A couple legal challenges to watch...
* The Archdiocese of Baltimore has filed suit over the city of Baltimore's ordinance requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to post notices on their doors stating that they do not offer or refer for abortions or contraceptives. Archbishop O’Brien stated that the ordinance is "a clear violation of these centers’ constitutional rights to free speech and their free exercise of religion" and he said that he has "never heard of a private institution, groups being told that they must advertise what they don't do under financial penalty. I think it's discriminatory." Note that there are no similar regulations requiring pro-abort pregnancy centers to post notices stating that they don't provide abstinence education or adoption services.
* Alleged abuse victims in Kentucky are seeking to have Pope Benedict deposed, claiming negligence on the part of the Vatican. According to an AP account, "Vatican lawyers plan to argue that the pope has immunity as head of state, that American bishops who oversaw abusive priests weren't employees of the Vatican, and that a 1962 document is not the 'smoking gun' that provides proof of a cover-up." Various parties have also argued that there is nothing in Church documents that precludes Church authorities from involving law enforcement officials when abuse allegations are made. The attorney for the alleged victims - who is reportedly seeking class-action status for the case - has stated that "This case is the only case that has been ever been filed against the Vatican which has as its sole objective to hold the Vatican accountable for all the priest s*x abuse ever committed in this country." Observers have speculated on possible consequences of requiring leaders of other sovereign nations to testify in the U.S. (for example, that another nation may require the President of the U.S. to testify under foreign laws).
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