Category: Religion

Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Religion, Supreme Court

Supreme Court Hears Major Parental Rights Case Over LGBT Readings

Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a major parental rights case in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a challenge to Montgomery County (Md.) requiring their children to participate in instruction that includes LGBTQ+ themes. It is a case that could produce sweeping changes across the county as parents object to the use of public schools to advance social and political agendas. These books are being required for children 3-10 years old. The parents have the stronger argument in my view. A ruling in their favor could prove one of the most important victories for parental rights in decades.

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Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion

“Coercive Control”: Parents Could Lose Custody Under Proposed Colorado Law for “Misgendering”

Parental rights are emerging as one of the major civil liberties movements of this generation — and one of the greatest conflicts between the right and the left in this country. For example, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled schools can hide a change of gender in young children from their parents. Now, Colorado is poised to pass a law that would threaten the custody rights of parents who “deadname” or “misgender” their own children. If a parent does not adopt a child’s new pronouns or name, they could be found to have exercised “coercive control” and lose custody in divorce proceedings in favor of a more enlightened parent. Continue reading ““Coercive Control”: Parents Could Lose Custody Under Proposed Colorado Law for “Misgendering”” →

Free Speech, International, Religion

British Blasphemy? UK Government Moves Toward New Definition of “Islamophobia” for Speech Regulation

Recently, after the speech of Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich, various European leaders went public to express their shock and disbelief that they would be accused of rolling back on free speech. For many of us, it was a laughable display of denial, particularly from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In a country that has eviscerated free speech, Starmer told Bret Baier that the UK “guards” free speech and “we don’t believe in censoring speech.” Now, the government is continuing this month with its effort to regulate and criminalize speech. The effort to crack down on “Islamophobia” could create a type of blasphemy standard if it encompasses criticism of the faith or its practices.

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Politics, Religion

“Get Violent and Fight”: Tennessee Minister Defends Violence to Stop Trump
Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion

A Ministerial Miranda? Washington State Democrats Target Priests in Latest Attack on Religion

Washington Democrats are adding a fifth stage for confessions under a new law.  If passed, examination, confession, absolution, and penance will be followed by arrest. The blatantly unconstitutional legislation would target priests who learn of any “reasonable” basis to believe that a child “has suffered abuse or neglect.” Putting aside the obvious violation of the sanctity of the confessional, it presents a novel problem for priests if they both encourage the faithful to unburden themselves while at the same time reminding them anything that they say can and will be used against them in a court of law. Continue reading “A Ministerial Miranda? Washington State Democrats Target Priests in Latest Attack on Religion” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Religion

Farrakhan and Nation of Islam Lose Major Defamation Case

There is an interesting defamation case out of New York in which the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of the lawsuit by Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam (NOI) against the Anti-Defamation League (“ADL”) and individual defendants Jonathan Greenblatt, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper. Not only did the court reject the claim that canceled speeches resulted from alleged defamatory statements, but it also noted that the statements about NOI are protected opinions. Continue reading “Farrakhan and Nation of Islam Lose Major Defamation Case” →

Constitutional Law, Lawyering, Media, Religion, Supreme Court

Take Two Puberty Blockers and Call Me in the Morning? Justice Sotomayor Under Fire For Aspirin Analogy in Oral Argument

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is under fire today for seemingly dismissing medical concerns over the risks of puberty blockers and gender surgeries for minors with a comparison to taking Aspirin. In the oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, Sotomayor pointed out that there are risks to any medical procedure or drug. However, the analogy belittled the concerns of many parents and groups over the research on the dangers of these treatments. It also highlighted how the Biden Administration and liberal justices were discarding countervailing research inconveniently at odds with their preferred legal conclusion.

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International, Religion

Fall from Grace: Olympian Suspended for Making Sign of the Cross

International Judo Federation (IJF) has suspended a Serbian judo champion for five months from any international competitions for making the sign of the cross after his match in the Paris Olympic games this year. It is another bizarre controversy from the games, including France barring French Muslim athletes from wearing hijabs in competition. Continue reading “Fall from Grace: Olympian Suspended for Making Sign of the Cross” →

Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Religion

“You Are Quite Openly Jewish”: London Police Under Fire for Confrontation With Man Near Anti-Israeli March

The London police are under fire this week for threatening to arrest a man wearing a kippah near a pro-Palestinian march. Officers inform Gideon Falter, head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism watchdog, that he was “antagonizing” the protesters by being “openly Jewish” near such a march. He was told that, if he tried to cross the street while being “openly Jewish,” he would be arrested for breach of the peace. Continue reading ““You Are Quite Openly Jewish”: London Police Under Fire for Confrontation With Man Near Anti-Israeli March” →

Politics, Religion, Society

Hopping Mad: Easter Becomes the Latest Flash Point in American Politics

It often seems like there is nothing left today that is not a battleground over our political and social differences. We can now add Easter. The Biden White House triggered a firestorm by picking Good Friday to announce that Easter Sunday will now be the “Transgender Day of Visibility.” At the same time, families objected to regulations on Easter egg designs, barring children from including any religious imagery or references on this religious holiday.  There are even objections to the use of eggs at the annual White House egg roll.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Religion

Turley Publication on the Compulsion of Free Speech is Now Available

I am happy to announce the publication of my latest law review article, The Unfinished Masterpiece: Compulsion and the Evolving Jurisprudence Over Free Speech, 83 Md. L. Rev. 145 (2023)  The work not only discusses the recent 303 Creative ruling of the Supreme Court, but an important case now pending before the Court for possible review, Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University. The Porter decision was decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and, in my view, represents a major threat to both free speech and academic freedom. Both cases are also discussed in my forthcoming book, The Indispensable Right.

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Politics, Religion, Society

The New Barbarians: Pundits Raise Alarm Over the Sacking of the Beltway by Good Intentions

There is a palpable level of panic that seems to have taken hold of Washington this week. Establishment figures are raising the alarm over the rise of dangerous figures as if they are the barbarians at the gate before the sacking of Rome in 410. The threat is coming from both parties in the form of the new Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. They may be the worst type of barbarians because they came to this city with the best of intentions. Continue reading “The New Barbarians: Pundits Raise Alarm Over the Sacking of the Beltway by Good Intentions” →

Academia, Free Speech, International, Religion

France to Ban Abayas in Schools

We have previously discussed the denial of religious expression in France for Islamic women who wish to wear abaya, Islamic swimsuits, or burkas. Many of us have lamented about how France, the cradle of so many individual rights in history, has become so inimical to those rights. France has adopted the opposite position to these rights. It has relentlessly attacked free speech (including the criticism of religious beliefs) while denying the expression of religious beliefs. The latest example is the ban announced this weekend on Muslim women wearing the Islamic abaya to school as violations of France’s strict secular laws in education. Continue reading “France to Ban Abayas in Schools” →

Criminal law, Free Speech, Religion

“God is Not the Author of Confusion”: Charges Dropped Against Protester Who Read Biblical Passages at Pride Event
YouTube

The Berks County District Attorney’s Office has confirmed that it is dropping charges against Damon Atkins after the preacher was arrested citing the Bible in protest of an LGBTQ Pride event in Reading, Pennsylvania. The only reason that the charges were dropped is that a third party videotaped the scene and disproved the account of the arresting officer. Ironically, Atkins was reciting 1 Corinthians 14:33 that begins “For God is not the author of confusion.” That role appears to rest with the Reading police, which processed a wildly exaggerated account of the encounter. Continue reading ““God is Not the Author of Confusion”: Charges Dropped Against Protester Who Read Biblical Passages at Pride Event” →

Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks