First Amendment Archives

ACRU Asks Supreme Court to Strike Campaign Finance Limits

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:44-04:00May 14th, 2013|

Political speech should have higher protection than “pornography, nude dancing and abortion,” brief says.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 13, 2013) — In an amicus brief filed May 8, the American Civil Rights Union argues that limits on campaign donations infringe on freedom of speech.

Written by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara, the brief in Shaun McCutcheon and Federal Election Committee v. Federal Election Commission sides with plaintiff Shaun McCutcheon, who is appealing a September ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upholding the federal campaign contribution law.

Mr. McCutcheon had wanted to donate more money to three […]

ACRU Asks Supreme Court to Strike Campaign Finance Limits

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:44-04:00May 14th, 2013|

Political speech should have higher protection than “pornography, nude dancing and abortion,” brief says.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 13, 2013) — In an amicus brief filed May 8, the American Civil Rights Union argues that limits on campaign donations infringe on freedom of speech.

Written by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara, the brief sides with plaintiff Shaun McCutcheon, who is appealing a September ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upholding the federal campaign contribution law.

Mr. McCutcheon challenged the aggregate limit ($74,600) on contributions to non-candidate committees because he wanted to contribute $25,000 each to three Republican political committees […]

Congress Must Tell Pentagon to Protect Troops' First Amendment Rights

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:53:45-04:00May 14th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published May 11, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

The Pentagon has now fully reversed its previous declarations and is now claiming it has no policy either way on whether proselytizing is allowed in the military. Given the contradictory statements on this issue and other instances of disallowing Christian expression in the military (including an Air Force ban on sharing the gospel), it’s imperative Congress permanently secure enduring protections for those serving in the armed forces.

Last week, Breitbart News broke the story that Pentagon officials held a meeting on Apr. 23, 2013, with […]

Hagel's Pentagon Defends Unconstitutional Policy against Soldiers Sharing Faith

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:44-04:00May 3rd, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published May 3, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Pentagon personnel responded to Breitbart News‘ report about court-martialing service members who share their faith in the military, which the Pentagon confirmed on May 1, and the Air Force on May 2 separately confirmed a second time.

Now the Pentagon claims the opposite. But these new statements instead only compound the problem, as the Pentagon’s new definitions for terms squarely contradict what the dictionary says those terms mean. All this has taken place as the first flag officer in the military has stepped forward to defy the unconstitutional policy.

The Sound of Tyranny

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:57:07-04:00April 8th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published April 8, 2013 on The Washington Times website.

In a remarkably short time, Germany recovered smartly from the wreckage of its defeat in World War II to become the economic strongman of Europe. Monuments to the nation’s plunge into Nazism remain at Dachau and other death camps as grim reminders of the dangers of an all-powerful state with a messianic leader.

Curiously, one aspect of the old Nazi state that originated in 1918, even before the Nazis took power, remains: a prohibition on home-schooling. It seems the current education authorities are […]

Sheriff Cruz Meets School Marm Feinstein

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:53:58-04:00March 19th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Jan LaRue was published March 19, 2013 on the American Thinker website.

Here’s what Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) learned from questioning Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) about the constitutionality of her “assault weapons” ban. She’s out of estrogen and she used to have a gun.

Feinstein came armed with a scowl and a ruler when she confronted Cruz at the Constitution Corral. The outcome was so not OK for her. You can watch their exchange over S.150 during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last Thursday.

Feinstein actually objected when Cruz referred to […]

No Room for Nuisances in Missouri Pews

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:45-04:00March 18th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published March 18, 2013 on The Washington Times website.

You can’t keep a good theophobe down.

Despite losing in court, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says it will continue opposing Missouri’s voter-approved constitutional amendment guaranteeing the freedom to pray in public places.

An ACLU spokesman also likened Missouri legislators to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, but more about that below.

Designed to protect schoolchildren and public officials from nuisance lawsuits by the ACLU and other enforcers of official atheism, the amendment requires public schools to display the Bill of Rights […]

The Next Citizens United? SCOTUS Takes First Amendment Challenge to Campaign Finance Law

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:50:21-04:00February 20th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published February 19, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in what could be the next Citizens United, considering whether a central part of the nation’s foundational federal campaign-finance law violates the First Amendment.

In 1971, Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). After the national trauma of Watergate (which has nothing to do with Marco Rubio), Congress vastly expanded FECA in 1974, creating the modern campaign-finance system governing federal campaigns.

Several provisions of FECA were challenged in constitutional grounds. In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court […]

Lars Larson: MO Gun Control Proposal Raises Constitutional Problems

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:53:58-04:00February 17th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published February 16, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

Missouri Democrats are trying to join New York, California, and Illinois as states that oppose gun rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. National talk-radio host Lars Larson–who is not a lawyer–understands the relevant provisions of the Constitution better than many lawyers I know.

One television personality referred to the proposed Missouri ban as going after assault weapons and guns with assault-weapon features. That’s half-right: there is no such thing as an assault weapon; it’s not a class of firearms. It’s a made-up term by anti-gun politicians to scare ordinary […]

No Compromise in New Contraception Mandate

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:45-04:00February 11th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell and ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published on February 5, 2013 on USA Today.

If you missed the Obama administration’s “clarified” version of the notorious “contraception mandate” last Friday, you can be forgiven. In fact, even if you delved into the text of the new proposal, you probably emerged more muddled than before. The “clarification” is simple recrafting of language; the law’s religious liberty problems have not been fixed. The government’s message is the same as before: provide the medical services we demand, even if it means violating your faith and beliefs, […]