Issue: First Amendment
The First Amendment to the Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
The First Amendment refers to "freedom OF religion" not "freedom FROM religion." For decades, leftist groups, particularly the ACLU, have used litigation to distort the history of America, twisting the Constitution into an enemy of all religions rather than a protector of all, to the discrimination of none. Correcting that error is a significant goal of the ACRU.
These fundamental rights are under siege. Unless you fit into the politically correct mold, your right to speak, pray and associate with whom you choose are attacked and often denied by the courts. Activist judges are taking away our most basic American liberties by determining what words we may use to express ourselves; by denying the expression of religion (mostly Christian) in the public square; and by harassing groups like the Boy Scouts of America for upholding their moral beliefs.
ACRU Court Activity
ACRU Files Brief Defending Utah Cross Memorials
The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of the Petitioners in Davenport et al. v. American Atheists, Inc., urging the Court to grant certiorari to review the ruling...
California Court Rules Against Cross Memorial
Ninth's Decision on Mt. Soledad Veterans Cross "Defies Common Sense," ACRU Says A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the 57-year-old concrete cross atop the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego is unconstitutional....
ACRU Defends Marriage in California
On September 24, 2010, the American Civil Rights Union filed a amicus brief defending marriage in the appeal of the same-sex marriage case Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The people of California voted to amend the California Constitution to define marriage as...
ACRU Joins Effort to Protect Prayer
A federal judge in Wisconsin held in April that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause. On July 7, ACRU joined a brief coauthored by ACRU Fellow and Senior Legal Analyst...
Salazar v. Buono
The ACRU is happy to report that an important stride was taken today, April 28, 2010, in defense of the 1st Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of protecting an historic veteran's memorial cross in the Mojave...
Boy Scouts of America v. Barnes-Wallace
The City of San Diego has long leased two properties to the San Diego unit of the Boy Scouts of America in return for the construction, operation and maintenance of youth recreational facilities. The Scouts have spent millions on the...
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, Inc., Steve Trunk, et al. v. City of San Diego, et al.
The 29 foot high Latin cross atop Mt. Soledad in the San Diego suburbs has been under attack by the ACLU for 21 years now. But the cross still stands. The ACRU has joined in defense of the cross for...
Citizen's United v. Federal Elections Commission
On January 14, 2009, the American Civil Rights Union filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Supreme Court in favor of Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, arguing that prohibiting broadcast of the movie "Hillary: The Movie" violated...
Citizens United V. Federal Elections Commission
On September 16, 2008, the American Civil Rights Union filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Supreme Court urging the Court to take on appeal the case of Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission. This case involves a...
Religous Freedom Case Heard in California
On May 27th, the California Supreme Court heard a case which could have a drastic effect on religious freedom in that state. From the San Diego Union Tribune: The issue is whether fertility physicians at North Coast Women's Care in...
In Re Rachel, L.
The ACRU joins other organizations supporting homeschooling to file this brief in a California state appellate court arguing for a constitutional right for parents to choose homeschooling for their children. The argument is based on Freedom of Religion and Freedom...
Rederford & Christy v. Hicks
This case presents increasingly urgent questions of law regarding the free speech rights of politically disfavored local minorities. The facts of this case reveal discriminatory prejudice against Christian employees by the City of Oakland reflected in viewpoint discrimination regarding their...
Benitez v. North Coast
On March 29, 2007, ACRU filed a brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of the defendant, North Coast Womens' Care Medical Group. This case tests the Freedom of Religion Clause of the California Constitution on the issue of...
McConnell v. FEC
McConnell v. FEC concerned the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance "Reform" Act. The ACRU filed a brief arguing that restrictions on citizen advertising before primary and general elections were a gross and facial violation of the First Amendment. On DATE, the US...
Paulson v. City of San Diego
ACRU filed a brief in support of the City of San Diego in California state appellate court on appeal from a state judge’s order prohibiting the City from transferring the Mt. Soledad Memorial and its cross to the Federal government,...
Paulson v. City of San Diego
ACRU filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the private association which had bought the Mt. Soledad property in the sale invalidated by the Ninth circuit. But the Supreme Court denied the...
Paulson v. City of San Diego
ACRU filed a brief in support of the City of San Diego in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on an appeal by Paulson from a Federal judge’s order approving the sale of the Mt. Soledad property...
News & Commentary
02/ 2/12: Keeping Marriage Real
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published February 2, 2012 in The Washington Times. Maryland's Civil Marriage Protection Act is profoundly misnamed. In fact, it should more accurately be called the Attack on Religious Freedom Enabling Act....
02/ 2/12: Delta Force Hero Can't Speak at West Point Because of His Christian Beliefs
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell and ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published February 1, 2012 on The Huffington Post website. A three-star Army general and war hero cannot speak at West Point because he's an...
