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May 21, 2018

A Virginia nonprofit sued the National Forest Service on Wednesday for denying medical attention, food and water to a Mountain Valley pipeline protester. The Rutherford Institute filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, saying Forest Service agents violated Dr. Greg Gelburd’s rights to examine a 28-year-old protester who had been sitting on a 45-foot pole on the proposed path for the Mountain Valley pipeline. 

May 21, 2018

A doctor has sued the U.S. Forest Service for refusing him permission to treat a woman named Nutty. The action has been filed by the Rutherford Institute on behalf of Dr. Greg Gelburd, who contends he has a faith obligation to help a woman who has been protesting a proposed pipeline project by “tree sitting.”

May 21, 2018

A Virginia-based organization is suing the Forest Service after officials denied an anti-pipeline protester medical access. The lawsuit contends that officials violated both the religious and First Amendment rights of one of the doctors attempting to treat a woman who has been living in a tree in order to block construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline.

March 29, 2018

A group defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white supremacist organization has agreed to never return to Charlottesville, but with certain stipulations.

March 26, 2018

This past Tuesday in Charlottesville, the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group headed by John Whitehead, hosted an informal round table for local journalists. Covering the event for Bearing Drift, I asked a question — “How can we maintain a culture of civil discourse in an era of political tribalism? — that resulted in a six-minute reply from Whitehead and Nadine Strossen, now a professor at New York Law School and the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

January 22, 2018

Two street preachers are targeted, confronted and eventually arrested by transit officers who insist that they stop talking about their Christian beliefs without getting the agency’s permission first, and the courts say that’s all right.

January 18, 2018

A pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court will have big implications for Americans and their Fourth Amendment rights, says a civil liberties attorney.

August 15, 2017

John Whitehead, of The Rutherford Institute, appears on “Charlottesville Right Now with Les Sinclair” to discuss the August 12 rally in Charlottesville.

August 10, 2017

The Virginia ACLU and Albemarle County-based Rutherford Institute are representing Unite the Right rally sponsor Jason Kessler, saying a decision by Charlottesville officials to move the demonstration to McIntire Park may violate his First Amendment rights.

August 07, 2017

The Glenn Beck Program: John Whitehead and Amy’s plight

July 19, 2017

"...It reasonably appears that the proposed activity will present a danger to public safety," wrote the group Solidarity Cville in a July 17 letter to the members of the Charlottesville City Council that was accompanied by a compilation of what the group describes as threats of violence made on social media and evidence of previous violent behavior by individuals and groups who may attend the rally.

Dozens of Charlottesville residents packed the city council meeting Monday night, many carrying signs saying "Revoke the Permit."

July 19, 2017

Four legal rights groups including the Virginia ACLU are asking Governor Terry McAuliffe to investigate the military-style police tactics deployed for the recent KKK rally in Charlottesville.

July 17, 2017

Several legal organizations are asking for an investigation into the police's response in regard to a rally by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The Legal Aid Justice Center, Rutherford Institute, ACLU of Virginia, and Central Virginia chapter of the National Lawyers Guild have sent letters to the governor's office and Charlottesville officials.

July 10, 2017

Charlottesvillians pulled out the unwelcome mat for the Loyal White Knights of the KKK July 8 in Justice Park. An estimated 1,000 people surrounded the park before the arrival of the 50 or so out-of-town Klansmen, and the event was loud, but aside from the arrests of protesters who refused to move, without incident. It was afterward that Virginia State Police in riot gear tear gassed protesters who refused to clear High Street, a first for protest-prone Charlottesville, at least in C-VILLE Weekly’s memory.

July 07, 2017

A nonprofit organization dedicated to defending civil liberties and human rights is speaking out about Charlottesville police installing cameras without the public knowing.

Constitutional expert John Whitehead, president of the Albemarle County-based Rutherford Institute, says people have the right to know when they are being watched.

May 16, 2017

The First Amendment, at its core, protects all forms of speech. That includes hate speech. So while people are taking issue with the rallies this weekend in Charlottesville over the Robert E. Lee Statue, under the First Amendment, those rallies are protected even from city permits. "Under the First Amendment, free speech is free," explained John Whitehead from The Rutherford Institute. Whitehead said the creation of the First Amendment was to empower people to speak up, and protect people from their own government. "The government cannot target one specific group or several groups and say 'You don't have the right to speech because we don't agree,'" he said.

March 03, 2017

The memorial celebration for Hentoff, the prolific journalist, jazz critic, and Voice columnist for more than 50 years who died last month at age 91, featured music, remembrances, and a panel discussion.

January 27, 2017

John W. Whitehead appears on the Hagman Report to discuss the police state, surveillance, free speech and more.

January 26, 2017

John W. Whitehead speaks to a visiting delegation from Mongolia about the plight of freedom in America.

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