IL Pastor Sues Sheriff and State’s Attorney to Ensure Religious Liberty During Pandemic

For Immediate Release Contact: David E. Smith 773-858-6602 Email: s.david@illinoisfamily.org Illinois Pastor Sues Sheriff and State’s Attorney to Ensure Religious Liberty Cites IL Governor Executive Order as Constitutionally Unenforceable Morris, IL, May 30, 2020 – Headlines claiming victory over IL Gov. Pritzker’s limiting church services may be premature. With the new “guidance” issued May 28 […]

Wisconsin Supreme Court Illegally Suspends Jury Trials

On March 22, 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended jury trials throughout the state in response to the corona virus pandemic.  Justice Rebecca Bradley, joined by Justice Daniel Kelly filed a vigorous dissent explaining how the court overstepped its authority in issuing the order and that emergencies do not grant government any greater power than […]

Constitution and Corona Virus

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.”  Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson “If the government will not protect constitutional rights designed to preserve our freedom, it is up to the people to reclaim them.”  Wisconsin […]

Court Approves “Heckler’s Veto” over Flag Wearing Students

“Freedom has more often been lost in small steps by progressive incrementalism, than by catastrophic upheavals such as violence or war.” –James Madison. A cut was sliced into the First Amendment‘s Free Speech protections on February 27, 2014 by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court upheld a California high school’s decision to […]

US Constitution’s First Amendment: Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances

The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights addresses five rights.  The limits on government interference with religion, speech and the press were the result of the uniquely American experience. The right to peaceable assembly was a needed protection to exercise the first three. The First Amendment’s fifth right will come as a surprise to […]

Senators Cruz & Feinstein: An Exchange That Should Not be News

On March 14, 2013  one United States Senator asked another how legislation she was sponsoring comported with the United States Constitution.  Senator Ted Cruz’ (R-TX) question to Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) generated a great deal of media coverage. Members of Congress discussing how a proposed law fits with the Constitution should not be news but […]

First Amendment to the Constitution: Freedom of the Press

Like Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech, in the United States the concept of Freedom of the Press as it developed has been uniquely American.  Along with free speech for the general population, it is surely the source of what has become known as American Exceptionalism. American Exceptionalism Alexis de Tocqueville originally referred to […]

The First Amendment to the Constitution: Freedom of Speech

The US Constitution’s first ten amendments are called The Bill of Rights. The First Amendment limits the authority of government to enact laws impinging upon the natural rights of the people to practice religion, engage in speech, publish their ideas and assemble together to petition their government. Freedom of religion is the first named freedom. The second named […]

The Negro and the Constitution by Martin Luther King, Jr.

The oratory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. moved people to action to address the wrongs of racial discrimination.  He is best known for his “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28, 1963, given at the Lincoln Memorial before an estimated audience of 250,000 and millions more on television and radio in a exemplary […]

First Amendment to the Constitution: Freedom of Religion

Freedom of Religion is the first of our natural rights acknowledged in the First Amendment and limits government’s power to establish an official religion or interfere with a citizen’s exercise of religion. This is a recognition of freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are referred to […]