News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
John W. and Nisha Whitehead 
…To Sidestep Scrutiny for Misconduct Leading to Use of Deadly Force In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a legal doctrine that helped shield police from accountability for recklessly escalating confrontations and then using deadly force. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Barnes v. Felix makes clear that when determining whether an officer’s use of deadly force … Read more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could determine whether FBI agents can be held accountable for a botched SWAT raid that terrorized an innocent family in the middle of the night. As detailed in Martin v. United States, a heavily armed FBI SWAT team mistakenly stormed a Georgia home—armed with rifles, … Read more
…Out of School Curriculum Promoting Alternative Ideas About Sexuality and Gender? Should parents have the right to opt their elementary-aged children out of mandatory public school curriculum that promotes alternative ideas about gender and sexuality? In a joint amicus brief in Mahmoud v. Taylor, The Rutherford Institute and the NC Values Institute have asked the U.S. Supreme … Read more
“At least when there’s an evil dictator, that human is going to die. But for an AI, there would be no death. It would live forever. And then you’d have an immortal dictator from which we can never escape.”—Elon Musk (2018) Get ready for Surveillance State 2.0. To achieve this turbocharged surveillance state, the government is … Read more
We have become a nation adrift in a sea of government overreach, abuse and corruption. The following is a sobering account of the challenges we faced in 2024, which were marked by the government’s never-ending power grabs and relentless assaults on our civil liberties. 2024 saw a continued rise in government overreach and abuse of … Read more
When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the … Read more
In the 30 years since the Crime Bill fueled the militarization of police and the explosive growth of SWAT teams, SWAT teams continue to terrorize innocent homeowners and then receive qualified immunity from the courts. In an amicus brief in Jimerson v. Lewis, The Rutherford Institute has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to hold a law … Read more
Based on Mere Suspicion That a Probationer Lives Within The Rutherford Institute has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect homeowners from warrantless searches by police based merely on a suspicion that a person on probation or parole resides on the premises. Institute attorneys warn that if the Arkansas Supreme Court’s ruling in Bailey v. Arkansas is permitted … Read more
As part of its annual effort to clear up much of the legal misunderstanding over the do’s and don’ts of celebrating Christmas, The Rutherford Institute has issued a Constitutional Q&A on the ‘Twelve Rules of Christmas,’ which provides basic guidelines for lawfully celebrating Christmas in schools, workplaces and elsewhere. Over the years, The Rutherford Institute has been … Read more
You’d better watch out—you’d better not pout—you’d better not cry—‘cos I’m telling you why: this Christmas, it’s the Surveillance State that’s making a list and checking it twice, and it won’t matter whether you’ve been bad or good. You’ll be on this list whether you like it or not. Mass surveillance is the Deep State’s version of … Read more
The U.S. Supreme Court is sending a chilling message to gun owners when it comes to encounters with police: comply or die. In refusing to hear an appeal in Argueta v. Jaradi, the Supreme Court is allowing a lower court ruling to stand, which threatens to erode Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable use of force by … Read more
This is how it always begins, justified in the name of national security. Mass roundups. Raids. Indefinite detentions in concentration camps. Martial law. The erosion of habeas corpus protections. The suspension of the Constitution, at least for select segments of the population. A hierarchy of rights, contingent on whether you belong to a favored political class. This … Read more
After months of handwringing and mud-slinging and fear-mongering, the votes have finally been cast, and the outcome has been decided
Each state has its own laws regarding what First Amendment activities are permissible at polling places.
If the three-ring circus that is the looming presidential election proves anything, it is that the Deep State’s plot to destabilize the nation is working. The danger is real. Caught up in the heavily dramatized electoral showdown between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Americans have become oblivious to the multitude of ways in which the … Read more
Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have asked the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court’s ruling in Murphy v. Delaware, Justices of the Peace, which dismissed the lawsuit and granted quasi-judicial immunity to constables who knowingly evicted the wrong person—a blind man—and left him homeless with his daughters during a snowstorm. On appeal, Institute attorneys argue … Read more
“What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer… And a … Read more
A water main breaks every two minutes somewhere in the U.S., resulting in contaminated drinking supplies and boil water notices. One out of three bridges in the U.S. needs repair, endangering hundreds of millions of commuters. More than 42,000 bridges across the country, carrying about 167 million vehicles each day, are in disrepair. It is estimated that 300 million people could … Read more