Tag: First Amendment

Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti Leads Coalition of GOP AGs in Letter Demanding DOJ Respect Rights of Critics of Children’s Trans Surgeries

Peter D'Abrosca

After the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Children’s Hospital Association asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate critics of transgender surgery for minors, Tennessee’s Attorney General is leading a coalition of his peers in responding. 

“We, the undersigned State Attorneys General, write to express our deep concern with the recent letter you received from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and the Children’s Hospital Association asking you to investigate and prosecute people who question the medical establishment’s current treatment of children struggling with gender dysphoria,” says the letter penned by Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, and co-signed by 12 other attorneys general. “You cannot and should not undertake such investigations or prosecutions.”

Read the full story

Commentary: Cake Maker Jack Phillips Is STILL in Court

Admin
Jack Phillips

The endless travails of the Colorado Christian baker Jack Phillips are a measure of America’s pathetic descent into coercive secularism. Phillips has spent at least a decade in court, beating back the ludicrous claims of ACLU-style militants who can’t rest until everyone has been dragooned into the LGBTQ revolution. Phillips was at first persecuted for declining trolling customer demands that he design cakes for gay nuptials. He survived that assault, but now faces fallout from the transgender lobby’s mau-mauing of his business. In 2017, a man pretending to be a woman sued him for not designing birthday cakes in honor of “gender transitions” — an obvious nuisance suit that the state of Colorado and activist judges have humored. Phillips is back in court fighting it.

Read the full story

Ohio Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Stopping Picketing at Homes, Private Businesses

The Center Square

Public officials are not immune from picketing connected to a labor dispute at their homes or private workplaces after a divided Ohio Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited encouraging “targeted picketing.”

The law made organizing picketing at a private residence and business an unfair labor practice, but in a 4-3 decision the Supreme Court said that violated the First Amendment right of free speech.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Michael P. Donnelly, Melody Stewart and Jennifer Brunner all joined the majority.

Read the full story

Arizona Attorney General Will Not Defend New Law Prohibiting People from Filming Police Up Close

Neil Jones

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) recently submitted a legal filing, sharing that he will not be defending the legality of House Bill (HB) 2319, which is set to go into effect on September 24th.

“The Attorney General is not the proper party to defend the merits of A.R.S. § 13-3732. The Attorney General will provide notice to the President of the Arizona State Senate and the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives that local and county prosecutors are the proper entities to defend this statute,” wrote Brnovich.

Read the full story

Del. Anderson Wants General Assembly to Create Book Content Ratings

Eric Burk

Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) wants to create a ratings system for books sold in Virginia, according to comments he made after a court dismissed an obscenity lawsuit against Barnes and Noble and Virginia Beach Public Schools.

“Every other medium has ratings associated with them, such as movies, music and video games,” Anderson said in a Tuesday statement. “Creating a rating system that warns purchasers and consumers that books contain strong sexual content will be a first step for the legislature to look into and I intend to start that conversation next year.”

Read the full story

First Liberty Institute Appeals Postman’s Religious Rights Case to Supreme Court

Peter D'Abrosca

After years of a lengthy legal battle, the case of a postman who says the United States Postal Service (USPS) must provide him with a religious accommodation is taking his case to the Supreme Court. 

“Today, First Liberty Institute, Baker Botts LLP, the Church State Council, and the Independence Law Center filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of former mailman Gerald Groff,” the First Liberty Institute said earlier this week. “The petition asks the Court to reverse a Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision finding that the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) is not required to provide religious accommodation allowing Groff to observe the Sunday Sabbath.”

Read the full story

Florida A&M University Pushes Policies in Tension with the State University System’s ‘Statement on Free Expression’

Admin

According to official Florida A&M University (FAMU) student residential policy, “[b]ehavior and/or activities that are considered offensive to others that do not constitute ones freedom of expression is prohibited, while in public areas of the residential facilities.”

This is just one of a multitude of FAMU policies that, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), are in tension with the freedom of speech and expression at the school.

Read the full story

Report: Michigan Among the Top Three Best ‘Free Speech’ States in the Union

The Center Square

Three Midwestern states scored best in the nation in analysis of laws restricting speech about government. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa outranked every other state by wide margins.

That’s the conclusion of a report issued by the Institute for Free Speech, a national nonprofit research facility that focuses on First Amendment rights. Wisconsin’s score of 86% out of a possible 100% was followed by Michigan (77%) and Iowa (75%).

