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First Amendment: Separation of Church and State
On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan said that conservatives are “weaponizing the First Amendment” and turning it into a sword.”
Many on the left who once held absolutist views on free speech are realizing that certain court victories may actually bring harm to women, or gay and lesbian couples and others, rather than advancing their causes. The same is true with some cases involving religious freedom.
The Washington DC-based group Americans United for the Separation of Church and State reads, in part on its website that: “Religion is often uses as an excuse to discriminate against LGBTQ people, women, religious minorities, non-believers and others. Some want to use their religious beliefs as as excuse to deny health care, refuse to provide goods and services, and disobey laws protecting Americans from discrimination.”
Guest – Attorney Richard Katskee, Legal Director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Richard has litigated First Amendment cases in appellate and trial courts throughout the country, including challenging creationism in the public schools, religiously based discrimination against same-sex couples and much more.
Alternative 4th of July celebration in NYC commemorated Frederick Douglass
Last week an Alternative 4th of July celebration in NYC commemorated Frederick Douglass an his Independence Day Speech at the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-slavery Society in 1852.
The event was organized by poet Raymond Nat Turner, who has been a guest on Law and Disorder, and held at the NY Chapter of the National Writers Union on July 3, 2018.
The celebration included performances by UpSurge! NYC, solidarity poems, and Frederick Douglass readers Ralph Poynter of the Lynne Stewart Organization and the New Abolitionist Movement, Margaret Kimberly from the Black Agenda Report, Diane Ward form the NWU Steering Committee and our own Heidi Boghosian. We are pleased to bring you some of the music, poetry and the readings.
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