The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a state law requiring individuals to possess a permit to carry a handgun in public is constitutional and doesn’t contravene the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ruling comes as President Joe Biden presses for a ban on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and for more background checks, as Biden’s controversial nomination of anti-gun activist David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives flounders in the U.S. Senate. On Aug. 7, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) implored Biden to withdraw the nomination, saying the Senate “has spent quite … Continue reading Minnesota Supreme Court upholds state’s gun-carrying law

A public interest law firm in Minnesota has filed a series of lawsuits on behalf of victims of critical race theory-based discrimination and retaliation as the grassroots movement against the ideology continues to grow. “Our clients are bravely confronting CRT-inspired bullying, indoctrination, and retaliation, which is not ‘training’ or persuasion,” Doug Seaton, president of Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC), said in a statement. “They have been insulted, lied about, threatened, demoted, and fired, simply for refusing to submit to this ideology. But the U.S. Constitution, the federal Civil Rights laws, and their Minnesota counterparts don’t permit this race-based discrimination, retaliation, compelled speech, and invasion … Continue reading Minnesota public interest law firm takes on critical race theory

The categorical ban that prevents illegal aliens from possessing firearms doesn’t violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court held. The ruling by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit came July 29 in United States v. Perez, court file 19-620-cr. Cam Edwards writes at Bearing Arms that the ruling is “an odd decision, in that the judges didn’t actually rule on whether or not the Second Amendment protects the rights of illegal aliens to possess a firearm.” In the case, the defendant, Javier Perez, appealed from a conviction for possessing a firearm and ammunition while unlawfully present in the United States. … Continue reading Appeals court upholds federal ban on illegal aliens having guns

The best way to fight social media censorship is to promote model state legislation all across the country that gives users the right to sue when a tech platform engages in discrimination, John Hinderaker, president of Minnesota’s Center for the American Experiment, told The Epoch Times in an exclusive interview. In a July 30 column at the Power Line blog, Hinderaker contends that creating a private cause of action allowing users to sue when a social media platform practices viewpoint discrimination, instead of diving deep into the minutiae of Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act (CDA) as many conservatives favor, could help restore free … Continue reading Fight social media censorship by suing for discrimination, think tank head urges

Three groups are asking the Supreme Court to allow them to intervene in litigation aimed at making the Biden administration adhere to a Trump administration rule that guarantees students accused of sexual improprieties procedural safeguards in administrative proceedings. The case, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) v. Victim Rights Law Center, was docketed on July 21. The petitioners are three nonprofit organizations that promote free speech and due process on college campuses: FIRE; Independent Women’s Law Center; and Speech First Inc. Among the governmental respondents are Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and the Department of Education. The other respondents are … Continue reading Group seeks to compel Education Department to require procedural safeguards in alleged sex offenses

A man of Middle Eastern origin twice denied firearms purchases by the federal government’s background check system is asking the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. The case, Turaani v. Wray, court file 21-72, was docketed July 20. FBI Director Christopher Wray is one of three respondents; the others are Charles H. Kable IV, director of the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, and an individual FBI agent. The FBI administers the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to carry out background checks for firearm purchases. When it receives a background check request, the FBI isn’t allowed to disclose details of … Continue reading Man denied gun purchases appeals to Supreme Court

Americans United for Life filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court on behalf of 228 federal lawmakers urging the court to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. Abortion opponents are optimistic that the 6–3 conservative majority created on the court with the addition last year of Justice Amy Coney Barrett creates an opportunity to return the regulation of abortion to the states, as had been the case before Roe. The high court is expected to reexamine Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, court file 19-1392, which will be heard at some point in the … Continue reading 228 federal lawmakers urge Supreme Court to reverse Roe v. Wade

Americans believe race relations between blacks and whites are at their lowest point in more than two decades, according to a survey by the polling organization Gallup. For the second consecutive year, U.S. adults’ positive ratings of relations between black and white Americans are at their worst in years of measurement. At present, 42 percent of Americans say relations between the two groups are “very” or “somewhat” good, while 57 percent say they are “somewhat” or “very” bad. At the same time, only a third of black Americans currently view race relations in a positive light and hopes “for a solution to … Continue reading Black-white race relations remain at a low point, pollster says

Voters in the nation’s capital made history by electing a convicted murderer who is still behind bars for his crime to an Advisory Neighborhood Commission, or ANC, which counsels the local government on neighborhood issues such as garbage collection, police patrols, liquor licenses, zoning, and parking. Joel Caston, 44, has been imprisoned for 26 years following a first-degree murder conviction in the August 14, 1994 killing of 18-year-old Rafiq Washington. Victim and shooter knew each other and there was some unspecified animus between them that cannot easily be divined from online court records. Caston, who was elected June 15, will … Continue reading D.C. elects imprisoned murderer: What could go wrong?

A home music studio owner in Nashville, Tennessee, is taking his long-running appeal of aggressive local zoning restrictions against home-based businesses to the Tennessee Supreme Court after the court recently agreed to hear his case. The court decided on July 12 to hear the appeal from record producer Elijah “Lij” Shaw and hairstylist Pat Raynor, who sued the city in 2017 after it ordered their home businesses shuttered. The two plaintiffs are represented by the Institute for Justice and the Beacon Center of Tennessee. For years, Shaw, a Grammy Award-winning music producer, had run his Toy Box Studio recording business … Continue reading Nashville home studio ban goes to Tennessee Supreme Court

A Seattle-area high school football coach who was banned from praying on the football field after games is taking his case to the U.S. Supreme Court after losing in a federal appeals court. The Supreme Court previously refused to take the case, but four of the five conservative justices on the nine-member court expressed discomfort at that time with lower court decisions in the case. Since then, another conservative, Amy Coney Barrett, has joined the high court, giving conservatives a 6–3 advantage over liberals. Moreover, the Supreme Court issued rulings this past term bolstering protection for religious freedoms. Coach Joseph … Continue reading Former football coach appeals 9th Circuit prayer decision to Supreme Court

A California appeals court struck down as unconstitutional a state law that penalized elder-care workers for using pronouns inconsistent with elderly long-term care patients’ claimed gender identity. Gender identity is a disputed concept. A lack of linguistic clarity has clouded the issue in recent years as the concepts of sex and sexual identity, or gender, a politically and scientifically contentious concept whose definition isn’t universally agreed upon, have become difficult to separate. Despite the distinct meanings of the two words, many institutions and individuals use “gender” to mean biological sex, especially on fillable forms and documents. Failing to use gender in its new … Continue reading California appeals court overturns anti-misgendering law on First Amendment grounds

Two appointees from the waning days of the Trump administration are suing the U.S. Department of Education for refusing to deliver their signed presidential commissions, citing the seminal 218-year-old Supreme Court precedent that created judicial review. The 18-page legal complaint in the case, known as Hanke v. Cardona, was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 15. Miguel Cardona is secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. The lawsuit was filed by Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a national public interest law firm. One plaintiff is Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University … Continue reading Trump appointees sue over presidential commissions withheld by Biden administration

The San Diego Unified School District is being sued by parents who say cancel culture is to blame for dropping the name of a Roman Catholic saint who figured prominently in California’s history from a high school’s name. The school at issue is Junipero Serra High School. Officials recently voted to rename the school, which was founded in 1976, as Canyon Hills High. The lawsuit, known as Cox v. Renfree, was initiated July 14 at a San Diego office of the Superior Court of California by the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm specializing in religious freedom issues. … Continue reading California district sued over dropping Catholic saint’s name from school