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Judge Says Virginia Ballot Rules Are Unconstitutional, but Rules against GOP Candidates Anyway

By |2012-01-17T13:38:33-05:00January 17th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 17, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website.

A federal judge declared that Virginia’s rules keeping Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum off Virginia’s March 6 presidential primary ballot “will likely be declared unconstitutional, and that the plaintiffs will ultimately prevail.”

But then he sided with Virginia, and ordered Virginia’s election to proceed with only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul on the ballot.

To make it on the primary ballot, Virginia law requires a candidate to submit 10,000 signatures of Virginia voters who attest they plan on voting in the primary, at […]

Tom Landess, R.I.P.

By |2012-01-16T11:23:01-05:00January 16th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 16, 2012 in The Washington Times.

America lost an unsung hero on Jan. 8 with the passing of Thomas H. Landess. To say that Tom was an accomplished Southern academic would be like saying that Robert H. Goddard was a guy who liked to tinker with rockets.

The reason you may not have heard of Tom Landess before is that he did much of his work behind the scenes in countless selfless ways.

Tom taught literature and creative writing for 24 years, including posts at Vanderbilt University, Converse College […]

The Left's War on Voter Fraud Reform

By |2020-04-23T21:48:00-04:00January 16th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 16, 2012 on The American Thinker website.

Pretty soon, the right to cast a meaningful vote might be just a memory.

The issue at hand is ensuring that American citizens can exercise the most fundamental civil right of being an American — casting a vote with the assurance that it will count and not be canceled by an illegitimate vote.

The ACLU has filed three lawsuits seeking to overturn a new Florida law that tightens the integrity of the ballot box, while the Obama Justice Department has scotched South […]

Supremes Unanimously Reject Government Role in Choosing Ministers

By |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,” […]

The Worst Economic Recovery Since The Great Depression

By |2012-01-13T12:59:39-05:00January 13th, 2012|

This column by ACRU General Counsel and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy (CCPP) Peter Ferrara was published January 12, 2012 on Forbes.com.

The record of President Obama’s first three years in office is in, and nothing that happens now can go back and change that. What that record shows is that President Obama, with his throwback, old-fashioned, 1970s Keynesian economics, has put America through the worst recovery from a recession since the Great Depression.

The recession started in December, 2007. Go to the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research (

In Greed I Trust

By |2012-01-12T11:58:02-05:00January 12th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published January 11, 2012 on Townhall.com.

Last week’s column started off asking: “What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done?” The answer is that human greed is what gets wonderful things done. I wasn’t talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I was talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves.

Think about greed and racial discrimination. In 1947, when the Brooklyn Dodgers hired Jackie Robinson, why did racial discrimination by […]

Homeowners Fight for Property Rights Against EPA

By |2023-03-10T08:04:47-05:00January 12th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 10, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website.

Oral arguments were heard Monday in an Idaho case that prompted Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to ask if “most ordinary homeowners would say this kind of thing can’t happen in the United States?”

Alito’s unusual query came as the court heard from advocates on both sides of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, which pits the federal Leviathan against an Idaho couple trying to build a house on land they own.

Alito continued with a perfect summary of the absurdity of this case:

“You […]

Texas Case Suggests Court May Overhaul Voting Rights

By |2020-04-23T21:58:18-04:00January 10th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published January 9, 2012 on The Washington Examiner website.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement told U.S. Supreme Court justices Monday that lower federal courts cannot redraw state-approved election district maps unless they can point to concrete “identifying specific statutory or constitutional violations.”

Instead, Clement said during oral arguments on Perry v. Perez, two federal district judges have nullified the will of the people in Texas. The evident frustration of at least some of the Supreme Court justices suggests they agree with Gov. Rick Perry that state sovereignty must be restored.

Clement represented Perry […]

Obama's Inoperative Constitution

By |2012-01-09T19:15:27-05:00January 9th, 2012|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 9, 2012 in The Washington Times.

Back in 1973, when the Nixon administration was under fire for Watergate, Press Secretary Ron Ziegler uttered an unforgettable response when caught in a lie during a news conference: “This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.”

Well, the Obama administration just topped that by essentially declaring the U.S. Constitution “inoperative.” President Obama did not use that term when making an illegal recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the new post of consumer czar on Wednesday, but he might as well have.

ACRU's Supreme Court Brief Says Lack of Mandate Would Doom ObamaCare

By |2012-01-05T19:26:50-05:00January 5th, 2012|

Jan. 4, 2012 — The American Civil Rights Union filed its fifth brief challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare.

The brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, authored by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara, argues that lack of a mandate forcing individuals to purchase health insurance through government-approved exchanges would doom the entire system.

The brief states:

“Because the Affordable Care Act does not include a severability clause, if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional, then the whole Act must be struck down as unconstitutional.”

At least one lower federal court has ruled that the […]

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