Washington Wire
January, 2002 Vol. 4, No. 1

COMMUNITY VOICE IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE

At this time, the beginning of a new calendar year, it is worth pausing to appreciate the success we have had, with the help of Hashem, at the OU/IPA in representing the Orthodox Jewish community in the public policy conversation of the United States. This role of communal voice is often reflected and reported upon in the media. So that you can track such events and activities in between issues of the Washington Wire or Leadership Briefing, we have created a new section of the IPA's website - "OU/IPA In the News" -- http://www.ou.org/public/news.htm where we will post links to timely news accounts of OU/IPA activities as well as published opinion essays. 

LEGISLATIVE ISSUES

The first session of the 107th Congress ended with a rush of activity in mid-December. While all of our efforts did not reach complete fruition, they all achieved a measure of success.

Education Policy
Congress passed and the President signed the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - the principle federal education funding law. While proposals to enact school voucher programs failed, we succeeded in securing a continued commitment to the equitable participation of parochial school teachers and students in supplementary educational service programs as well as an expansion of such participation to new programs created by this legislation. We will now turn to working with Executive branch officials as they develop the regulations implementing this legislation as well as prepare for the next major federal education issue - funding for special education programs.

Workplace Religious Freedom Act
We continue to work toward securing greater protection for the religious needs of employees in the workplace. Such protections are needed to secure the ability of employees to observe religious holidays and wear religious garb if not already allowed to do so by their employer. While we fell short of securing the passage of this high-priority legislation, real progress was made. We now have the support of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and senior Republican senator Rick Santorum for WRFA. We have also increased the level of interest and participation by the office of Senator Kennedy, who chairs the Senate committee of jurisdiction. Finally, we also concluded negotiations with the AFL-CIO that have settled concerns that they have had about the legislation and that now allows organized labor to support our efforts in this regard.

Institute for Public Affairs Phone: 202-857-2770
1640 Rhode Island Avenue, N.W. Fax: 202-331-9161
Washington, DC 20036 Email: ipadc@ou.org

Faith-Based Initiative
Legislation designed to implement the President's plan to open federal social service grant programs to participation by religious organizations passed the House of Representatives last summer. In the wake of the House vote, attention turned to the Senate where we have been in close communication with Senator Joe Lieberman, the leading Democrat on this issue, Senator Rick Santorum, the lead Republican, as well as senior White House officials as the initiative's content and strategy is shaped again. Our commitment is to ensuring that religiously affiliated charities are not discriminated against in federal grantmaking procedures while simultaneously ensuring that there are appropriate safeguards against federally funded religious coercion. We have been successful to date in helping craft legislative proposals to meet these goals, and will continue this work until final passage.

JUDICIAL DOCKET

We are pleased to report that New York State's highest court has issued a favorable ruling in the case of Lightman v. Flaum & Weinberger. This case involved critical issues associated with the legal parameters governing confidential conversations between rabbis and their congregants. The OU filed a friend of the court brief in the case in its hearing before New York's intermediate appellate court -- http://www.jlaw.com/Briefs/lightman1.html - and joined with COLPA to file a brief in this hearing of the case before New York's highest court. Among the bases of the court's ruling in favor of the rabbis, the court accepted the argument put forth by us that it would be inappropriate for a secular court to review and rule upon the dictates of religious law. For the NY Times account of this decision, see http://www.ou.org/public/statements/2001/nate45.htm

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is preparing to review the case of Tenafly Eruv Association et. al. vs. Borough of Tenafly, New Jersey. This case arises from the decision of Tenafly's town council to deny the new Orthodox residents of that New York City suburb permission to use the town's right of way in order to establish an eruv. The Eruv Association had obtained permission from Bergen County and the local utility company to erect an eruv and had done so. Tenafly ordered the eruv taken down and the Association sued in federal court for a preliminary injunction against this action. The District Court ruled against the Association, despite recognizing that there was a fair amount of evidence indicating improper intent motivating the Tenafly council. The Third Circuit has issued a stay, allowing the eruv to remain in place pending the appeal. The OU/IPA spearheaded an amicus effort in support of the eruv that included securing the participation of many national Jewish organizations. http://www.forward.com/issues/2001/01.11.16/news3.html Our brief's essential contentions are: 1. that Tenafly's denial of the eruv constitutes a violation of the Free Exercise of Religion rights of the town's Orthodox Jews and 2. that Tenafly's accommodating the Orthodox Jews through allowing the eruv would not violate the Establishment Clause.

Finally, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to finally and directly address the question of the constitutionality of school voucher programs. The court will review the City of Cleveland pilot program, a case the OU/IPA has participated in previously -- http://www.jlaw.com/Briefs/friend1.html -- and has again in the form of an amicus brief in this historic case.

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