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 […]

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 […]