The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) has filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights accusing Chick-fil-A of violations of Illinois law, namely the Human Rights Act which prohibits a “public accommodation” from making protected classes “unwelcome, objectionable or unacceptable.” TCRA insists that “this is not a First Amendment issue,” and that “this is about Chick-fil-A having a policy, a corporate culture, which promotes discrimination.”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled against professor Lynn Branham who challenged her firing as violating her guarantee of tenure. The case, Branham v. Thomas M. Cooley Law Sch., No. 10-2305 (August 6, 2012) 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 16266, contains some interesting language on the tenure and when it is more rhetorical and real. Ironically, Branham has relocated to the faculty of St. Louis Law School — just time for its dean to resign over the “disrespect” shown her by the University president. Cooley Law School has been getting a fair level of trial practice recently — as a defendant, plaintiff, or witness (here and here and here). That leaves the impression of a type of perpetual legal machine, producing lawyers who produce lawsuits in an endless loop of litigation.
It appears the fight over Lebensraum is now being waged over liquor store shelf space. An American couple has triggered a free speech controversy in Italy after complaining about the sale of wine with the image of Hitler on the label or other labels for “Mein Kampf” wine or wine with the motto “Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer” (one people, one empire, one Fuhrer). Michael Hirsch, a lawyer from Philadelphia, complained about the sale of such items. In Italy, prosecutors are looking into the matter for possible criminal charges. The question is whether the producer should have a right to supply such bottles and customers should have the right to buy such bottles.
Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is facing trial for 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the November 2009 attack at Fort Hood. Before that trial can occur, however, Hasan is facing a sanction that understandably fails to concentrate his mind as much as the looming death sentence: a second $1000 fine for failing to shave for court. While the military requires personnel to be shaven, Hasan is citing his Islamic faith as requiring him to appear in a beard. He has now been held in contempt of court twice for failing to shave by the judge, Col. Gregory Gross.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
It seems that almost everywhere you look, some State is trying to reduce the number of early voting days, purging the voting rolls and making it harder for citizens to cast their votes. The State of Florida has recently attempted to remove legitimate voters off its voter rolls and the State of Georgia recently attempted to restrict the time when a military absentee ballot can be counted as I wrote about earlier on this blog. Georgia Now, we have some hard evidence of just who is getting removed or impacted by the various State’s attempts to cure the imagined Voter fraud problem! Continue reading “Just Who Gains From Voter ID Laws?”→
Seven protesters are suing Toronto police for $1.4 million, claiming they were unfairly arrested and abused after being profiled by police, who looked for such things as “hairy legs.” That allegedly was one of the ways used to spot protesters — presumably those women with shaven legs were allowed to pass freely by the officers.
Princeton University jurisprudence professor Robert P. George has launched a campaign to pressure the five top hotel chains to block access to pornography to “re-stigmatize” the industry. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. His view of a free and pluralistic society is strikingly different from my own. While George discusses his deep Catholic faith and fears for the morality of his neighbors, he believes that the solution is deny millions of travelers the right to choose their entertainment each year at these hotels.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that the Kentucky State Bar violated the rights of John M. Berry Jr. who was threatened with an ethics charge after criticizing the state Legislative Ethics Commission. In an important victory for free speech, the panel found that the bar violated the first amendment rights of the attorney.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw) Guest Blogger
I have discussed the Second Amendment and the difficulties I have in allowing citizens to own semi-automatic weapons and large capacity clips of ammunition in the past, but Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a recent Fox News interview, just took my concern over semi-automatic weapons and shot it down.. with a shoulder firing rocket! Continue reading “Rocket Launchers and the Second Amendment”→
The fallout from the controversial interview given by Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy over anti-gay comments continues to build. While most business leaders work hard to keep their political and religious views from affecting customers or their business, Cathy came out swinging with comments saying that he runs the company according to Biblical commands and that he views gay marriage as a sin. The result has been national boycott, store protests, and most recently moves in major cities like Chicago to bar the restaurant. The suggested legislation in Chicago would be in my view unconstitutional. Despite our disagreement with Cathy, civil libertarians should defend his right to do business without harassment or censure from the government for his views. His company is subject to anti-discrimination laws. Those laws protect his employees from “Biblical” harassment.
Greek Triple jumper Voula Papachristou has been expelled from Greece’s Olympic team this week for mocking African immigrants and expressing support on Twitter for the far-right Golden Dawn party. Despite the obnoxious content of these views for many of us, I believe that the move raises serious free speech concerns.
Michael Ben-Ari, a member of the National Union Party in the Israeli Knesset, wanted a staff member to film him recently for his constituents to see. While most politicians go for the baby kissing scene or memorial day speech, Ben-Ari wanted to be shown tearing out the New Testament from a bible and throwing it into the garbage — a despicable act of religious intolerance and hate.
“Non-violence” by Swedish sculptor Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd U.N. Visitor’s Plaza, New York, New York A gift from Luxembourg.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last forty-eight hours, you have no doubt seen the coverage concerning the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. If you possess even a minimal level of empathy for your fellow human beings, twelve dead and fifty-eight wounded when their only crime was wanting to see a movie can only be properly described as tragic. Among the dead accounted for up to this point are a man who had been celebrating his twenty-seventh birthday (Alex Sullivan), a member of our Navy (Petty Officer Third Class John Larimer), a twenty-four year old aspiring sports journalist (Jessica Ghawi), and a six year-old girl. Some less responsible outlets are reporting this little girl’s name (Huffington Post, looking your direction), but other more responsible outlets are not. I will not post her name for the same reason others have declined: the little girl remains unidentified because her mother, also a victim of this horrific crime with gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen, remains paralyzed in hospital and has not yet been told of her daughter’s death. Even in reporting on events, sometimes a little discretion goes a long way and does not impair the “public’s right to know” in any substantive manner.
Over the next few days, you will see many attempts by people with various political agendas trying to monopolize on this shooting to promote their pet causes. In fact, it has already started and in a most heinous manner. During a radio interview on The Heritage Foundation’s “Istook Live!” show, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings were a result of “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs” . . . and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter. Gohmert in one fell swoop illustrated that not only is he a base political opportunist, but that he apparently doesn’t understand the 1st or 2nd Amendments very well – a common affliction among Texas pols. Others pols are already using this as a way to promote their anti-gun agendas, their pro-gun agendas and the Twitter-verse is filling with statements from “our leaders” about this tragic event and all of them in some way self-serving.
I urge you to ignore these opportunists for a moment and to think about something else related to the Aurora shooting.
Multiple outlets are reporting that the accused gunman, James Holmes, had dyed his hair red and told the police he “was the Joker”.
There is the fantasy of violence. There is the reality of violence. They could not be more different in outcome. This presents the issue of instances like this where the line between fantasy and reality have clearly been crossed in some meaningful manner. Does this problem exist in the individual or in society itself? I submit the answer might be “a little of both”.
The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) has filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights accusing Chick-fil-A of violations of Illinois law, namely the Human Rights Act which prohibits a “public accommodation” from making protected classes “unwelcome, objectionable or unacceptable.” TCRA insists that “this is not a First Amendment issue,” and that “this is about Chick-fil-A having a policy, a corporate culture, which promotes discrimination.”
