At Religion Clause, Howard Friedman notes that Santa Monica could become the second California city to place on the 2012 ballot a ban on circumcision. A similar measure will be up for public referendum in San Francisco, prompting fierce opposition by many religious liberty advocates and others. Here's a sample:
The SF Chronicle's editorial board urges voters to turn away this "wacky measure," so they don't have to depend on courts to throw it out.
Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby calls the effort "madness."
The Jewish Week finds the proposal to be "a blatant violation of the First Amendment."
Slate's Explainer ponders the fate of such a ban in court considering California's lack of a state RFRA that would place a higher burden on the state in defending the law.
And at the Volokh Conspiracy, law professor Eugene Volokh discusses the religious liberty issues here, concluding that there is no guarantee parents with religious objections to the law could win an exemption in court, should the ban become law.