01/18/12: Obama's Lawyer Argues for Family Values at Supreme Court
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 11, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website. Culture warriors took the upper hand against liberals and libertarians alike at the Supreme Court this week, as a moderate justice...
01/18/12: Shocker! Supreme Court Lets Stand Lower Bench's Ban on Saying 'Jesus' Too Often in Public Prayers
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 17, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website. Pastors and priests in five states cannot mention 'Jesus' more than once or twice if they pray in public at an...
01/13/12: Supremes Unanimously Reject Government Role in Choosing Ministers
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 12, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website. A unanimous Supreme Court rejected the Obama administration's claim that federal bureaucrats can tell a church whom it can hire as...
12/20/11: The ACLU's 12 Days of Litigation
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published December 19, 2011 in The Daily Caller. Always imaginative, the ACLU's elves are finding new ways to step on Christmas, which they seem to regard as about as important in...
12/15/11: Obama Didn't Get the 'Truce' Memo
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue was published December 15, 2011 on the American Thinker website. The Obama administration, predictably, is not calling a "truce on social issues," as Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) suggested that the...
12/12/11: Obama's War on Decency
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published December 12, 2011 in The Washington Times. Three incidents in recent days tell us all we need to know about the Obama administration's "values." On Dec. 1, the story broke...
11/28/11: Holy Rudolph?
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published November 28, 2011 in The Washington Times. Atheists must be the most fragile peaches in the basket. They're always getting bruised by the slightest exposure to public displays that remind...
11/ 1/11: Court Decides Against Hearing Roadside Crosses Case
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published October 31, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. The Supreme Court let stand yesterday a lower court decision that is outrageously hostile to common expressions of religious faith, Utah...
10/23/11: Not-So-Free Speech in New Jersey
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue was published October 22, 2011 on the American Thinker website. Who can say "gay" isn't okay in New Jersey? Judging by Gov. Chris Christie's actions, teachers can't. Christie told CNN's Piers...
10/12/11: Kagan Balks at Obama EEOC Claim of Authority over Churches
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published October 11, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. President Obama's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claimed during oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court last week that it can order...
10/11/11: Culture-War Heroine Gets Her Due
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published October 11, 2011 in The Washington Times. As a school board member in Kanawha County, W.Va., in the early 1970s, Alice Moore ignited what might be considered the opening battle...
10/ 3/11: Will Obama Destroy Franciscan University of Steubenville?
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell was published October 1, 2011 on Townhall.com. Daniel Webster was the most famous lawyer of his day. In 1819, the "Godlike Daniel" stood before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued passionately for...
09/19/11: Obama Tears Up the Constitution
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published September 19, 2011 in The Washington Times. The Constitution of the United States, whose adoption we celebrate every Sept. 17, clearly lists the powers of each branch of the national...
09/12/11: Snuffing Out Children's Innocence
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published September 9, 2011 on The Washington Times website. If you were the devil, what would be your most important mission, other than inventing false religions? It would be to corrupt...
08/26/11: Excluding Prayer From 9/11 Memorial Compounds the Tragedy of That Day
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published August 25, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. Do you remember what things were like in the hours and days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Evidently New York City...
08/24/11: Legal Obedience
This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published August 24, 2011 on Townhall.com. What laws are we morally obligated to obey? Help with the answer can be found in "Economic Liberty...
07/31/11: Atheists Cross Over 'Cross'
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue was published July 31, 2011 on the American Thinker blog. Those God-obsessed "American Atheists" filed suit in New York state court on July 25 to remove the World Trade Center "Cross"...
07/31/11: Federal Appeals Court: Saying "Jesus" During Public Prayer Is Unconstitutional
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published July 30, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. As in most counties in America, the Board of Commissioners of Forsyth County, North Carolina, begins its public meetings with an...
07/29/11: Court Dismisses Militant Atheists' Federal Suit Against Texas Gov. Rick Perry
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published July 28, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in Texas today dismissed a lawsuit against Texas Gov. Rick Perry for organizing a day of...
06/30/11: Scalia Wrong, Thomas Right on Violent Video Games
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 29, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. Those who paint U.S. Supreme Court justices with a broad brush only prove they don't really understand the court. Justice Antonin...
06/30/11: Supremes Equate Video Violence with Free Speech
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published June 29, 2011 on The Washington Times website. The cultural sledgehammer that's shattering basic decency in America keeps pounding away. Our enemies must be delighted to see us disarm morally...
06/26/11: Sotomayor Sides with Conservatives in Corporate Free Speech Case
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 25, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor threw lawyers a curve ball this past week by siding with conservatives on a corporate...
06/18/11: Navigating a Rocky Media Landscape
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published June 17, 2011 on The Washington Times website. When I was a reporter years ago in Ocean City, Md., I learned the hard way that freedom of the press can...
