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Today's top five stories

1.Federal appeals courts in New York and San Francisco rule against partial-birth abortion ban
Both courts say the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act doesn't have enough of an exception for the health of the mother, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision is particularly interesting for its interpretation of the Supreme Court's recent unanimous Ayotte decision. "Congress, notwithstanding existing Supreme Court law and the multiple opportunities it was given to limit the act's scope, passed an overly broad ban that it was aware likely violated the Constitution as construed by the Court," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote. "In so doing, Congress left it to the judiciary to sort out which parts of the statute are constitutional and which are not. This is precisely what Ayotte reminded us Congress may not do." Let's hope the Supreme Court chooses to weigh in on whether that's a correct interpretation.

2.World Magazine questions Focus on the Family's ties to Abramoff
It appears that Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed enlisted James Dobson and Focus on the Family in their fight against expanded gambling in Louisiana. Abramoff and Reed's client, the Coushatta Tribe, wanted to fight off the gambing expansion to protect its own gambling interests in the state. That the article appears in the conservative magazine World is a bit of a surprise, especially given the article's edge. Here's how it ends:

Tom Minnery, a senior vice president at Focus on the Family … responded to the e-mails about Mr. Dobson by speculating that "it sounds like these guys were trying to take credit" for work Focus was already doing. He said Focus on the Family works on dozens of similar issues across the country each year, and that the organization had not become "an unwilling dupe of Jack Abramoff." Though Mr. Minnery said Mr. Reed "did the wrong thing by taking gambling money to fight gambling," he declined to comment specifically on Mr. Reed's participation in the e-mails about Mr. Dobson.

When asked if he found Mr. Reed's participation troubling, Mr. Minnery responded: "I'm not going to say any more about it."

3.Wolf and the Hound of Heaven?
Feminist icon Naomi Wolf has a new book out, but it's her interview with the Sunday Herald of Glasgow that's getting more attention. In "completely not the appropriate spiritual experience of someone of my background," Wolf said Jesus appeared to her a few years ago. She tells the paper:

I was completely dumbfounded, but I actually had this vision of … of Jesus, and I'm sure it was Jesus. But it wasn't this crazy theological thing; it was just this figure who was the most perfected human being—full of light and full of love. And completely accessible. Any of us could be like that. There was light coming out of him holographically, simply because he was unclouded. But any of us could become that as human beings. … On a mystical level, it was complete joy and happiness and there were tears running down my face. On a conscious level, when I came out of it I was absolutely horrified because I'm Jewish. This was not the thing I'm supposed to have confront me. …

I opened the door and there he was. … I wasn't myself in this visual experience. I was a 13-year-old boy sitting next to him [Jesus] and feeling feelings I'd never felt in my lifetime, of a 13-year-old boy being with an older male who he really loves and admires and loves to be in the presence of. It was probably the most profound experience of my life. I haven't talked about it publicly.

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February (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50