Free Republic

U.S. authorities have arrested a New York man for broadcasting Hezbollah television station al-Manar, which has been designated a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury Department, prosecutors said Thursday. Javed Iqbal, 42, was arrested Wednesday because his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd. was providing New York-area customers with the Hezbollah-operated channel, federal prosecutors said in a statement. It did not say how long Iqbal's company had been providing satellite broadcasts of al-Manar, which the U.S. Treasury Department in March had designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, making it a crime to conduct business with al-Manar. Iqbal has been charged with...

A federal district judge in Detroit has ruled that the Bush administration's NSA surveillance of phone conversations is unconstitutional.

Isn't it ironic that one of the things our enemies, the Islamofascists, hate about America is the very thing that enables them to operate here? I'm talking about our openness. Our rights to privacy. The many freedoms granted us by the U.S. Constitution. And the protections and even special treatment afforded Muslim organizations in the U.S. We're a society like no other. Take for example last week's decision by Federal District Court Judge James Whittemore of Florida, who ruled in favor of ACLU lawyers last week that pat down searches before football games should be prohibited because they violate fans'...

NEW YORK — Police have proposed placing tighter restrictions on protesters who march on sidewalks by making them obtain parade permits — a move civil libertarians say would cripple the rights of people to stage spontaneous demonstrations. The written proposal, made public on July 17, would require permits for any march on a sidewalk by 35 or more people or for street demonstrations involving 20 or more bicycles or other vehicles. It says the new rules are needed to better police “assemblies that obstruct the free passage of public streets and sidewalks.” Current regulations, which are more loosely worded, mandate...

Strain says he's just trying to find suspects : St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain's statements about the suspects in a recent quadruple murder near Slidell amount to racial profiling that broadly paints Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans as "thugs" and "trash," the American Civil Liberties Union said in an open letter to the sheriff. Strain countered that the ACLU is distorting his comments, which he said were intended to warn St. Tammany residents about early signs of post-Katrina "spillover crime" from New Orleans. The dispute centers on a TV interview Strain gave after four people were shot June...

BERKLEY, Mich. -- The parking fine was $10. But the comment Robert Militzer added to the check could land him in jail for 30 days. The computer programmer from Allen Park got the ticket May 29. When Militzer wrote the check to Berkley District Court, he scribbled on the memo line, "BULL (expletive) MONEY GRAB." That got Militzer an in-person court appearance -- on a contempt of court charge. He's scheduled to go before a judge Wednesday, accompanied by an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who will argue Militzer's remark is protected by the First Amendment.

CROWN POINT, Ind. -- Prayer has been banned at 4-H meetings in Lake County, Ind. A memorandum issued last month by the Lake County Cooperative Extension Service said prayer is forbidden at all times, including to "begin or close meetings, fundraisers, camp sessions, including meals, and/or award ceremonies." Stan Sims, the county extension director, said he issued the directive because: "We want to respect peoples' beliefs and be inclusive." No single incident prompted his note. The formal prayers had been a tradition at various events, including 4-H, which has more than 800 youth members in Lake County. The new policy...

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children’s books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms. The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive. Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove “Vamos a Cuba” and its English-language version, “A Visit to Cuba” from 33 schools,...

She knew her speech as valedictorian of Foothill High School would be cut short, but Brittany McComb was determined to tell her fellow graduates what was on her mind and in her heart. But before she could get to the word in her speech that meant the most to her -- Christ -- her microphone went dead. Advertisement The decision to cut short McComb's commencement speech Thursday at The Orleans drew jeers from the nearly 400 graduates and their families that went on for several minutes. However, Clark County School District officials and an attorney with the American Civil Liberties...

Controversy surrounding a religious drama recently presented in two local public schools has prompted an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union -- and a plan by the church to bring the drama to the public. "The Last Call," based on the Bible's Book of Revelations, was presented to students at Muskegon Heights High School last December and at Muskegon's Steele Middle School in April. Teachers in Muskegon have complained about the program, which was performed April 14 during a mandatory all-school assembly at Steele on Good Friday during school hours. The ACLU began an investigation after The Chronicle on...

A federal judge has ordered an upstate New York school district to return bricks inscribed with Christian messages to a high school walkway, and a pro-family civil liberties attorney is praising the outcome as a victory against viewpoint discrimination. The dispute arose after the Mexico Academy High School class of 1999 in Mexico, New York (Oswego County), sold bricks that could be inscribed with personal messages and included in a walkway as a fundraiser. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) complained that certain bricks, particularly those inscribed with the messages gJesus Saves/John 3:16 and gJesus Christ, the only way,h...

