2021 recap: Protect The 1st – Born Fighting for the First Amendment

Since we opened our doors in January 2021, we have been active before Congress, the courts and in public opinion to protect all the five freedoms of the First Amendment.
 
In our first year, Protect The 1st stood up for people from across the ideological and social spectrum, of all religions and no religion. We opposed retaliation by government and other powerful entities against unpopular speech. We have stood for legislation that protects the confidential sources of reporters. We have advanced measures to protect speech, conscience and religious freedom in the military, and in private religious schools, and elsewhere.
 
Religious Freedom

• Religious Freedom in Education – PT1st continues to resist efforts to limit the freedom of religious schools to teach according to their beliefs. In September PT1st filed an amicus brief in Carson v. Makin, a case before the Supreme Court that will determine if the State of Maine can deny funding – available to other private schools – to schools that include religious activities along with all state-required instruction.

 

• Indigenous Religious Freedom – Protect The 1st is deeply involved in cases involving the rights of Native American tribes to access and use land sacred to their religion. From filing amicus briefs, to leading a coalition of civil liberties organizations, PT1st continues to fight against the planned destruction of the Apache religious site at Oak Flat in Arizona by a foreign mining corporation, as well as supporting the Yakima Nation and Grand Ronde Tribes in their efforts to reform federal legal standards after the destruction of their sacred sites.

 

• PT1st joined a wide spectrum of groups representing Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and others in an amicus brief in support of the Apache Stronghold before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in March. In May, PT1st senior policy advisor and former Member of Congress Rick Boucher joined with PT1st policy director Erik Jaffe to make an eloquent case for the Apache’s right to religious freedom in The Wall Street Journal.

 

• Religious Freedom for the Incarcerated ­– The right of all Americans, including the incarcerated, to freely practice their religion should be inviolable. In support of this, PT1st filed a brief in Ramirez v. Collier, a Supreme Court case that will determine a Texas prisoner’s request that this condemned man’s pastor be allowed to lay hands on him during his execution by lethal injection. The First Amendment applies to all Americans, and unwarranted restrictions on a person’s final moments should not be allowed to stand.

 

• Religious Freedom in Public – The First Amendment prevents the government from favoring one religion over another. In a brief filed with the Supreme Court in Shurtleff v. City of Boston, PT1st explains that it should also prevent the government from favoring non-religious causes over religious ones. For more than a decade, the City of Boston allowed hundreds of flags belonging to a diverse set of secular organizations to fly on a city-owned flagpole without prior review. Yet the city declined to allow a flag with a religious theme to be flown. This singling out of a religious organization violates the most fundamental principles of the First Amendment.

 
Freedom of Speech

• Free Speech for Candidates – PT1st weighed in on a case before the U.S. Supreme Court brought by a U.S. senator challenging the monetary limit on personal loans to a campaign made by a candidate that are repayable from campaign funds. The right to freely engage in political speech is obviously central to all candidates. The ability to personally fund early-stage campaigns is a vital tool in ensuring the viability of challengers to well-heeled incumbents.

 

• Free Speech for Donors – Dating back to the efforts of the NAACP in the 1950s to shield its donors from a vengeful state government, the right of privacy for donors to political causes has long been recognized as a needed protection. This right to insulate donors from political and personal retribution is even more relevant in this age of doxing and death threats. In the 21st century, the epicenter of this battle has moved from the Deep South to California, where PT1st is vigorously defending donor privacy with efforts ranging from an amicus brief to a podcast with PT1st policy director Erik Jaffe.

 

• Right to Record – PT1st endorses the right of citizens to record. The importance of this principle can be traced back to the pioneering but surreptitious reporting of progressive era journalists. Translated to the modern day, the ability of any citizen with a phone to expose wrongdoing can be a fundamental cornerstone of accountability, as the world vividly witnessed in the murder of George Floyd. PT1st opposes laws, such as one in Massachusetts, that criminalize this means of holding authorities accountable.

 

• Free Speech for Students ­­– PT1st is happy to note that the Supreme Court limited the ability of schools to police off-campus speech in an 8-1 decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. This commonsense ruling acknowledges the right of students to exercise their rights as citizens while still allowing schools room to regulate speech such as threats or bullying that disrupt classrooms.

 

• The Right Not to Speak – PT1st weighed in on two cases that address this issue. One challenged a requirement that public employees in Ohio join a union that contributes to political causes and the other was brought by attorneys in Oregon who argued that the use of mandatory membership fees by the state bar to support certain ideological causes violated their First Amendment rights. While the Supreme Court declined both cases, PT1st still believes the right to refrain from speech is worth supporting. We will continue to seek avenues to do so.

  
Freedom of the Press
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• PRESS Act – Walter Cronkite said, “freedom of the press is not just important to democracy; it is democracy.” A cornerstone of this freedom is the ability of journalists to shield the identity of their sources. The PRESS Act responds to several high-profile incidents of government snooping on journalists’ communications and seeks to prevent similar searches in the future. An op-ed authored by former Congressmen, and PT1st senior policy advisors, Bob Goodlatte and Rick Boucher explains why protection of the press is as urgent a priority today as it ever was.

 

• Protecting Citizen Journalists – PT1st closely followed the case of Priscilla Villareal a citizen journalist in Laredo, Texas, known to her online followers as La Gordiloca.

 

• After reporting on a fatal accident, Villareal was charged with “Misuse of Public Information,” which is a felony in Texas. The 5th Circuit recently ruled in Villareal’s favor and has allowed legal claims that her constitutional rights were violated to go forward. Recent years have shown the ability of ordinary citizens with everyday technology to affect public discourse, whether it is a citizen journalist like Villareal with 120,000 followers or simply a bystander with a smartphone. PT1st will continue to ensure that these citizens acting as journalists receive the same First Amendment protections as all journalists.

 
In the year ahead, Protect The 1st will continue to fight for these causes. We will add to our agenda any significant effort to curtail, degrade or squelch freedom of speech, religion, freedom of the press, the right to petition the government, and to peaceably assemble.