In what have become known as the "Jesus pencil" and "candy cane" cases, the Supreme Court refused Monday to consider appeals from the families of elementary school students over distribution of religious-themed gifts on campus.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This is the first line of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Professor Carter Snead and Catholics United member Samantha Groark discuss the lawsuits filed against the Obama admin.
A Muslim civil liberties group filed a lawsuit Friday against the federal government for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of Michigan Muslims and violating a 1993 federal law that upholds the free practice of religion.
Democrats hold a contraception hearing in stark contrast to a GOP effort that included no women. CNN's Dana Bash reports.
Seven states on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the federal government requirement that religious employers offer health insurance coverage that includes contraceptives and other birth control services.
President Obama outlines the compromise reached with religious groups over the debate on contraceptives.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced President Barack Obama's compromise over whether to require religiously affiliated institutions to provide contraception to female employees, saying the proposal raises "serious moral concerns," according to a statement posted on its website late Friday.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced President Barack Obama's compromise over whether to require religiously affiliated institutions to provide contraception to female employees, saying the proposal raises "serious moral concerns," according to a statement posted on its website late Friday.
Emma Sullivan talks to CNN's Brooke Baldwin about her tweet for which Kansas Gov. Brownback's office demanded an apology.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback apologized Monday for what he called his staff's "overreaction" to a disparaging tweet directed at him by a high school senior during a state Capitol visit.
When is wearing a T-shirt with the American flag on it considered provocative?
A church called the Phoenix Goddess Temple has been accused of being a house of prostitution, and a six-month undercover investigation has resulted in the arrests of 20 women and men who worked there, Phoenix police said Friday.
An Indiana school district might appeal a summary judgment that said it violated two students' First Amendment rights by punishing them for posting racy photos to social networking sites, the district's lawyer said.
Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs frequently objected to witness testimony as he faced sexual assault charges during his trial Tuesday in Texas.
Warren Jeffs requests legal assistance so he can properly format his "writing" as he represents himself.
A Texas judge warned Warren Jeffs against calling "for the jury's destruction" shortly after the polygamous sect leader said Friday during his sexual assault trial that those who prosecuted his church would face "sickness and death."
The Anti-Defamation League and a number of individuals have filed a lawsuit challenging a San Francisco ballot initiative that would criminalize the circumcision of males under age 18.
CNN's LZ Granderson looks at a ballot initative in San Francisco that would ban circumcision on boys younger than 18.
A San Francisco-based advocacy group known as Male Genital Mutilation Bill has collected enough signatures on its petition to ban circumcision that the proposal will appear on the city's November electoral ballot.
Hustler's Larry Flynt tells CNN's Piers Morgan why he thinks there shouldn't be any limitations on the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled that a Kansas church whose members travel the country to protest at military funerals, holding signs that say "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God blew up the troops," has a right to continue such demonstrations.
Families are disappointed in a Supreme Court ruling that allows a church to picket military funerals.
The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether states can bar "data mining" companies from marketing information about doctors' drug prescriptions, an important case testing the conflicting boundaries over commercial speech and consumer protection.
Since this summer, WikiLeaks has published huge tranches of classified U.S. intelligence. The online organization's actions have ignited fierce debate over whether the First Amendment's free speech rights will keep its members and its founder, Julian Assange, safe from prosecution.
A federal judge has extended a temporary restraining order against an Oklahoma referendum that would ban the use of Islamic religious law in state courts.
In October, CNN reported on Oklahoma voters deciding on a proposal banning the practice of Sharia law in state courts.
In 2009, CNN's Octavia Nasr explained the origins of Sharia law and what it meant to the Muslim world.
A federal judge will hear arguments Monday on a temporary restraining order against an Oklahoma referendum that would ban the use of Islamic religious law in state courts.
CNN's Anderson Cooper takes a look at the controversy surrounding Amazon.com and books defending pedophilia.
"The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct" was pulled from Amazon.com, a spokesman confirmed Thursday, after thousands of users posted angry comments and threats to boycott the site.
The recent news item about a Connecticut worker fired for Facebook postings that annoyed her employer, like other accounts of employees sacked for private speech, was bound to draw a lot of attention. Americans hold First Amendment rights to free speech as a kind of sacrosanct birthright, and for many of us the idea that you can lose your job for expressing private thoughts away from work offends the core principle of freedom of expression.
Companies and employees navigate the ethical and legal framework of talking about work on social networking sites.
