From the News
328 – Turning a Lemon into Lemonade
A high-school coach was denied his freedom of religion and speech based on a more than 50 year old lemon of a court opinion. In the case Lemon v. Kurtzman, the Supreme Court claimed that your right to freely speak and exercise your religion must yield to the government’s “interest” in avoiding violating the establishment clause. But the “Lemon Test” puts the government’s interest above your rights protected by the Constitution. In this years case Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the court took this Lemon and turned it into lemonade.
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327 – Showdown at the EPA Corral
Did you ever imagine that a question about air pollution could end up changing the way governments work? That may be exactly what happened with the Supreme Court’s opinion in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. What started as a question of whether or not the EPA’s plan to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from the electric grid was constitutional turned into a statement about the limits of discretion granted to executive agencies.
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326 – NYSRPA v. Bruen
Can a state arbitrarily decide whether or not you get to exercise a right protected by the Constitution of the United States? That is the question in the case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) v. Bruen, Superintendent of the New York State Police. New York State is a “may issue” state, meaning that you did not get your carry license even if you met all of the legal requirements, you had to show you had a “good cause” to carry a firearm in public. But self-defense was not considered “good cause” by the New York courts. You had to show you had a special need for self-defense, greater than the general public. Does that sound like infringement on your right to keep and bear arms to you?
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325 – Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
After almost 50 years, a landmark decision of the Supreme Court has been overturned. Will it be remembered with other decisions like Dred Scott or Plessy v. Ferguson? Only time will tell. After all of the furor when a draft of the opinion was leaked, we finally get a chance to review that actual opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in its final form.
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A Quick Look at the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
A lot has been said about the anticipated release of the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case. The leak of a draft of the opinion set off a firestorm, both figuratively and literally, around the nation. With the release of the final opinion, we see a tectonic move in American…
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322 – Money, Speech, and Federal Overreach
Have you ever considered how money relates to speech? The federal government has. One of the issues with federal election law is the limitation on the use of money for a candidate to get their message out. What does the case FEC v Cruz have to do with free speech? More important, what does it show about the state of elections in America?
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319 – At What Age Do You Have Rights?
As children, we receive protection of our rights through our parents. But have you ever considered at what age you receive protections for your rights directly? Is it the same for all rights, or are there different ages when you receive protections for different rights?
The case Jones v. Bonta asked the question, when do you receive protections for your right to keep and bear arms. The answer out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals may surprise you.
318 – Flags Over Boston
When is flying a flag government speech? That was the question before the Supreme Court in the case of Shurtleff, et al. V. City Of Boston et al. Could the City of Boston refuse to fly a Christian flag? Was the city required to do so? Or did Harold Shurtleff have the right to fly the flag of his choice on public property? What does this mean for other Freedom of Speech cases around the country?
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