John Whitehead

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People  (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected].

Nervous About Traffic Stops? I Am. You Should Be, Too

“Quit resisting.” — Cops yell at compliant young man who was thrown to the ground, beaten, arrested and hospitalized for severe injuries to his face and arm, allegedly in retaliation for “resisting arrest” by driving to a safe, well-lit area before submitting to a traffic stop for a broken tail light

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
checkpoint

We’ve all been there before.  You’re driving along and you see a pair of flashing blue lights in your rearview mirror. Whether or not you’ve done anything wrong, you get a sinking feeling in your stomach. You’ve read enough news stories, seen enough headlines, and lived in the American police state long enough to be anxious about any encounter

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Americans Can No Longer Afford to Get Sick and There’s a Reason Why

For too many Americans, achieving any kind of quality of life has become a choice between putting food on the table and paying one’s bills or health care costs.

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Anthony Reese, who says he is homeless, holds his daughter Makailei Pratt, 3, at a rally led by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., with doctors, nurses, health care workers and patients who will lose access to health care or see costs rise, at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., July 3, 2017. (AP/Reed Saxon)

Opinion -- A growing number of Americans are struggling to stretch their dollars far enough to pay their bills, get out of debt and ensure that if and when an illness arises, it doesn’t bankrupt them. This is a reality that no amount of partisan political bickering can deny. Many Americans can no longer afford health insurance, drug costs or

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Patriots And Protesters Should Take A Knee For The Constitution

It’s not anti-American to be anti-war or anti-police misconduct or anti-racial discrimination, but it is anti-American to be anti-freedom.

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Buffalo Bills players kneel during the national anthem prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

By all means, let’s talk about patriotism and President Trump’s call for “respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem.” https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912280282224525312 At a time when the American flag adorns everything from men’s boxers and women’s bikinis to beer koozies, bandannas and advertising billboards (with little

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Battlefield America: We’re Not In Mayberry Anymore

“We’re talking Blackhawk helicopters, machine guns, grenade launchers, battering rams, explosives, chemical sprays, body armor, night vision, rappelling gear, armored vehicles, and tanks.”

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Police move in on a group of protesters throwing rocks at them in Milwaukee, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Police said one person was shot at a Milwaukee protest on Sunday evening and officers used an armored vehicle to retrieve the injured victim during a second night of unrest over the police shooting of a black man.

America, you’ve been fooled again. While the nation has been distracted by a media maelstrom dominated by news of white supremacists, Powerball jackpots, Hurricane Harvey, and a Mayweather v. McGregor fight, the American Police State has been carving its own path of devastation and destruction through what’s left of the Constitution. We got

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Freedom For The Speech We Hate: The Legal Ins And Outs Of The Right To Protest

“If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principle of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”— Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Confederate flag supporters climb Stone Mountain to protest of what they believe is an attack on their Southern heritage during a rally at Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Ga. Aug. 1, 2015. (AP/John Amis)

There was a time in this country, back when the British were running things, that if you spoke your mind and it ticked off the wrong people, you’d soon find yourself in jail for offending the king. Reacting to this injustice, when it was time to write the Constitution, America’s founders argued for a Bill of Rights, of which the First Amendment

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On Free Speech, Police And Peaceful Protest In Charlottesville

For whatever reason—which only the police and government officials are privy to—the police failed to do their job at the Charlottesville demonstration, a charge levied by both the Alt Right and the counter-demonstrators.

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
State Police in riot gear guard Lee Park after a white nationalist demonstration was declared illegal and the park was cleared in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (AP/Steve Helber)

Let’s be clear about one thing: no one—not the armed, violent, militant protesters nor the police—gave peace a chance during the August 12 demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va. What should have been an exercise in free speech quickly became a brawl. It’s not about who threw the first punch or the first smoke bomb. It’s not about which

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Civil Asset Forfeiture: Jeff Sessions Thinly Veiled Plot To Rob Us Blind

Under the guise of “fighting crime,” Jeff Sessions has given police the green light to rob, pilfer, steal, thieve, swipe, purloin, filch and liberate American taxpayers of even more of their hard-earned valuables

John Whitehead
By John Whitehead
Confiscated cash on display as New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly speaks to reporters during a news conference at New York City Police Department. (AP/Mary Altaffer)

“Laws are no longer made by a rational process of public discussion; they are made by a process of blackmail and intimidation, and they are executed in the same manner. The typical lawmaker of today is a man wholly devoid of principle — a mere counter in a grotesque and knavish game. If the right pressure could be applied to him, he would be

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