Political Speech
A state government that bars citizens from speaking about political matters before an election has some explaining to do.
But if a state government criminalizes political speech before an election, well…I’m speechless.
Liberty Justice Center (LJC) announced that a federal court blocked Minnesota’s attempt to bar the Minnesota Voters Alliance from expressing disagreement about another law 60 days before an election.
“The core promise of the First Amendment is that the government cannot appoint itself the arbiter of truth or silence political debate simply because an election is near,” said Reilly Stephens, senior counsel at LJC.
Parents’ Rights
LJC created a project called The PARENTS Initiative, which filed a lawsuit against the school district in Portland, Oregon, over alleged retaliation against a mother of two students in the school district.
Guess what this mother criticized? If you guessed “transgender” indoctrination in her kids’ elementary school, you’d be correct. (This is too easy.)
School bureaucrats actually barred her from entering her children’s school for a year and called her disagreement with what the school is doing harassment and hate speech.
According to the lawsuit, officials are threatening to bar her permanently. From LJC:
Roberts became concerned after Lewis Elementary added an intersex-inclusive Progress Pride Flag to school benches and her 11-year-old child received an “identity flower” assignment asking students to identify and discuss their gender. Roberts alleges that she received no prior notice of the assignment and no opportunity to excuse her child from it.
The outlook is not favorable to the Portland school district. The Trump administration has strong religious liberty protections in place for parents, and the courts in recent years have been siding with Christians.
Photo credit: By Tom Arthur from Orange, CA, United States – vote for better tape, CC BY-SA 2.0
