Monthly Archives: February 2012

Lyle DennistonIn a continuing series of posts, Lyle Denniston provides responses based on the Constitution and its history to public statements about the meaning of the Constitution and what duties it imposes or rights it protects. Today’s topic: birth control and religious belief.

The statement at issue:

“In imposing this requirement, the federal government has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries, encroaching on religious freedom in a manner that affects millions of Americans and harms some of our nation’s most vital institutions.”

–Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, on the floor of the House of Representatives, February 8, commenting on the Obama Administration’s plan to require hospitals and clinics to include insurance coverage for birth control, without an exception for such facilities that are operated by the Roman Catholic Church, which treats contraception as a violation of its beliefs.

We checked the Constitution, and…

For more than four decades, public policymakers have been trying to fashion exemptions from government programs when those would violate the religious views of those taking part in the program. And, while constitutional issues have always been in the background of efforts to write “conscience” exemptions, the constitutional boundaries that Speaker Boehner discussed are not yet as clearly defined as he suggested; the lines are blurred, and might vary depending on the details.

President Obama and his aides are continuing to struggle over ways to avoid violations of religious doctrine (mainly, Roman Catholic dogma) as they move to implement a provision in the new federal health care law requiring health insurance coverage of birth control for employees. They also are developing arguments to use in defending that provision in three lawsuits already challenging it, in cases filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

So far, the government has given churches, as such, an exemption, but the regulations do not give an exemption of equal scope to hospitals, colleges, or other social service institutions directly affiliated with a religious organization but not primarily involved in spreading the faith. After a strong political protest came rushing at them, Administration aides began tinkering with a broader exemption, and are still working on its details.

As this controversy unfolds, in the courts if not in the political realm, judges will not find it easy to sort out where the Constitution stands. A split decision by the California Supreme Court in 2004, upholding a state law that does very much what the new federal law requires in mandating birth control coverage, illustrates how judges can and do differ on how to interpret prior Supreme Court rulings that do not deal directly with that issue (Catholic Charities of Sacramento v. Superior Court).

It is settled under the Constitution, of course, that the government may not operate a program that favors one religious faith over another, nor can it carry on a program that is based on hostility to one disfavored faith. The First Amendment guarantees religious neutrality in government action, and it assures religious organizations wide freedom to run their own internal affairs without government intrusion.

But those are broad principles, and the Supreme Court has not spelled out, in a specific case involving a “conscience clause,” just what the Constitution requires, or allows, when a public policy or scheme falls somewhere between the extremes and a religious organization claims its religious freedom has been compromised or violated.

The Justices, though, over the years have decided numerous cases that will now be parsed by lower court judges as they prepare to rule on the constitutionality of the new federal mandate on birth control for employees of religiously affiliated medical and educational facilities.

In chronological order, here are perhaps the most significant rulings that might favor the challenges to that mandate: Watson v. Jones, 1871, government may not second-guess internal tenets of faith or religious discipline; Corporation of Presiding Bishops v. Amos, 1978, allowing government to exempt religious employers from claims of religious bias in workplace policies; Larson v. Valente, 1982, government is forbidden to discriminate against one religious denomination, based on how they raise church revenues; Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah, government may not ban specific forms of religious practice if that is done out of hostility to the tenets of that faith; Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2012, government must provide an exception to laws against discrimination for workplace policies involving church ministers or faith leaders.

Also chronologically, here are the key rulings that might favor the birth control mandate: United States v. Lee, 1982, an employer must pay Social Security and unemployment taxes despite a religious objection; Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor, 1985, religious organizations must pay their workers minimum wages despite a religious protest; Employment Division v. Smith, 1990, laws that apply generally and do not single out religious groups may be upheld even if they intrude on religious practices.

In the 2004 Catholic Charities decision by California’s Supreme Court upholding a birth control mandate, it took the majority and dissent a total of 80 pages to sort through those, and other, Supreme Court precedents. It involved considerable judicial labor.

Lyle Denniston is the National Constitution Center’s Adviser on Constitutional Literacy. He has reported on the Supreme Court for 54 years, currently covering it for SCOTUSblog, an online clearinghouse of information about the Supreme Court’s work.

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Constitution Check: Does mandated birth control insurance violate religious freedom?

Zite found that users of its iPhone app spend far more time reading articles during the day than do their iPad owner counterparts.

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

When Zite's Mike Klaas examines usage data for his company's news aggregation app, something very interesting pops out: he can pretty much paint a picture of how his users are spending their days.

The upshot? People use Zite on their iPhones pretty much any time they have a few spare minutes during the workday and when they're in bed late at night. But in the evening, they settle in on their iPads for longer, more relaxed stretches of time.