06/14/11: Supreme Court Says Officials' Speech Is Not Protected by First Amendment
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 13, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. Nevada's law barring public officials from voting--or officially speaking--for or against issues where they have a personal stake is okay under...
06/ 6/11: First Amendment Protects Prayer, Not Obscene Violence
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published June 5, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the rest of the framers of the Constitution would be astounded to hear a federal judge...
05/24/11: ACRU Brief Argues for 'Coercion Test' in Utah Highway Cross Case
May 23, 2011 - Memorial crosses honoring fallen Utah Highway Patrol Officers are not an unconstitutional establishment of religion because there is no coercion involved, the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) argues in an amicus curiae brief filed today in...
04/26/11: Profile in Courage Defending Marriage: Paul Clement
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published April 26, 2011 on Townhall.com. A major law firm has caved to pressure from militant homosexual activists, and one of America's top Supreme Court lawyers resigned from that firm...
03/29/11: Court Weighs Constitutionality of Law Funding Political Opposition
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published March 28, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website. Should taxpayer money go to fund political campaigns when another candidate raises money? It does in Arizona. Now the Supreme Court...
03/ 6/11: High Cost of Free Speech
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published March 4, 2011 on The Washington Times website. I'm with Samuel A. Alito Jr. - at least in spirit. The associate justice was alone in his dissent in Snyder v....
02/19/11: Freedom To Be Christian But Banned From Acting Christian
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published February 18, 2011 on The Washington Times website. Christians, Orthodox Jews or anyone with traditional views of sex and marriage should be barred from state university counseling programs unless they...
01/13/11: Shooting "Solutions" Exploit Tragedy, Ignore Grief
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue appeared January 13, 2011 on The American Thinker website. We are a nation in grief once again, mourning Saturday's mass shooting in Tucson Arizona. But we will get through it if...
01/ 9/11: Expression is Not Coercion
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 7, 2011 on The Washington Times website. While the nation watches to see how the new House leadership flexes its Tea Party-enhanced muscles, the legal campaign to strip the...
12/28/10: Federal Regulators Wage War on Christmas
This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published December 27, 2010 on Townhall.com It's worth noting not only that the War on Christmas has continued, but now federal regulators have joined the wrong side. Christians should get...
12/25/10: Supernatural Hand in Christmas Atheism
This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published December 23, 2010 on The Washington Times website. "In the beginning, the devil created. ..." Wait a minute. That's not how the Bible begins. Or creation for that matter. Genesis...
12/14/10: Ruling Elites Wage War on Morality
ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this column appearing December 10, 2010 on The Washington Times website. As the nation lurches back toward well-founded suspicion of big government, the ruling elites are putting the pedal to the metal against the...
11/10/10: Supreme Court Weighs Arizona Tax Credit for Christian Schools
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski wrote this column appearing November 10, 2010 on Townhall.com While America was talking about the election returns, the Supreme Court was talking about tax credits to fund Christian schools in Arizona. It looks like...
11/ 4/10: Does First Amendment Require Selling Violent Video Games to Children?
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski wrote this column appearing November 3, 2010 on Townhall.com Many newer video games depict graphic violence, such as torturing and defiling women and children. These games are sold to kids. The Supreme Court is...
10/27/10: Ohio Government Censors Pro-Life Group, Court Battle Begins
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski wrote this column appearing October 26, 2010, on Townhall.com. Congressman Steve Driehaus broke faith with his constituents in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, by voting for the big-government monstrosity known as Obamacare. The pro-life Susan...
10/13/10: ACLU Outrage: Religious Dystopia Wins by a Nose
ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this article appearing October 13, 2010 on The Washington Times website and on October 14, 2010 in The Washington Times print edition. During the early 1970s, comedian Flip Wilson played the Rev. Leroy in...
10/ 7/10: Marine Funeral Protestors Claim First Amendment Protection
ACRU Fellow and Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski wrote this column appearing October 7, 2010, on Townhall.com. On October 6, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether the First Amendment protects a radical religious group protesting the funeral...
09/30/10: ACLU Says: Better Drunk Than Religious
ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this article on September 30, 2010. Despite the ACLU's effort to censor a "religious" speaker at a Nebraska high school, students on Wednesday (Sept. 29) got to hear a compelling account of why they...
08/23/10: Robert Knight: Pushing Liberalism From Pillar To Post
ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this column appearing August 19, 2010 on WashingtonTimes.com. Conservatives take note: When The Washington Post tells you to back off something, it's time to turn up the heat. On Saturday, The Post carried one...
08/22/10: Jan LaRue: Speaker of the Institutionalized
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue wrote this column appearing August 22, 2010 on The American Thinker website. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a national embarrassment with a long train of gaffes and abuses. It can give you...
08/19/10: Ken Blackwell: Obama's Mosque at Ground Zero
ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell wrote this column appearing August 19, 2010, on The Huffington Post. By embracing the mosque at Ground Zero, President Obama made it his own. And as his own, it will be an albatross around his...
