Written Testimony submitted to the Wisconsin State Legislature Senate Committee on Elections
Written Testimony submitted to the Wisconsin State Legislature Senate Committee on Elections Senate Bill 528 Public Hearing December 12, 2023 Lori Roman, Chairman and CEO, American Constitutional Rights Union Action Fund Thank you for the [...]
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 Free Exercise Rights in Supreme Court
In Groff v. DeJoy, the United States Supreme Court corrected a misreading of Title VII’s religious protections that had limited the rights of religious workers for years. In 1977, the Court considered the provisions of Title VII that require employers to accommodate the religious practices of their employees unless doing so would impose an “undue hardship on the employer’s business.” It said that undue hardship meant any effort or cost that was “more than ... de minimis.”
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Nearly All of Florida’s 2021 Election Integrity Laws
In an April 27, 2023, decision, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed almost all of a district court ruling that declared Florida election laws regulating ballot drop boxes, the solicitation of voters at the polls, and the delivery of voter registration forms by third-party voter-registration organizations to be unconstitutional and unlawful. The court rejected the district court’s conclusion that the provisions were motivated by intentional discrimination on the basis of race. It explained, “From the start, the district court erred.” In particular, it criticized the district court for conflating race and political considerations. The court pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, where the Supreme Court said, “[P]artisan motives are not the same as racial motives.”
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.
