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By Najah Farley On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Florence v. Board of Freeholders that all individuals arrested and held in a correctional facility or jail could be subjected to a routine strip search as long as it only involves a visual inspection. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the controlling opinion, basing his reasoning largely on the balance … [Read more...] about Embarrassing the Future?

By Craig Auster One of the ways that the Obama administration has tried to engage the public is the “We the People” online petition tool.  On January 10th a petition was launched asking the White House to “fully engage in efforts to ratify the 1972 Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).”  The petition needed to get 25,000 signatures in a month in order to get an official response—this … [Read more...] about Time for the ERA?

By Sushila Rao Even as disturbing reports of alleged rapes continue to trickle in with alarming regularity, India’s Parliament recently passed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013.  The notoriously inert legislative process received a shot in the arm when the brutal rape and murder of a student in Delhi in December 2012 engendered national protests.  A judicial committee … [Read more...] about India’s Parliament Passes New Law on Sexual Offenses

By Nick Nehamas Abigail Fisher claims she didn’t get into the University of Texas at Austin because of her skin color. Fisher’s lawyers argue the school violated her constitutional rights by taking race into account when it denied her admission. “There were people in my class with lower grades who weren’t in all the activities I was in, who were being accepted into UT, and … [Read more...] about Will the Supreme Court strike down affirmative action?

By Jonathan Peters This is a guest post by Josh Stearns, the Journalism and Public Media Campaign Director of Free Press. He has published numerous reports on press freedom, journalism, media consolidation and public media, and he speaks regularly about community engagement, activism and the future of journalism. Before joining Free Press, Stearns coordinated policy and … [Read more...] about Death, Taxes and Journalism: A Way Forward for Nonprofit News at the IRS

By Jonathan Peters This is the front end of an essay I co-authored with Frank LoMonte, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Washington, D.C.  The essay appeared in full Friday in The Atlantic. Follow me @jonathanwpeters on Twitter. This is not your father’s journalism industry. NBC News has a Storify page, the New York Times has a Tumblr, and PBS has … [Read more...] about Protecting student journalism that serves democracy

By Mark Wilson Policies designed to encourage people to do things that are good for them, and discourage people from doing things that are bad for them, are not in vogue. They’re derided as the province of a “nanny state” that wants to override private individuals’ ability to decide what’s good for them. … [Read more...] about In Defense of Paternalism

By Najah Farley As a young person, my parents were very strict about what types of movies and television shows my sisters and I saw. Because we were Muslim, many films and television shows were off-limits, due to subject matter. Some would say they were over-protective. Over the past few years, I have attempted to make up for lost time, viewing old movies that were banned, … [Read more...] about Why I boycotted the Oscars

By Craig Auster This past month, our nation celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed American women the right to choose to have an abortion.  Yet, despite 40 years of Roe as the law of the land, state legislatures are continuously trying to find new ways to undermine women’s rights. The latest attempt to end a woman’s right … [Read more...] about State Attacks on Choice Not Letting Up