Free Republic

Justice is coming for unions that forced non-members to pay "non-political" agency fees that went to prop up Democratic candidates. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that forcing workers who disagree with a union to make these payments anyway violates the workers' First Amendment rights. Less than a week after that ruling, Janus v. Association of Federal, State, City, and Municipal Employees (FSCME), seven California teachers have filed a class-action lawsuit to recoup unjustly forced fees. "This lawsuit will enable teachers like me to recover the agency fees that we were wrongly forced to pay against our will," Scott Wilford,...

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) recently held two days of hearings on proposed internet regulations. While the hysterical media has ginned up a new “red scare,” the FEC’s proposals will do nothing to stop bad actors, but will undermine our First Amendment rights to online political speech. The FEC used the hearings, at which I testified, to consider different approaches — some more restrictive than others — to “improve” disclaimers for online political advertising. Yet FEC regulations already require political action committees (PACs) and other online spenders to use disclaimers where they can, or to click through to fully-disclaimed pages...

Justice Kennedy was a fierce defender of the First Amendment. As he explained in one of his last opinions on the bench, the government “must not be allowed to force persons to express a message contrary to their deepest convictions. Freedom of speech secures freedom of thought and belief.” Not many can fill Justice Kennedy’s shoes when it comes to the First Amendment. But one who might is Justice Kennedy’s former law clerk: Judge Raymond Kethledge of the Sixth Circuit. Court watchers love comparing nominees to sitting justices. Judge Kethledge’s writing reminds me of the Chief’s. His focus on statutory...

Amber Heard faced massive backlash on Twitter when she tried to warn neighbors of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement checkpoint near her home. “Just heard there’s an ICE checkpoint in hollywood, a few blocks from where I live. Everyone better give their housekeepers, nannies and landscapers a ride home tonight…,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet. Twitter users were swift to call her out. Modal TriggerAmber Heard's tweet about ICE checkpoints Twitter “damn amber u think this sounds woke huh,” tweeted one user. “hi, amber. i love you so much so i’m gonna say this to you: not all...

There is nothing new about The New York Times running bizarre progressive agitprop. But thankfully these articles are more often relegated to the opinion pages. Not so today, as a headline purporting to be news, on page 1A above the fold, offered the absurd opinion that conservatives have “weaponized free speech.” In the place of anything remotely resembling facts or serious empirical evidence, the article by Adam Liptak relies mainly on quotes from “experts” who think government needs to compel bad guys to shut up. William F. Buckley comes to mind while reading the mealy-mouthed assault on our greatest and...

WASHINGTON — On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm. The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California law requiring religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about abortion. Conservatives, said Justice Kagan, who is part of the court’s four-member liberal wing, were “weaponizing the First Amendment.” The two decisions were the latest in a stunning run of victories for a conservative agenda that...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released newly obtained internal IRS documents, including material revealing that Sen. John McCain’s former staff director and chief counsel on the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee, Henry Kerner, urged top IRS officials, including then-director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner, to “audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous.” Kerner was appointed by President Trump as Special Counsel for the United States Office of Special Counsel.

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a Minnesota law banning voters from wearing political apparel to the polls, saying it was too draconian in stifling Americans’ First Amendment rights. The 7-2 decision said it may be possible for states to restrict stridently political T-shirts and buttons, but the justices said Minnesota didn’t justify why its law needed to be so broad.

Progressives in the media have no respect for the traditions and structure of the branches of the government. As soon as one issues a decision based on anything but liberal ideology, the world is over. After the Supreme Court released their decision in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop LTD. vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, in favor of the baker, Jack Phillips, the media went on a rampage. Liberal book publisher Haymarket Books tweeted out on its verified account almost immediately after the ruling was released, “Abolish the Supreme Court.”

hen, just weeks after taking office, Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the supreme court, the newly minted US president made good on a central promise of his campaign: to replace the late justice Antonin Scalia with a bona fide conservative. That moment foreshadowed what is shaping up to be among the most indelible of Trump’s triumphs – the reshaping of the federal judiciary with the appointment of dozens of judges with an ideological bent toward the administration’s agenda. Republicans are working with Trump to make a record-breaking number of appointments to federal courts. These new, mostly young, white men...

