legislators have introduced bills that seek to criminalize abortion.
- Amid a measles outbreak, New York lawmakers have introduced a bill that seeks to ban all non-medical exemptions from vaccination requirements for children, including exemptions for religious reasons.
- Members of Congress have introduced legislation to lift a gag rule imposed by President Trump that bans U.S.-funded grounds around the world from discussing abortion.
- The St. Paul City Council (MN) reached a settlement agreement with the First Lutheran Church in Dayton’s Bluff, which sued the city council after restrictions were imposed on its tenant, Listening House, a drop-in day center for homeless and low-income residents.
- The Arkansas Senate passed legislation that would ban abortions in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned or the U.S. Constitution is amended to prohibit the procedure.
- A woman was arrested for vandalism after surveillance footage caught her pushing over a 15-foot crucifix in St. Patrick’s Church in Watsonville, California.
- Marvin Archuleta, a former Catholic priest, was arrested in Albuquerque (NM) and charged with kidnapping and raping a six-year-old boy during the 1980s.
- Immaculata Catholic School in Durham (NC) closed Friday as demonstrators planned to speak out against an openly gay city council member and alumnus who was scheduled to speak at the school’s Black History Month celebration.
- Catholic bishops in Washington state are supporting legislation that would repeal the state’s death penalty.
- The Jacksonville (FL) Sheriff’s Office’s bomb squad responded to a suspicious package found inside the Etz Chaim Synagogue Saturday.