Read the full story

Freedom From Religion Foundation Files Complaint With IRS Against Mesa Church After GOP Candidate Addresses Event

Rachel Alexander

The Wisconsin-based, “freethought” watchdog Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed a complaint with the IRS against the Redeemer Apostolic Church in Mesa after pastor and CD 4 candidate Jerone Davis appeared at a prayer revival event hosted by America’s Revival, which is separate from the church. Davison was endorsed there by the founder of America’s Revival, Pastor Joshua Feuerstein. The FFRF wants the church’s tax-exempt status revoked, asserting that it crossed the line into the type of political activity that nonprofit 501(c)(3)s are prohibited from engaging in.

Read the full story

GOP Lawmakers Question Constitutionality of State Department Grants to Spread Atheism Abroad

Admin

Republican lawmakers are questioning the constitutionality of a Biden State Department program to fund the spread of atheism and humanism internationally.

At the end of June, a group of 15 Republican members of Congress wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken about a State Department funding program from April 2021 that “would award grants of up to $500,000 to organizations committed to the practice and spread of atheism and humanism, namely in South/Central Asia and in the Middle East/North Africa.”

Read the full story

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds First Amendment Rights of Praying Football Coach

Susan Berry, PhD

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-3 opinion the expressions of a high school football coach who prayed by himself at midfield after games are protected by both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that coach Joseph Kennedy was fired “because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks.”

Read the full story

Teachers’ Unions Condemn Supreme Court Decision Upholding Religious Freedom and School Choice

Susan Berry, PhD

National and state teachers’ unions condemned the Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday that held a Maine tuition assistance program that bars families from using the taxpayer funds for religious schools is in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Union officials denounced the ruling as one that “attacks public schools,” “erodes democracy,” “harms students,” and undermines “the separation of church and state.”

Read the full story

Supreme Court Rules Maine Law Excluding Religious Schools from Tuition Assistance Is Unconstitutional

Susan Berry, PhD

In a major decision for religious freedom and school choice, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a Maine law that barred taxpayer tuition assistance funds from families choosing religious schools.

The Court ruled, 6-3, in Carson v. Makin, the Maine law that governs its tuition program’s exclusion of religious schools, while accepting other private schools, is a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and is, therefore, unconstitutional.

Read the full story

Center for Arizona Policy Reacts to SCOTUS Opinion That Upholds Parental and Religious School Rights

Neil Jones

Cathi Herrod, policy president of the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), released a statement Tuesday following the Supreme Court’s opinion that said not including religious schools in taxpayer tuition assistance funds was unconstitutional.

“In a victory upholding for parents and private religious schools, the U.S. Supreme Court has, again, stymied attempts to chip away at American’s right to freely practice their religion. The Court affirms that a state cannot offer financial programs to students attending secular schools, while refusing to offer those same programs to students attending religious schools,” Herrod said in a statement.

Read the full story

Court Rules in Favor of Pro-Life Advocates Opposing Planned Parenthood’s Plan to Erect Abortion Clinic Next Door to Public Charter School

Susan Berry, PhD

The DC Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled in favor of pro-life advocates in the nation’s capital in a lawsuit brought by a public charter school that objected to the group’s efforts to stop a Planned Parenthood “abortion mega-facility” from opening next door to the school.

Two Rivers Public Charter School and its board of trustees brought a lawsuit in December 2015 that alleged longtime pro-life activist Ruby Nicdao engaged in harassment and intimidation of students in her campaign to educate parents and the greater community about the consequences of Planned Parenthood’s plans to erect an “abortion mega-facility” next door to the children’s school, a press release from Thomas More Society explained.

Read the full story

Connecticut to Hire Full-Time ‘Misinformation’ Expert to Flag Social Media Posts Containing ‘False’ Statements About Elections

Susan Berry, PhD

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill (D) plan to channel the Biden administration by hiring a full-time “misinformation” expert who will seek to flag social media posts that suggest “bad information” about the state’s elections ahead of the midterms.

“We need to know what’s out there before it goes viral,” said Scott Bates, deputy secretary of the state, according to the New Haven Register. “We need to get ahead of the curve and knock down bad information to protect people from misinformation that would get in their way of voting.”

Read the full story

Virginia Congressman Celebrates Pause of Federal Government ‘Disinformation Board’

Peter D'Abrosca

A U.S. congressman from Virginia Wednesday celebrated the pause of the creation of a federal government “Disinformation Governance Board,” which was marred by controversy from its inception. 

“Victory for free speech: the Biden Administration is not proceeding with its Ministry of Truth. As a cosponsor of [House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23)]’s bill to defund the so-called DHS Disinformation Governance Board, I welcome this news. I will stay vigilant against threats to the First Amendment,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09).