(CBS4) WESTMINSTER, Colo. The immigration debate and recent demonstrations over the issue have led to a change in the dress code for a middle school in Adams County. Students at Shaw Heights Middle School are no longer allowed to wear anything that is patriotic, including camouflage pants, because they have become a political symbol for a version of patriotism, CBS4 reports. "It upsets me that we cannot support our troops -- the military," said Kirsten Golgart, an eighth grader who was told she'd be suspended if she didn't change her clothes. "We can't support our country. If we're American, I...

On Wed,March 22, there will be a hearing in Essex County Court in Massachusetts, which could result in the banning of a book by Fathers rights(Pro-Family) activist, Kevin Thompson. Kevin Thompson has been fighting a long and lonely battle in the Essex Probate and Family Court to try to be able to be a father to his son. Several months ago, the court impounded the records of the trial and Judge DeGangi has recently granted a restraining order forbidding Kevin from distributing his book, EXPOSING THE CORRUPTION IN THE MASSACHUSETTS FAMILY COURTS.

NEW YORK — A civil liberties group accused police yesterday of lying about the circumstances surrounding the arrests of hundreds of protesters during the Republican National Convention. In a letter to police and prosecutors, the New York Civil Liberties Union demanded a review of cases brought against protesters arrested on Aug. 31, 2004, at demonstrations near the World Trade Center site and Union Square. “We are concerned that false police statements may have tainted hundreds of cases of people arrested at the two largest mass arrests during the convention,” wrote the group’s attorney, Christopher Dunn. City law officials have said...

The American Civil Liberties Union claimed in a federal lawsuit Wednesday that California's lethal injection protocol violates the First Amendment rights of execution witnesses by not allowing them to see if the inmate is experiencing pain before death. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, says the only reason San Quentin State Prison officials inject a paralyzing agent is to sanitize the execution and prevent witnesses from perhaps seeing convulsions. The paralyzing drug, according to the lawsuit, "makes it impossible for witnesses to determine whether death row inmates in California are being subjected to substantial and unnecessary...

ACLU opposes creation of 'Catholic town' Domino's Pizza founder wants to build new town with 'Catholic values' ACLU opposes creation of 'Catholic town' Feb. 21: The Situation's Tucker Carlson asks Howard Simon, the Executive Director of Florida's ACLU, why his group is trying to stop the founder of Domino's pizza from building a town with Catholic values, and pharmacies that may not stock contraceptives. TRANSCRIPT MSNBC Updated: 3:45 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2006 If you could build a town from scratch, what would it look like? Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino‘s Pizza, wants a towering Roman Catholic Church at...

Judge: Lesbian couple can be foster parents By JOHN SHULTZ The Kansas City Star Missouri cannot block an openly gay Kansas City woman’s efforts to become a foster parent because of her sexual orientation, a Jackson County judge ruled today. In her decision, Circuit Judge Sandra Midkiff ruled the state arbitrarily denied Lisa Johnston’s petition to become a foster parent because she is a lesbian. Johnston and partner Dawn Roginski sought to become foster parents in 2003, but their efforts were stymied by an unwritten state social services policy prohibiting gays from becoming foster parents. The state argued that Johnston...

(CNSNews.com) - Police in Antioch, Calif., shot and killed a man this week when he allegedly advanced on them with a carving knife and a meat fork. Although a bullet killed 27-year-old Scott Dittman, it might not have happened if police could have used a TASER instead of a gun, a law enforcement lobbying group said on Friday. The Law Enforcement Alliance of America calls Dittman's shooting the nation's "first real TASER death," and it pins the blame on the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which released a report in October, warning about the rise in Taser-related deaths.

An ACLU lawsuit on behalf of an agnostic, lesbian couple seeking to nullify the Boy Scouts’ long-standing lease with a San Diego park will be heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, widely regarded as the nation’s most liberal. The city of San Diego is appealing a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling in 2003, which determined the agreement violates the First Amendment’s ban on state-sponsored religion. Oral arguments will begin Tuesday morning in Pasadena, Calif. A decision is expected later this year. Judge Napoleon Jones said in his 2003 ruling the Boy Scouts are a religious organization with a...

The nonprofit organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy announced late last week it has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education alleging that the department is refusing to release state-by-state data on the number of students affected by a law barring them from receiving financial aid because they have a drug conviction unless SSDP pays a hefty fee for the service. The student group wants information about the impact of the Higher Education Act's (HEA) drug provision, authored by arch-drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), and in effect since 2000. SSDP is part of a large coalition of student,...