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Frist splits with Bush on stem-cell research: Majority leader supports expanded federal funding

The Senate’s majority leader, citing his expertise as a physician, has announced that he would support an expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. The decision put Senator Bill Frist (R., Tenn.) at odds with the White House and many conservative religious groups.

Bush endorses teaching of 'intelligent design' President supports exposure to different ideas

President Bush has endorsed the teaching of “intelligent design” along with natural selection in a roundtable interview with reporters from Texas newspapers. Bush said public school students should be exposed to the former theory, which posits that biological evidence suggests life is too complex to have evolved without an intelligent designer, presumably a divine Creator.

Conservative, popular judge named for court: Roberts reputed to be brilliant litigator

President Bush nominated a strong conservative, federal appellate judge John Roberts, to replace retiring moderate justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.

After the announcement July 19, activists on both sides of the nation’s cultural debates agreed that the move signaled Bush’s intent to shift the ideological balance on the nation’s highest court further to the right—possibly for decades.