John Whitehead
The Real National Emergency: Endless Wars, Failing Infrastructure, And A Dying Republic
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”—President Dwight D. Eisenhower (April…
Weaponizing Immigration: Trump Administration Accused of Using Deportation Powers to Punish Protesters, Chill Political Speech
NEWARK, NJ — Warning that the Trump administration’s actions likely pose a serious threat to constitutional rights, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the government from deporting a legal U.S. resident under a little-used statute that allows the…
The Spectacle of a Police State: This Is Martial Law Without a Formal Declaration of War
Reporter: “What’s the bar for sending in the Marines?” Trump: “The bar is what I think it is.“ In Trump’s America, the bar for martial law is no longer constitutional—it’s personal. Indeed, if ever we needed proof that…
Courts Reject Trump’s Retaliatory War on Law Firms, Free Speech, & Separation of Powers—Judges Cry Foul Over Authoritarian Overreach
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two more federal judges have struck down President Trump’s executive orders that targeted law firms perceived as political opponents. The rulings, in favor of Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, block enforcement of executive orders aimed at punishing legal…
Trump’s Palantir-Powered Surveillance Is Turning America Into a Digital Prison
“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.” — Ayn Rand Call it what it is:…
They’re Coming for Your Birthright: Citizenship as Spectacle, Transaction, or Privilege
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror…
Supreme Court: Police Can No Longer Rely on ‘Moment-of-Threat’ Doctrine to Sidestep Scrutiny for Misconduct Leading to Use of Deadly Force
WASHINGTON, DC — In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a legal doctrine that helped shield police from accountability for recklessly escalating confrontations and then using deadly force. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Barnes v. Felix makes clear that…
Trump Is Making America Constitutionally Literate—By Violating the Constitution
“Donald Trump ran on a platform of relentless, thoroughgoing rejection of the Constitution itself, and its underlying principle of democratic self-government and individual rights. True, he never endorsed quartering of troops in private homes in time of peace, but…
Facing Court Losses Over Its Detention of Student Activists, Trump Administration Considers Suspending Habeas Corpus
BURLINGTON, Vt. — In the wake of a string of court challenges over its arrests, detentions and deportations of university students engaged in political protests, the Trump Administration is threatening to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a…
Executive Orders, AI Tyranny, & 42 National Emergencies: Is the Constitution Dead? (Video)
In this interview with Collapse Life, civil liberties attorney John Whitehead reminds us just how we are sleepwalking our way to autocracy – on a road paved with 42 active national emergencies, unchecked executive power, and a $500 billion AI…
Executive Overreach & The Erosion Of Constitutional Safeguards: When The Executive Branch Becomes Judge & Jury
The case of Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice warns of the grave consequences that follow when the Executive Branch retaliates against legal advocates for challenging government authority. At stake are foundational principles of the Constitution, including the…
Deporting Political Protesters Threatens Us All: Khalil v. Trump
At a time when non-citizens are being targeted and deported for engaging in lawful, nonviolent political speech protected under the First Amendment, The Rutherford Institute is warning that American citizens who criticize the government that they could be next…
Martial Law Disguised as Law & Order: The Oldest Trick in the Authoritarian Playbook
“A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty.”—James Madison We are being frog-marched into tyranny at the end of a loaded gun. Or rather, hundreds of thousands of loaded guns.…
Court Warns of ‘Totalitarian’ Overreach, Declares Trump’s Blacklisting of Law Firm Illegal as Civil Liberties Groups Expand Legal Challenge
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Warning that President Trump’s executive order retaliating against law firms, suppressing opposition and chilling lawful First Amendment activity “is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government,” the U.S. District Court for D.C. has…
No One’s Speech Is Safe Under Trump Deportation Policy: Civil Liberties Advocates Sound Alarm Over Arrest of PhD Student for Political Views
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Warning that the U.S. government is weaponizing immigration enforcement to punish political dissent, The Rutherford Institute has joined a coalition of civil liberties organizations in challenging the arrest and detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts…
Home Invasions on the Rise: Constitution-Free Policing in Trump’s America
“One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle.”—James Otis, Revolutionary War activist, on the Writs of Assistance, 1761 What the Founders rebelled against—armed government agents invading…
Constitutional Attorneys Urge Action After Masked, Plainclothes ICE Agents at Courthouse Spark ‘Kidnapping’ Fears
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A chilling incident at the Albemarle County Courthouse has ignited alarm, prompting The Rutherford Institute to urge the Charlottesville City Council and Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to take immediate steps to safeguard constitutional rights…
