On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden was sworn in as the President of the United States and while there were split opinions across the nation, behind the closed doors of Twitter and Facebook, there was likely a celebration as months of working to censor conservative news stories had finally achieved its end goal. The months […]
Tag: First Amendment
A Case of Declining Power for Citizens
In a summer of miserable Supreme Court decisions, the decision in Egbert v. Boule never quite made it to the public eye. Despite its massive implications, the case was lost to slew of front-page decisions. Now, as summer has come to a close and we have had time to understand the busy June season, it […]
The Untaxed Business of Religion
Each year, religion contributes $1.2 trillion dollars to the country’s economy. However, a large portion of that goes untaxed due to the belief that churches are providing for the community, as any charity or non-profit does. In the past, religion had played a major role in providing a good for society, but that is seen […]
The First Amendment Security Blanket
Prior to January 24th 2021, if you were to open up Spotify and click on the “Podcasts & Shows” tab, “The Joe Rogan Experience” would take up the entire top half of your screen. This Spotify exclusive is the largest podcast in the world, where notoriously controversial comedian Joe Rogan has smoked marijuana with Elon […]
A New Lochner Era
On February 22nd, 1975, members of Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers (UFW) began a 110 mile walk from San Francisco to Modesto, protesting the poor working conditions of the Gallo Winery. Only a few hundred joined Chavez at first, and he didn’t expect many more. By the time he reached the Central Valley, however, the […]
Russian Media Experienced Unprecedented Crackdown Ahead of Parliamentary Elections
Over the past few months, many organisations in Russia have been faced with new pressures from the government which severely limit their ability to function. This came at a time when United Russia — the political party most loyal to Putin — sought to secure a majority in the Duma, the lower house of the […]
A Fight Over Foster Care, Religious Freedom, and Equality
Catholic Social Services has been providing foster care in Philadelphia for more than 200 years. Referred to as CSS, the agency claims to support “more than 3,100 people every day.” There’s just one problem: CSS refuses to include same-sex couples in the adoption process, citing its strong religious belief that marriage is between one […]
TIK, TOK, BOOM
Tiktok has been a bright spot of care-free entertainment during an otherwise tumultuous year for many young Americans. Whether participating in viral dance challenges, drinking cranberry juice and skating to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac or creatively fighting the powers that be through protest and civil discourse, this app has exploded in ways few have before. […]
Protecting the Perverts
This article is part of a series examining the anti-Milo Yiannopoulos protests and their aftermath — a campus event that has since pierced and provoked people nationwide — from various different perspectives. Several of these pieces include first person testimonies and narratives that illuminate facts of the protests not necessarily highlighted in mainstream media coverage. […]
Liberty and Protest
There is a consistent tension between the “sovereign’s” First Amendment Rights to free speech and assembly and the state’s chronic apprehensiveness about the creation of a dynamic and potentially unstable security situation. In the aftermath of the Berkeley Black Live Matter Protests, I personally was drawn to the interesting phenomenon of violent crowd dispersal and […]