Insights & Takeaways
Insights & Takeaways is Sutherland Institute’s official blog that informs the public and policymakers alike. The blog addresses important issues through the two distinct yet complementary lenses of the seasoned policy professional and the engaged citizen.
Insights: analysis, research, and informed commentary from Sutherland experts. For elected officials and public policy professionals.
Takeaways: the most important things voters need to know. For civically engaged citizens.
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Polls suggest parents, teachers should influence curriculum
Read More: Polls suggest parents, teachers should influence curriculumThose polled seem to agree that curriculum decisions should be influenced most by people closest to schools and students rather than by those in state and national capitals.
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Why the U.S. is ‘eternally vigilant’ against suppression of speech
Read More: Why the U.S. is ‘eternally vigilant’ against suppression of speechPutting aside whether listening to every possible opinion is actually the best way to discern truth, there are lessons from the Supreme Court’s extremely broad protection of speech for parallel…
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More evidence needed to clarify the ranked-choice voting debate
Read More: More evidence needed to clarify the ranked-choice voting debateRanked-choice voting is not used for most U.S. elections, so data about its impacts here is relatively sparse.
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Leaks, intimidation not entirely new, but this level is unprecedented
Read More: Leaks, intimidation not entirely new, but this level is unprecedentedWhat the Constitution does not provide – and civil society must not countenance – are attempts to shape the Supreme Court’s rulings through pressure.
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Supreme Court leak harms American democracy
Read More: Supreme Court leak harms American democracythe leak of the opinion itself is damaging to American democracy by how it harms the institution of the Supreme Court.
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Administration hits pause on gender-identity health rule
Read More: Administration hits pause on gender-identity health ruleLaws can create moral quandaries for providers who are people of faith and for faith-based organizations that provide medical care.
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Justices find unanimity in new religious freedom ruling
Read More: Justices find unanimity in new religious freedom rulingSupreme Court is united in ruling this week against city of Boston over refusal to allow flag.
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Government shouldn’t decide which churches ‘deserve’ a tax exemption
Read More: Government shouldn’t decide which churches ‘deserve’ a tax exemptionWhile avoiding entanglement between church and state is probably the key legal reason for tax exemptions for churches, that policy also advances some important public (and secular) interests.
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Coach’s Supreme Court case highlights clash of First Amendment clauses
Read More: Coach’s Supreme Court case highlights clash of First Amendment clausesA religious freedom case that was argued this week before the Supreme Court is particularly important because it involves conflicting claims, each based on a different part of the First…
