October 11, 2019 Although our nation’s courts have long held that eliminating discrimination in all forms is a compelling interest of the “highest order,” the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) recently issued a proposed Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) rule that will make proving claims of housing discrimination far more difficult.
ADL’s comments to HUD in opposition to the proposed rule, called “Implementation of the…
21 Results
February 13, 2020 Last month, the Trump Administration proposed sweeping changes to federal rules governing taxpayer-funded social services, changes that threaten the religious freedom of the most vulnerable in our nation.
Over 20 years ago, the federal government made a sea change in how it provided taxpayer-funded social services by allowing houses of worship to compete for grants and contracts through a program called the “Faith-Based Initiative.”
This change…
June 21, 2019 THE WEEK'S BIG 3
In a major decision involving the use of religious symbols, the Supreme Court ruled that a 40-foot-tall cross can continue to stand on public land. An apparent neo-Nazi sympathizer allegedly plotted to commit a mass shooting at a synagogue in the Bay Area before being thwarted by police. A new report from ADL reveals that domestic Islamist terrorism decreased in 2018.
Read on for more on these headlines, news you can use to fight hate, and the latest info…
by: Jinnie Spiegler August 04, 2016
On the final night at the Democratic National Convention, a Muslim American couple named Khizr and Ghazala Khan came to the stage and delivered a patriotic speech about their son, a U.S. Army Captain who died in 2004 in Iraq serving his country. Khizr Khan, as his wife looked on, spoke for a mere six minutes. The speech was so riveting that the discussion about it continued into the next day and beyond, many people calling it was one of the…
by: Jessica Reaves November 14, 2016
Lost in the 2016 Presidential election news coverage were two major religious freedom wins in Oklahoma and Missouri. They came in the form of voters overwhelmingly rejecting state constitutional ballot amendments intended to undermine religious freedom safeguards that prohibit taxpayers from being compelled to fund houses of worship and other religious institutions.
The objective of Oklahoma State Question 790 was to remove Article…
June 29, 2018 The United States has always been a nation dedicated to the ideals of equality, liberty, and justice. The promise of America was guided by John Winthrop’s vision of the country as a “shining city upon a hill,” opening itself to “anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”
At its best, the United States has lived up to those ideals -- a beacon of hope for refugees, for victims of religious persecution, natural disasters and other…
December 01, 2017 By David Barkey, Religious Freedom Counsel & Southeastern Area Counsel
The U.S. Supreme Court soon will hear oral arguments in a case called Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Cakeshop’s owner is asking the Court do something unprecedented – allow him based on religious objections to refuse service to customers for who they are.
ADL recently joined an amicus brief to the Court filed by a coalition of civil rights and religious…
December 07, 2017 Updated: December 18, 2017 Editor's Note: Christian Picciolini and ADL's work battling extremism was featured on Sunday, Dec. 17 on 60 Minutes on CBS.
As the one-time leader of one of the most infamous white supremacist groups in America, Christian Picciolini was once so immersed in the hate movement that his name appeared prominently in an ADL report on neo-Nazi activity in Illinois.
Picciolini had swastika and racist tattoos on his arms and led…
July 19, 2017 Fourth Circuit Gets It Right on Legislative Prayer
In a recent decision, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (en banc) ruled that the Rowan County Board of Commissioners’ practice of exclusively opening public meetings with Christian prayer is unconstitutional. The 10-5 decision rejected a 3-judge panel decision of the Fourth Circuit upholding the practice. ADL had joined a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief to the Court arguing that the Board’s…
April 14, 2017
According to Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project, the death penalty—viewed by some as one of the starkest expressions of America’s legacy of white supremacy—is dying. Each day, a growing number of lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, and voters look at capital punishment in America and echo a version of “from this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death”—the repudiation of the death penalty penned by…
May 12, 2017
The Florida Legislature recently enacted a back door school prayer bill – Senate Bill 436, the so-called "Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act," which the Governor is expected to sign. It is intended to do an end run around U.S. Supreme Court decisions barring school-sponsored prayer in K-12 public schools. Senate Bill 436 (“SB 436”) is unnecessary, raises serious constitutional issues, and creates a legal quagmire for Florida…
February 07, 2017
Earlier today, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as the new United States Secretary of Education.
As we have done with many other Cabinet nominees over the years, the Anti-Defamation League had sent a letter to Senators on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to urge members to ask Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos a range of questions at her confirmation hearings. The ADL letter drew on the League’s deep expertise in…
February 07, 2017
This week, a delegation of ADL national leadership, headed by CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and National Chair Marvin Nathan, will spend several days in Rome. While here, we will have a private audience with Pope Francis and will meet with Vatican officials, as well as representatives of the Italian government, the leadership of the Roman Jewish community.
Why, one might ask, beside good pasta, gelato, and a chance to meet the pope, would an American civil…
February 09, 2017
Last night, Senator Jefferson Sessions was confirmed as the new United States Attorney General.
As we have done with many other Cabinet nominees over the years, most recently Betsy DeVos, ADL had sent a letter to Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to urge members to ask nominee Jeff Sessions questions on a range of topics at his confirmation hearings. The ADL letter drew on the League’s broad expertise in hate crime prevention,…
February 09, 2017
Florida legislators have filed House Bill 303 and Senate Bill 436 – the so-called “Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act” – (HB303/SB436). The House Sponsor of the bill – Representative Kim Daniels of Jacksonville – asserts that its purpose is to require public schools districts to enforce the religious discrimination protections of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act…
January 22, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3
Amid unprecedented security concerns, due in large part to the Capitol Hill riot two weeks earlier, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and Kamala Harris became the first woman and first woman of color to hold the office of Vice President. President Biden issued an executive order ending Trump’s travel ban on noncitizens from 13 countries. Prosecutors filed the first significant conspiracy charge in the U.S. Capitol…
April 16, 2021 THE WEEK’S BIG 3
The former police officer who was recorded on camera fatally shooting Daunte Wright during a traffic stop was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter on Wednesday. ADL called on Fox News to remove primetime opinion host Tucker Carlson after he openly embraced a white supremacist conspiracy theory in front of millions of viewers. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a watered-down hate crimes bill into law this week, one that ADL and other…
August 28, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3
Federal investigators announced that they have launched a civil rights probe into the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A sign with the phrase “The Jews Want A Race War” was hung from the heavily trafficked Los Angeles interstate 405 highway overpass on Saturday. The NAACP will replace all leadership of its Philadelphia chapter — including its president, Minister Rodney Muhammad —…
July 02, 2020 THE WEEK’S BIG 3
More than 750 companies and brands, from Target and Starbucks to Acura and Verizon, have vowed to pause advertising on Facebook in a growing protest over how it handles hate speech and other harmful content. The Fox Soul network abruptly canceled a Fourth of July program featuring notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan on Monday after ADL voiced outrage over plans for a scheduled live broadcast of Farrakhan’s speech titled “Message to America…
July 06, 2020 On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a deeply troubling religious freedom decision in a case entitled Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue involving a Montana tuition tax credit program. Dismayingly, the Court reinstituted a program previously struck down by the Montana Supreme Court that indirectly funds private K-12 schools with “scholarships” that parents could use for tuition at any participating school. The participating schools included religious…