I observed in a recent blog that the Supreme Court has begun to chide the lower courts for continuing to apply the Court’s own precedents that it has not yet formally overruled when later decisions of the Court cast doubt on their continuing viability. In particular, the Court in its 2022 decision Kennedy v. Bremerton School District criticized the
The Supreme Court in 1990 in Employment Division v. Smith held that a rational regulation that burdened the free exercise of religion got a pass if it was “neutral” as to religion and “generally applicable.” Smith engendered a hailstorm of criticism, but the lower courts have dutifully applied it ever since. This is in accord with the Supreme Court’s
Over the last decade, many parents have been complaining about the fact that public schools see it as their job to help children—even as young as four or five—to exhibit as transgender, with neither the parents’ knowledge nor consent. Urban schools in particular have put policies in place, either formally or informally, to hide from
Those of us, including the National Legal Foundation, involved in litigation resisting the pushing of the new gender identity gospel in the schools have observed something quite telling: Those defending school policies of hiding from parents that the schools are helping their children exhibit as the opposite sex—whether requiring teachers and administrators to use “preferred”
At least seven states, and perhaps as many as eleven, will have referendums on their ballots this November to enshrine a right to abortion in their state constitutions. A friend I was e-mailing with the other day was incredulous over the fact that pro-life forces have already lost referendum after referendum after Dobbs, even in
With J.D. Vance now running for Vice President, his remarks comparing abortion to slavery will likely again be the subject of debate. He caused quite a stir when, as a candidate for Senate two years ago, he said, “There’s something comparable between abortion and slavery, in that . . . the people who obviously suffer
The Establishment Clause, unlike the other First Amendment provisions, is not based on freestanding personal freedoms. THE SUPREME COURT OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES HAS repeatedly strengthened the expanded reach of the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses to protect the religious. At the same time, the Court has moved to reduce the weight of
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Mr. Claybrook and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the National Legal Foundation. The recent defeats of pro-life referendums in Kansas, Michigan, and Ohio should have pro-life advocates more than concerned. After struggling for 50 years to get Roe and
The advent of the Dobbs era has not brought us to the Promised Land. By throwing the abortion issue to each of the states, Dobbs has ushered in a patchwork of regulation, running the gamut from outright prohibition to full legality. At the same time, the current federal administration and several states are trying their
The authors of this post are American men born and raised in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, when computers were the size of small buildings and the dominant American media enforced viewing standards to protect the young. We played outside after school and on Saturday, often reenacting the latest episodes of The Rifleman, The Lone