Read the full story

Supreme Court Rules Boston Violated First Amendment over Rejection of Christian Flag

Admin

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the city of Boston was in violation of the First Amendment over its attempt to ban the Christian flag.

Axios reports that the opinion was written by outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer. In the opinion, Breyer states that the city government of Boston “violated the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment” by forbidding a Christian organization from flying the Christian flag in front of city hall, which Breyer said constituted discrimination “based on religious viewpoints.”

Read the full story

Commentary: Congress Authorized DHS and CISA’s ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ Activities in 2018

Admin

In 2018, Congress unanimously passed legislation, H.R. 3359, that authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to disseminate information to the private sector including Big Tech social media companies in a bid to combat disinformation by potential foreign and domestic terrorists.

According to the agency’s website, CISA says it “rout[es] disinformation concerns” to “appropriate social media platforms”: “The [Mis, Dis, Malinformation] MDM team serves as a switchboard for routing disinformation concerns to appropriate social media platforms and law enforcement.”

Read the full story

Supreme Court Rules Boston Violated Constitution by Not Allowing Christian Flag Outside City Hall

Admin

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that the city of Boston violated the U.S. Constitution when it refused to allow a local organization to fly a Christian flag in front of City Hall.

The nine justices said the city has established a public forum outside of City Hall, and invited all organizations to use the flagpole in front of the building to commemorate events. Not allowing the Christian flag to be flown denied the group the same rights as those afforded to all others and was a violation of free speech, said the court.

Read the full story

Boyle Proposes Public Financing of Pennsylvania Legislative Campaigns

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania State Rep. Kevin Boyle (D-Philadelphia) this week announced to colleagues his proposal for public funding of some state-legislative campaigns.

The measure would require a candidate to have raised at least $10,000 from “small-dollar donors,” meaning those who have contributed between $1 and $200. State Rep. Boyle would allocate payments to hopefuls amounting to six times the total small-dollar contributions they’ve amassed.

Read the full story

Free Speech Criticism Has Unlikely Source: The Press

Admin

When the far-right website Infowars was banned by all the major tech platforms in 2018, mainstream media outlets didn’t come to the defense of founder Alex Jones, whom they described as a conspiracy theorist.

Two years later, the same outlets had a similar non-response when Big Tech imposed another media ban — this one on the New York Post, one of America’s oldest and most well-established newspapers.

Read the full story

ADF Says College’s Settlement with Professor a ‘Victory for Free Speech’

Peter D'Abrosca

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is celebrating a court victory for one its clients, a professor who was punished by his employer for refusing to use the preferred gender pronouns of a student. 

“Dr. Meriwether’s victory is a free speech victory for professors all across the country,” Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom at ADF told The Ohio Star Wednesday. “The court rightly decided that his First Amendment rights were likely violated and vindicated these rights for all professors. No one should be forced to say something they believe is untrue and we are grateful the court has recognized that.”

Read the full story

15th Annual Easter Sunrise Celebration on Government Property at Chicago’s Daley Plaza

Susan Berry, PhD

Sunday will mark the 15th annual celebration of Easter on Chicago’s Daley Plaza – government property – including a sunrise service on Easter Sunday itself, to honor the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This sacred observance of Easter begins at Daley Plaza on Holy Thursday, 7:30 p.m. CDT, when a giant 19-foot-high cross is erected at 50 West Washington Street.

Read the full story

Connecticut Teachers’ Union Backs Down After Educator Exercises Right to Cut Off Dues Payments

Susan Berry, PhD
empty hallway

A teacher in the Plainville Community School District in Connecticut successfully exercised her First Amendment right to stop financial support for the activities of the Connecticut Education Association (CEA).

Christina Corvello invoked her rights under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME to end payment of dues to CEA despite union officials’ efforts to restrict her right to an “escape period,” i.e., a limited number of days several months in the future.

Read the full story

Feds’ Pressure on Tech Platforms to Censor COVID ‘Misinformation’ Is Unconstitutional, Suit Says

Admin

The government’s sustained pressure on social media platforms to censor and report purported COVID-19 misinformation amounts to “state action” that violates the First Amendment, according to a lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of three Twitter users.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a frequent litigant against COVID-related administrative action, is representing theoretical cognitive scientist Mark Changizi, lawyer Michael Senger and stay-at-home father Daniel Kotzin.

