The Rutherford Institute

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The Rutherford Institute
Formation1982
FounderJohn W. Whitehead
Type
Charlottesville
Location
ServicesLegal services
WebsiteRutherford.org

The Rutherford Institute is a

U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
.

While once primarily concerned with the defense of religious liberties,

zero tolerance policy.[4] Some of the institute's legal actions were widely reported, including helping Paula Jones pursue a sexual harassment lawsuit in 1997 against President Bill Clinton,[5] and its defense of middle and high school students suspended and expelled under inflexible zero tolerance policies,[6] and the free speech rights of preachers and political protestors.[7][8] Declaring that we live in a police state where "freedom has become fascism", the institute has denounced no-knock warrants and granting police qualified immunity. It also defended state laws banning homosexual conduct in Bowers v. Hardwick.[9]

The Rutherford Institute has worked with a number of similar groups across the political spectrum, including the ACLU and the Cato Institute.[10] Whitehead was described by jazz historian and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff as "this nation's Paul Revere of protecting civil liberties."[11]

Foundation

The Rutherford Institute was named after

Charlottesville Daily Progress described the institute as "a more conservative American Civil Liberties Union" (ACLU).[14]

History and legal actions

Since its founding, The Rutherford Institute has expanded its aims from defending the religious liberties of Christians to include defending the religious liberties of all Americans, as well as working to preserve rights such as free speech and the right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure. However, the institute has sometimes taken pro-government positions, such as defending laws which banned gay sex.[9]

Religious liberty

In 2004, the group filed a lawsuit against Muskogee Public Schools in Oklahoma on behalf of Nashala Hearn, an 11-year-old Muslim student who was suspended for wearing a religious headscarf to school.[15]

In 2007, they filed a lawsuit against Freehold Township, New Jersey on behalf of an Orthodox rabbi, Avraham Bernstein, alleging that the town was persecuting Bernstein for holding prayer meetings in his home on the Sabbath.[16]

In 2011, the group took up the cause of Laura George, founder of the

Board of Supervisors voted to deny the project on health, safety and welfare grounds, attorneys acting on behalf of The Rutherford Institute pursued a legal action to acquire the permit, alleging religious discrimination;[17] eventually the building permit was granted.[18]

Freedom of speech

In 2012, The Rutherford Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of Harold Hodge, a man arrested in January 2011 for standing outside the

Occupy Movement protest.[14]

The Rutherford Institute was also involved with the

Charlottesville
's Emancipation Park.

Opposition to Government surveillance

In 2012, The Rutherford Institute took legal action against the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, on behalf of high school student, Andrea Hernandez, who risked consequences from school administrators for refusing to wear a "name badge containing a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip."[19] The school district sought to increase student attendance rates with tracking devices on students.[20] Attorneys for the Rutherford Institute argued that the school's actions violated Texas' Religious Freedom Act, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[21] After the lawsuit in federal court and the negative publicity it generated, the Northside Independent School District abandoned the tracking program.[22][19]

In 2023, The Rutherford Institute urged the City Council in Charlottesville, Virginia against adopting the use of license plate readers in the Charlottesville Police Department. [23]

In 2023, The Rutherford Institute issued a public warning about Ancestry.com DNA Kits and the "associated privacy risks posed by police and hackers." John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute said “The debate over genetic privacy—and when one’s DNA becomes a public commodity outside the protection of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on warrantless searches and seizures—is really only beginning,” [24]

Search and seizure

In 2008, The Rutherford Institute joined a coalition of civil libertarians and activists who called upon President

Uighurs who were being detained indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[25]

In 2010, the group took on a number of cases regarding the Transportation Security Administration's controversial security procedures at American airports. The organization filed a lawsuit in November 2010 against

pat-down. John W. Whitehead said of the matter, "Forcing Americans to undergo a virtual strip search as a matter of course in reporting to work or boarding an airplane when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing is a grotesque violation of our civil liberties."[26] The next month The Rutherford Institute filed another lawsuit on the behalf of three passengers who took issue with the TSA screening procedures: a 12-year-old girl placed in a body scanner without parental consent, a man who was subjected to an invasive pat down in his genital area due to an abnormality caused by a childhood injury, and a woman who had undergone a mastectomy and was required to be patted down in her breast area.[27]

In 2010, Whitehead sent a letter to Ken Cuccinelli, the Attorney General of Virginia, decrying his legal opinion that school officials could seize and search student cellphones and laptop computers upon suspicion that a student had broken school rules or the law.[28]

In 2011, the group filed a

U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the placement of a GPS tracking device on the defendant's car without first obtaining a warrant constituted an illegal search. In January 2012 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that police must obtain a warrant before placing a physical GPS tracking unit on a suspect's car.[29]

Following the

no knock warrants and the granting of "qualified immunity" to police. The article argued that Americans live in a "police state" and that "freedom has become fascism" due to the Supreme Court's refusal to uphold the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and limit the police, stating that there is a "nationwide epidemic of court-sanctioned police violence carried out with impunity against individuals posing little or no real threat."[30]

Ballot access

In July 2014, The Rutherford Institute supported the Libertarian Party of Virginia and alleged that Virginia ballot laws favored "the election chances of Democrat and Republican candidates at the expense of Libertarian Party and independent candidates."[31][32][33]

References

  1. c-ville.com
  2. ^ "About John Whitehead". The Rutherford Institute. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Institute devoted to religious free speech". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. October 21, 1989. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  4. ^ "Rutherford Issues". The Rutherford Institute. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  5. ^ Barnes, Lindsay (2008-01-24). "Suing the president: Ten years later, John Whitehead looks back at Jones v. Clinton". The Hook.
  6. ^ Rhett Miller, Joshua (February 21, 2012). "Legal group goes to bat for eighth-grader suspended for using oregano in pot prank". FOX News. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  7. ^ Gibson, David (April 6, 2012). "Praying for God to hurt someone is not illegal, judge rules". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Kennedy, Douglas (March 8, 2012). "Taking Liberties: The First Amendment and the right to protest". Fox News. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Bowers v. Hardwick". Findlaw. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  10. ^ "U.S. Supreme Court Rules Student Strip Search Unconstitutional". The Rutherford Institute. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  11. ^ Hentoff, Nat (April 4, 2012). "Governor Cuomo Joins the Lawless Kelly-Bloomberg Gang". The Village Voice. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  12. ^ Olsen, Ted (December 7, 1998). "The Dragon Slayer". Christianity Today. 42 (14): 4. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  13. ISBN 978-0-8028-4044-8
    .
  14. ^
    Charlottesville Daily Progress. Archived from the original
    on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  15. ^ "Justice Dept. to fight school barring Muslim's scarves". USA Today. April 15, 2004. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  16. ^ Newmarker, Chris (October 19, 2007). "Rabbi expands lawsuit against N.J. town". USA Today. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  17. ^ Kinzie, Susan (July 7, 2011). "Proposed interfaith retreat center in Virginia tests founder, community". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  18. ^ "Victory: Grayson County Board of Supervisors Green-Lights Development of Spiritual Retreat Center in Response to Rutherford Institute Lawsuit". The Rutherford Institute. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  19. ^ a b "Andrea Hernandez". The Rutherford Institute. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  20. ^ Kravets, David. "Student Suspended for Refusing to Wear RFID Chip Returns to School". Wired. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  21. ^ Leonard, Andrew (28 November 2012). "The surveillance state high school". Salon. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  22. ^ Omarzu, Time (14 July 2014). "RFID chips to be used on Chattooga County buses to track students". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  23. ^ "Police Use of License Plate Readers Snares Innocent Americans in a Massive Digital Data Dragnet". The Rutherford Institute. September 29, 2023. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  24. ^ "As Gift-Giving Season Heats Up, Rutherford Institute Cautions Public About Ancestry DNA Kits and Associated Privacy Risks Posed by Police & Hackers". The Rutherford Institute. December 7, 2023. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
  25. ^ "Conservatives call on Bush to free Muslim Uighurs". USA Today. November 20, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  26. ^ Provence, Lisa (November 16, 2012). "Rutherford Institute sues over 'virtual strip searches' and 'rub-downs'". The Hook. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  27. ^ "Rutherford Institute files second suit over TSA procedures". The Daily Progress. December 7, 2010. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  28. ^ Helderman, Rosalind S. (December 2, 2010). "Rutherford Institute: Cuccinelli opinion could turn schools into 'authoritarian police states'". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
  29. ^ "Supreme Court rules police must get search warrant to use GPS". Press and Guide. January 23, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  30. ^ "Justice sleeps and We The People suffer, no the U.S. Supreme Court will not save us" (Press release). 21 September 2020.
  31. ^ "Rutherford Institute Files First Amendment Lawsuit Challenging Discriminatory Election Laws that Favor Major Party Candidates over Independent, Minor Ones". The Rutherford Institute. July 2, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  32. ^ "Rutherford Institute files suit on behalf of third-party candidates". Daily Press. July 3, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  33. ^ "Libertarian Party challenges Virginia ballot laws". WDBJ7. July 3, 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.

External links

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