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BREAKING: Anti-Counseling Bill Shelved

31/8/2018

Sacramento, CA--In a surprising move, a California legislator announced that he is dropping his efforts to have certain types of LGBT-related counseling declared “fraudulent” and “deceptive.”

Assembly Member Evan Low released a statement on his website to announce that, after meeting with numerous religious leaders who were concerned about the bill, he will re-work the legislation for a future legislative session. Today is the last day of the year for the Legislature to give final approval to bills and send them to Gov. Jerry Brown.

Charter School Faces Suit for Religious Discrimination

16/8/2018

Riverside, CA--A new lawsuit has been filed in Riverside Superior Court on behalf of a piano teacher who was rejected by a charter school for religious reasons.

Dimitra Solomos has been teaching children piano for more than 25 years in Orange and Riverside Counties. In 2016, when a teacher and families enrolled through Sky Mountain Charter School asked her to become an approved vendor of the school, she completed a background check, got a business license and complied with the other application requirements. Becoming a vendor would allow families to use extracurricular funds to pay for her piano lessons, which some families had been doing out-of-pocket because they felt she was an excellent teacher.

As Legislature Returns, Will It Defy Supreme Court?

7/8/2018

Sacramento, CA--The California Legislature returned to the Capitol Monday for the final few weeks of its annual session. One of the big questions remaining is whether lawmakers will ignore a stinging rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court.

At issue is a bill now pending on the floor of the Senate known as Assembly Bill 2943. It seeks to declare that counseling which assists adults in rejecting same-sex attraction is a fraudulent and deceptive practice. Faith communities have been alarmed by the bill because it could limit how they counsel congregants to live consistently with their faith and church teachings on sexuality.

Profile of SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

31/7/2018

Pacific Justice Institue released the following profile on SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Profile.pdf
File Size:	188 kb
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BREAKING: Religious Liberty Advocates React to Supreme Court Pick

9/7/2018

Washington, DC--President Trump on Monday night made his highly-anticipated announcement of his choice to fill the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

President Trump has selected Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The announcement is sure to ignite a firestorm in an already hotly-contested confirmation process, since Kavanaugh worked for Ken Starr on Bill Clinton’s impeachment and later worked closely with President George W. Bush.

BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Workers' Free Speech Rights

27/6/2018

Washington, DC--The United States Supreme Court today issued a much-anticipated decision in favor of workers’ free speech rights. The Court overturned four decades of precedent through which unions forced employees to join or subsidize collective bargaining. The ruling today recognized something that First Amendment advocates have been saying for years—that such compulsion is antithetical to constitutional principles.

Mark Janus, a social worker in the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, filed suit against the union he was forced to pay thousands of dollars in fees to, arguing that such financial support of a political organization he does not agree with is compelled speech and mandated association. His lawsuit has overthrown the Abood case which states have used to force nonmembers to pay union fees since 1977.

BREAKING: Supreme Court Ruling Rejects Abortion Speech Mandate

26/6/2018

Washington, DC--The United States Supreme Court's decision in NIFLA v. Becerra overturned the state of California's speech regulation of pro-life clinics through the mandated promotion of government-funded abortions.

The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) filed suit against AB 775 when it was signed into law in 2015. Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) filed a companion case to NIFLA, being the first to challenge AB 775 in court. The defeated law’s guise of ensuring California women access all reproductive health services hid an egregious form of compelled, content-based speech.

Case Dismissed! PJI Defeats Criminal Charges Against Preacher in Pennsylvania

22/6/2018

Pittsburgh, PA--An open-air preacher who had been criminally charged for sharing his faith outside a high school has now had those charges dismissed.

In December of last year, Ryan Lee Grimes preached outside a high school in Pittsburgh after school had been dismissed and students were leaving for the day. Grimes was cited by law enforcement for "disorderly conduct" due to "unreasonable noise." The considerable noise being generated at the same time by the hundreds of students streaming out of the school was not taken into account by law enforcement.

BREAKING: Statement From Brad Dacus on Today’s SCOTUS Ruling

4/6/2018

Washington, DC--“Today, in a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court issued a strong reminder to officials at every level of federal, state, and local governments that the first freedom set forth in the Bill of Rights—religious freedom—continues to be a bedrock of our constitutional order that cannot easily be swept aside by the sexual revolution. Much work remains to be done, and today’s decision does not guarantee that every conscientious objector will win his or her case regarding same-sex marriage or similar conflicts. It does, though, send a sharp rebuke to politicians and bureaucrats who have denigrated religious beliefs in the last few years when they get in the way of LGBT advancement. We expect today’s decision to have immediate implications for a number of clients we are currently representing and issues with which we are closely involved, from churches battling a local ordinance in Wisconsin, to a fired professor in Southern California, to an anti-counseling bill now pending in the California Legislature. Our attorneys will be carefully analyzing the majority, concurring and dissenting opinions to assess their full impacts.”

PJI Takes a Stand for Student Privacy Rights in Transgender Bathroom Case

1/6/2018

Sutherlin, OR--Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) is taking a stand for student privacy rights in public schools by suing a small-town school district for letting a girl use the boys’ bathroom at the local high school.

On May 21, PJI sued the Sutherlin School District (SSD), its superintendent, Terry Prestianni, and Sutherlin High School principal Justin Huntley in the Oregon Circuit Court for Douglas County on behalf of T.B., a sophomore at Sutherlin High. (For his protection, T.B. is identified both here and in the lawsuit exclusively by his initials.) In January, a girl who self-identifies as a “transgender boy” entered a boys’ bathroom while T.B. was relieving himself at the urinal. The transgendered student entered the boys’ restroom even though Sutherlin High had made single-stalled restrooms available to her and the nearest girls’ restroom was completely empty. When Sutherlin High’s assistant principal asked her why she used the boys’ restroom, she responded simply, “Because I can.”

<<Previous

BREAKING: Anti-Counseling Bill Shelved

Charter School Faces Suit for Religious Discrimination

As Legislature Returns, Will It Defy Supreme Court?

Profile of SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

BREAKING: Religious Liberty Advocates React to Supreme Court Pick

BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Workers' Free Speech Rights

BREAKING: Supreme Court Ruling Rejects Abortion Speech Mandate

Case Dismissed! PJI Defeats Criminal Charges Against Preacher in Pennsylvania

BREAKING: Statement From Brad Dacus on Today’s SCOTUS Ruling

PJI Takes a Stand for Student Privacy Rights in Transgender Bathroom Case

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