The New York Times never discouraged U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy from retiring during the Obama administration, but the newspaper’s editorial board is now literally begging him to stick around. Headlined “Please Stay, Justice Kennedy,” the open letter in Saturday’s edition implored him to remain on the high court amid rumors of his retirement, saying “[y]our departure right now from the Supreme Court would have dire consequences for the country.” Why? If Mr. Kennedy leaves, his seat would be filled by President Trump, which would mean “the court will have a locked-in right-wing majority for the rest of most...

As the political world obsesses over the latest sexual-harassment scandals and policy wonks scrutinize the latest tax-reform proposal, the Trump administration is quietly restoring constitutional governance. Although Congress has been unable to pass legislation and President Trump faces record-low approval rates, his hiring of “the best people” in certain key areas has enabled the transformation of the judiciary — as well as reworking the bureaucracy (often called the Fourth Branch). A president has few powers more important than picking judges. Tax deals can sunset and regulations can be rescinded — Congress has used the Congressional Review Act to eliminate 14...

You need the First Amendment precisely when your ideas offend others or flout the majority’s orthodoxies. And then it protects more than your freedom to speak your mind; it guards your freedom not to speak the mind of another. Thus, in classic “compelled speech” rulings, the Supreme Court has protected the right not to be forced to say, do or create anything expressing a message one rejects. Most famously, in West Virginia v. Barnette (1943), it barred a state from denying Jehovah’s Witnesses the right to attend public schools if they refused to salute the flag. In Wooley v. Maynard...

This week, the Supreme Court hears Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Jack Phillips, proprietor of Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused to create a wedding cake ordered for a same-sex marriage on grounds that it would force him to create a cake expressing a value opposed to his Christian convictions. The gay men who ordered the cake filed a sexual orientation discrimination claim against him with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and the Commission ruled against Phillips. It was clear that this was not a matter of Phillips refusing to do business with these men because they are gay. He offered...

"Whatever the confluence of speech and free exercise principles might be in some cases, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's consideration of this case was inconsistent with the State's obligation of religious neutrality. The reason and motive for the baker's refusal were based on his sincere religious beliefs and convictions." link to decision https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_j4el.pdf

That case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, takes aim at a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation in places serving the public. Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, says the law violates his free speech rights by forcing him to “create expression that violates his sincerely held beliefs about marriage.” The dispute has attracted a lot of attention from the business community, including an amicus brief signed by 35 companies including Amazon (AMZN), Pfizer (PFE), and Apple (AAPL), which asked the court to rule against Phillips. Another group with an interest in the...

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. While the decision ends an almost six-year legal battle, a new journey begins. This nation stands at the proverbial fork in the road. One path will lead us closer to a society controlled by hostility — one in which those who hold the dominant view in society will use government as a weapon to punish individuals who fail to adopt the prevailing orthodoxy. The other path will move us toward a truly tolerant society — one with room for individuals who believe,...

Study: Voters Worried About Political Correctness Flocked to Candidate Trump "Support for Trump (and opposition to Clinton) is especially likely amongst people who feel emotional reactance to restrictive communication norms." Robby Soave | May. 18, 2018 9:15 am In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, I suggested that Donald Trump's unlikely victory was partly the result of backlash against political correctness—something the Republican candidate deftly turned to his advantage during both the primaries and the general election. A year and a half later, there's a good amount of evidence supporting this theory. Take this study, produced by a team...

Donald Trump's attacks on broadcaster CNN are an "an outrageous assault" on freedom of speech, according to former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Michael Hayden. “If this is who we are or who we are becoming, I have wasted 40 years of my life,” the former spy chief, who now works as a national security analyst for the broadcaster, said in a Twitter post. General Hayden, who is also a former director of the National Surveillance Agency (NSA), added: "Until now it was not possible for me to conceive of an American President capable of such an outrageous assault on...

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” So begins the First Amendment to our Constitution. Those words have been turned into a “law” that allows courts to demand an impenetrable wall of separation between religion and government. A recent case shows how amazingly far they will go to ensure that. In 1925, a group of citizens in Bladensburg, Maryland wanted to honor 49 men from Prince George’s County who had lost their lives during the First World War. The local chapter of the American Legion and families funded a memorial usually...