Round-up (Updated)

There's everything but the kitchen sink in this one . . .

* The Wall Street Journal says that the Alliance Defense Fund  "is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics."  UPDATE:  The Alliance Defense Alert on this issue is here.

*  The list of the lawyers on John McCain's "Justice Advisory Committee" is posted below the fold.  Meanwhile, Al Kamen notes that, if McCain were elected, he might have the chance to fill the seats of Justices John Paul Stevens, who just turned 88, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is 75.  But McCain "also might be able to replace conservative justices Antonin Scalia, 72, and Anthony Kennedy, 71, with younger Republicans."  If all that came to pass, Kamen says, "McCain could create a court with a seven-member conservative majority whose oldest member would be Clarence Thomas, who turns 60 next month."

*  The text of McCain's speech on human trafficking and international religious freedom is here.

*  The members of Barack Obama's Catholic advisory group respond to Bill Donohue's criticism of them.

*  Acording to the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff "called a raid on a polygamous sect's ranch in Texas no surprise given the group's resistant, secretive practices but said Thursday he would never authorize such a move in Utah. "  He also said that the assignment of a federal Justice Department prosecutor to review how the federal government can work with state and local law enforcement on polygamy cases was "a good first step, but said they would need to involve other federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor, to look into possible financial crimes and child labor violations."  According to The Deseret News, "the U.S. Attorney for Nevada will oversee [the joint federal-state-local] efforts, and Shurtleff said he expects they would have their first meeting next week. "  (See here for a previous post on this issue.)

John McCain's "Justice Advisory Committee"

Chairs Of The Justice Advisory Committee:

• Theodore B. Olson — former Solicitor General of the United States
• Senator Sam Brownback — United States Senator, Kansas

Steering Committee

• Michael Abramowicz — Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Hon. William P. Barr — former Attorney General of the United States
• Gerard V. Bradley — Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
• Rachel Brand — former Assistant Attorney General for Office of Legal Policy
• Steven Calabresi — George C. Dix Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
• Dean Ronald A. Cass — Chairman, Center for the Rule of Law; Dean Emeritus, Boston University School of Law
• Senator Daniel Coats — former United States Senator, Indiana
• Manus M. Cooney — former Chief Counsel and Staff Director, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
• Charles J. Cooper — former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel
• Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr. — former White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan
• Carol E. Dinkins — Partner, Vinson & Elkins
• John F. Duffy — Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Miguel A. Estrada — former Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States
• Charles Fried — Beneficial Profes sor of Law, Harvard Law School; former Solicitor General of the United States
• Sandra S. Froman — Arizona attorney
• Richard W. Garnett — Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
• Robert P. George — McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
• Senator Lindsey Graham — United States Senator, South Carolina
• Senator Phil Gramm — former United States Senator, Texas
• Governor Frank Keating — former Governor of Oklahoma
• Orin S. Kerr — Professor, George Washington Universit y Law School
• Senator Jon Kyl — United States Senator, Arizona
• Christopher Landau — Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
• Senator Trent Lott — former United States Senator, Mississippi
• Randy Mastro — former Deputy Mayor of New York City
• John O. McGinnis — Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
• Maureen E. Mahoney — former Deputy Solicitor General of the Unites States
• Thomas W. Merrill — Charles Keller Beekman Professor, Columbia Law School
• Marc L. Mukasey — Partner, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP ; former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York
• Caleb Nelson — Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
• Eileen J. O'Connor — former Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice
• Hon. Thomas R. Phillips — former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas
• Edward R. Reines — Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
• Kristi L. Remington — former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy
• Professor Daniel B. Rodriguez — Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law, The University of Texas at Austin Scho ol of Law
• Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz — Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Ronald D. Rotunda — University Professor and Professor of Law, George Mason University
• Cathy Cleaver Ruse — Senior Fellow for Legal Studies at the Family Research Council; Governor, Ave Maria School of Law
• Peter B. Rutledge — Associate Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law
• Jon A. Sale — former federal prosecutor for NY and Miami; former law professor, Nova Southeastern and St. Thomas
• John Smietanka — former U.S. attorney
• Stephen F. Smith — Professor of Law, John V. Ray Research Professor, University of Virginia School of Law
• George J. Terwilliger, III — former Deputy Attorney General of the United States
• Senator Fred Thompson — former United States Senator, Tennessee
• Eugene Volokh — Gary T. Swartz Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
• Dan K. Webb — Chairman, Winston & Strawn; former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois