All posts tagged: amendment

Florida DeSantis Stop WOKE Act violates First Amendment, court rules

Florida DeSantis Stop WOKE Act violates First Amendment, court rules

Published by Sam Flores

Florida’s “anti-woke” law restricting how professors can teach about race and gender at public colleges and universities violates the First Amendment, a divided federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. It’s a major blow to one of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature culture war policies. The 2-1 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit keeps Florida from enforcing the higher-education provisions of the so-called Stop WOKE Act, a 2022 law DeSantis championed as part of his broader campaign against critical race theory, diversity programs and what he called “woke” ideology in schools and workplaces. Judge Britt Grant, an appointee of President Donald Trump, rejected Florida’s argument that professors’ classroom speech belongs to the state because they are paid by the government. “If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,” Grant wrote. The majority said the case forced the court to address a question the Supreme Court has left open: how much First Amendment protection public university professors have when teaching. “Hearing an …

NY man files First Amendment lawsuit against DHS : NPR

NY man files First Amendment lawsuit against DHS : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

In side-by-side photos recorded by a doorbell camera, two federal agents in blue jackets are seen on David Streever’s porch at his home in Rochester, N.Y. on June 23, 2026. David Streever hide caption toggle caption David Streever Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations tried to track down Rochester resident David Streever last month and give him a warning notice alleging that he had potentially violated the law when he wrote a harsh email months earlier to the former head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Now a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression on Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C. argues Streever’s January email was protected speech and the federal agents’ and their superiors violated Streever’s First Amendment rights. NPR reported last week about HSI agents trying to contact Streever first at his home and later at a hotel over an email that Streever wrote to Todd Lyons, who stepped down as the acting director of ICE at the end of May. FIRE’s lawsuit says the First Amendment …

SCOTUS keeps papering over the antiquated Second Amendment

SCOTUS keeps papering over the antiquated Second Amendment

Published by Sam Flores

The six Federalist Society-vetted members of the Supreme Court claim to be close readers of the Constitution, “originalists,” who parse the intentions of the founders and, somehow, even the attitude of the public, whenever a law was created. The latter approach is their fairly new “history and traditions” gambit. Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brent Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, want to keep the country locked into 1789 or 1868 or whenever the original law was passed — unless, of course, they want to change its meaning and morph the Constitution for their own political purposes. Emily Bazelon wrote an illuminating essay on how the Court’s conservative justices are increasingly utilizing the history-and-traditions standard to serve their own agendas. In Wolford v. Lopez, a 6-3 ruling issued June 25 against a Hawaii law not allowing individuals to carry guns without permission onto private property open to the public, such as grocery stores, gas stations and hotels, the Court put the burden on property owners to post notice, …

Lumbee voters reject gaming amendment ending casino debate for now in North Carolina

Lumbee voters reject gaming amendment ending casino debate for now in North Carolina

Published by skeptic

A proposed change to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina constitution has been defeated by voters, stopping plans that could have opened the door to future tribal gaming projects and a possible casino resort in Robeson County. The result followed months of discussion inside the tribe about whether gaming should become part of a broader economic development strategy after federal recognition was secured in 2025. BREAKING: Lumbee Chairman John Lowery says that the Tribe’s gaming amendment has failed No official numbers from the Tribe’s election board, but some unofficial numbers floating around also suggest the “no” vote has won pic.twitter.com/oDWqIHa2gJ — Chris Stiles (@ChrisStilesRob) June 24, 2026 Lumbee Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery announced the outcome in a social media statement after voting concluded on Tuesday (June 23). “Tonight, a majority of the Lumbee people have spoken, and they have said no to progress and have decided to stay with the status quo or simply staying with the way things are,” Lowery wrote. Lowery said he would accept the decision and would not bring the …

The Burden Of History: Justice Jackson’s Curious Call To Overturn Critical 2nd Amendment Precedent

The Burden Of History: Justice Jackson’s Curious Call To Overturn Critical 2nd Amendment Precedent

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Jonathan Turley, Since her confirmation in 2022, Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson has established a legacy that is fast becoming one of the most radical in the Court’s history. Her sole dissents have drawn sharp criticism from both her conservative and liberal colleagues. However, for critics of some of these decisions, Justice Jackson continues to publish opinions that are not just, as she describes it, cathartic but chilling. Worse yet, the latest judicial jump scare was shared by her colleague, Justice Sonya Sotomayor, in her concurring opinion in United States v. Hemani.. At issue in the case was an effort to prosecute Ali Hemani for recreational use of marijuana, a prosecution that threatened up to 15 years and to strip him of his gun rights under  18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch ruled that the provision was not “consistent with the Second Amendment.” Gorsuch noted that Hemani was not alleged to be a drug addict or to have used his guns in a menacing manner. Gorsuch wrote that the “historical …

