Following reports that “a factual discrepancy” existed in court filings used to justify President Trump’s use of military troops against civilian protesters, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a ruling granting the president sweeping discretion to federalize and deploy the National Guard in response to demonstrations at an ICE facility in Portland.

The Rutherford Institute has joined a national coalition of civil liberties organizations calling on the courts to stop President Trump’s unconstitutional deployment of National Guard troops against civilians in Portland.

Civil liberties groups are warning that the Trump administration’s attempt to condition federal funding on ideological compliance amounts to “ideological extortion” and a grave threat to academic freedom.

A powerful coalition of civil liberties organizations—including The Rutherford Institute, FIRE, PEN America, and others—is fighting back against the Trump administration’s efforts to arrest, detain, and deport student activists for speaking out against the war in Gaza. The coalition warns that targeting lawful residents like Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk for protected speech is unconstitutional retaliation and threatens freedom of expression for everyone.

John W. Whitehead, constitutional attorney, author, and founder of The Rutherford Institute, is sharing his lifelong engagement with freedom, technology, and human dignity with the arts community in a new gallery exhibit featuring his recent series, Freedom Amputated. Known nationally for his legal advocacy and writings on civil liberties, Whitehead brings the same urgency and vision to his paintings. His recent series confronts viewers with haunting, abstract visions of dehumanization in an age of surveillance and technological control.

The Founders warned against standing armies on American soil. They feared the military would be used not to defend the people, but to control them. Today, those warnings ring true. A coalition of civil liberties groups have filed a First Amendment challenge to Trump’s National Guard deployment against protesters.

A federal court has struck down a sweeping attempt by the Trump administration to weaponize billions in research funding, reaffirming that the government cannot enforce ideological conformity through financial coercion.

Amid a growing national wave of punitive measures targeting the homeless, The Rutherford Institute is cautioning communities against adopting policies that risk criminalizing poverty and eroding civil liberties. 

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a case challenging how police stonewalled FOIA requests from watchdog groups lays the groundwork for government officials to bury misconduct in red tape — and call it “bureaucratic dysfunction.”

Cities and states are increasingly passing laws that make it harder for the homeless to survive in public spaces — and for churches and nonprofits to help them. 

When the government gets to decide what counts as “real” religion, everyone’s freedoms are at risk. The Rutherford Institute is fighting back in defense of equal protection for all religious expressions.

In a blow to First Amendment freedoms, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hold Facebook/Meta accountable for colluding with the government to silence constitutionally protected speech. Without a clear ruling holding Meta accountable as a state actor, The Rutherford Institute warns that social media companies are likely to once again serve as proxies for government censorship—especially during times of crisis or political pressure.

In a resounding rebuke of executive overreach, a fourth federal judge has struck down a Trump administration executive order aimed at punishing a law firm for the clients it represents and the causes it supports.

In a unanimous opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government can be held accountable for a botched FBI SWAT raid that targeted the wrong home and terrorized an innocent family. 

The Rutherford Institute has joined a broad coalition of civil liberties groups in opposing the Trump administration’s attempts to wage a political war on academic freedom and ideological independence. At the heart of the legal challenge is the Trump administration’s move to strip Harvard University of billions of dollars in federal research funding unless Harvard agrees to change its policies to align with the government’s preferred political ideology. 

In a win for parental and religious rights, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that parents from various religious backgrounds have a right to opt their elementary-aged children out of mandatory public school readings and discussions of books involving LGBTQ sexuality and themes.

In yet another legal setback for the Trump Administration in its efforts to weaponize immigration enforcement in order to punish political dissent, a federal judge has ordered that a former Columbia University graduate student be freed from ICE detention.

Protesting shouldn’t be a deportable offense. But in Trump’s America, where immigration powers are being weaponized against dissent, you can be jailed for your opinions. For example, Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by ICE for criticizing U.S. foreign policy. If the government can do this to him, they can do it to anyone, citizen or not.

More federal judges have struck down Trump’s retaliatory executive orders targeting law firms. The rulings blast the orders as unconstitutional, authoritarian overreach that threatens free speech and the separation of powers.

In a significant First Amendment showdown, the U.S. Supreme Court has deadlocked 4-4 on whether states can ban religious charter schools, leaving unresolved the tension between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The split decision upholds Oklahoma’s ruling against a Catholic virtual school but leaves the national debate far from settled.