08/17/10: Robert Knight: Will 'marriage' backers charge sedition?
ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this column appearing August 16, 2010 on The Washington Times. In light of federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker's ruling on Aug. 4 striking down California's marriage law, let's imagine a worst-case scenario. It goes...
08/ 7/10: Jan LaRue: The Manhattan Mosque and Women
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue wrote this column appearing August 7, 2010 on The American Thinker. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the ACLU, and the go-along-to get-along throng who support building a massive mosque at Ground Zero need to...
08/ 5/10: Peter Ferrara: The Proposed New York Mosque and the Constitution
ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara wrote this column appearing August 4, 2010 on FOXNews.com. Muslim interests propose to build a 15 story mosque in Manhattan towering over the site of the 9/11 atrocity just 600 feet away. They would name...
08/ 5/10: Ken Blackwell: Mr. President: Don't back the Dhimmicrats!
ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell wrote this column appearing August 5, 2010, on The Daily Caller. Despite what you may think, Dhimmicrats are not Democrats. A dhimmicrat is a Western official who uses his position of power and influence to...
06/30/10: Ken Klukowski: Shocking Setback for Religious Freedom in Supreme Court
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski wrote this column appearing on Townhall.com on June 30, 2010. On June 28, the Supreme Court handed down a deeply-disturbing decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez that sets back religious freedom in this...
06/25/10: Ken Klukowski: DISCLOSE Act Attacks Freedom of Speech
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski wrote this column appearing on WashingtonExaminer.com on June 24, 2010. Congress is considering a censorship law to muzzle conservative groups, one that exempts pro-Democrat groups from its requirements, called the DISCLOSE Act. This blatant...
06/20/10: Jan LaRue: Sister Pelosi and the Other Jesus
ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue wrote a column appearing on Townhall.com on June 20, 2010. If the Omniscient Lord could be surprised, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s profession that her public policies are “giving voice” to “the values” of Jesus...
05/ 7/10: Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison:Obama's Supreme Court Choice: No Evangelicals Need Apply
ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell co-authored this column appearing on the American Thinker website on May 6, 2010. When Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court last year, the media was full of stories...
04/26/10: Robert Knight: Hastening the End of Morality
ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight wrote this column appearing on WashingtonTimes.com on April 26, 2010. The University of California Hastings College of the Law case, which the U.S. Supreme Court heard on April 19, has its share of absurdity, but...
02/10/10: Ken Blackwell: The President's Confusing Messages on Religion
This piece originally appeared on The Patriot Post on February 8, 2010. President Obama attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this week. His own denomination—the United Church of Christ—has been teasingly described as "Unitarians considering Christ." I don't know...
02/10/10: Ken Klukowski: Legal A-Team on the Field for SCOTUS Religious Liberty Case
This column originally appeared on the Townhall website on February 10, 2010. The first round of briefs has now been filed in the pending religious liberty case Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. This is shaping up to be a big...
02/ 6/10: Jan LaRue: Justice Alito Dissents
This column originally appeared on the American Thinker website on February 6, 2010. It's a good bet that the conversation in the Supreme Court break room the morning after the president's State of the Union speech was about Obama's drive-by...
01/31/10: Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: Citizens United Huge Step for Free Speech
On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court empowered ordinary Americans to speak out on an equal footing with millionaires and the media in U.S. elections. Threatened by people being able to freely speak their minds, the president of the United States deceived the American people when discussing this court decision in the State of the Union.
01/23/10: Ken Klukowski: Founding Fathers Smiling After Supreme Court Campaign Finance Ruling
In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday, every American should be worried when the president of the United States starts threatening the highest court in the land.
01/17/10: Ken Blackwell: Martha Coakley and the Anti-American Agenda.
In 1804, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Abigail Adams on the free exercise of individual conscience in America, and its indispensability to our freedoms. We may disagree, wrote the Founder, but that disagreement is to be welcomed, not crushed: "I tolerate with utmost latitude the right of others to differ with me in opinion without imputing to them criminality. I know too well all the weaknesses and uncertainty of human reason to wonder at its different results."
10/26/09: Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: Restoring Proper Constitutional Protection to Religious Expression
A situation is unfolding in Florida that is illustrative of how far American culture has listed toward a militantly-secular society that is overtly hostile to expressions of faith and Judeo-Christian traditions. This unfortunate episode is the predictable result of the Supreme Court's half-century of deviation from the constitutional design for religious liberty, a deviation now reinforced by legal principles that are foundational to the American system of law. Religious liberty must be reinstated by the Supreme Court if society is again to enjoy the benefits of our young people receiving moral instruction.
