This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has issued a three-month terror alert for the United States based on the rogue Islamic regime in Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and President Donald Trump's decision to blow up a number of the facilities working on that project.
"The ongoing Iran conflict is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States," she said. "Low-level cyber attacks against US networks by pro-Iranian hacktivists are likely, and cyber actors affiliated with the Iranian government may conduct attacks against US networks."
She noted that Iran also has a longstanding commitment to target those officials in the U.S. it views "as responsible for the death of an Iranian military commander killed in January 2020."
And if the Iranian regime issues a religious proclamation, the threat from "violent extremists" already in the U.S. could increase.
There are an unknown number of those people already inside the U.S., as Joe Biden let in millions of unvetted illegal aliens during his time in the White House.
A report from the Gateway Pundit said Iran "appears to be gearing up for a major retaliatory strike against America after seeing its three major nuclear facilities were bombed two days ago."
President Trump announced over the weekend the U.S. finished a "successful attack" on three nuclear sites in Iran, Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, where nuclear weapons work reportedly was going on.
Iran has responded with rockets launched at U.S. military sites in the Middle East, but reports confirm those mostly have been destroyed before arriving at their tarets.
Noem's statement noted, "Multiple recent Homeland terrorist attacks have been motivated by anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment, and the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict could contribute to US-based individuals plotting additional attacks."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Somalia native Rep. Ilhan Omar has deleted her own statement about slavery in the United States after being confronted by the fact that her own native soil has thousands in slavery.
Omar, a far-left Democrat from Minnesota whose own political career has been littered with scandals over her marriages, routinely blasts America as a horrible country for its treatment of immigrants, blacks, and more.
She often has confirmed she is in Congress to look out for the interests of Somalia's people.
It was when she posted a Juneteenth comment that she was caught.
She said, "160 years ago on June 19, 1865, slavery ended in this country. Today, we celebrate Black freedom, resilience, and achievement, and continue the work to root out systematic racism from our policies and institutions."
It was commenter Gunther Eagleman who responded, "Somalia still has slaves. Ilhan should go fight to free her own people," and then later followed with, "She deleted her post."
A report at the Gateway Pundit said, "Another Juneteenth post by Omar remains, 'On Juneteenth, we remember that freedom is not always swift but it is always worth the fight. It's a powerful reminder of how long justice can take to reach those who deserve it most. Today, we celebrate Black freedom, resilience, and achievement, and continue the work to root out systematic racism from our policies and institutions.'"
The report cited a 2024 State Department report confirming human trafficking in Somalia: "IDPs, minority populations, people residing in al-Shabaab territory, and Somali children working in informal sectors remain the most vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor. Some Somalis willingly surrender custody of their children to people with whom they share familial ties or clan linkages who may subsequently exploit some of these children in forced labor or sex trafficking. Traffickers may exploit children in forced labor in agriculture, domestic work, herding, selling or portering khat, crushing stones, fishing, forced begging, or construction."
And the report noted a 2023 Walk Free estimate of nearly 100,00 enslaved in Somalia.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Late in the evening on Feb. 3, 2023, a Norfolk Southern train of 53 cars derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
The resulting crash caused much of the train to burn, but what has been controversial ever since was the decision to do a controlled burn of the nearly 116,000 gallons of vinyl chloride that the train was carrying.
The result released hydrogen chloride and phosgene gases in the air of the small community.
Ever since, residents have noted headaches, respiratory issues, skin irritations and even eye irritations.
Now the federal government is going to study, in detail, the health impact of that disaster during Joe Biden's presidency.
"The announcement today of the funding for long-term health studies for the people of East Palestine is great news for the community," Gov. Mike DeWine said. "This funding will enable the people of East Palestine to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that any potential for long-term health effects will be studied by the scientists at the National Institutes of Health."
Jennifer Homendyj, of the National Transportation and Safety Board, charged a year ago that the vent and burn after the crash was not needed, and even the crash itself could have been avoided.
The federal agency concluded the disaster that forced the evacuation of several thousand residents was caused by a wheel bearing that caught fire and broke an axle.
A report at the Center Square said the $10 million will be for a five-year study on the health impact of the derailment.
"The money and the study came at the urging of Vice President J.D. Vance, who worked with former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on train safety and other East Palestine legislation in the months and years following the derailment and subsequent toxic chemical release," the report said.
