In 1593, the Roman Inquisition convicted the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno for heresy. His crime: teaching that the earth revolved around the sun. The inquisitors burned him alive. We should’ve learned from that dark era. Yet over 400 years after Bruno’s death, California is about to pass a law that will punish physicians for spreading ...
The civil rights movement once emphasized our common humanity — what we all share rather than what divides us. Sadly, the modern progressive movement has lost this guiding star and now seems captivated by shallow differences that overshadow what we share. This trend does not promise genuine equality. It only heightens the growing sense that R ...
California’s universities once required faculty to sign an anti-Communist oath. Many faculty resigned or refused to sign on principle, and no one looks back on that history with fondness. Yet California’s community colleges are on the brink of embracing a new loyalty oath. Rather than force faculty to denounce communism, a new policy wi ...
In late April, an Idaho judge allowed a vital free speech lawsuit against Boise State University to go forward. Big City Coffee, the plaintiff, had lost its contract with the university because some administrators and students were offended that the café supports local police. Thankfully, Judge Cynthia Yee-Wallace has denied Boise State’s re ...
A new regulation would prohibit New York City education councils from debating important policies. Around midnight on December 22, the New York City Panel for Education Policy wrapped up a seven-hour meeting by passing policy D-210, billed as a measure to combat harassment and discrimination. Unfortunately, the regulation risks chilling the speech ...
In August, California’s State Water Resources Control Board voted unanimously to drastically reduce farmers’ rights to draw water from the state’s two largest rivers. The decision was just the latest in a series of blows to thousands of California farmers who are struggling to keep their farms alive, thanks to shrinking water allo ...
What would you think if the government dictated that you won’t be paid for more than a year but you must keep working? As unlikely as you might consider such a scenario, this hypothetical is Howard Iten’s reality. Iten, a commercial landlord in Los Angeles, is under Los Angeles County’s pandemic-driven mandate to continue running ...
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently declared that Elon Musk violated federal law with this tweet: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Our safety record is 2X better than when … ...
A common government response to the pandemic has been to freeze evictions to keep people housed. While an eviction moratorium may be attractive on the surface, this shortsighted tactic will only constrict access to affordable housing. There are better paths forward. Pacific Legal Foundation has challenged several of these eviction moratoria in cour ...