10/ 9/09: Ken Klukowski: ACLU Pushes High Court to Destroy Cross Memorial
The Supreme Court joined in a fight between the ACLU and the federal government over a World War I memorial in the shape of a cross. While neither legal team hit the ball over the fence, the majority seems inclined to save this cross in what will be the first religious liberty case of the new Court.
10/ 7/09: Robert Knight: The ACLU's Real Agenda in the Mojave Desert
Where is Art Carney when you need him? The straight man for the classic Honeymooners TV show could deliver a line sorely needed at today's Supreme Court hearing on the fate of the Mojave Desert war memorial cross: "Simmer down, Ralphie boy!"
09/26/09: Ken Blackwell: Muting the Search for Truth: An Overview of "Defamation of Religions"
It is a privilege to be here and to discuss such important and timely topics. As some of you may know, I used to represent the United States as the Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. And while Geneva may sound like a plush gig, I often left the halls of the Palais des Nations with an overwhelming sense of sadness. Mary Ann Glendon is going to talk later this weekend about the abuse of "rights" talk, and that is precisely what I witnessed on a day to day basis.
09/16/09: Ken Klukowski: Justices Tackle McCain-Feingold While Sotomayor Throws a Curve
September 9, 2009 was a historic day at the U.S. Supreme Court. Meeting in special session, the Court considered a legal challenge pitting Barack Obama's top Supreme Court lawyer against a living legend in a major First Amendment case that will forever shape how elections are conducted in America. And in her Supreme Court debut, Sonia Sotomayor gave the first hint of what kind of justice she will be.
08/18/09: ACLU Seeking to Put School Officials in Jail for Praying
A small school district in Florida made the mistake of bargaining with the ACLU when it sued them about prayer in schools. Now, under a consent decree written by the ACLU but signed by a federal judge, three school administrators...
08/17/09: Ken Klukowski: Never Make a Deal With the Devil About Prayer
Three Florida school employees will go to federal court on September 17 to see if they'll be thrown behind bars. The reason? Prayer. Their school made a deal with the ACLU to stop praying and this ridiculous situation proves that you can't make a deal with the devil.
06/26/09: Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski: A Religous Test
In Dearborn, Michigan, where the local mosque's call to prayer is broadcast over the town by loudspeakers, a group of Christian evangelists were told that they could not pass out Bibles on the sidewalk during a festival. This is part of a growing national trend to disfavor Christian expression and traditional speech, and reflects a disturbing direction in public policy in America today.
06/25/09: Robert Knight: Proposed Federal Law Would Be a Hate Crime Against America
"We're not going to win this case, but that's okay. Once we get 'hate crime' laws on the books, we're going to go after the Scouts and all the other bigots." This was a remark made in the gallery by the Clinton White House liaison for "gay" issues during U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Boy Scouts case in 2000. She had whispered it to the Rev. Rob Schenck, whom she mistakenly thought was one of those liberal clerics who think God is still making up His mind about sexual morality.
04/23/09: Horace Cooper: A Fitting Memorial That Honors Sacrifice
While most Americans readily embrace the opportunity to honor our nation's fallen, increasingly some have become critical if not hostile to this effort, particularly when religion or expressions of faith are involved.
04/22/09: Peter Ferrara: Will Obama Seize the Radio Stations Next?
When President Obama announced his new budget a few weeks ago involving record spending, tax increases, deficits and debt, he did so with soaring rhetoric about spending cuts (non-existent), tax cuts for 95% of workers (misleading), and cutting the deficit in half in 5 years (good luck). This misdirection rhetoric is now a common Obama pattern.
04/17/09: John Armor: The Myth of Public Airways
People who don't know much about freedom of the press (or don't care much about it) often say that the government has a right to regulate the content of broadcast media because "the public owns the airways." If that were true, the government would have a right to censor your personal phone calls and e-mails.
04/ 5/09: Peter Ferrara: Rush's fans have rights, too
While President Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prepares to attack conservative talk radio with some version of the Fairness Doctrine, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in open court last week may have thrown a bombshell into those plans.
04/ 1/09: Ken Klukowski: Government Claims Power to Ban Books and Speech
On Mar. 24, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Citizens United v. FEC, the latest installment in an ongoing series of challenges to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), better known as McCain-Feingold. This case has far-reaching implications for the future of campaign activities, and draws an important line between the right of citizens to speak out and the power of government to imprison them if they do.
03/31/09: ACLU Supports Pornography and Suicide
"Sexting" is a national activity of young girls taking nude or seminude photographs of themselves, and sending them out using cell phones. The photos get widely distributed, leading to harm to the girls, and in one case, to a suicide....
03/12/09: Ken Klukowski: Supreme Court Must Be Ready to Defend Conscience Clause from Obama
Barack Obama's administration has taken an extreme position on coercing doctors to participate in performing abortions even if those doctors are religiously-opposed to abortion. If this new policy becomes law, it would violate medical professionals' right to act in accordance with their conscience and violate a doctor's oath to do no harm. Should President Obama force this regulation through, the Supreme Court should strike it down.
