First Amendment Archives

Taking a Chisel to the Ten Commandments

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:49-04:00May 10th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published May 9, 2012 on The Washington Times website.

God Almighty needs an editor, according to a federal judge in Virginia. At least, He does when the Ten Commandments are on government property.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had sued the Giles County school district for posting the Ten Commandments in its public schools, and U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski sent the case to mediation on Monday, suggesting a compromise: deleting the four commandments that mention God.

An Obama appointee, Judge Urbanski also issued a preliminary injunction on behalf […]

ACLU Fails to Establish Right to Porn

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:49-04:00April 19th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published April 19, 2012 on The Washington Times website.

Wenatchee, Wash., famous for apples and wine, may become famous in the culture wars as well. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) just took it on the chin there over its ongoing campaign to force public libraries to accommodate perverts in raincoats.

On April 11, Judge Edward F. Shea of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington upheld the local library system’s computer filter policy, dismissing a motion filed by the ACLU to turn off the filter.

The ruling […]

ACRU Urges Supreme Court to Adopt 'Coercion Test'

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:49-04:00April 5th, 2012|

March 14 – In an amicus brief submitted today to the U.S. Supreme Court, the American Civil Rights Union argues for a new constitutional standard protecting religious freedom.

The case, Mount Soledad Memorial Association v. Steve Trunk, et al, involves the cross at the Mt. Soledad veterans memorial in San Diego, which the ACLU and other groups want torn down. The Court may decide to hear the case later this year.

The ACRU’s argument – the ‘Coercion Test’ – is that public religious expression does not violate the Constitution’s prohibition against establishment of religion unless it involves coercion. ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara, author of […]

Obamacare Day 3: Does Medicaid Expansion Violate 10th Amendment?

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:58:18-04:00April 2nd, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published March 31, 2012 on Breitbart.com.

For a century, legal scholars wondered if a federal spending program could ever violate the 10th Amendment by coercing the states to go along, since the states are sovereign and equal in stature to the federal government. The final issue the Supreme Court will decide is whether Obamacare’s massive expansion of Medicaid–and sticking the states with part of the price tag–is the first program to cross this constitutional limit.

As Paul Clement–the lawyer representing 26 states in the Obamacare case–summarized to the Court: “The expansion […]

Our Constitutional Freedom to Listen

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:49-04:00March 28th, 2012|

ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara and former ACRU intern and researcher Carlos Ramirez explain in a Liberty Law Review article why the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech is violated if the corollary freedom to listen is not enforced.

Download the article here. (PDF)

Will High Court Adopt the Coercion Test?

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:49-04:00March 12th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published March 12, 2012 in The Washington Times.

As the American Civil Liberties Union prowls the land to muzzle public prayers, rip out Ten Commandments monuments and terrify small towns over Nativity scenes, help may be on the way from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Later this year, the court may decide to hear arguments for and against tearing down the 44-foot cross at the Mount Soledad veterans memorial in San Diego.

The ACLU says the cross, first erected in 1913 and rebuilt twice, is an unconstitutional establishment of religion. You can […]

ACLU, Obama Discover 'Right' to Free Contraceptives and Abortifacients

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:50-04:00February 13th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published February 12, 2012 on The Daily Caller. website.

Which part of the U.S. Constitution guarantees women the right to have other people pay for their birth control pills and abortifacients? Which part says that the federal government has the power to force religious employers to violate their beliefs or face fines?

Well, there it is, right in the First Amendment. At least, it’s there in the ACLU’s copy of the Constitution. The problem is that this part is written in invisible ink, so all we see are the words “Congress shall […]

Obama's Lawyer Argues for Family Values at Supreme Court

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:50-04:00January 18th, 2012|

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 joined with conservatives and a liberal presidential administration to take a stand for family values.

Do Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulations banning profanity and nudity on primetime broadcast television violate the First Amendment? Broadcasters argued that the bans are unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court will forever change America’s culture if it agrees in FCC v. Fox Television.

But the Court apparently disagrees. Justice Anthony […]

ATF Wins First Round against Gun Owners in Border-State Lawsuit

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:54:02-04:00January 18th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 18, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website.

Gun owners just lost the first round in a court struggle with President Obama’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

ATF issued orders requiring all firearm dealers in the border states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) to report to ATF purchases of multiple semi-auto rifles, under the auspices of stopping Mexican drug cartels from paying operatives to buy guns in America and smuggle them into Mexico (because we all know the bang-up job Obama’s people have done stopping gun-running).

But the Firearm […]

Supremes Unanimously Reject Government Role in Choosing Ministers

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:50-04:00January 13th, 2012|

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 ministers to teach its followers, even if they happen to be schoolchildren.

Writing for the court in its decision on the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, Chief Justice John Roberts said the First Amendment bars such authoritarian dictates through a “ministerial exception” to federal employment laws.

“The members of a religious group put their faith in the hands of their ministers,” […]