Vance noted, "As a senator, it was incredibly frustrating watching the Biden administration refuse to examine the potentially dangerous health impacts on the people of East Palestine following the train derailment. I'm proud that we finally have a new president that takes the concerns of everyday, working-class people seriously. This historic research initiative will finally result in answers that this community deserves."
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. said the National Institutes of Health will conduct the study. And he thanked Vance for his work on the issue.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The transgender ideology has been around for years but it took Joe Biden pushing it from the Oval Office desk in the White House to really give it traction.
While he was in office, Biden tried to install the agenda in schools, the military, social programs, education programs, benefits programs, entertainment and much more, even around the globe through America's aid efforts for needy nations.
But now he's out, and his campaign is losing traction.
That's according to a new polling from Gallup that was documented by the Washington Stand.
In fact, the polling shows fewer Americans now believe trying to change one's gender is "morally acceptable" than when Biden took office in 2021.
Actually, following the science, transgenderism doesn't happen, as being male or female is embedded in the human body down to the DNA level, and no chemicals or even surgical intervention changes that.
"The current 40% of U.S. adults who believe that changing genders is morally acceptable is down six points from 2021, while the latest 54% who think it is morally wrong is similar to prior readings," Gallup explained.
"Partisans' opinions differ significantly, with 71% of Democrats, 45% of independents and 9% of Republicans saying that changing one's gender is morally acceptable. Republicans' opinions have changed the most since 2021, falling by 13 points."
Democrats still are on Biden's bandwagon, with support there rising, but independents align with Republicans in dropping their support, by three percentage points.
"Gallup similarly found Republican support for same-sex marriage crumbling," the Washington Stand said.
"The poll is one of many showing the LGBT agenda losing support in recent years. The percentage of Americans who believe same-sexual relationships are 'morally acceptable' fell by 7% last year, the largest decrease of any of the moral issues posed by Gallup pollsters in their annual Values and Beliefs poll, released last June. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released last Friday found that 82% of parents favor 'legislation that would strengthen parental rights over their children'; 77% oppose transgender injections or surgeries for minors (including 67% of Democrats and 77% of Independents); and 70% say schools should not teach children their gender is a choice (including 54% of Democrats)," the report explained.
Other findings included that since 2022 Americans are:
Joseph Backholm, of the Family Research Council, told the publication, "First, the mood of the country has changed, so people probably feel more free to say what they actually believe. Cancel culture has lost much of its power so people don't perceive the same risk from saying there are only two sexes and they can't be changed. Second, people understand it's not just a matter of personal choice. There are consequences for what we believe, and pretending we can be anything we want is creating cultural chaos."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
"Show me the man, I'll find you the crime!" So said Lavrenty Beria, the notorious chief of the secret police under the Soviet Union's long-time and epically ruthless leader, Josef Stalin.
What that meant, of course, was that any person regarded as a genuine threat to the communist dictatorship would be tried in a kangaroo court on serious but totally made-up crimes. As the Encyclopedia Britannica puts it: "In high-profile, carefully scripted purge trials, perceived political opponents of the government were convicted of heinous offenses that they had not committed."
In today's America, the parallels are both eerie and inescapable.
Remember, after all, that the Democratic Party has embraced not only socialism and the bizarre neo-Marxist religion of "wokeism," but straight-up pathological delusion – everything from championing "transgender" men destroying women's athletics and invading their locker rooms, to intentionally engineering a full-scale invasion of America by foreign gangbangers, sex traffickers and criminals, including thousands of convicted murderers and rapists.
So corrupt and delusional has today's Democratic Party become that, for the first time in history, a major political party pushed a man with obvious dementia (who also happened to be head of a de facto crime family) into the White House as a puppet president, all the while secretly controlling him – and therefore the country – via a hidden "politburo" of puppet-string pullers.
It is this deranged and shockingly corrupt political party that in recent times has been using the judiciary to advance an unholy and catastrophic agenda – first, by following Beria's example of "finding the crime" to fit "the man," in this case President Donald J. Trump.
However, despite the absurdly political wall-to-wall prosecutions of Trump throughout the Biden presidency – after all, in just a short period of time he was suddenly indicted for nearly 100 different crimes! – the "purge trials" ultimately came to naught, with the judges and prosecutors, one by one, being exposed as ridiculously partisan, and sometimes flat-out corrupt, pawns in the Deep State's war against Donald Trump, whom they delight in mocking as "a convicted felon!"