03/10/09: Congressman Pence Signs "Freedom to Listen" Pledge
Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) became an inaugural signer of the American Civil Rights Union's "Freedom to Listen" pledge on Monday, vowing to protect the First Amendment by standing against "any and all efforts to censor or in any way restrict the people's freedom to listen to the unfettered airing of political views of their choice on broadcast media or the Internet." The pledge is designed to unify support against efforts to restrict Americans' constitutional freedom to listen.
03/ 9/09: Jan LaRue: The Heckler in Chief and Venezuela's Media Mauler
What do President Barack Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have in common? Besides their socialist economic policies, they don't abide media critics well. The Obama White House has Rush Limbaugh, king of talk radio, in its crosshairs. When a president of the United States targets one media personality for criticism, those who live and breathe by the First Amendment should be aware they're on life-support. The executive branch can pull their plug via the FCC, which decides who gets or keeps a broadcast license.
03/ 6/09: Ken Klukowski: God Save America from Militant Atheists
On Feb. 23, a federal court will consider the latest attempt to secularize America, led by militant atheist lawyer Michael Newdow. His lawsuit, Newdow v. Roberts, seeks to purge all references to God from presidential inaugurations.
02/19/09: Robert Knight: Listen Up, While You Still Can
Bill Clinton says America needs the Fairness Doctrine because conservative talk radio is sounding "a blatant drumbeat" against the stimulus package. He complained on a liberal talk show on Feb. 12 that "there has always been a lot of big money to support the right-wing talk shows."
01/28/09: Peter Ferrara: The Constitutional Right to Listen
We usually think of freedom of speech as involving the right of speakers to speak, whether through public addresses, in writing, or over radio and television airwaves. But the courts have recognized an additional dimension to First Amendment free speech rights: the right to listen and watch. This right takes center stage in a current challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law and could play a role in the debate about the Fairness Doctrine.
01/21/09: Hans Zeiger: So Help Me God
Michael Newdow, the professional atheist who tried to have "one nation under God" stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance, has lost his crusade to prevent the mention of God at the inauguration. Though it's not written into the Constitution, presidents usually close their oath with the words "So help me God." Newdow wanted a court to tell President-elect Obama that he cannot say those words, and he also wanted to ban the tradition of inaugural prayers. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton threw out Mr. Newdow's attempt to establish his religion -- the religion of atheism.
12/29/08: Horace Cooper: ACLU and 9th Circuit against Christianity
This op-ed originally appeared in the Washington Times on December 29, 2008. It is fitting that during this season we take time to acknowledge our nation's religious heritage. In the Mayflower Compact - the agreement made by the earliest American...
12/ 5/08: Horace Cooper: Freedom to Speak
It should be a well settled idea that in a democracy, freedom of speech and debate are crucial bulwarks of liberty. Unfortunately, that is not a notion widely held today by the self-appointed political censors of the 21st century; especially those who deplore the rightward tilt of talk radio. These critics of talk radio disregard the overwhelming left-wing viewpoint dominance in newspapers and television and zealously seek to impose speech limits until that same dominance is brought to bear on talk radio. It is laughable that talk radio's political speech should require government control and it is tragic that if the critics succeed they will threaten one of the most precious freedoms that our nation was founded upon and that the Constitution protects -- freedom of expression.
07/29/08: John Armor: Anybody Remember the Red Lion Case?
Led by Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a phalanx of Democrats and liberal pressure groups are urging a return to "The Fairness Doctrine." What could be more American than "fairness"?
07/17/08: Ken Blackwell: The Gathering Threat to Freedom
House Speaker Pelosi is hinting at reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, and many of her liberal colleagues in Congress are doing the same in both chambers. Alleging the press isnt balanced, they say government should be making sure all viewpoints meaning the lefts are fairly represented. I agree the press isnt balanced, but Mrs. Pelosi has it backward; liberalism dominates the press, including the three major networks and most major newspapers.
04/24/08: Ken Blackwell: You Don't Have a Prayer
One issue that is not being discussed much at the moment is what's at stake with our federal courts. Some federal judges are now telling pastors and priests what they can and cannot say during prayers. And some of it is happening in Indiana -- the May 6 primary state.
03/27/08: Ken Blackwell: A Scout is Reverent
The presidential candidates need to speak out while the spotlight is on Pennsylvania. There is an opportunity for voters in Pennsylvania and across America to know where the candidates stand on an important constitutional issue.
03/20/08: Ken Blackwell: Homeschoolers in the Crosshairs of the NEA
Recently a landmark ruling that stunned many parents and could have legal repercussions for families across the country was handed down by a California state appellate court. Judge H. Walter Croskey wrote a court opinion that declared California children were only allowed to be taught by teachers credentialed by the state. Such a decision was a stark about-face from the previous California policy that provided parents with options in determining how best to educate their children.
