The government of California inadvertently made public the names, birthdates, and addresses of hundreds or perhaps thousands of licensed concealed-carry permit holders who live in the state. California’s Firearms Dashboard Portal was launched earlier this week by Attorney General Rob Bonta. Its purpose, according to The Wall Street Journal, was to “improve transparency on the fraught […]
Getting the Supreme Court wrong. Supreme Court decisions can have a big impact, so it’s understandable that people react to them seriously and sometimes emotionally. But reactions to recent Court decisions have been a bit…extra. There are a lot of pundits and court watchers out there catastrophizing the results, often based on misunderstandings or misrepresentations […]
Today, on the 50th anniversary of Title IX’s implementation, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education is getting a radical overhaul that will gut critical due process protections for students accused of sexual misconduct. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona touted the new proposals as necessary revisions to Trump-era rules that reasserted the need for […]
The Supreme Court ruled today, 6–3, that if a police officer fails to inform you of your right to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination when you’re suspected of a crime, you can’t sue under federal law as a violation of your civil rights. To be clear, the Court isn’t overturning Miranda v. Arizona, the 1966 […]
It’s been nearly a decade since Damilare Sonoiki graduated from Harvard University, but the institution still has yet to award him a degree. That’s because Sonoiki, a native of Nigeria who immigrated to the U.S. at age 6, was accused of sexual misconduct by two women just days before the graduation ceremony in May 2013. […]
In a landmark victory for gun rights advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 6–3 that “the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment secures the right to possess a […]
Boycotts aren’t protected speech, says federal court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has upheld an Arkansas law saying public contractors can’t boycott Israel. The decision is a dangerous incursion on free speech. This isn’t a case where a private employer is making staff take a pro-Israel pledge—something that would be weird […]
It was 1971, and abortion was largely illegal in Florida. A young woman came to a Florida State University chaplain seeking advice about an unwanted pregnancy. So, Rev. Leo Sandon informed her of a clergy-backed abortion clinic in New York that would perform the procedure for $150. Sandon soon found himself under investigation by State […]
Senate negotiators unveiled a bipartisan gun control bill yesterday, hours before it survived a preliminary vote with enough support to overcome a filibuster. Sixty-four senators voted to advance the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which expands background-check requirements for gun buyers younger than 21, widens the categories of people who are not allowed to buy firearms, […]
In recent years, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken criticism for an increasingly partisan public persona at odds with its historical position as a nonpartisan champion of civil liberties. A damning new report suggests the organization was subsumed in culture war politics. After 2017’s violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the organization […]