ACLU Given ‘Veto Power’ Over Free-Speech Rights

Posted on July 7, 2008

By Jeff Johnson:

Christian groups are appealing a federal judge’s ruling that bars the Gideons from distributing Bibles to students of the South Iron Missouri School District.

The South Iron School District allows off-campus organizations to distribute literature to students before and after school, and during other non-instructional times such as lunch breaks. But the American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the Gideons should not be allowed to hand out Bibles because of their religious nature. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry agreed.

“In fact, the federal judge said…the ACLU must be able to have the say-so over whether religious literature can be distributed — and obviously, if the ACLU has that say-so, no religious literature will ever be distributed,” says Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel.

But Staver points out that the First Amendment prohibits any “heckler” from having the right to prohibit free speech. “…The ACLU may not like the fact that equal access also means equal treatment for religious speech, but, frankly, the Constitution requires equal treatment,” states the attorney. “…Hecklers may heckle all they want to, but they may not veto private religious speech.”

Staver is asking the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule Judge Perry. He says that, to his knowledge, no other U.S. court has ever ruled that a private, third party should be given veto power over private religious speech.

Whats more dangerous and scary? The ACLU let loose with this power, or the fact a judge granted this power unchallenged?

Hat tip to Kate who sums this up:

If this is allowed to stand, you can be damn sure it won’t be the last time you see YOUR freedom of speech squashed by the lunatics at the ACLU. I’m even having a hard time coming up with words strong enough to express my extreme disgust that a judge would even consider such a ruling.

» Filed Under 1st Amendment, Activist Judges, Church And State, News, Uncategorized


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Comments

4 Responses to “ACLU Given ‘Veto Power’ Over Free-Speech Rights”

  1. Lori on July 8th, 2008 2:43 am

    Is there a link to the original article? I clicked all the links on the page & and on the pages it is linked to but keep going in circles.

  2. Jay on July 8th, 2008 7:27 am

    I’m sure the original was a press release by Liberty Council. Onenewsnow picked it up, or either the onenewsnow is the original article written by Jeff Johnson.

  3. Del on July 8th, 2008 11:49 am

    What’s more scary for me is the fact that I would not have the ability to control how my child is being educated about religion. At church, I can feel confident about the message that they receive because I am there to provide guidance. If anyone off the street can go into a school to share a message, I have no idea what that message is. It could be the message of a Rev. Wright for all I know. School is no place for this. I’m all for freedom of speech, but schools don’t have the same freedoms. That’s why schools are allowed to control/censor school newspapers.

  4. The Machine on July 8th, 2008 1:30 pm

    The price of liberty is eternal vigilence.

    The pen is mightier than the sword.

    WRITE.

    !