A doctor has sued the U.S. Forest Service for refusing him permission to treat a woman named Nutty. The action has been filed by the Rutherford Institute on behalf of Dr. Greg Gelburd, who contends he has a faith obligation to help a woman who has been protesting a proposed pipeline project by “tree sitting.”

A Virginia-based organization is suing the Forest Service after officials denied an anti-pipeline protester medical access. The lawsuit contends that officials violated both the religious and First Amendment rights of one of the doctors attempting to treat a woman who has been living in a tree in order to block construction of the Mountain Valley pipeline.

A group defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white supremacist organization has agreed to never return to Charlottesville, but with certain stipulations.

This past Tuesday in Charlottesville, the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group headed by John Whitehead, hosted an informal round table for local journalists. Covering the event for Bearing Drift, I asked a question — “How can we maintain a culture of civil discourse in an era of political tribalism? — that resulted in a six-minute reply from Whitehead and Nadine Strossen, now a professor at New York Law School and the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Two street preachers are targeted, confronted and eventually arrested by transit officers who insist that they stop talking about their Christian beliefs without getting the agency’s permission first, and the courts say that’s all right.

A pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court will have big implications for Americans and their Fourth Amendment rights, says a civil liberties attorney.

John Whitehead, of The Rutherford Institute, appears on “Charlottesville Right Now with Les Sinclair” to discuss the August 12 rally in Charlottesville.

The Virginia ACLU and Albemarle County-based Rutherford Institute are representing Unite the Right rally sponsor Jason Kessler, saying a decision by Charlottesville officials to move the demonstration to McIntire Park may violate his First Amendment rights.

The Glenn Beck Program: John Whitehead and Amy’s plight

"...It reasonably appears that the proposed activity will present a danger to public safety," wrote the group Solidarity Cville in a July 17 letter to the members of the Charlottesville City Council that was accompanied by a compilation of what the group describes as threats of violence made on social media and evidence of previous violent behavior by individuals and groups who may attend the rally.

Dozens of Charlottesville residents packed the city council meeting Monday night, many carrying signs saying "Revoke the Permit."

Four legal rights groups including the Virginia ACLU are asking Governor Terry McAuliffe to investigate the military-style police tactics deployed for the recent KKK rally in Charlottesville.

Several legal organizations are asking for an investigation into the police's response in regard to a rally by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The Legal Aid Justice Center, Rutherford Institute, ACLU of Virginia, and Central Virginia chapter of the National Lawyers Guild have sent letters to the governor's office and Charlottesville officials.

Charlottesvillians pulled out the unwelcome mat for the Loyal White Knights of the KKK July 8 in Justice Park. An estimated 1,000 people surrounded the park before the arrival of the 50 or so out-of-town Klansmen, and the event was loud, but aside from the arrests of protesters who refused to move, without incident. It was afterward that Virginia State Police in riot gear tear gassed protesters who refused to clear High Street, a first for protest-prone Charlottesville, at least in C-VILLE Weekly’s memory.

A nonprofit organization dedicated to defending civil liberties and human rights is speaking out about Charlottesville police installing cameras without the public knowing.

Constitutional expert John Whitehead, president of the Albemarle County-based Rutherford Institute, says people have the right to know when they are being watched.

The First Amendment, at its core, protects all forms of speech. That includes hate speech. So while people are taking issue with the rallies this weekend in Charlottesville over the Robert E. Lee Statue, under the First Amendment, those rallies are protected even from city permits. "Under the First Amendment, free speech is free," explained John Whitehead from The Rutherford Institute. Whitehead said the creation of the First Amendment was to empower people to speak up, and protect people from their own government. "The government cannot target one specific group or several groups and say 'You don't have the right to speech because we don't agree,'" he said.

The memorial celebration for Hentoff, the prolific journalist, jazz critic, and Voice columnist for more than 50 years who died last month at age 91, featured music, remembrances, and a panel discussion.

John W. Whitehead appears on the Hagman Report to discuss the police state, surveillance, free speech and more.

John W. Whitehead speaks to a visiting delegation from Mongolia about the plight of freedom in America.

John Whitehead, author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People and founder of The Rutherford Institute joins The Corbett Report to discuss his retrospective of the Obama administration, “We All Lose: Obama’s Legacy and What It Means for a Trump Presidency.”