But then, after Trump's stunning electoral-landslide reelection victory in November 2024 and the breathtakingly rapid rollout of his promised and much-needed reforms starting on Inauguration Day, the judicial attacks on Trump assumed a new and different form: Now left-leaning judges across the land would ignore their oaths of office, the clear intent of the law and the constitutional separation of powers, and instead fixate on undermining and blocking at every turn the pro-America agenda of the democratically elected president of the United States.
Indeed, many top legal analysts say what is happening in America right now constitutes nothing short of an attempted judicial coup d'etat.
But why, one might ask, would judges be the new warriors dedicated to stopping Trump?
Consider that when Trump won the 2024 election, the Republican Party also captured both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Finally, most voters assumed, Team Trump had the power, authority and congressional backing to implement much-needed changes and "make America great again." After all, that's how the nation's system has always worked.
But wait.
What if the judiciary, the remaining constitutional branch of America's unique tripartite government, took on a new role – of undermining and overruling the president?
As it turned out, the same judiciary that disgraced itself with all the idiotically corrupt, wall-to-wall lawfare attacks against Donald Trump throughout the Biden administration has been only too willing to do its part to stop Trump at any cost now, be it legal or illegal, moral or immoral, sane or – as the reader will discover in this issue of Whistleblower – insane.
To describe the game plan simply: If you don't like something President Trump is doing, just file a lawsuit with any one of thousands of judges, making sure to pick one who dislikes Trump and his policies. And then suddenly, one local judge – deliberating in his or her little jurisdiction in one of 50 sovereign states – writes something on a piece of paper and magically overrules the overwhelmingly elected and constitutionally empowered president of the United States.
Hundreds of such lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration in the last few months, attempting to reverse multiple common-sense policies overwhelmingly supported by Americans – most notably, Trump's efforts to deport illegal-alien criminals, gang members and terrorists.
The drama has sometimes reached almost comical heights, with one jurist – James Boasberg, the chief judge of the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. – actually ordering planes carrying Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador to turn around mid-flight and bring back those criminals to the U.S.! Fortunately, the Trump administration did not comply, and Judge Boasberg is now facing a motion for impeachment from the House of Representatives. But then there's Judge Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin, as well as Judge Joel Cano in New Mexico, both arrested by the FBI in late April for allegedly harboring illegal-alien gang members!
There is an unmistakably surreal element to the current judicial insurrection: Who are these people? The executive and legislative branches of government are very public, their representatives profiled and interviewed daily online, on television and in print. In stark contrast, the judicial branch of government – both its members and its workings – remain largely invisible.
The mask is ripped off in the powerful June issue of WND's acclaimed Whistleblower magazine, titled "JUDICIAL INSURRECTION: How rogue judges have gone to war with Trump, the Constitution and America."
Issue highlights include:
* "Judicial insurrection" by David Kupelian
* "From 'We the people' to 'We the judges'? Thomas Jefferson declared, 'The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary'" by Jerry Newcombe
* "'IT IS AN INSURRECTION!' Watch Mark Levin flay radical left judges: 'They know they're abusing their power. They're issuing these national injunctions to cripple the Executive Branch, to overturn the results of an election'"
* "The judges who would be kings: 'Democrats are hoping that hundreds of legal bee stings will bring down the elephant'" by Robert Knight
* "'Criminal contempt': Federal judge threatened Trump for deporting illegal aliens: But no worries, Boasberg said the president could 'clear' the case by returning the deported murderers and rapists to America"
* "'Another activist judge is protecting criminal illegal immigrant monsters'": Trump White House details one of many examples of out-of-control judges trying to overthrow the president
* "Gingrich: America is experiencing 'potentially a judicial coup d'etat': Troubled by 'the Judicial Branch's effort to fully override the Legislative and Executive branches'"
* "From lawfare to judicial coup d'etat: Why the 'Deep State' hates, fears and persecutes President Donald Trump" by David Kupelian
* "AG Pam Bondi warns judges who are subverting Trump's border security agenda by illegally protecting criminal suspects" by Bob Unruh
* "Supreme Court justice's agenda to 'fight' Trump betrays evidence of 'judicial overreach': 'The role of a judge is to zealously advocate for the Constitution,' not side with every leftwing cause" by Bob Unruh
