Thank You! To everyone who was able to find time on June 11 to call the California State Assembly Health Committee and ask them to vote NO on SB 24, Democrat State Senator Connie Leyva’s anti-life bill requiring all of California’s public universities to make Chemical Abortion Pills available to young college students up to ten weeks into their pregnancy.
California's Life Ending Mandates Bleed Onto College Campuses
While forthright governors in states like Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Utah are signing “Heartbeat” bills and limiting abortions to the first trimester, three Democrat governors in California, Oregon and Washington have signed a joint letter, encouraging the rest of the states to join them in passing much stronger laws against restricting abortions...
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City of San Diego Settles with Vision Church: San Diego Pot Production Company’s Attempt to Remove Church Unsuccessful
On May 15, 2019, Vision Church and the City of San Diego signed a settlement agreement proposed by Tyler & Bursch, LLP on behalf of the church.
The settlement would finally resolve the over one year battle with Cannversions, Inc., the marijuana production company that worked to vacate the church building because of a City ordinance restricting them from operating near a church.
Discrimination and Censorship: #3 on Our List of "Top 5 Attacks" Against Our Constitutional Rights
Over the last two years, Advocates for Faith and Freedom has been hearing from social media users about Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube’s censorship of conservative social media posts. Unfortunately, there has not been much we could do about this because discrimination based on political views is not unlawful. However, we finally have a great case based on unlawful religious and sexual orientation discrimination, and we are taking action…
Pro-life Legal Case Brings Healing and Pastor Involvement
When it comes to pro-life matters, one could make the case that Nada Higuera is much more than a bench player.
Sixteen months ago, the Advocates for Faith & Freedom attorney brought home one of the most significant pro-life court victories in California in recent memory. Her success in the courtroom, coupled with a heartbreaking story involving her own abortion…
Safe, Legal, and Rare No More!
Abortion activists are no longer saying that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare”. Their disingenuous “access to women’s reproductive rights” movement is really more about abortion than women’s health.
In fact, taxpayer funded Planned Parenthood clinics aborted more babies in 2018 than it did in the past five years. According to its own report, it performed a total of 332,757 abortions — 11,373 more than the previous year. But, that is not enough for them…
Why is San Diego Trying to Smoke our the Churches? #2 on Our List of "Top 5 Attacks" Against Constitutional Rights
Two churches in San Diego, Vision Church and Kairos Christian Church, have been subject to discrimination and financial hardship due to marijuana companies that want to take over their local communities. Advocates for Faith and Freedom is working with both churches to help them in their fight to keep their church homes and avoid hefty penalties levied by the city of San Diego. We have already filed one lawsuit on behalf of Vision Church against the city and are gearing up for a second…
Sex Education: #1 On Our List of "Top 5 Attacks" Against Constitutional Rights
Advocates recently submitted a public records request to the Riverside County Department of Education regarding its sexual health education opt-out policies. Not surprisingly, the documents given by Riverside County officials to train teachers were prepared by the ACLU and took a strong stance against parental rights.
Ninth Circuit Forbids School Board Invocations and Censors Private Citizens
PRESS RELEASE
Tyler & Bursch, LLP July 25, 2018 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Desare Ferraro at 951-600-2733
Ninth Circuit Forbids School Board Invocations and Censors Private Citizens
Chino, CA —Today, the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the Chino Valley Unified School District board policy that allows invocations before the start of school board meetings is a violation of the Establishment Clause. The Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals came to a different conclusion in 2017 in American Humanist Association v. McCarty.
The Ninth Circuit further affirms the District Court’s injunction that enjoins the CVUSD school board members “from conducting, permitting or otherwise endorsing school sponsored prayer in Board meetings.”
“This requires the Board to censor or otherwise remove individuals who attempt to say a prayer, or anything that might resemble a prayer, during the public comment period,” said Robert Tyler of Tyler & Burch, LLP and legal counsel for CVUSD. “Such an overbroad injunction is a clear violation of the right of private citizens to address their local representatives in public meetings and is dangerous to the First Amendment.” Footnote 20 of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion makes this point more clear.
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld ceremonial prayer at city council meetings in Town of Greece v Galloway. In that decision, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy noted the historical significance of such invocations. “Ceremonial prayer is but a recognition that, since this Nation was founded and until the present day, many Americans deem that their own existence must be understood by precepts far beyond the authority of government…,” Kennedy wrote.
The CVUSD school board will be meeting in the coming weeks to determine its next course of action.
A copy of the Ninth Circuit’s Opinion can be found here.
The Riverside County law firm of Tyler & Bursch, LLP, represents CVUSD, with the support of Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization.
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Advocates for Faith & Freedom is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting religious liberty in the courts. The firm, in association with Tyler & Bursch LLP, has represented clients across the country on matters governing land use and religious liberty in the public square.