Case on Religious Freedom Update
- Coach Kennedy had his day in court Monday April 18th and according to those who follow the U.S. Supreme Court closely, it went well for him – and for the case for religious freedom. A review by SCOTUS Blog indicates a majority of justices seemed to be sympathetic to Joseph Kennedy’s argument. A Heritage Foundation review of Monday’s oral arguments points out that the school expressly mentioned the reason it fired Coach Kennedy was his religious expression.
- The review followed with a compelling point made by Justices Thomas and Alito, “Thomas asked whether a coach who took a knee during the national anthem based on a moral opposition to racism would be engaging in government speech. Alito … asked, if a school allows kneeling for racial justice, climate change, to support Ukraine, but doesn’t allow kneeling to pray—how is that not religious discrimination?”
- Another interesting highlight came when Justice Kavanaugh asked if the law differentiated between audible or silent prayer. For example, if the coach crossed himself on the sidelines, would that be permissible? The school’s attorney indicated he believes as long as the coach wasn’t making himself the center of attention (referencing Coach Kennedy’s take to the 50-yard line), then it would be fine. Justice Kavanaugh’s response: “I don’t know how we could write an opinion that would draw a line based on not making yourself the center of attention as the head coach of a game.”
- After nearly two hours of hypothetical scenarios and dissecting complicated Supreme Court tests used in prior cases to distinguish between free exercise of religion and establishment of religion, the school’s attorney asked the Court to send the case back to lower courts to decide if what Kennedy did constituted coercion. Kennedy’s lawyer argued there is no basis to go back and tried to focus the Justices on the facts the case that appear to be in dispute. Kennedy’s court battles have already lasted six years. The Court will likely have a decision by the end of June.
Title 42 Update
- On Monday, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration to continue executing Title 42, a Trump-era policy allowing for expedited deportations and asylum processing.
- Louisiana Western District Court Judge Robert Summerhays, a Trump-appointed judge and native of Fort Worth, Texas, issued the temporary restraining order (TRO). According to the conference minutes, the attorney generals engaged in the case will negotiate with the Biden administration on how to continue implementation of Title 42.
- Our own Attorney General, Mark Brnovich, has been active in this Border Security fight. Unfortunately, he has not taken action against the election fraud seen in our state in 2020 which is on his plate to address from our election audit.
Biden New “Ministry of Truth”
- This week we see yet another attack on our free speech at the Federal Government level.
- Biden announced that he established a disinformation/misinformation governance board as part of the Department on Homeland Security (DHS). Recall DHS was established under Bush after 9/11 as a law enforcement agency to combat terrorism. Disinformation appears to mean whatever the Progressive Left disagrees with; however, they are not defining it which would make this very difficult to manage and provide justice equally under the law.
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, explained to Congress last week that they “have efforts underway to equip local communities to identify individuals who could be descending into violence by reason of ideologies of hate, false narrative or other disinformation/misinformation propagated on social media and other platforms.” Seems very timely given recent acceptance of Elon Musk’s offer to buy Twitter and turn it into a private company which supports free speech.
- Nina Jankowicz, a “disinformation expert” from the Wilson Center, will be leading this disinformation governance board. She has written at least two books, one of which states “most disinformation is from the right who deal in highly emotional rhetoric. To be a woman online is an inherently dangerous act.” In October 2020 as conservative news outlets broke the Hunter Biden laptop story, Ms. Jankowicz had written, “voters deserve the context, not a fairy tale about a laptop”. This allowed Joe Biden to claim the Hunter laptop was a Russian hoax at a Trump debate in October 2020.
- We have many reasons to be wary of this new department in DHS and must find ways to combat this infringement on our First Amendment rights.
AZ Legislative Update
- The Arizona House gave final passage to HB 2161, which ensures parents have access to their children’s educational and medical records, as well requires parental permission prior to giving probing surveys to students. It is now on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.
- Governor Ducey signed two bills this week! Monday, he signed into law HB 2449 ensuring patients in hospice facilities and the like get access to a clergy visit during a public emergency such as the pandemic. He also signed HB 2507, which ensures churches and other religious organizations are deemed essential services during a public emergency like a pandemic, allowing them to remain open when other essential services are allowed to open.