* "Pollster: 4 in 5 self-described 'liberals' want Elon Musk cast into prison: 'According to Democrats, anyone who wants to cut insane levels of spending, debt, waste and looting of taxpayer money is a criminal who should be arrested and sent to prison'" by Wayne Allyn Root
* "Judge who housed suspected Tren de Aragua terror gang member booted … permanently! State Supreme Court rules he 'can never hold a judicial office again'" by Bob Unruh
* "Obama judge bars DOGE from accessing Social Security systems" by Cristina Laila
* "Biden-appointed judge demands schools keep offering obscene books to kids: Blocked state law banning material 'with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act'" by Jaryn Crouson
* "Lesbian judge blocks school board from removing sexually explicit books, saying it's unconstitutional to follow 'conservative values': 'The court viewed any decision motivated by conservative values as unacceptable and partisan' by Tyler O'Neil
* "Judge blocks Trump from ending legal status for 530,000 illegal aliens Biden brought in. Ruling claims program created by executive order can't be altered by executive order" by Virginia Allen
* "'Cruelly imprisoning': Trump moves to help 'innocent' Gold Star grandmother jailed by Colorado Democrats: Orders DOJ to 'take all necessary action' to secure release of 'hostage'" by Bob Unruh
* "Why Democrats want to gut the Supreme Court: 'Judicial activism – judges coming up with desired results by twisting the Constitution to their desired end'" by Jerry Newcombe
* "DeSantis offers simple solution to stop leftwing activist judges from undermining Trump"
* "The judicial 'resistance' is setting itself up for humiliation: The entire notion of a 'nationwide injunction' is oxymoronic" by Josh Hammer
* "The left's secret lawfare playbook exposed": Elizabeth Farah interview with Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The lawyer representing the family of Boulder terrorism suspect Mohamed Soliman, working to prevent their deportations, has had trouble staying within the lines of the legal profession, according to a new report.
The Federalist has documented how Susanna Dvortsin, "has an integrity problem."
Dvortsin is working with the family of Soliman, who is in custody on charges he used Molotov cocktails and a homemade flamethrower to try to burn Jewish marchers at an event in Boulder.
"In 2019, Dvortsin was suspended from practicing law for 'misconduct concerning an immigration matter,'" the report said. "The suspension, lasting 115 days, was requested by the Supreme Court of South Dakota and approved by the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review."
She was suspended from practice before the Department of Homeland Security, the Board of Immigration Appeals, immigration courts, and the state of South Dakota.
The report also noted that earlier, in 2008, she was in court fighting a DHS decision to dismiss her from a job she held for a time at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Her appeal was denied, and in the order announcing that decision, it was revealed she lied on a 2006 form required for national security positions, the SF-86.
She took a job in 2006 as an asylum officer in Los Angeles, then days before a probationary period ended she was dismissed for having failed to provide information on that form.
"According to the order, Dvortsin failed to disclose that her daughter's father was an illegal alien. She also failed to disclose that she had been prescribed psychiatric medication over the previous seven years. The form was also missing credit information, and she failed to list foreign trips she had made," the report said.
Soliman's family members apparently all are Egyptian citizens.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
There was a court case that challenged the approval by the Food and Drug Administration of the use of mifepristone, the abortion drug that is widely used as a replacement for surgical abortions.
The Supreme Court ruled that the drug should be available, but the ruling was on very narrow grounds, and was based only on the court's claim the pro-life physicians who brought to challenge didn't show they had been harmed personally because it would be others who actually used the drug.
Now there's going to be a new review of the drug by the FDA itself.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who has advocated for tighter controls over the use of such chemicals, posted on social media that the FDA chief, Marty Makary, "just committed to me to do a full review of the chemical abortion drug's safety."
Makary said, in fact, the FDA "continues to closely monitor the postmarketing safety data on mifepristone for the medical termination of early pregnancy."
"I am committed to conducting a review of mifepristone and working with the professional career scientists at the agency who review this data," Makary said. He explained mifepristone remains the subject of "pending litigation," and the FDA doesn't comment on such matters, so he cannot provide more details now.
A report in the Washington Examiner said Hawley has been pushing for the FDA to take such action.
"The review comes after Hawley and anti-abortion groups slammed Makary in April after he said he had 'no plans to take action' regarding FDA regulations on mifepristone that have allowed healthcare providers to ship the abortifacient to patients in other states, irrespective of state laws prohibiting elective abortions," the report explained.
