First Amendment Archives

Bible Ban Lifted in FL's Broward County Schools

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:38-04:00May 20th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published May 19, 2014 on Breitbart.com.

Following Breitbart News’ May 5 story that Broward County Public Schools had banned students from reading the Bible and that lawyers from Liberty Institute were threatening to sue, and our May 14 update when the school changed its story but still maintained the ban, the school system has now capitulated and will allow Bibles into the classroom.

In a letter dated Sunday, May 18, first obtained by Breitbart News, the school system has completely reversed course. The letter tells […]

ACRU Applauds Supreme Court Decision Upholding Public Prayer

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:38-04:00May 5th, 2014|

“The Court’s ruling reflects elements of the Coercion Test that we have long championed,” said ACRU Chairman Susan A. Carleson.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 5, 2014) — The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, upheld the right of local officials to begin meetings with public prayer.

In a brief filed on Aug. 2, 2013 in Town of Greece v. Susan Galloway and Linda Stevens, ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara defended the upstate New York town’s practice of allowing rotating, voluntary prayers before council meetings and explained the Coercion Test:

“At the time the First Amendment […]

ACRU: Leave Clergy Housing Allowance Alone

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:38-04:00April 14th, 2014|

Freedom from Religion Foundation is “trying to use the federal courts to destroy religious freedom and independence from government control,” said American Civil Rights Union Chairman Susan A. Carleson.

Washington, D.C. (April 14, 2014) — An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule allowing clergy to have a tax-exempt housing allowance is a reasonable accommodation of religion, not an unconstitutional establishment of religion, the ACRU argued in a federal court brief filed on April 9.

The brief, filed by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Kenneth A. Klukowski on behalf of the Liberty Institute, asks the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a ruling by Senior U.S. […]

Obamacare Abortion Mandate on the Ropes at Supreme Court

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00March 26th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published March 25, 2014 on Breitbart.com.

In one sentence, Justice Anthony Kennedy signaled he may vote to strike down Obamacare’s so-called “abortion mandate,” suggesting he may form the crucial swing vote in delivering a body blow to the president’s signature legislative achievement.

“What kind of a constitutional structure do we have if Congress can give an agency the power to grant or not grant a religious exemption based on what the agency determined?” Kennedy asked.

It’s a question that cuts to the core of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga […]

Supreme Court Hears Cases on Conscience Objections to Obamacare This Tuesday

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00March 24th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published March 24, 2014 on Breitbart.com.

On Tuesday, Mar. 25, the Supreme Court will hear its next cases on President Obama’s controversial signature law. These two cases involve whether it violates either federal law or the U.S. Constitution to compel Christian business owners to provide abortion-related drugs that can destroy human embryos after conception, which those owners regard as immorally destroying human life. The cases are Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius. They are challenges to Obamacare’s HHS abortion/contraception mandate.

Breitbart News has already reported extensively on the details of these […]

Air Force: Christians' Religious Speech Not Legally Protected Right

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00March 20th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published March 16, 2014 on Breitbart.com.

Christians in the U.S. military are being told they must forfeit their First Amendment rights. Bible verses are being erased from cadets’ personal dorm-room white boards, and military lawyers claim that legal protections for religion only pertain to matters such as clothing and growing beards but do not extend to any religious expression such as talking about one’s faith or posting a Bible verse.

Last year Breitbart News broke the story of a campaign by anti-Christian extremists to suppress traditional Christian […]

ACRU Supports Hobby Lobby Against ObamaCare Contraceptive Mandate

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00January 28th, 2014|

“Individuals have Free Exercise rights with respect to their for-profit businesses.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 28, 2014) – The Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate unconstitutionally violates the religious freedom of a Christian family that owns a chain of craft stores and a chain of Christian bookstores, the American Civil Rights Union argues in a brief submitted today to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Written by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara, the brief in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., Mardel Stores Inc., David Green, et al. notes that the Green family’s refusal to offer insurance coverage of abortifacients to […]

When Wendy Warred with a Woman

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00January 27th, 2014|

ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue wrote this column appearing January 25, 2014 on The American Thinker website.

One can learn a lot about State Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas, from her battles.

Davis has been battling to restore her tarnished image as a result of nonstop media attention after a column by Wayne Slater in the Dallas Morning News on Jan. 20. The mostly kid-gloves piece revealed some lies and material omissions in Davis’s “I am woman, hear me roar” resume.

For one, Davis downplayed embellishing and lying on her […]

Supreme Court to Decide if Abortion Buffer Zones Violate Pro-Life Free Speech

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00January 15th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 14, 2014 on The Washington Times website.

Members of American Civil Liberties Union like to bill themselves as the ultimate protectors of the First Amendment, defending hard-core pornography as “free speech” and even the possession of child pornography. Go ahead, ask them. They only oppose the “production” of that demonic product.

Even the ACLU has its limits beyond the usual commonly cited exceptions of crying “fire” falsely in a crowded theater or making threats of violence.

The ACLU has long been comfortable with the ultimate violence committed inside the […]

Dems' Power Grab Will Cost Them the War Over the Constitution in Court

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:53:56-04:00December 6th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published November 26, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Winning a battle that costs you a war is no victory.

The silver lining from President Obama’s and Senate Democrats’ unprecedented power grab last week is that now a conservative Republican president can appoint a Supreme Court that will restore the Constitution to its historical place in our nation’s life, revitalizing limited government and safeguarding fundamental rights.

Had conservatives invoked the nuclear option, mainstream media outlets would have given it wall-to-wall coverage under the banner, “The Death of Democracy in America.” MSNBC hosts might have openly wept on […]