First Amendment lawsuits from Charlie Kirk posts get payouts : NPR

First Amendment lawsuits from Charlie Kirk posts get payouts : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Maria Ruhtenberg, an attorney with the Iowa Office of the State Public Defender, has settled with the state after she was fired and later reinstated following online comments she made about the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kathryn Gamble for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kathryn Gamble for NPR By the time Maria Ruhtenberg was fired from her job last September for posting about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, few people even knew what she had written. The posts and comments she had made on Facebook were only visible to her friends. Just one person, a Facebook friend she barely knew, complained to her employer. “I don’t even know how we became Facebook friends, honestly,” said Ruhtenberg. After the conservative activist was shot, Ruhtenberg wrote things like “live by the sword, die by the sword” and “you reap what you sow” and that she disagreed with Kirk’s views about the Second Amendment. Ruhtenberg also said that “whoever shot [Kirk] should go to prison.” Two days after that complaint, a right-wing outlet in Iowa emailed Ruhtenberg’s …

Jane Fonda Decries First Amendment Violations at Rise Up Sing Out Event

Jane Fonda Decries First Amendment Violations at Rise Up Sing Out Event

Published by Daniella Wilson

Jane Fonda gave a passionate speech defending the First Amendment on Sunday night at the star-studded Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment. The event, held at The Town Hall in New York, was organized by the Committee for the First Amendment, a group that originally formed in 1947 during the McCarthy era but was recently revived by Fonda. “Right now, the government and its cronies [are] routinely violating its First Amendment to silence artists,” she said onstage. “Shuttering institutions like the Kennedy Center,  efunding museums and the National Endowment of the Arts, and banning books, canceling TV, hosts who speak out. It’s really bad. And it’s being allowed by cowardly corporations. I’m not gonna name names right now. But I am honored now to pass the mic to artists and activists who continue to speak up and sing out so that we might be inspired to rise up.” Fonda also thanked the audience for showing up and supporting the committee’s mission to “defend free expression against government repression, industry complicity and intimidation,” according …

Republicans vs. the Fourteenth Amendment

Republicans vs. the Fourteenth Amendment

Published by Daniella Wilson

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube In this episode of The David Frum Show, The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on the Brexit vote, which was cast 10 years ago this month. David explains why Brexit has not only been a failure but has led to years of political instability in the U.K. in the decade following the British vote to leave the European Union. Then, David is joined by Professor David W. Blight to discuss  the blood-soaked aftermath of the Civil War and the stumbling project to bring freedom to the former slaves of the South through the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. David and Blight discuss Trump’s project to gut the Fourteenth Amendment to say that some people born on American soil will no longer be Americans. Finally, David ends the episode with a discussion of 1873 by Liaquat Ahamed. David reflects on the financial crisis of that year and the long price depression that followed. The following is a transcript of the episode: David Frum: Hello, and welcome …

Collins bucks GOP on amendment to address insurance companies denying medical care

Collins bucks GOP on amendment to address insurance companies denying medical care

Published by Sam Flores

Vulnerable Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) broke with Senate Republican leaders Thursday and voted for a Democratic motion to commit the $70 billion budget reconciliation package to the Judiciary Committee to investigate insurance companies denying medical care to patients. The motion to send the package back to the Judiciary Committee to probe insurance companies’ abuses was… Source link

Deep disappointment as ‘smacking ban’ amendment excluded from NI Justice Bill – Humanists UK

Deep disappointment as ‘smacking ban’ amendment excluded from NI Justice Bill – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Northern Ireland Humanists has expressed deep disappointment after an amendment to remove the legal defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ of children was excluded from the Consideration Stage of Northern Ireland’s Justice Bill. The amendment, tabled by Alliance MLA Michelle Guy, would have given children the same legal protection from physical assault as adults by removing the criminal defence of ‘reasonable punishment’ from Northern Ireland law. The Equal Protection Working Group, a coalition of children’s rights organisations, health professional bodies, charities, and community and voluntary sector groups, said it was unclear why the amendment was not selected for debate and described the decision as a ‘major missed opportunity’. Northern Ireland Humanists had previously joined over 250 organisations and professionals calling on Stormont to support the amendment. It said reform would bring Northern Ireland into line with Scotland, Wales, Jersey, the Republic of Ireland, and around 70 countries worldwide, where children already have equal protection under assault laws. Commenting on the decision, Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator said: ‘We are deeply disappointed that this amendment has been …