Those actions, by abortion businesses who sell and ship drugs even to states which have abortion limits following the Supreme Court's rejection of the faulty Roe abortion standard that was used for years, have been exploding.
There have been problems because drugs shipped into a state with those limits don't always comply with that state's abortion restrictions.
In chemical abortions, mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, causing the death of the unborn child.
The FDA in 2016 made its rules on the drug lax, allowing its use for chemical abortions and no longer requiring abortionists involved to report complications.
Then Joe Biden removed in-person screening requirements for patients to obtain the medication, allowing healthcare providers to ship mifepristone to patients in other states without a physical consultation.
But the report noted a study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center pointing out that "severe complications" from the abortion drug use is "22 times higher than FDA data indicate."
When the Supreme Court ruled on the dispute over the lethal drug regarding the physician plaintiffs, several state attorneys general said they would continue the case on their own.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In a case that has law enforcement investigators in Indianapolis at work, there is a mother who reportedly shot and injured a convicted child molester who was in the process of attacking her daughter.
The New York Post reported what details are known: That the mother walked in on Bruce Pierce, of Indianapolis, who allegedly was on top of her 12-year-old daughter as the preteen protested "no" at the Baymont Inn.
Citing court documents, the report said there are details missing, but the young victim's grandmother told police that Pierce previously has been talking with the 12-year-old online and by phone, trying to persuade her to leave town with him.
The situation is at a turning point now, with Pierce under arrest and charged with attempted rape and attempted child molestation.
The report said on the day of the shooting, the victim and her sister woke up their grandmother with concern their mother hadn't come home. "They went to the inn, where they found the mom and Pierce in the lobby."
What hasn't been explained is how Pierce and the victim ended up in a room, but, the report said, "Pierce took the opportunity to allegedly pin her arms to the bed and start ripping some of her clothes before the mother burst in."
The victim was able to escape Pierce, and mom fired, the report said. The mother and daughter then called police.
A warrant has been issued for Pierce's arrest.
He previously pleaded guilty to a child molestation charge in 2016.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The abortion industry historically has wielded incredible influence over American lawmakers, who have given the lucrative industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
But that has set up one of the more egregious offenses in the nation: the fact that Americans of faith, those who believe unborn children should not be killed wantonly, have been forced, through their taxes, to fund the very industry that violates their faith.
That, under President Donald Trump, could be changing.
In fact, a coalition of 150 key leaders and prominent organizations has written to Congress insisting that the cash flow to abortionists be turned off.
"Dear Members of Congress, In November, the American people gave a mandate – it is time for change in Washington. Since then, the White House has taken swift action to stop the Biden abortion agenda and cut government waste. A Republican trifecta presents the opportunity to bolster these efforts by cutting funding for Big Abortion, including Planned Parenthood, through budget reconciliation. Republican reconciliation bills in 2015 and 2017 included a provision to stop giving hard-earned American tax dollars to Big Abortion," the letter explains.
"In 2025, it is even more urgent to cut funding for this industry that endangers women and unborn children and spends tens of millions of dollars to promote woke policies and candidates. Planned Parenthood and groups like it were among those first identified for cost-saving measures by Elon Musk, who singled them out in the Wall Street Journal last November. President Trump has already rolled back funding for abortion groups overseas, but Congressional action is necessary to stop the biggest source of taxpayer cash for the domestic abortion industry – Medicaid."
Signatories on the letter included some of the biggest pro-life organizations and leaders in the nation: Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, ACLJ Action, American College of Pediatricians, Americans United for Life, CatholicVote, Liberty Counsel, Life Legal Defense Foundation, March for Life Action, Christian Defense Coalition, Christian Medical and Dental Associations, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, Family Research Council, National Right to Life Committee, National Black Pro-Life Union, Students for Life Action, Thomas More Society, and pages more.
The letter outlined what members of Congress already knew: "Planned Parenthood reports raking in a total of $699.3 million, or almost $2 million per day, from American taxpayers in 2023 alone. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood's most recent annual report boasted that they performed nearly 393,000 abortions – a 40% market share of the abortion industry in the U.S. Despite their claims to promote 'women's health,' Planned Parenthood consistently opposes basic health and safety standards for their facilities. The New York Times recently reported a litany of unsafe conditions and botched abortions at Planned Parenthood. For example, in one clinic last year 'sewage from a backed-up toilet seeped into the abortion recovery room for two days,' which required employees to shove 'exam table pads under the bathroom door to block the leak.'"