The lawyer for the gay student in the Michigan assistant attorney general controversy talks about the case.
An assistant attorney general in Michigan is out of a job, fired after targeting an openly gay University of Michigan student leader online and in person -- then lying about his actions to investigators -- state Attorney General Mike Cox said Monday.
A federal judge Monday blocked an amendment to Oklahoma's state constitution that would bar the use of Islamic religious law in state courts after American Muslims challenged the proposal in court.
Governments, world leaders and others were responding Friday to a Florida pastor's plan to burn copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, even amid confusion over whether it would go ahead. The Rev. Terry Jones, the head of a small church in Gainesville, called off the burning Thursday but later said he would "rethink" his position after a meeting with a local imam. Here's a sampling of global reaction:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations announces the "Learn Don't Burn" initiative to promote unity and understanding.
The Rev. Terry Jones, the leader of a small congregation in Florida, recently announced he would burn copies of the Quran on September 11. A broad spectrum of figures in public life, including President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus, urged him not to.
Rev. Terry Jones cancels a planned Quran burning, then says he'll "rethink" his position. CNN's John Zarrella reports.
Burning the Quran would be an "outrageous and grave gesture," the Vatican said Wednesday, joining a chorus of voices pleading with a small Florida church not to burn Islam's holy book on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The imam at the center of an ugly controversy over an Islamic center near New York's ground zero broke his silence Tuesday, just hours after a broad coalition of Christian, Jewish and Islamic leaders denounced what they described as a rising tide of anti-Muslim bigotry across the United States.
Lying about military honors is not a crime, a federal appeals court has ruled, tossing out the prosecution of a California public official who falsely claimed to have won the prestigious Medal of Honor.
At a White House dinner last week -- an iftar on the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan --President Obama delivered what many rightly considered a courageous speech in which he weighed in on the controversy surrounding the proposed construction of a mosque near ground zero.
Was it a political mistake for President Obama to have taken sides on the NYC mosque debate?
By wading into the issue of an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero, President Barack Obama provided Republicans with an emotion-ridden attack vehicle while diverting attention from campaign themes of fellow Democrats.
If we learned that the government was planning to limit our First Amendment rights, we'd be outraged. After all, our right to be heard is fundamental to our democracy.
A grad student at Augusta State University says she was told to take gay sensitivity training or not receive a diploma.
When five students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, taunted Latino students by wearing T-shirts bearing the American flag on Cinco de Mayo, even though administrators had told students beforehand not to wear flag clothing that day, they caused a ruckus, divided a community and reignited the culture wars.
The Supreme Court narrowly ruled Wednesday that a white cross, erected as a war memorial and sitting on national parkland in the Mojave Desert, does not violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
Congressional Democrats unveiled legislation Thursday that would ban foreign-controlled companies and most firms receiving either government contracts or federal bailout funds from spending money on U.S. elections.
A former Florida high school student who was suspended by her principal after she set up a Facebook page to criticize her teacher is protected constitutionally under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate ruled.
"If it were not for the Internet, God knows how many more people would have been killed on the streets of Tehran" after the 2009 Iranian elections, an Iranian blogger told a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court heard new arguments Wednesday in a dramatic case that started with a movie attacking Hillary Clinton -- but that could have far-reaching implications for U.S. elections.
The former ACLU president talks to TIME about her toughest sparring partners, the tension between national security and civil liberties and why the upcoming election is even more important than people may realize.
Campaign paraphernalia is everywhere nowadays. People are sporting T-shirts, hats and pins touting their candidate of choice. But wearing your political allegiances can cause a problem at the polls.
Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was raised Baptist.
A U.S. soldier claims he almost lost his life in Iraq because he didn't believe in God. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
A fallen Marine's father sues an anti-gay protest group, and wins.
A federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland, Wednesday awarded $10.9 million to a father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by members of a fundamentalist church carrying signs blaming soldiers' deaths on America's tolerance of homosexuals.
Hundreds of students turned out at Colorado State University to speak their minds on whether the student newspaper's editor should lose his job over four words.
Tase this!
updated: Thu Sep 27 2007 16:45:00
An obscenity next to President Bush's name in a student newspaper causes a stir in Colorado. Affiliate KMGH reports.
Student Taseredupdated: Thu Sep 20 2007 21:17:00
CNN Student News' Carl Azuz explores the events leading up to the use of a stun gun on a Florida college student.
Two University of Florida police officers were placed on leave Tuesday after using an electronic stun gun to subdue a student at a campus forum. Read an account of the incident from a student who was there.