The data are very clear on this, and it's a lesson that other news aggregators with both iPad and iPhone versions are also learning and that anyone working on apps for the two devices would be wise to heed.

In looking deep into usage data showing how and when people use Zite on the two devices, Klaas and his team can tell a lot about users' actions simply from the peaks and valleys in the graphs.

This graph, from Zite, shows when its users pull out the app on the iPhone and iPad.

(Credit: Zite)

"I was surprised at how clearly the various phases of the day--morning, lunch time, and supper time--fell out of the day," said Klaas, Zite's director of technology. "It's almost like a story of what a user is doing as they move from one part of their day to another."

Mealtimes definitely seem to be a key indicator of when users' iPhones come out of their pockets. Looking at a graph that compares usage of Zite's iPhone and iPad versions, it's very easy to identify the iPhone bumps at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time. By contrast, while there are similar bumps reflected in the data on iPad usage, they are smaller in the morning and at lunch and much smoother in the evening.

Zite launched its iPad app last spring, and it quickly became a hit. The New York Times, for example, named it one of the best iPad apps of 2011. Then, in December, the company--which was bought by CNN last summer--put out its iPhone version.

The same week that Zite came out for iPhone, Flipboard, already one of the most popular iPad apps of all time, did the same. And now, with two months of data to look at, those companies, and others, are making it clear that when designing an app for both smartphones and tablets, it's crucial to make sure that the different versions accommodate short bursts of usage on iPhone, and more in-depth sessions on iPad.

Starbucks moment
The best way to consider how someone uses Zite, Flipboard, or other similar apps on the iPhone might be to think about when small windows of attention open up during the work day.

Flipboard's Cover Stories feature has been a hit on the company's iPhone app.

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

According to Flipboard spokesperson Marci McCue, that company's iPhone version is ideally used when, say, someone wants a quick check of what's going on while standing in line for coffee. That's why one of the most popular features on Flipboard's iPhone version is Cover Stories, a set of continuously updated set of articles and photos coming in through Flipboard users' social networks.

"Cover Stories have been an incredibly popular section for the iPhone," McCue said, "because it does have that one-hit notion of, What do I need to check in on right now in like at Starbucks."

Prior to its release of an iPhone version, Flipboard was used to seeing usage peaks in the morning and evening, with big dropoffs during the workday. Since the iPhone version release, one of the most visible impacts has been that "we've seen usage flatten out from the peaks to being more consistent throughout the day," McCue said.

At Zite, the results have been very much the same. Although the iPad is still the dominant device among users of the service, the iPhone is quickly gaining ground--and it is dominating the workday as Zite users with Apple's smart phone find that almost any free time is a good opportunity to load up the app and check in on the latest news.

Once they get home, though, the iPad takes over. "There's a huge surge in the evening, as people relax [with their iPads] on the couch," Klaas said. "For us, that's the busiest time during the whole week...when the evening of the West Coast and the East Coast intersect."

Zite has been able to identify specific usage bumps around mealtimes.

(Credit: Zite)

Yet, while Zite learned that its iPhone users like shorter bites of the app than do their iPad counterparts, Klaas said that one surprise to emerge from the data was the gap in session length between the two versions. While he had expected that iPad users would spend far more time with Zite than those on iPhones, it turns out that iPad sessions average just 20 percent longer.

'Personal prime time'
For its part, Flud, another news reader with both iPad and iPhone versions, has also seen what appears to be a daytime/nighttime division between the two devices.

Flud founder Bobby Ghoshal said the number of average articles users read per session dropped since the company's iPhone app came out. But that's a good thing for Flud, said Ghoshal, because it reflects the fact that many iPhone owners are using the app during the day to bookmark articles they want to read later and then returning at night to read them on iPads. And as a result, sessions per user is on the rise, he said.

Ultimately, the dominance of the iPhone during the day makes a lot of sense. After all, the workday is filled with small moments of what Read It Later, a service that helps people identify and save articles to read when it's more convenient, calls "whitespace." It is during these moments between tasks and locations that people reach for their phone," Read It Later wrote in a blog post last month. "These are perfect times to knock an item or two off of your reading list."

This chart showcases iPad usage by Read It Now users in the evening, a period that the company calls 'Personal primetime.'

(Credit: Read It Now)

But iPad users clearly want to save their reading for what Read It Later calls "personal prime time," the hours between dinner and bedtime. "Work is done, dinner is resting in your belly, and there is nothing left to do but put your feet up and relax," the blog post continued.

So what does it all mean?

Mobile devices allow us to read what we want when we can. With the iPhone, it's easier than ever to blast through a couple of articles on the bus, or while waiting for coffee. The iPad, on the other hand, offers a compelling experience of sitting back on the couch and catching up. As Read It Later put it, "Readers want to consume content in a comfortable place, on their own time, and mobile devices are making it possible for readers to take control."