The letter explained, "While leaving patients vomiting from rank conditions, Planned Parenthood prioritized pouring millions of dollars into woke lobbying and trying to defeat Republicans in races from the school board to the presidency. Planned Parenthood boasts that their advocacy and political organizations spent a massive $69.5 million during the 2024 election cycle. Their massive pro-abortion political arm, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, pushes all-trimester abortions and promotes fearmongering lies that put women and girls at needless risk."
The American Center for Law and Justice, one of the groups signing the "legal demand letter," said, "We've defended pro-life counselors, volunteers, and healthcare workers, and we've fought tirelessly to see the day Roe v. Wade was finally overturned. Even now we are engaged in a legal battle with the state of Massachusetts to shut down its current state-funded multimedia smear campaign attacking pro-life Pregnancy Resource Centers in its own state. We've also created our own multimedia counter-campaign to drown out the state's lies with the truth and help desperate mothers find actual options in a safe environment."
But it said there's more work, and the battle against "tax-dollar-gobbling abortion behemoths like Planned Parenthood, which grows richer and more powerful every year, is far from over."
"As it shamelessly touted in its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood received over $792 MILLION in federal reimbursements and grants just last year. And they reported roughly $2 BILLION in revenue after aborting more than 402,000 babies. No matter how many times they say abortion is not their primary business, they're lying – it is," the ACLJ reported.
"No American taxpayer should have to watch the government hand over their hard-earned tax dollars to abortionists like Planned Parenthood to pay for abortions – especially pro-life Americans who, until now, haven't been given a choice," the report said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A Texas school district has blinked in its battle over a student's typed Bible verses she wanted to hand out to classmates.
According to a report from the American Center for Law and Justice, officials in the Killeen Independent School District have confirmed a reversal of their policy that had been used to deprive a 5th-grade student with special needs of the right to share Bible verses with classmates.
"After swift legal intervention from our team, the school district acknowledged that students have the right to distribute religious materials during non-instructional time," the organization reported. "This is more than just a policy change – it's a clear affirmation that students do not lose their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate."
The case developed when "a young girl, deeply rooted in her Christian faith and motivated solely by love and sincerity, began sharing typed Bible verses on little strips of paper with classmates during recess, lunch, and after school."
Everything the girl did was outside classroom instruction time.
However, she was reprimanded by her principal and her materials were confiscated in a confrontation that was triggered by school officials on May 12.
Her offense was that the materials "contained Scripture," the ACLJ report said.
"This little girl was deceived by the principal into thinking the principal wanted to hand out these strips of 'joy' when, in reality, the principal was suppressing her speech. The justification? Hypothetical complaints from parents – complaints that were never made," the report said.
The ACLJ was told by the student's foster mother of the constitutional violations at the district and immediately dispatched a demand letter.
"We were prepared to take legal action, including completely drafting a lawsuit in case the school district wanted to close ranks and erroneously protect unconstitutional conduct by its administrators and teachers," the report said.
As the minutes wound down to the deadline for the school to respond, its lawyer, Mike Harper, approached the ACLJ with a letter explaining, "I discussed with the principal that a student may distribute religious materials during non-instructional time, when the distribution does not interfere with work in the classroom. I explained that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held in a similar case that a student may be allowed to distribute religious messages and that Killeen ISDS Board Policy has incorporated the holding of this case and its progeny… Based on the law in the Fifth Circuit and Board Policy, we further discussed that if a student brings small slips of paper with Bible verses to distribute to classmates, she should be allowed to distribute these during non-instructional time."
The ACLJ point out that it actually is the U.S. Supreme Court, in Tinker v. Des Moines, that established that students retain their First Amendment rights in public schools.
The legal team explained, "The Constitution does not permit a 'heckler's veto' – silencing speech just because someone might be offended."
"This incident is part of a disturbing trend. Across the country, we're witnessing growing hostility toward religious expression in public schools. Too many administrators operate under the false belief that faith must be excluded from the classroom entirely. That's not just wrong – it's unconstitutional," the ACLJ said.
WND reported when the fight arose that the student's mother, in fact, "explained to school officials that her daughter had a 'constitutional right to distribute religious literature and share her joy and faith during non-class time.'"