TRI: In the News

TRI IN THE NEWS: Supreme court denies high school valedictorian's day in court

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From Examiner.com
Original article available here.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court denied Brittany McComb's petition to be heard regarding her lawsuit against Foothill High School's administration. The school allegedly violated her right to free speech in 2006 when her valedictorian speech was cut short due to her references to Christ.

Reportedly, the school gave some informal guidelines to the three students that were chosen to speak regarding speech content prior to the ceremony. Yet, no specific prohibitions regarding faith related material were ever discussed.

In the aftermath, McCombs enlisted the help of the Rutherford Institute to file the free speech suit. This final denial is the last of a long string of legal decisions that have kept this case in the public ey...

TRI IN THE NEWS: At PVCC, panel debates role of disruptive speech

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From the Daily Progress
Original article available here.

Anti-war protesters try to shout down President George W. Bush at a July 4 naturalization ceremony at Monticello. U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouts “You lie!” at Barack Obama during an address by the president to Congress. Angry constituents shout in the faces of their congressmen at health care town halls.

The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech. But does it also guarantee the right to disrupt someone else’s speech or to impede an audience’s ability to listen?

That question was at the crux of a forum Sunday at Piedmont Virginia Community College titled “Free Speech or Disruption: Balancing the Rights to Speak and to Hear.”

TRI IN THE NEWS: School Safety: 'Zero Tolerance' Policies Common Sense?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From ABC News
Original article available here.

Eighth-graders Cassandra and Aliyah Russell of Chicago never imagined they'd be arrested in their school cafeteria, much less for throwing food.

But that's just what happened following lunchtime mayhem last Thursday at the Perspectives Charter Middle School, south of Chicago. More than two dozen students, ages 11 to 15, were rounded up by police, arrested and charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.

"They took us to jail, fingerprinted us, mugshotted us, or whatever, all because of a food fight...I was arrested. Handcuffs on," 13-year-old Cassandra told ABC News.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Can the Tenth Amendment Save Us?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From Townhall.com
Original article available here.

By Cal Thomas

Does the U.S. Constitution stand for anything in an era of government excess? Can that founding document, which is supposed to restrain the power and reach of a centralized federal government, slow down the juggernaut of czars, health insurance overhaul and anything else this administration and Congress wish to do that is not in the Constitution?

The Framers created a limited government, thus ensuring that individuals would have the opportunity to become all that their talents and persistence would allow. The left has put aside the original Constitution in favor of a "living document" that they believe allows them to do whatever they want and demand more tax dollars with which to do it.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Educating teachers, schools on religious rights

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From OneNewsNow
Original article available here.

The Rutherford Institute has launched its annual campaign to educate educators and the public on the U.S. Constitution.

Institute founder John Whitehead explains the need for the campaign, which is designed to teach the ABCs of the Constitution in the classroom.

"[T]here are groups out there that for years have been peppering...and hammering the schools that there's is an absolute separation of church and state in America, and [that] you can't do Christmas in the schools, you can't pass out religious literature, you can't have Christian clubs," says the attorney, who points out that the latter argument violates the Equal Access Act and constitutes a violation of federal law.

TRI IN THE NEWS: John Whitehead discusses whether you can really get the 'news' from watching TV

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, joins radio host Coy Barefoot to talk about whether you can really get the 'news' from watching TV/cable news commentators such as Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly.

Click here to listen.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Complaints against chaplain cultivate lawsuit

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From OneNewsNow
Original article available here.

The Rutherford Institute is handling a lawsuit filed against a chaplaincy group.

The lawsuit has been filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a foundation which seeks to ensure the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom to those serving in the United States Armed Forces. It has been filed against the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches, an agency which has endorsed military and civilian chaplains for more than two decades.

President of The Rutherford Institute, John Whitehead, describes the complaint.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Covering the Courts: a panel discussion by three distinguished U.S. Supreme Court observers, including John W. Whitehead

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From the Thomas Jefferson Center
Original article available here.

For the March 2009 Virginia Festival of the Book, the Thomas Jefferson Center organized and sponsored "Covering the Court" a panel discussion by three distinguished U.S. Supreme Court observers who offered their views on the current and possible future members of the Supreme Court, the role the Court plays in today’s society, and its future direction. Moderated by Robert O’Neil, Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center, the panelists were: Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent of The New York Times and author of its "Sidebar" column: Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate.com as well as a regular contributor to Newsweek and NPR’s "Day to Day"; and John W. Whitehead, Constitutional attorney, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of The Change Manifesto.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Lawyer Alleges Prayers Incite Followers to Commit Violence Against Him

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From Texas Lawyer
Original article available here.

In a test of the free-speech limits on prayer, a lawyer who has challenged the right of a Dallas-based organization to endorse military chaplains alleges in a recently filed suit that the organization incites its followers in prayers to commit violence against him.

Michael Weinstein, a former lawyer in the Reagan Administration and former general counsel for Ross Perot, alleges in the original petition in Weinstein v. Ammerman, et al. that defendant Gordon Klingenschmitt, on behalf of The Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches and its founder, Elmer Harmon "Jim" Ammerman, also defendants in the suit, issued a "fatwah" against Weinstein in April.

"In other words, Klingenschmitt called upon his followers to commit violence against, or even kill, Michael Weinstein, and even his family," W...

TRI IN THE NEWS: Magazine: Prison Officials Illegally Censoring Works

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From Dailyprogress.com
Original article available here.

A monthly magazine has filed a lawsuit accusing Virginia Department of Corrections officials of violating the First and Fourteenth amendments by censoring magazines and books sent to Virginia’s prisoners.

Prison Legal News Inc. filed suit Thursday in Charlottesville’s federal court. The 7,000-circulation publication, which reports on prison issues, is seeking policy changes, unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.

