Last Friday, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights reversed an earlier decision by its Second Chamber that Italy’s policy of hanging crucifixes in classrooms was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The earlier decision was “hugely controversial.”:http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/11/03/us-italy-court-crucifix-idUSTRE5A249120091103 Italy’s appeal was joined by an unusually large number of states (Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Russian Federation, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, and the Republic of San Marino). The Vatican “is pleased “:http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/viewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=2098 and a spokesman stated that: “human rights must not be placed in opposition to the religious foundations of European civilization.”
See “here”:http://www.ejiltalk.org/a-comment-on-lautsi/ for a critical legal analysis of the Grand Chamber’s decision. “Joseph Weiler”:https://its.law.nyu.edu/facultyprofiles/profile.cfm?personID=20371, who served as counsel in the appeal, offers a critical analysis of the “initial ruling here”:http://www.ejiltalk.org/lautsi-crucifix-in-the-classroom-redux/. Incidentally, Weiler also “recently won”:http://www.ejiltalk.org/in-the-dock-in-paris-%E2%80%93-the-judgment-by-joseph-weiler-2/ a libel case brought against him because he published a critical book review (as a journal editor) that was not appreciated by the author of the book ( “Karin Calvo-Goller.)”:http://www.clb.ac.il/english/lectures/karin.htm See “here “:http://crookedtimber.org/2010/02/25/libel-and-academic-book-reviews/ for Henry’s original blog post on that case.