ACRU Files Amicus Brief Opposing Prior Restraints on Speech
In an amicus curiae brief, joined by the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, the ACRU supported the Petitioners in Center for Medical Progress v. National Abortion Federation in their effort to obtain certiorari review in the United States Supreme Court. The district court imposed an injunction that prohibited Petitioners from distributing materials gathered at meetings of the National Abortion Federation. The Petitioners complained that the injunction amounted to an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech.
ACRU Supports Religious Objections to Military Vaccine Mandate
The American Constitutional Rights Union, joined by the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of Navy Seal 1 and other religious objectors to the military’s demand that they receive the COVID-19 vaccines.
ACRU Supports Race-Neutral Florida Voting Laws
The American Constitutional Rights Union, joined by the Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of Florida as it defended race-neutral laws regulating drop boxes for vote-by-mail ballots, the return of voter registration forms, and activity at or near a polling place.
U.S. Supreme Court Protects Free Exercise and Free Speech: Rights of Football Coach Who Sought to Pray Privately
In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the School District violated Coach Joseph Kennedy’s constitutional rights when it disciplined him for praying silently at midfield following football games. It concluded that both the Free Exercise Clause and the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protected Kennedy’s conduct. The Court further rejected the School District’s assertion that it feared an Establishment Clause violation if it allowed Kennedy to continue with his private prayers.
Press Release: ACRU Fights Relentless Attack on Personal Freedom of Religious Expression
The American Constitutional Rights Union filed an amicus brief in support of Coach Joe Kennedy, who lost his teaching job because he knelt and said a quiet prayer by himself after a football game ended. The Ninth Circuit noted that, because Coach Kennedy taught and coached football at a public high school, his prayer was government speech that has no First Amendment protection and that, even if his prayer was private, the City would violate the Establishment Clause if it allowed the prayer to continue.
ACRU-Supported Lawsuit Strikes Down Mask Mandate in Loudoun County
In a decisive victory for parental rights, a Loudoun County, VA, judge ended a pattern of genuinely appalling behavior by the Loudoun Country School Board. Enforcing a mask mandate against state Executive Order, the board has been responsible for suspending and shaming students, placing them in solitary confinement, and imposing all manner of strict penalties on students and parents.