Read the full story

Catholic Charity Can Remain Open After Court Found Michigan Violated First Amendment

Admin

Catholic Charities West Michigan will remain open after state officials agreed under court order to pay the nonprofit’s attorney’s fees and acknowledged that taking actions against the charity for its beliefs would violate the First Amendment.

Catholic Charities prioritizes placing children up for adoption or in foster care with a married mother and father. The group filed a lawsuit with the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) after Michigan officials gave the nonprofit the ultimatum to either close its adoption and foster care ministry or change its policy prioritizing a married mother and father to receive a child.

Read the full story

College Officials Can Be Personally Liable for Firing Professor in Free Speech Case, Judge Rules

Admin

Public university officials can be held personally liable for dumping an adjunct professor based on his anonymous criticism of the concept of microaggressions, a federal court has concluded.

University of North Texas officials should have known that math professor Nathaniel Hiers’ speech “touched on a matter of public concern and that discontinuing his employment because of his speech violated the First Amendment,” U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan wrote in a 69-page memorandum and order Friday.

Read the full story

Georgia Senate Passes Bill Protecting Parent Protestors

Peter D'Abrosca

The Georgia State Senate Wednesday passed a bill that would protect parents’ right to protest their local school boards. 

SB 588 “provide[s] that all meetings of local boards of education shall be open to the public except as otherwise provided by law…” and “provide[s] that members of the public shall not be removed from such public meetings except for actual disruption and in accordance with rules adopted and published by the local board of education.”

Read the full story

Ohio Mother’s Lawsuit Says School Board Violating First Amendment Rights of Parents

Peter D'Abrosca

A mother who was told to “zip it” and then thrown out of a school board meeting while addressing the board’s members has filed a lawsuit against the district, claiming that the board’s rules for public speakers are unconstitutional. 

Plaintiff Ashley Ryder is seeking injunctive relief to stop the Big Walnut Local Schools (BWLS) from enforcing its rules at school board meetings. 

Read the full story

Durham Filing Raises Prospect History Might Have Changed If Clinton Lawyer Hadn’t Lied

Admin

It was an allegation that dogged Donald Trump for three years: a claim the Republican nominee-turned-president had a secret backdoor communications channel with the Kremlin. Repeated endlessly by the liberal media, the allegation was never true.

Now, Special Counsel John Durham is raising the tantalizing specter the FBI might never have investigated the claim during the height of the 2016 presidential election if the man who brought it to the bureau — Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann — had told the truth about its origins.

Read the full story

Puskaric to Ask Pennsylvania Agencies to Ditch Social Media Platforms That Censor

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Puskaric (R-Jefferson Hills) indicated Wednesday he will urge state agencies to ditch social-media platforms he says engage in censorship.

In a memorandum asking fellow representatives to cosponsor his upcoming resolution, the Pittsburgh-area legislator argued that especially large information-technology companies violate the state and federal constitutions when they make politicized publishing decisions. He insisted government institutions and officials should respond by cancelling their accounts on such sites and signing onto more permissive online venues instead.

Read the full story

Commentary: They Can’t Make Trump Go Away

Admin
Donald Trump

In the election of 2016, Donald Trump appealed to citizenship, sovereignty, and borders. This was a direct entreaty to the people as the ultimate source of sovereign authority, bypassing the ruling-class elites that dominate the media and the universities; his appeal also ignored political experts, pollsters, and government bureaucracy. In the postmodern world, the nation-state is under attack everywhere as the source of all evil, the cause of war, selfishness, racism, white privilege, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and all the other irrational phobias that make up the universe of political correctness. The idea of the nation-state itself is said to be irrational and arbitrary.

All of this overwrought criticism of nationalism and the nation-state overlooks a very significant point developed in my new book, The United States in Crisis: Citizenship, Immigration, and the Nation State: the nation-state is the only form of political organization that can sustain constitutional government and the rule of law.

No empire has ever been a constitutional democracy or republic, nor will constitutional government exist in global government. If, as is widely alleged, the dialectic of History is inevitably tending toward global governance and universal citizenship, then it is also tending toward tyranny.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Outcome if Government Unions Get Control of an Entire State

RealClearWire
Chicago Teachers’ Union protesting

Chaos. Disruption. Uncertainty.

The Chicago Teachers Union provides a real-world example of what happens when a government union has too much power.

CTU has gone on strike three times in three school years. In the latest work stoppage, over 330,000 schoolchildren missed five days of school. Parents were notified of the walkout after 11 p.m. on a school night, leaving them just hours to develop a back-up plan after the union decided not to show up.