A judge bans the word from a sexual assault case, sparking debate over freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial
The Supreme Court ruled against a former high school student Monday in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner case -- a split decision that limits students' free speech rights.
Communist Vietnam's prime minister became his country's highest-ranking official to meet a pope on Thursday, an encounter the Vatican called an "important step" towards normalizing diplomatic ties.
Saudi Arabia has promised a comprehensive review of all of its educational textbooks and to remove all language promoting intolerance, the State Department's ambassador for religious freedom said Wednesday.
A proposed constitutional amendment to give Congress the power to ban desecration of the American flag failed to clear the Senate by one vote this week.
A U.S. government report warned on Wednesday that threats to religious freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan are mounting, and included Washington allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan among countries "of particular concern" for religious intolerance.
President Bush attended a legally sanctioned church Sunday in Beijing before scheduled talks on religious freedom with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
Citing "important and significant steps" by China to improve its human rights record, the State Department has said it will not introduce a resolution condemning Beijing this year at the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on two Ten Commandments cases.
In 1991, the acting U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Joe Wilson, sheltered 800 Americans at the embassy in Baghdad during Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. Twelve years later, Wilson was thrust back onto the international stage when he accused President Bush of misleading the American people into another war with Iraq.
Mark Jen landed a dream job with Google Inc. in January. He was fired less than a month later.
President Bush said Wednesday a recent audiotaped message believed to be from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden highlights what is at stake in the upcoming Iraqi elections.
Thanks to a last-minute court ruling, Jonathan Morgan was able to share the religious origin of the candy cane with his elementary-school classmates at this year's winter-break party at Thomas Elementary School in Plano, Texas.
On December 6, the Supreme Court decided San Diego v. John Roe. The case posed the question of how far the First Amendment's free speech protection reaches to protect a police officer in a uniform. The lawsuit was brought by a police officer who was fired for making pornographic videos of himself in apparently official garb, and distributing them for sale on the web (along with other items).
A federal appeals court barred the government Monday from blocking funds to colleges and universities that deny access to military recruiters because of the Pentagon's policy banning openly gay men and women.
Recently, the Supreme Court made a saddening announcement: Chief Justice William Rehnquist is battling thyroid cancer. The news came as a surprise in the midst of an intense presidential campaign.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved the Pledge Protection Act.
Three Indonesian journalists face imprisonment for writing and publishing an article that allegedly defamed a leading businessman.
Last week, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) ended. But the First Amendment issues that were raised there did not. Indeed, they are likely to continue on indefinitely -- recurring at the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC), and similar public events raising intense security concerns.
Protesters at the Democratic National Convention say their designated area outside the FleetCenter infringes on their safety and free speech rights.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked enforcement of a law intended to protect children from pornography on the Internet, saying the law probably violates free-speech guarantees.
Recently, the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow -- better known as the "Pledge of Allegiance" case.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a California father could not challenge the Pledge of Allegiance, a decision that sidestepped the broader question of the separation of church and state.
(CNN) -- The U.S. Justice Department this week backed a Muslim girl's legal battle against an Oklahoma school district over the right to wear a head scarf in a public school.
(FindLaw) -- The week the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Pledge of Allegiance case, Elk Grove Independent School District v. Newdow.
On Wednesday, February 25, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Locke v. Davey -- a monumentally important ruling.
Is wearing a masked hood at a public rally the same as shouting "Fire!" inside a crowded theater -- or is it closer in significance to burning an American flag?
The Supreme Court Monday allowed the government to keep secret information about hundreds of people rounded up under suspicion of terrorism in the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Recently, various incidents involving holiday decorations have shown that the public's -- and even government officials' -- understanding of the legal rules in this area is far from clear. That is disappointing, for the relevant Supreme Court cases were decided more than a decade ago.
To hear the hype about the new campaign-finance law, you'd think that advocates for small business would be miserable. With big money banished from politics, interest groups will have to turn elsew...
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA -- A federal judge has ruled against a . . . firefighter who objected when he was ordered to trim chest hair that protruded from his collar. U.S. District Judge Robert Varner sa...
Hey, remember the Free Speech Movement? That was the great crusade at Berkeley in 1964 -- the New Left uprising that initiated the great student revolution of the Sixties. It seems hard to credit t...
We come now to Frazee v. the Department of Employment Security, a suit that the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to rule on. Actually, we almost met Frazee on the previous page, as Kindly Dr. Ke...
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|