Another pastor and another political problem. When evangelical minister John Hagee endorsed Sen. John McCain it was no secret that was Hagee is controversial. He's called the Catholic Church "the great whore" and a "cult." But today, after a recording of Hagee saying Hitler had been fulfilling God's will surfaced McCain rejected Hagee's endorsement. What impact will this have on his campaign? We've got the raw politics.
Also tonight, a huge victory for the parents of Warren Jeffs' polygamist sect. A Texas appeals court said there wasn't enough evidence to support the initial claim of abuse and the state should never have taken children from the ranch. So what happens to them now?
CNN Sr. Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin has been following this story from the beginning and he blogged about the ruling. Jeffrey will be on the program tonight along with Rod Parker who is an attorney for the FLDS church. David Mattingly interviewed a young woman who gave birth while in custody of the state and Anderson will interview a former FLDS member who lived through the 1953 raid.
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[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/04/23/book.292.320.jessop.jpg caption="Carolyn Jessop is a former FLDS Member and Co-Author of Escape" width=292 height=320]
Carolyn Jessop
Former FLDS Member
I was shocked when I heard the news of the Texas Appellate Court ruling this afternoon.
Waves of horror washed over me at first as I thought that the children might have to be immediately returned. But that's not going to happen. This ruling will be appealed. It's not a knockout punch, but the FLDS obviously gained some ground today.
If those children go back to the complete, unsupervised control of the FLDS at the Yearning for Zion Ranch it would be like throwing gasoline on a fire that's already burning out of control. It would send a message that the FLDS can get away with any level of crime which would reinforce what society, through its inaction over the years, has reinforced for a very long time. The pattern in the FLDS is, from my experience, that once its leaders can get away with one level of crime they move on to the next.
I know from my conversations with those close to this case that Texas authorities feel they have found a system of abuse within the Eldorado compound. Remember the dozens of babies that were left unattended in a nursery? Or the news this week that 100 kids didn't match up with any parents in the compound? There will be more information about the physical and sexual abuse of these children when criminal charges are filed. A lot of evidence was taken out in the raid that investigators are still piecing together.
Erica Hill
360° Correspondent
This is a beautiful story about love, compassion and the power of a mother. In the aftermath of the China earthquake, one local police officer – who is also the mother of a 6 month old – began nursing orphaned babies and those whose mothers could no longer feed them.
Some of the women had lost their milk because of the trauma. This mother didn’t think twice about helping the infants in need. What a smart, selfless, kind and important decision by this mom to help. I am in awe.
There are an estimated 4,000 orphans in China as a result of the 7.9 magnitude quake. The only positive to that bit of information is that thousands more Chinese are responding, hoping to adopt these children.
__________
Cancer touches too many families. Most of you reading this blog know someone who has been diagnosed – and hopefully beaten – cancer, whether it’s a family member, friend or co-worker. My Dad’s side of the family has been hit with enough cancer to fill a textbook. My Dad is a survivor of head and neck cancer – a somewhat rare but no less nasty form of the disease.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/05/22/art.polygamymothers2.jpg caption="Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints mothers smile as they leave the Tom Green County courthouse after hearing news of a court ruling in their favor. " width=292 height=320]
Jeffrey Toobin
CNN Sr. Legal Analyst
The Third District Court of Appeals, in Austin, today ruled that the children seized last month at the FLDS ranch must be returned to their mothers. The decision made a lot of sense to me. The nine-page opinion is very much worth reading here.
To me, the key passage in the opinion is this one:
"Removing children from their homes and parents on an emergency basis before fully litigating the issue of whether the parents should continue to have custody of the children is an extreme measure. It is, unfortunately, sometimes necessary for the protection of the children involved. However, it is a step that the legislature has provided may be taken only when the circumstances indicate a danger to the physical health and welfare of the children and the need for protection of the children is so urgent that immediate removal of the children from the home is necessary."
The question is whether the Texas authorities put forth enough evidence to justify the 'extreme' step of taking the children away from their mothers. The court focused a great deal on the claim by Texas that the 'pervasive belief system' of the FLDS put the children in danger that males were raised to be perpetrators of sexual abuse and females were trained to be victims.
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David M. Reisner
360° Digital Producer
David M. Reisner
360° Digital Producer
This is just crossing the wires:
An Appeals court has ruled that the state of Texas should not have removed the more than 400 children it took from a polygamist sect's ranch
In its ruling, the Texas 3rd District Court of Appeals decided in favor of 38 women who had appealed the removals, as well as a decision last month by a district judge that the children will remain in state custody.
The ruling stated:
"The legislature has required that there be evidence to support a finding that there is a danger to the physical health or safety of the children in question and that the need for protection is urgent and warrants immediate removal,"
"Evidence that children raised in this particular environment may someday have their physical health and safety threatened is not evidence that the danger is imminent enough to warrant invoking the extreme easure of immediate removal prior to full litigation of the issue."
The children were removed last month from the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy.
From our Ed Lavandera:
"This ruling out of Austin goes on to say the family and protective services division (the agency in charge of removing the children from the compound) did not prove the children were in danger and they needed to be removed from their homes."
"You can imagine what the reaction is going to be in the coming ours from those involved with the sect and those who live in the compound... "
"State officials are also saying they still need more time to investigate and they are still in that process. "
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