I am speaking today in Florida on the Supreme Court. The speech to general counsels and legal counsels at corporations is being held on Amelia Island. In addition to a timely escape from the winter blues, this island offers long pristine beaches filled with sea shells and breathtaking views.
Continue reading “Turley Speaks in Florida on Supreme Court”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the campaign to get Justice Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis due to her religion. The demand is entirely without merit but it is illustrative of the unrelenting and unhinged attacks on this distinguished jurist. Previously, Democratic senators demanded Barrett’s recusal from pending cases on similarly frivolous grounds. Barrett remains the obsession for many on the left from campaigns to ban her books to protests at her home. She has done nothing to warrant such continual and personal attacks.
Here is the column:
Below is my column in The Hill on what is shaping up to be a major Supreme Court term on the issues of parody and satire under the First Amendment. The Court could reframe the constitutional limits for criminal and civil liability in two cases currently on the docket, including one recently granted review. Continue reading “No Joke: Supreme Court Case Could Take a Big Bite Out of the First Amendment”
Recently, the fashion company Balenciaga actively sought public recognition for its severing of ties with Twitter. The move came early in the campaign against Elon Musk for attempting to restore free speech protections on the site. Now, Balenciaga is under fire for an advertising campaign featuring children with Teddy Bears in BDSM outfits. As part of its effort to deflect claims of sexualizing children, the company is filing a $25 million lawsuit against the producers of the ad campaign. The filing is particularly interesting because it focuses not as much on the BDSM or bondage bears being marketed by Balenciaga, but the inclusion the image of a child pornography court ruling. The company, however, could face some significant legal challenges over its own role in the campaign. Continue reading “Balenciaga’s Bondage Bears: Company Sues Over the Inclusion of Supreme Court Opinion in Ad Campaign”
As families gather this year for our annual holiday feast, there remain many things for all of us to give pause and thanks for in our lives. Our friends, family, and faith remain central to this holiday. So is our freedom. Despite economic, political, and social problems, we remain a free and prosperous nation committed to core values of individual rights and self-determination. Indeed, more than any year, there is particular reason to give thanks to the most besieged and resilient part of our constitutional system: the courts. Despite attacks from the left and right, our court system remains a bulwark against political impulse and excess. The Supreme Court in particular has faced unrelenting attacks ranging from a reprehensible leak to an attempted assassination of a justice to calls for court packing. It has stood its ground just as James Madison and other Framers had hoped in their original design of our constitutional system.
I have previously written about how New York has proven time and time again as the gift that keeps on giving for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun-rights groups. New York Democrats continue to pass laws that are virtually guaranteed to be struck down and further reinforce Second Amendment rights. The latest provision involves the possible criminal prosecution for possessing a gun on private property if the owner has not approved such possession on the premises.
Continue reading “Federal Court Strikes Down Another Provision of New York’s New Gun Control Law”
Recently, we saw the filing of a hilarious brief by the Onion in Novak v. City of Pharm in which an Ohio man was prosecuted for posting a parody of his local police department. Now the Court has accepted a different parody case involving Jack Daniels where the company is suing the maker of dog chew toys. The case is Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. v. VIP Products LLC. Continue reading “Supreme Court Takes Jack Daniels Trademark Case with Major Free Speech Implications”
Former President Barack Obama continued the Democratic campaign theme this week in arguing that democracy is in danger if Republicans prevail in the midterm elections. I have a new column out this weekend addressing the over-the-top rhetoric coming from Democratic politicians and pundits. However, the former president’s speech was revealing as he cited the very arguments made by Democrats . . . as attacks on democracy. Obama did not go as far as some but he also seemed to channel the dire warnings of the imminent collapse of our democracy if the Republicans should prevail in the elections.
Below is my column this week on the campaign to block the publication of a book by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. It is all a part of movement of censorship and speech intolerance that has swept across our campuses and news rooms. What is most striking is how these editors and publishers are insisting that they are supporting free speech by silencing others.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Censoring in the Name of Free Speech: Publishers and Editors Call for Banning Barrett Book”
There was an interesting torts question raised last week over an abortion rights video ad shared by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, and others. The video was made to support Proposition 1, a pro-choice amendment to the California State Constitution. Macy Petty is a pro-life activist who was falsely portrayed as crying outside of the Supreme Court after its overturning of Roe v. Wade this year. The video ad was reportedly paid for by the California Democratic Party.
Below is my column in the Hill on today’s argument in the two college affirmative action cases in Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.
Here is the column: Continue reading ““Bakke to the Future”: Supreme Court Reconsiders Affirmative Action with a Conservative Majority”
We have been discussing the rising support for censorship on the left in the last few years. Silencing opposing views has become an article of faith for many on the left, including leading Democratic leaders from President Joe Biden to former President Barack Obama. What is most distressing is how many journalists and writers have joined the call for censorship. However, even with this growing movement, the letter of hundreds of “literary figures” this week to Penguin Random House is chilling. The editors and writers call on the company to rescind a book deal with Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett because they disagree with her judicial philosophy. After all, why burn books when you can effectivelyban them?
This weekend, I ran a column on President Joe Biden’s off-base boast that the Supreme Court and a lower court had declared that they are “on Biden’s side” on tuition forgiveness. After the column ran, however, the President claimed that he pushed through the loan forgiveness program through Congress on a narrow margin. That boast is particularly embarrassing because the Administration is in court claiming that he did not need to get congressional approval for the plan. It is likely to be raised by challengers in the next stage of litigation. It also may strangely reflect a moment of clarity in his subconscious mind, a faint recognition of the constitutional principles that he once defended as a United States senator. Continue reading ““I Got it Passed by a Vote or Two”: Biden’s Latest Bizarre Boast on Student Loans May Come Back to Haunt Him”
We have been discussing personal attacks on conservative justices with figures like Vice President Kamala Harris and Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky calling them “partisans” and “partisan hacks.” Justices like recently retired Justice Stephen Breyer and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg pushed back on such attacks on their conservative colleagues as well as calls for court packing. Now, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has defended her colleague and friend Justice Clarence Thomas as a compassionate and caring jurist. Continue reading ““He Cares about People”: Sotomayor Praises Thomas As Professors and Pundits Pile on Personal Attacks”
In what was billed as a major address yesterday by the White House, President Joe Biden declared that, if the Democrats prevail in the midterm elections, “here’s the promise I make to you and the American people: The first bill I will send to the Congress will be to codify Roe v. Wade. And when Congress passes it, I’ll sign it in January, 50 years after Roe was first decided the law of the land.” As previously discussed, the bill being referenced by the President and Democrats is not a codification of Roe v. Wade, but rather a significant expansion of the precedent. Biden also returned to his claim that the right can be based entirely on the Ninth Amendment. Continue reading “President Biden Pledges to Codify Roe with Bill that Goes Far Beyond Roe”