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First Amendment

 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
– First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund believes that the First Amendment’s directive that “Congress shall make no law…” provides the clearest standard for the protection of the liberties listed therein.  Judges take away from these liberties when they use “judge-empowering” tests to determine whether those liberties are more important than governmental interests.  Unsurprisingly, judges frequently consider those governmental interests — essentially the judge’s idea of “the common good” — more important than the abridgement of the individual liberties the Founders desired to protect, thus erasing the jurisdictional barriers erected by the several guarantees of the First Amendment.

Below are some of the Freedoms of Speech and Press/Free Exercise of Religion matters in which CLDEF has been involved.

Stormans, Inv. v. Wiesman

admin Family and Life, First Amendment

Today an amicus brief was filed on behalf of CLDEF in the U.S. Supreme Court defending a Christian-owned pharmacy from attack by the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission due to that pharmacy’s refusal to stock and sell abortifacient drugs.  Although the Pharmacy Commission is a government agency, its steps were largely directed by Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest. Read More

Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt

admin Family and Life, First Amendment

Today, an amicus brief was filed on behalf of CLDEF in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting two Texas laws requiring that abortions be performed only at certain types of facilities by physicians with  hospital admission privileges.   The brief set out why the pro-abortion petitioners, and the Obama Administration as amicus curiae, misrepresent to the Court its own abortion jurisprudence.  However, even more importantly, the brief explains why Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided.