The State of the First Amendment survey, conducted each year since 1997 by the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center, tests Americans’ knowledge of their core freedoms and samples their opinions on First Amendment issues of the day. The 2015 survey questions covered topics including the use of Confederate flags on […] Read more »
The Supreme Court and the Politics of Fear
When he ran for president the second time almost half a century ago, Richard M. Nixon made Earl Warren’s Supreme Court a target of his campaign. It was a brilliant move. … I thought of Nixon last week as I watched the parade of Republican would-be presidents outdoing one another […] Read more »
Ted Cruz says Supreme Court on same-sex marriage is out of step with public, but polls don’t agree
The Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide isn’t what the American people wanted, says Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. … On whether the American public supports same-sex marriage, there is no question. Numerous 2015 polls have found that a majority of the country — around 60 percent — favors […] Read more »
The Kaleidoscope Society
The Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, President Obama’s wrenching eulogy in Charleston, and a Census Bureau report that kids of color for the first time now make up a majority of America’s under-5 population all arrived within one indelible 24-hour period late last week. Each event sent the same […] Read more »
A Tale of Two Supreme Court Decisions
The two major decisions recently handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court have very direct relationships to public opinion. One of the decisions fits well with majority public opinion. The other, in a broad sense, does not. The first corresponds to public opinion that has shifted significantly over the past […] Read more »
Woe to You Who Are at Ease in Zion
… A conflict between religiously orthodox and heterodox Republicans is forcing the Republican Party onto risky terrain. The question is: Can the party sideline one of the most reliable voting blocs, the most religiously observant, on the assumption that it will attract the college-educated, socially liberal and fiscally moderate voters who […] Read more »