01/22/08: Hans Zeiger: Philly's Cold Shoulder
The youth of Philadelphia are in danger. Nearly 112,000 children -- over 30 percent of children in the city -- live beneath the poverty line. There are as many as 3,900 homeless families in Philadelphia. Only about half of Philadelphia ninth-graders graduate from high school within four years, and last year's state standardized math and reading tests came back to 11th graders in Philadelphia public schools with 70 percent of scores below proficient. In 2006, 1,030 young Philadelphians between the ages of 7 and 24 were shot; 179 kids were murdered.
12/ 9/07: Peter Ferrara: The Freedom of Religious Expression Amendment
An overwhelming 88% of Americans approve of the reference to "One Nation Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, with 78% strongly approving. Only 11% disapprove, with 7% strongly disapproving.
10/27/07: 'Failure' of the First Amendment?
The facts for this comment, but not the legal conclusions, come mostly from an article published in the Raleigh News & Observer on 27 October. This story is related to the positions of the ACLU because, contrary to its stated...
10/16/07: John Armor: Press has enough protection; Reporters who choose to be martyrs don't warrant a federal law.
All Americans should be equally subject to law. Not even the president has a "right" to evade the law. Chief Justice John Marshall established this principle when he required President Thomas Jefferson to give evidence in Aaron Burr's treason trial. That concept was later applied to presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
09/26/07: Marines Denied Right to Film in San Francisco
The facts for this comment, but not the legal conclusions, came from an article published on KGO7 TV on September 24. The US Marines proposed to shoot a recruiting commercial on the streets of San Francisco, as they already had...
09/26/07: New Jersey Says Methodists Can't Be Methodists
The facts for this comment come from a Press Release of the Institute on Religion and Democracy on 20 September. (Ordinarily, a press release from an interested party would not be used as the basis of a comment. But the...
09/26/07: New Jersey Says Methodists Can't Be Methodists
The facts for this comment come from a Press Release of the Institute on Religion and Democracy on 20 September. (Ordinarily, a press release from an interested party would not be used as the basis of a comment. But the...
08/29/07: John Armor: Using Courts as a Weapon against America
The supposedly anti-war group, A.N.S.W.E.R, has had the chutzpah to sue the District of Columbia for fining it for defacing city property with its posters. The group is claiming discrimination. The honesty of its claim can be gauged from the fact that one of its primary leaders is Ramsey Clark, the lawyer who claimed that Saddam Hussein was innocent, and being discriminated against.
07/16/07: Mosque and State are Fine - Just Shut Down the Church and State
Investors Business Daily ran an editorial entitled, "Jihad in Schools," on July 9. It describes a program in a San Diego public school for setting aside 15 minutes a day for Somali Muslim students to pray at Carver Elementary School....
07/ 7/07: Ken Blackwell: The Supreme Court Giveth, the Supreme Court Taketh Away
The Supreme Court teeters on a knife's edge regarding lawsuits against faith expression in the public square. So, conservatives better redouble their efforts to restore a court faithful to our Founders' vision, or lose all that has been gained in recent decisions after the 2008 presidential sweepstakes.
05/15/07: The ACLU Takes on James Madison and the Founders on School Prayer
When James Madison penned the Bill of Rights in 1789, surely the idea of blocking local school children in Monroe, LA in 2007 from solemnizing their graduation ceremony with prayer was his intent, right? After all, he objected to official...
05/11/07: Hate Crimes: 'Solving' a Non-Existent Problem
The House of Representatives has just passed a federal bill on "hate crimes," which seems headed for a White House veto, if it manages to pass the Senate. This has heightened attention to the half of the several states which...
05/ 3/07: CCD: "Right To Refuse"
The California Catholic Daily features an article discussing the effort of the American Civil Rights Union and others to protect a private doctor's right to refuse to administer medical procedures that violates her religious convictions. As described in the article,...
10/ 3/06: Peter Ferrara: Christians Need Not Apply
Suppose you are in a car accident. You file a claim with your insurance company, but inexplicably the company refuses to pay. So you hire an attorney and sue the insurance company. But the Judge rules against you, on the grounds that your attorney is a professed Christian.
07/18/06: The ACRU Defends Mt Soledad Veterans
The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) filed a friend of the court (amicus curiae) brief today in the California state appeals court in San Diego urging the court to uphold the constitutionality of the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial, which includes a 29 foot tall cross.
More Information
03/11/09: Law Review: The Fairness Doctrine: A Solution in Search of a Problem, by Adrian Cronauer
"This Article examines the history of the Fairness Doctrine and the more common arguments offered in support of it. If the Fairness Doctrine, as interpreted by the Commission, upheld by the courts, and encouraged by Congress(note 1) were to be...
