First Amendment Archives

Court Dismisses Militant Atheists' Federal Suit Against Texas Gov. Rick Perry

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:52-04:00July 29th, 2011|

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 prayer at Reliant Stadium on Aug. 6, holding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring a suit.

Perry’s event, entitled “The Response,” was a public call for people to participate in prayer to ask for God’s help in confronting the nation’s current difficulties. It was supported by the American Family Association (AFA).

A militant atheist group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), filed a […]

Scalia Wrong, Thomas Right on Violent Video Games

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:53-04:00June 30th, 2011|

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 Scalia was dead wrong in striking down California’s restriction on selling horribly violent video games to children. And Justice Clarence Thomas did a spectacular job of showing why the Founders would uphold this law.

California enacted a law restricting the sale of graphically violent video games to children, requiring an adult to make the purchase. One such graphic game involves the player torturing a […]

Sotomayor Sides with Conservatives in Corporate Free Speech Case

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:53-04:00June 26th, 2011|

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 free-speech case.

Marking the first time she’s broken with liberals in a case presenting a clear philosophical split, scholars will wonder what other surprises the “wise Latina” from the Bronx has in store.

The case is Sorrell v. IMS Health. Pharmacies sell information on which drugs individual doctors prescribe. Pharmaceutical companies buy that information so their salespeople will know exactly what each doctor’s preferences […]

Supreme Court Says Officials' Speech Is Not Protected by First Amendment

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:50:22-04:00June 14th, 2011|

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 the First Amendment, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Nevada Commission on Ethics v. Carrigan, the high court considered whether Nevada’s recusal statute for public officials violates those officials’ free speech rights.

The measure requires officials not to vote or advocate on matters where a family member or relationships with others that are “substantially similar” to family ties could profit from the official […]

First Amendment Protects Prayer, Not Obscene Violence

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:50:22-04:00June 6th, 2011|

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 order a valedictorian’s prayer is not protected by the First Amendment, but marketing sickening video games to children is protected by the First Amendment.

On June 3, I debated Barry Lynn, president of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, on Fox News Channel. Lynn’s group represents in court an agnostic family suing a Texas school district.

Like most high schools, Medina […]

ACRU Brief Argues for 'Coercion Test' in Utah Highway Cross Case

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:54:03-04:00May 24th, 2011|

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 the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ACRU’s brief in support of the Petitioners in Davenport et al. v. American Atheists, Inc., urges the Court to grant certiorari to review the ruling of the Tenth Circuit finding the cross memorials to be an unconstitutional establishment of the Christian religion.

“This case presents an opportunity for an historic, landmark ruling that will return Establishment Clause law to the […]

ACRU Files Brief Defending Utah Cross Memorials

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:54:03-04:00May 24th, 2011|

71-Davenport v American AtheistsThe 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 of the Tenth Circuit finding memorial crosses honoring slain Utah Highway Patrol Officers to be an unconstitutional establishment of the Christian religion in the state. The ACRU brief urged the Court to adopt an entirely new standard for deciding Establishment Clause cases that is more true to the text and history of the First Amendment. That standard, known as the Coercion Test, would […]

Blast It! ACLU Protects Teeth-Rattling Car Music

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:53-04:00May 15th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published May 14, 2011 on The Daily Caller website.

In its long history of empowering nuisances that shatter civility, the ACLU has chalked up another victory.

This time, it’s a statewide noise abatement law in Florida aimed at the rolling boom boxes whose subwoofers give unwary bystanders an overall massage, often accompanied by obscenities.

As the Tampa Tribune’s Keith Morelli neatly summarizes:

“The throbbing, molar-rattling bass punctuated with profanity laced lyrics coming from the car in front of you carries the same weight as a political candidate driving down the […]

Federal Appeals Court Dismisses National Day of Prayer Challenge

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:54-04:00April 19th, 2011|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published April 17, 2011 on The Washington Examiner website.

On April 14, a federal appeals court dismissed a challenge to the National Day of Prayer in a notable victory for religious liberty.

The first national call for prayer was from President George Washington in 1789. Since then, every U.S. president except one has issued such calls on various occasions, also routinely making such proclamations on Thanksgiving and Memorial Day.

In 1952, Congress passed a law creating a National Day of Prayer, the first of which President Truman proclaimed on July 4, 1952. The president […]

Court Weighs Constitutionality of Law Funding Political Opposition

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:54:03-04:00March 29th, 2011|

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 will decide whether this system violates the First Amendment in the first campaign finance case since Citizens United v. FEC.

Arizona has a system of taxpayer-funded political campaigns called “Clean Elections.” Many candidates in Arizona raise campaign money traditionally. But candidates have the option of taking taxpayer money instead, under a ballot initiative that narrowly passed, 51 percent to 49 percent, in 1998.

This […]