Religious Action Center :: RACBlog

OT08 is O-V-E-R

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:04:35 -0500

The October 2008 Supreme Court Term (OT08) has come to an end. After deciding 79 cases (up from 71 in OT07 and 72 in OT06), the Justices have hung up their robes for the summer and Justice Souter said goodbye to the Court forever.

By many measures, OT08 was more similar to OT06 (one of the most divisive terms in Supreme Court history) than to OT07. For example, in OT08, 29% of the cases were decided by a 5-4 majority as compared to 33% in OT06 and only 17% in OT07. And, the Court reversed or vacated the lower court in 76% of cases this term as compared to 73% in OT07 and only 66% in OT07.

Praying With Your Feet

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:05:09 -0500

Julie Bressler is a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan summer program for college students. She is a student at Washington University in St. Louis and an intern at the National Education Association.

At our Tuesday night Machon Kaplan class, we were asked to reflect on our first few weeks in Washington. We talked about our internships, our DC explorations, and our lack of sleep. To conclude our discussion, our group leaders told us about Abraham Joshua Heschel's trip to Selma, Alabama, to walk with Martin Luther King Jr. When asked why he came to Selma, Heschel replied, "When I march in Selma, my feet are praying." What does it mean to pray with your feet?

Fasting Together for Darfur

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:19:25 -0500

After over 80 rabbis joined together to fast for Sudan on June 18th, they agreed that they wanted to do more to keep the international, and their local, community focused on the humanitarian situation in Darfur.

Together they decided to do a rolling fast, with rabbis and cantors invited each to pick one day between now and Rosh Hashanah to do a one day water-only fast and to alert their communities and elected officials to the ongoing suffering in Darfur. A fast sign-up, resources to write a letter to the editor and spread the word, and a clergy sign-on letter are all available here.

Ending Prison Rape

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:42:04 -0500

Last week the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission issued its 259-page report on the disturbing prevalence of sexual abuse in our nation's prisons. The Commission, established under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (which was drafted with the help of the RAC and which Rabbi Saperstein testified in favor of) called for a number of standards to be put into place and for specific steps to be taken.