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Mobile freedom: iPhone by day, iPad by night

The Pullman community came together Saturday morning to discuss concerns of diversity for the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom School program.

Upon entering the Talmadge Anderson Heritage House (TAHH), guests were greeted and directed to a breakfast table and encouraged to settle into the neighboring room filled with brightly colored art, all donated to this African-American culture and heritage house.

The Freedom School event was re-scheduled after poor weather prevented it from happening in January. 

Barbara Ward, assistant professor of literacy at WSU, said people of all ages attended the three hour program to learn as a community how far the U.S. has come on the journey for social justice. However, she said there is still a lot of work to be done.

Laura Appel, culture and heritage houses coordinator for the diversity education program, agreed with Ward that the journey for social justice is still long.

“There is still discrimination in the world,” she said. “These types of events ... give us ways to work through it so that it’s not causing the same problems as it’s caused us in the past.” 

The Freedom School program, which originally started in 1964 in Mississippi, was used to help teach African-Americans how to pass voting tests that made it nearly impossible for African-Americans to vote. 

Today, the Freedom School is a six-week program across the nation for children of every background. This year the event was resurrected because parents whose older children attended Freedom School in the past wanted their youngsters to learn about King and the civil rights movement, said Felicia Gaskins, vice president of the Office of Equity and Diversity.

The day was split into two groups of adults and children of all ages. While the adults stayed in the TAHH to watch “Mighty Times: The Children’s March” the children scurried to the Native American Cultural House to learn songs and key ideas about King’s ideas on freedom, equality and opportunity.

The cultural houses are fairly new to WSU. What used to be faculty houses are now resources for anyone looking for a unique book to read or a building available for event reservation. The buildings are open to the public and the anyone interested is encouraged to use them, Gaskins said.

A discussion followed the documentary. Members of the audience, many of which were Pullman residents, brought up points such as making sure elementary school children have role models to look up to. The children also performed the songs they learned, as well as a short skit imitating Rosa Parks’ protest on the bus.

Gaskins said events like these are important because racism and prejudice are not dead. She said it is important to understand U.S. history in order to build a positive future.

Appel said after a three-year break from Freedom School, the WSU diversity education program decided to bring it back because of issues plaguing the world in the recent past.

Ward said she was thrilled with Saturday’s turnout.

“I was just so excited to see so many people ... from different parts of the state and also the wonderful age levels,” she said. “I felt like I found a home (in this group).”

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Freedom School honors MLK

JARED NICOLL

The number of freedom campers sleeping out illegally in Marlborough peaked over the last month due to wayward vineyard workers and Kiwi holidaymakers, says Marlborough District Council.

Tourists and vineyard workers are drawn to Marlborough over summer, resulting in a rise in the number of people sleeping in vehicles in public places, such as Pollard Park and Oliver Park near central Blenheim, which are not designated camping sites.

The closest designated sites are Collins Memorial Reserve, Koromiko, and Blairich Reserve, Awatere.

Council reserves and amenities officer Robert Hutchinson said the number of campers breaking the rules in the area in January was on par with the same month a year earlier, when 155 people were found freedom camping in Marlborough.

"We see a lot of vineyard workers, but we've been seeing a few Kiwis trying to get a cheap trip too."

Council staff issued the region's first freedom camping infringement notice under the 2011 Freedom Camping Act, a fine of $200, to two French vineyard workers after they were caught camping three times in an undesignated area in mid-January.

"The thing with freedom campers is most of them are just driving through so it shouldn't be a problem.

"We understand the network [between campers] is pretty strong, where they can hide and get away with it. We find the ones that aren't part of the network."

Council reserves ranger Murray Morgan said a bigger effort was being made to educate people about freedom camping rules.

"Around the Blenheim area it's mainly seasonal vineyard workers who camp for one or two nights then move to another spot and there's been a few that have popped up in four or five places.

"It's not as big a problem as it used to be. Most of them are good as gold once you explain things to them."

Council staff handed out pamphlets to campers with information on where they could stay, and contacted contracting businesses who specialised in providing workers to vineyards to encourage them to tell their staff the rules, he said.

Vincon Limited director Ram Kumara said the company organised accommodation for its workers.

"We're an RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employer) and the Department of Labour checks we are meeting the requirements, like ensuring they have a place to stay," Mr Kumara said.

The Recognised Seasonal Employer Work Policy allows for the temporary entry of overseas horticultural and viticulture workers.

Ace Viticulture owner Ashish Sawant said he offered advice to his workers on where to stay and most of them stayed in backpackers or motorhomes.

For information on camping visit the website

- The Marlborough Express

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Workers fined for freedom camping