John Whitehead

The Age of Fear: A Graduation Message for Terrifying Times

“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of…

Civil Liberties in the Age of COVID-19

Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak, The Rutherford Institute has issued an in-depth report on the impact of the nation’s response to the pandemic on civil liberties. The report, “Civil Liberties in the Age of…

Government Overreach, Compelled Speech & Efforts To Boost State Budgets Through Fines & Penalties Gets Challenged

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Weighing in on a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, The Rutherford Institute is challenging government overreach, meddlesome bureaucracy and attempts to boost state budgets through fines and penalties. In an amicus brief filed with…

From Mind Control to Viruses: How the Government Keeps Experimenting on Its Citizens

“They were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don’t recognize them for what they are until it’s too late.” — Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children The U.S. government, in…

Challenging Technocensorship: Rutherford Institute Petitions Court To Prohibit Facebook From Censoring, De-Platforming COVID-19 Vaccine Critics

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Warning against the rising threat to free speech posed by the government’s collusion with large technology companies in order to regulate and control what ideas can be shared on the internet and through social…

The Global Deep State: A New World Order Brought to You by COVID-19

“A psychotic world we live in. The madmen are in power.”― Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle For good or bad, COVID-19 has changed the way we navigate the world. It is also redrawing the boundaries…

Comply or Die: The Only Truly Compliant Person in a Police State Is a Dead One

“If you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t…

SCOTUS: Police Shooting, Even Without an Immediate Arrest, Constitutes a Seizure That Can Be Challenged As Fourth Amendment Violation

WASHINGTON, DC — In a 5-3 decision in Torres v. Madrid, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a police shooting, even without an immediate arrest, constitutes a seizure that can be challenged as a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibitions…

Rule by Fiat: When the Government Does Whatever It Wants

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods…

Attorney Warns Against Schools Expanding Zero Tolerance by Monitoring and Punishing Students for Social Media Activity Off-Campus

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Warning against attempts by public school officials to undermine parents’ rights by monitoring and punishing students for social media activity that takes place away from school, The Rutherford Institute has come to the defense of…

Financial Tyranny: Footing the Tax Bill for the Government’s Fiscal Insanity

“We are now speeding down the road of wasteful spending and debt, and unless we can escape we will be smashed in inflation.”—Herbert Hoover We’re not living the American dream. We’re living a financial nightmare. The U.S. government—and…

Federal Court Gives Denver Police the Green Light To Intimidate, Threaten & Retaliate Against Individuals Who Record Police Brutality, Misconduct

DENVER, Colo. — Defying clearly established First Amendment jurisprudence that protects the right to record police in public without fear of retaliation, a federal appeals court has given police the green light to intimidate and threaten individuals who…

Stand Up to Tyranny: How to Respond to the Evils of Our Age

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its…

‘Civil Liberties in the Age of COVID-19’: Report on the Year-Long Impact of Lockdowns, Mandates & Restrictions

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak, The Rutherford Institute has issued an in-depth report on the impact of the nation’s response to the pandemic on civil liberties. The report, “Civil Liberties in…

After a Year Under Lockdown, Will Our Freedoms Survive the Tyranny of COVID-19?

“The remedy is worse than the disease.”—Francis Bacon One way or another, the majority of Americans will survive COVID-19. It remains to be seen, however, whether our freedoms will survive the tyranny of the government’s heavy-handed response to…

Digital Trails: How the FBI Is Identifying, Tracking and Rounding Up Dissidents

“Americans deserve the freedom to choose a life without surveillance and the government regulation that would make that possible. While we continue to believe the sentiment, we fear it may soon be obsolete or irrelevant. We deserve that freedom, but…

Coalition Calls for Reform of Drug Laws That Delivered Harsher Prison Sentences by 100–1 Ratio to Minorities for Low-Level Offenses

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of a broader push for criminal justice reform, a wide-ranging coalition of civil liberties and public policy groups, as well as a bipartisan group of senators, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to…