06/12/08: ACRU Releases White Paper on The War on Terror
On June 12, The American Civil Rights Union released a white paper written by Richard Miniter about the US War on Terror. Quite simply, Miniter concludes the US is losing the War on Terror in the courts. To view the...
05/27/08: Religous Freedom Case Heard in California
On May 27th, the California Supreme Court heard a case which could have a drastic effect on religious freedom in that state. From the San Diego Union Tribune: The issue is whether fertility physicians at North Coast Women's Care in...
03/25/08: Religious Rights of Students Affirmed in NJ & TX from Citizenlink.com
"A New Jersey school's decision to allow Christian students to enjoy the same free speech rights as other students could be the beginning of a nationwide trend to protect students' rights. Northern Highlands Regional High School had blocked a Christian...
03/24/08: Accuracy in Media Special Report: Left-Wing Censorship Campaign Targets Conservative Media, by Cliff Kinkaid
"In his classic work about Washington double-standards that benefit the national Democratic Party, It Didn't Start With Watergate, Victor Lasky described how Democratic administrations were guilty of some of the same things that forced the resignation of Republican President Richard...
10/11/07: Spotlighting Speech Codes with FIRE's Widget
Over the last several years, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has conducted a thorough survey of campus speech codes at over 350 American colleges and universities and compiled the data in one location on FIRE's website, Spotlight:...
09/26/07: New Jersey Says Methodists Can't Be Methodists
The facts for this comment come from a Press Release of the Institute on Religion and Democracy on 20 September. (Ordinarily, a press release from an interested party would not be used as the basis of a comment. But the...
09/11/07: Second Open Letter to the Guilford County School Board
Below is the text of my follow-up letter on behalf of the American Civil Rights Union to the Guilford County School Board of North Carolina. (My first letter, dated August 27, 2007, may be found here.) September 10, 2007 Dear...
08/28/07: Open Letter to the Guilford County School Board
Below is the text of my letter on behalf of the American Civil Rights Union to the Guilford County School Board of North Carolina, in response to their plans to suppress the recruiting efforts and meetings of the Boy Scouts...
08/ 7/07: ACLU: "Hate Crime" vs. "Art"
(HT: Power Line)...
07/ 9/07: Lesbians Want Methodists to Allow Ceremony
Two lesbians have brought a complaint against a park, owned and operated by the Methodist Church, for refusing them the "right" to have their civil ceremony (wedding?) in a pavilion there. The response of the Church is that it doesn't...
07/ 9/07: CC Supreme Court to Hear Contentious Gay Rights Case by Mike McKee for Law.com
"A war of the amici is under way as the California Supreme Court readies itself for what could become one of its most controversial cases in years... The case involves two San Diego-area doctors who, based on their Christian beliefs,...
06/24/07: The 'Study' on Conservative Talk Radio
The Center for American Progress is a liberal organization in its pedigree and staff. It has now released a "study" on the imbalance between conservative and "progressive" content on talk radio. It wants the government to compel a "balance" between...
06/ 8/07: American Legion Steps Up Effort to Stop ACLU
As part of its effort to stop the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from intimidating state and local governments to remove religious symbols from public places, the American Legion is organizing its local posts to inventory and monitor local memorials...
06/ 1/07: May Crosses Be Displayed at War Memorials?
Two days ago I had the opportunity to do a radio debate with Dr. Jeremy Gunn, Director of the ACLU's Religious Freedom Project. Let me say at the outset that I found Dr. Gunn to be a courteous and intellectually...
05/15/07: Are Some Crime Victims More Worthy of Protection than Others?
The Washington Post editorialized in its on-line edition yesterday in favor of the Hate Crimes bill recently passed by the House. The editorial is well wide of the mark, but in order to allow readers to draw their own conclusions,...
05/15/07: The ACLU Takes on James Madison and the Founders on School Prayer
When James Madison penned the Bill of Rights in 1789, surely the idea of blocking local school children in Monroe, LA in 2007 from solemnizing their graduation ceremony with prayer was his intent, right? After all, he objected to official...
05/ 3/07: CCD: "Right To Refuse"
The California Catholic Daily features an article discussing the effort of the American Civil Rights Union and others to protect a private doctor's right to refuse to administer medical procedures that violates her religious convictions. As described in the article,...
04/20/07: ACLU Declares Churches Free Speech Zones (Restrictions Apply Elsewhere)
The following quote by ACLU attorney Yale Freeman is astounding: "There is a time to speak you [sic] religious beliefs and that is in your church." Mr. Freeman said this in defense of the ACLU's objection to a private citizen...
04/12/07: Government Sponsorship of Religious Rituals Found To Be OK -- If You've Got the Right Religion, Anyway.
Whether a public college is impermissilbly entangled with religion would appear to depend on the college -- and even more on the religion. In her column today in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Katherine Kersten discusses what gives every appearance of being...