Defendants named included Gene M. Williams, the corrections agency’s director; seven members of the Publications Review Committee; and wardens and operations officers at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women and at the Coffeewood Correctional Center in Culpeper County.

TRI IN THE NEWS: W.Va. DNR Drops Appeal in 1st Amendment Case

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From the Associated Press
Original article available here.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The state Division of Natural Resources has decided not to appeal a ruling involving political solicitations at a state park.

In June, U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey ruled the DNR's requirement that "solicitation" in state parks only be allowed after getting written permission from the DNR director is unconstitutional.

The Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute sued last year on behalf of the Constitution Party of West Virginia.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Rutherford Institute: Brushfire of liberty

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From WorldNetDaily
Original article available here.

It doesn't matter whether you're protesting the economy, the war, the environment or something else altogether. What matters is that you do your part.
~ John Whitehead, "The Change Manifesto"

John Whitehead is a constitutional law attorney, an author and the founder and president of the civil-liberties organization the Rutherford Institute, based in Charlottesville, Va. This institution provides free legal services in constitutional and human-rights lawsuits. Its focus is on religious and free-speech cases, and also on educating the public on the original intent of the Constitution's framers.

Whitehead named the institute after Samuel Rutherford, a 17th century Scottish theologian who argued in a 1644 pamphlet titled, "Lex, Rex" (Law and the King) that kings must be subordinate to the law, because th...

TRI IN THE NEWS: Prisons Lift Ban on Local Books Program

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From the Daily Progress
Original article available here.

The Virginia Department of Corrections has reinstated a Charlottesville-based program that provides prisoners with free books after the ban drew widespread protest and prompted the threat of a lawsuit.

Corrections officials late Tuesday told Kay Allison, president of the nonprofit Quest Institute that operates the 20-year-old Books Behind Bars program, that they would restore the prisoners’ ability to receive up to three free books each month.

The department had canceled the program, citing concerns about contraband being sent to prisoners in the books and the workload for officials who monitor prisoners’ personal possessions.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Rutherford: Give Inmates Books Back

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From the Daily Progress
Original article available here.

The Albemarle County-based Rutherford Institute is demanding reinstatement of a local program that provides free books to inmates, claiming the shelving of the 20-year-old Books Behind Bars is a violation of the First Amendment.

Rutherford Institute attorney Douglas R. McKusick on Monday sent a letter to Gene M. Johnson, director of the Virginia Department of Corrections, claiming the move violates freedom of speech rights for both inmates and the nonprofit sponsor. He demanded the action be rescinded and the program be allowed to continue.

Corrections officials recently decided the Charlottesville-based organization, operated out of the Quest Bookshop on West Main Street, could no longer send books directly to prisoners. Officials said the direct link created po...

TRI IN THE NEWS: Bible Ban Case May Go to Supreme Court

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From the OneNewsNow
Original article available here.

The Rutherford Institute is asking the Supreme Court to hear a case in which a Bible reading was banned from school.

The Institute is representing Donna Busch who was invited to read the Bible to her son's class in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. John Whitehead, founder of The Rutherford Institute, summarizes the case, which began in October 2004.

"They had a week where the child in the kindergarten class could read their favorite book -- and his favorite book was the Bible, and she wanted to read a few passages from the Psalms," Whitehead explains. "It wasn't anything about Jesus or whatever. It was one of those Psalms that talks about God, but it's not overtly religious."

TRI IN THE NEWS: Court Upholds Ban on Hymn at Wash. Graduation

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer
Original article available here.

Barring an instrumental performance of a Christian hymn at a high school graduation did not violate students' First Amendment rights and was within the school superintendent's discretion, a divided federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in what Judge Richard C. Tallman described as "the legal labyrinth of a student's First Amendment rights" will be appealed to the Supreme Court, a lawyer said.

The case arose a year after a choral performance of the song "Up Above My Head" at the 2005 commencement for Henry M. Jackson High School in Everett, 25 miles north of Seattle. The song, with references to God, angels and heaven, drew complaints and protest letters to The Herald, the town's daily newspaper.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Radio Interview with John Whitehead

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT
John Whitehead discusses the passing of his late wife, Carol Whitehead, with talk-radio host Louie b. Free ("Brain Food from the Heartland"). Click here to listen.

TRI IN THE NEWS: Jail's Mail Policy Revised

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From Fredericksburg.com
Original article available here.

Two mail clerks sort through more than 4,500 pieces of mail each week at the Rappahannock Regional Jail. This week, their job got harder.

A new policy requires them to distinguish religious material printed off the Internet from pornography, gang information or messages that could impact jail security. The new policy should do more to protect inmates' religious rights.

Previously, anything cut and pasted from the Internet was removed and put in inmates' personal files but not given to them.

TRI IN THE NEWS: ACLU Sends Letter to Jail Officials, Telling Them to Stop Censorship

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
From Fredericksburg.com
Original article available here.

The American Civil Liberties Union accused the Rappahannock Regional Jail yesterday of unconstitutionally censoring inmates' mail by cutting out references to the Bible.

In a letter to the jail's superintendent, Joseph Higgs, the ACLU told the jail to "remedy the illegal practices" of cutting out biblical references from letters written to inmates.

The ACLU's letter also alleges that the jail's practice of redacting letter portions taken from the Internet or refusing to deliver documents printed from online is unconstitutional.

TRI IN THE NEWS: John Whitehead Discusses the Media Sideshow over Michael Jackson’s Death and How It is Destroying Democracy

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
John Whitehead, CEO and co-founder of the Rutherford Institute, joins radio host Coy Barefoot to discuss the media sideshow over Michael Jackson’s death and how it is destroying democracy. John also shares his memories of Carol, his wife who passed away recently.

Click here to download John Whitehead's radio appearances.