Free Republic

Kindergartener's Suspension Appealed To Supreme Court Playground Gunplay Case Goes To High Court POSTED: 8:35 a.m. EDT September 19, 2003 SAYREVILLE, N.J. -- Lawyers representing the family of a boy suspended from kindergarten after a playground game involving make-believe guns have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case. The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit group focused on First Amendment and religious freedom cases, announced the appeal on Thursday. According to The Rutherford Institute, four kindergarten boys at Wilson Elementary School were playing cops and robbers during recess in March 2000, using their fingers as guns. The boy represented by...

It appears the American Civil Liberties Union has a new target in its campaign to eradicate the nation of public displays of the Ten Commandments. This time it involves a judge in Arkansas.District Court Judge David Pake has had a framed copy of the Ten Commandments in his suburban Little Rock courtroom since 1994. According to Cybercast News, the 11-by-14-inch copy of the Decalogue hangs near the judge's bench, away from the area where most court participants sit.But suddenly, after almost ten years of the display being on Pake's wall, the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU has decided the display...

<p>When Patrick Cubbage won back his job as a military honor guard at a New Jersey cemetery after being fired last year for saying the words “God Bless,” he had renewed faith in his freedom of speech and religion, but that quickly changed.</p>

A matter of authority The Intelligencer PENNRIDGE SCHOOL DISTRICT officials did the pragmatic thing, if not the right thing, when they agreed to settle a federal lawsuit challenging the high school principal's right to review material prior to its distribution to students. The suit was brought by former student Joe Baker, who during his senior year attempted to distribute fliers in the school that questioned the district's teachings about the origins of life. Baker said the district failed to cover some theories, specifically creationism. Principal Tom Creeden, per district policy, insisted on approving the material before Baker started handing it...

Student Prayer Group Wins First Amendment Victory Allowed to Advertise National Day of Prayer By Jim Brown May 1, 2003 (AgapePress) - In a dramatic about-face, a Wisconsin public high school has allowed a student prayer group to advertise Thursday's National Day of Prayer observance. Richard Feutz, principal of Evansville High School, had denied a student prayer group access to the school's PA system and barred the Christian young people from using posters to advertise the prayer observance. The principal told high school junior Nicole Cauthorn and her friends that they could not advertise the event because their group was...

For years, the U.S. Postal Service has subscribed to the philosophy that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” But if snow, rain and heat don’t stop your mail from getting delivered, its supposed anti-Islamic (or overtly Christian or Jewish) content just might. According to “Operation Iraqi Freedom” mailing tips announced by the USPS on March 25, 2003, the following items are prohibited from being mailed to troops stationed in the Middle East: obscene articles (prints, paintings, cards, films, videotapes, etc.); any matter containing religious materials...

U.S. Bans Mailing of Bible Verses to Overseas Soldiers Compiled by Ted Olsen | posted 04/10/2003 Don't mail Christian materials to soldiers, says U.S. The post office in Lenoir, North Carolina, told Jack Moody that he couldn't mail Christian comic books and a book of Bible verses to his son, who is stationed as an Army National Guardsman in the Middle East. U.S. rules prohibit mailing "any matter containing religious materials contrary to Islamic faith," a postal clerk explained. This morning, the Rutherford Institute, a civil and religious liberties organization, is suing the U.S. Postmaster General over the rule. "At...

(CNSNews.com) - A letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft Monday from the House Judiciary Committee asked more than 125 questions about implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act by the Department of Justice, including queries about secret search warrants and detention of suspected terrorists. "As the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, it is our responsibility to conduct oversight of the Department of Justice's efforts to combat terrorism," wrote Reps. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the committee, and John Conyers (D-Mich.), its ranking member, "which includes implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act ("Act") signed into law...

Group sues on behalf of child in paper Gun Incident Irvington case reopens zero tolerance debateWednesday, March 05, 2003 BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH AND REGINALD ROBERTS Star-Ledger Staff The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, is taking a second New Jersey school district to court for what it sees as overzealous school officials overstepping their bounds in handling student conduct. The institute filed a lawsuit against the Irvington Board of Education on behalf of one of two boys arrested nearly two years ago under the district's "zero tolerance" policy for playing with a paper gun. The suit, filed last...

Jefferson Area Libertarians in Virginia "rallied around the flag" for a local businessman who was dragged into court for flying a company flag. On February 22, about three dozen Libertarians and other activists held a demonstration of support for Tom Dulaney Slonaker, owner of an Arby's restaurant on Route 29 in Charlottesville. In freezing rain, participants waved miniature American flags "to show their support of Mr. Slonaker's constitutional rights," said J.A.L. member John Munchmeyer, who helped coordinate the event. In December, Slonaker was fined almost $4,000 by the Albemarle County government for flying an Arby's flag from his flagpole and...