Supreme Court Hands Down Ruling in Masterpiece Cake Case
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Jack C. Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakeland, Colorado, who refused to design and create a wedding cake for a celebration of a same-sex marriage saying that a state commission violated the Constitution's protection of religious freedom when it ruled against Phillips. Phillips had claimed that the creation of the cake is artistic expression protected by the First Amendment’s free speech and free exercise of religion clause. The couple and Colorado argued that Phillips’ work on the cake was not expressive conduct according to the law and that the state had a significant interest in preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation. “The neutral and respectful consideration to which Phillips was entitled was compromised here,” Justice Kennedy wrote in the decision. “The Civil Rights Commission’s treatment of his case has some elements of a clear and impermissible hostility toward the sincere religious beliefs that motivated his objection.”
A Provocative Mural in Louisiana Stirs Artistic Expression Debate
When real estate developer Neal Morris commissioned local street artist Cashy D last November to create a wall mural using a quote from President’s Trump’s Access Hollywood taping, he did not expect the […]
Journalist Protection Act Introduced in Congress
February 7, 2018: Journalists Need Legislated Protection Says House Rep With attacks both verbal and physical against journalists on the rise (see our deep dive into increasing threats against the […]
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859
In his essay, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill argues that government has no right to limit the freedom of thought. He reasons that even a dissenting opinion held by a single individual has great value to society because it may turn out to be true.
Brandeis Concurring With Holmes in Whitney v. California, 1927
Justice Louis Brandeis concurrence articulated the American idea of freedom of speech many decades before the Supreme Court began expanding the rights of expression under the First Amendment. Some of his ideas have become critical justifications for safeguarding freedom of speech even under the most challenging conditions.
Journalist Arrests Threaten Freedom of Press
Thomas Hughes and Jodie Ginsburg write that “Journalists are facing an unprecedented and unrelenting crackdown on their work that appears to come more from the playbook of dictatorial demagogues than […]
Efforts to Protect College Media From Suppression Gain Traction
College Media Association President Chris Evans reviews efforts over the past year to ensure college press freedom. A 2016 report sponsored by the American Association of University Professors, the College […]
Presidential Calls For Reporter Firings Chill Press Freedom
In a statement responding to President Trump’s tweet calling for the firing of the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel, PEN American Director Suzanne Nossel wrote “For the President to call for a reporter […]