U.S. Supreme Court sides with coach who sought to pray after game
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with a football coach from Washington state who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games.
First Amendment
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‘Ordered freedom’: AG Rokita sets agenda focused on ‘liberty’
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita recently sat down with Indiana Lawyer to answer questions about his first 100 days in office and his agenda for the next four years.
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Indiana Statehouse closed leading up to Biden inauguration
The Indiana Statehouse complex will be closed to the public through Wednesday and state legislative meetings this week are canceled because of possible protests related to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. The closure comes as law enforcement and National Guard forces have fortified security in the nation’s capital and in state capitals around the country amid threats of violence.
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Giving and taking: Landmark high court LGBTQ employment ruling clouded by ministerial exception expansion
Just as celebrations were starting over the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Title VII protections cover transgender workers, another opinion from the nine justices shielded religious organizations from lawsuits by expanding the ministerial exception legal doctrine and injected more energy into potential religious liberty challenges to anti-discrimination laws.
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2 Indianapolis officers charged with battery in protesters’ arrests
A grand jury indicted two Indianapolis police officers on battery and other charges after an investigation into allegations that they used excessive force while arresting demonstrators at a May protest over the death of George Floyd, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears announced Wednesday.
Articles
SCOTUS rules religious schools can get Maine tuition aid
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Maine can’t exclude religious schools from a program that offers tuition aid for private education, a decision that could ease religious organizations’ access to taxpayer money.
Lawsuit against Boone County for blocking resident from Facebook page dismissed
A lawsuit filed last month against Boone County for blocking a resident from the county’s Facebook page was dismissed this week, according to court documents.
ACLU of Indiana lawsuit says Boone County blocked resident from Facebook page
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit this month against Boone County, alleging the county violated a resident’s First Amendment rights when it blocked him from the county’s Facebook page.
Reversal: Divorce court violated parents’ 1st Amendment rights via ‘non-disparagement clause’
A non-disparagement clause drafted into a couple’s divorce order to prevent the parents from talking badly about each other even outside of the presence of their child was an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech, the Court of Appeals of Indiana ruled in a partial reversal.
The Bail Project sues state over constitutionality of law limiting charitable bailouts
Charitable bail organization The Bail Project has filed a complaint in federal court alleging a new Indiana law restricting whom it can bail out of jail infringes on its constitutional rights.
Supreme Court rules against Boston in Christian flag case
A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Boston violated the free speech rights of a conservative activist when it refused his request to fly a Christian flag on a flagpole outside City Hall.
Supreme Court tackles case about praying football coach
A coach who crosses himself before a game. A teacher who reads the Bible aloud before the bell rings. A coach who hosts an after-school Christian youth group in his home. U.S. Supreme Court justices discussed all those hypothetical scenarios Monday while hearing arguments about a former public high school football coach from Washington state who wanted to kneel and pray on the field after games.
Court won’t revive ban on secret filming at slaughterhouses
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Kansas to revive a law, earlier struck down by lower courts, that banned secret filming at slaughterhouses and other livestock facilities.
Supreme Court tackling case about praying football coach
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will tackle a dispute between public school officials and a former high school football coach who wanted to kneel and pray on the field after games.
AG Rokita reaches resolution with political pundit over press conference access
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and political pundit Abdul-Hakim Shabazz have ended their public battle that began at a press conference about robocalls with a one-page motion to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit and pay their own legal fees.
Reporter tells court 1st Amendment lawsuit will end if AG Rokita has ‘change of heart’
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, the political pundit who is suing Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita after being barred from a press conference about robocalls, is trying to keep his lawsuit alive by telling a federal court that the state’s top lawyer is ignoring “the foundational role that a free, uninhibited press performs in our society.”
AG Rokita says no constitutional right to interact with government officials
Claiming freedom of speech does not guarantee the right to hear a government official deliver a message in person, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is seeking dismissal of a First Amendment case brought by an Indianapolis-based political commentator who was barred from a press conference.
Checking in? Notorious hotel the setting of high court case
The Smuggler’s Inn, a bed-and-breakfast on the U.S.-Canada border that officials say is a magnet for illegal border crossings, was the setting of a case heard Wednesday at the Supreme Court.
High court takes case involving refusal to serve gay couples
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash involving religion and the rights of LGBT people.
Denied press access leads to First Amendment lawsuit against Attorney General Rokita
The feud between political commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita that began when Shabazz was barred from a press conference in October 2021 has spilled over into federal court.
COA reverses for Madison man removed from community boards by mayor
A Madison man who was removed from two community boards by the mayor after a heated exchange during a public meeting could still be reinstated after a split Court of Appeals of Indiana found multiple errors were made by the trial court in its legal reasoning for denying him injunctive relief.
Indiana justices’ opinion in ‘revenge porn’ case lauded
Academics and lawyers specializing in free speech and cyber civil rights issues are hailing a recent Indiana Supreme Court ruling regarding the sharing of nonconsensual pornographic images.
Indiana bill ensuring free speech at colleges moves forward
A bill that doubles down on free speech rights at Indiana’s public colleges and universities was advanced by state lawmakers Thursday.
Student sues Noblesville High School, claiming school prohibited pro-life club
Alleging Noblesville High School prevented a freshman from organizing a pro-life club because the group’s “political agenda is not aligned with the administration’s agenda,” the student, her parents and her club, Noblesville Students for Life, have filed a lawsuit against the school and several faculty members for violating the rights of free speech and association.