Read the full story

Advocacy Group Poll Shows Tennessee Voters Support Right-to-Work Amendment

The Center Square

The committee advocating for a right-to-work constitutional amendment said a recent poll shows 64% of Tennesseans will vote “yes” to add the amendment to the state constitution.

The Vote Yes on 1 poll, conducted by Cygnal between Jan. 24-26, surveyed 500 likely general election voters. The poll had a margin of error of 4.34%.

Eighteen percent of those polled said they would vote against the amendment.

Read the full story

Capitol Police Is Surveilling Americans’ Social Media Feeds: Report

Admin

The U.S. Capitol Police is running background checks and examining the social media histories of people meeting with lawmakers, Politico reported Monday.

Following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, the Capitol Police adopted a new policy to dig into the social media feeds of individuals meeting members of Congress, Politico reported, citing three people familiar with the matter as well as internal Capitol Police documents and communications. Targets of the surveillance included congressional staffers as well as lawmakers’ constituents, donors and associates.

Julie Farnam, acting director of intelligence for the Capitol Police and former Department of Homeland Security official, directed analysts to run “background checks” on donors and associates of lawmakers, including instructions to “list and search all political opponents to see if they or their followers intend to attend or disrupt the event,” according to documents reviewed by Politico.

Read the full story

Commentary: It’s Time to End Race-Conscious Admissions Policies

Admin

It’s no secret that there is an obsession with race among our nation’s colleges.

On every campus, there seems to be another multicultural center for BIPOC students, or a class on how to be woke, or a bias response team.

And while the country is finally waking up to just how far left American society has drifted recently, such politics have been the norm on college campuses for years.

Read the full story

U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Stop Wisconsin Gov. Evers’ Invite-Only Press Briefings

The Center Square

Wisconsin’s governor can continue to exclude certain news organizations from specific news conferences.

The United States Supreme Court on Friday declined to take a case entered by John J. MacIver Institute that challenged the governor’s invite-only press briefings.

MacIver sued in 2019, saying Evers violated the First Amendment by excluding its reporters from the annual budget briefing.

Read the full story

Law Professor John Eastman on Steve Bannon’s War Room Explains Why Pelosi’s January 6 Select Committee is Not Legitimate

Julie Carr

  Stephen K. Bannon welcomed Conservative attorney, legal scholar, and professor of law John Eastman on Monday’s War Room: Pandemic to explain his attorney’s letter to Congress citing the illegitimacy of his subpoena regarding the January 6 committee hearings. Bannon: I’m going to start with John Eastman. God do I love this guy. John Eastman, Raheem Kassam, and the great team over at the National pulse have a story. Because I never talk about this stuff because I’m focused on destroying brick by brick this radical regime that is the Biden administration and proud of it. So suck on that Democrats. Embrace the suck. But there is a huge story up here about your lawyer and something destroying the January 6 subpoenas. Can you walk us through here what’s gone on here sir? I’m going to put it up on the screen in Denver and all of our platforms so people can see it in our live chat. John Eastman, the floor is all yours. Eastman: I love that headline. John Eastman’s Lawyers Just Destroyed the January 6 Committee and its Subpoenas. Look, what we discovered looking into this, and I should say that I like you were subpoenaed to…

Read the full story

New Twitter CEO: ‘Why Should I Distinguish Between White People and Racists’

Peter D'Abrosca

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down Monday, only to be replaced by a new chief who immediately found himself in hot water for, of all things, an inflammatory tweet. 

“‘If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists,'” Twitter’s new CEO Parag Agrawal said in 2010 tweet. 

Read the full story

Illinois School Board Association Ends Membership with National School Boards Association over Parent-Threat Letter

Admin

The Illinois Association of School Boards voted Thursday to end its membership with the National School Boards Association after the national group sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal intervention to investigate unruly parents who protest at local meetings.

“The decision follows previous attempts by IASB to initiate changes to the governance structure, transparency, and financial oversight of the national association,” a news release from IASB says. “IASB suspended payment of dues to NSBA for 2021-2022 but continued to work to try to bring about needed changes.”

Read the full story

Commentary: Biden Targets the Religious Freedom of Federal Contractors

Admin

Joe Biden is systematically eliminating the religious freedom protections that Donald Trump established. The latest example of Biden’s secularist program comes from his Labor Department, which is planning to undo Trump’s policy of defending the religious freedom of federal contractors.

Trump’s Labor Department protected federal contractors who “hold themselves out to the public as carrying out a religious purpose.”

“Religious organizations should not have to fear that acceptance of a federal contract or subcontract will require them to abandon their religious character or identity,” said Trump’s Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia.

Read the full story