First Amendment Archives

The ACLU's 12 Days of Litigation

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:50-04:00December 20th, 2011|

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 America as, oh, churches.

This year, the liberal organization’s lawyers are playing off the traditional carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with an ACLU version, “The 12 Days of Religious Liberty.” It’s not a song, just a litany of religious cases.

Here’s their exquisitely multicultural explanation:

During what is often referred to as the holiday season, a variety of […]

Free Speech? Put a Plate on It

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:50-04:00December 5th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published December 5, 2011 in The Washington Times.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has managed to block North Carolina from issuing license plates with a “Choose Life” message because the state legislature declined to also issue “Choose Death” plates.

U.S. District Judge James Fox didn’t put it that way in his Nov. 28 injunction, but he did agree with the ACLU that the absence of an opposing plate violates the First Amendment. The problem arose because lawmakers refused to authorize the “Respect Choice” plate that Planned Parenthood wanted as part of […]

Holy Rudolph?

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:50-04:00November 28th, 2011|

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 them of Christmas, God, the Ten Commandments or, worst of all, Jesus.

Just as pathetic are the atheist enablers who are complicit in doing away with any reminders of America’s Christian heritage, even secular symbols. For example, the Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, S.C., recently decided that a visit by Santa Claus might upset nonbelievers. Perhaps they feared it could lead […]

Kagan Balks at Obama EEOC Claim of Authority over Churches

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:51-04:00October 12th, 2011|

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 a church to restore a fired minister to a teaching position.

But that was a claim not even the president’s handpicked appointee, the very liberal Justice Elena Kagan, could accept as she and her colleagues considered Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC.

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod requires all permanent teachers in its church schools to be ordained ministers. One minister-teacher, Cheryl Perich, […]

Full Docket as Supreme Court Term Begins

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:54:02-04:00September 30th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published September 29, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website.

Monday, Oct. 3, marks the start of the annual term for the Supreme Court of the United States. Most of the court’s docket was set as of this week’s preterm conference, painting a picture of what to expect this year.

On their first day, the justices will hear a case on whether private parties have standing to sue states over Medicaid funding, or whether only the federal government can do so. This could prove decisive in many lawsuits, such as Planned Parenthood’s fight to keep subsidies […]

Growing Proof of Obama's Imperial Presidency

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:51-04:00September 6th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell and ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published September 6, 2011 on Townhall.com.

President Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is on a job-killing rampage. It’s claiming unprecedented powers far beyond what federal law allows. Taken with Obama’s other agencies, these executive actions paint a picture of what has become an imperial presidency.

A federal appeal is certain once NLRB’s shocking attack on Boeing Co. goes through the administrative process. In a free-market society, government bureaucrats cannot dictate to a private company where they can and cannot open factories or create […]

Now Obama's NLRB Tells a Church School it's Not Religious Enough

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:57:11-04:00August 30th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published August 29, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website.

It’s not enough for President Obama’s National Labor Relations Board to target the Boeing plant in South Carolina. Now the NLRB thinks it can tell a church school when it’s not religious enough.

Most people have heard by now of NLRB’s unprecedented decree that Boeing Co. cannot build a new airline production facility in South Carolina.

But Obama’s NLRB is also claiming the authority to dictate labor policies and order union elections at Catholic universities if they are not religious enough.

St. Xavier University […]

Legal Obedience

By ACRU Staff|2023-03-10T08:04:48-05:00August 24th, 2011|

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 and the Constitution,” a 66-page pamphlet by Jacob G. Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.

Hornberger offers a hypothetical whereby Congress enacts a compulsory church attendance law that requires children to attend church service each Sunday. Parents are penalized if their children fail to comply. Would there be any moral or constitutional legitimacy to such a congressional […]

Atheists Cross Over 'Cross'

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:52-04:00July 31st, 2011|

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” from the National September 11th Memorial and Museum. They’re seeking relief from Cross-related dyspepsia.

Most people try Tums or Rolaids instead of litigation.

This is the same group demanding that Brooklyn rename a street named in honor of seven Brooklyn firefighters killed on 9/11. They claim that changing Richard Street to “Seven in Heaven Way” violates the “separation of church […]

'Clean' Balanced Budget Amendment Could Be Trap for Conservatives

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:53:45-04:00July 31st, 2011|

This article by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski and ACRU Senior Fellow Ken Blackwell was published July 31, 2011 on BigGovernment.com.

Liberals are trying to kill the prospect of a Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) in the ongoing battle over the debt ceiling. Some on the Right respond that they might settle for a “clean” BBA. But there are two types of a clean BBA, one of which would be even worse than the terrible mess we have today.

Some advocate that the BBA should require only that federal outlays cannot exceed federal tax revenues. They see it as two numbers, […]