For Immediate Release Contact: Amy Couch, acouch@americanhumanist.org, 202-238-9088 Monica Miller, Senior Counsel, mmiller@americanhumanist.org, 202-238-9088 (Raleigh, NC, January 23, 2018)—The American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center, in support of its motion for summary judgment in its case challenging the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s discrimination against humanist inmates, will present oral arguments before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. When: Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 10:00 am Where: United States Courthouse, 310 New Bern Avenue, Raleigh, North Carolina, 7th Floor - Courtroom 2 Who: Monica Miller

For Immediate Release For more information, contact: Roy Speckhardt, 202-238-9088 David Niose, 202-238-9088, dniose@americanhumanist.org (Raleigh, N.C., January 24, 2018) The American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center is in federal court this morning arguing on behalf of a North Carolina state prison inmate who is being denied the right to form a humanist group. “This is a clear case of unlawful, discriminatory treatment of humanists,” said AHA senior counsel Monica Miller, who is arguing the motion on behalf of the plaintiffs. “Just because inmates don’t believe in God, that doesn’t mean the state can deny them privileges that are given to believers.” The case, origina

For Immediate Release Contact: Amy Couch, 202-238-9088, acouch@americanhumanist.org Monica Miller, 202-238-9088, mmiller@americanhumanist.org (Saline, Illinois January 16, 2018)--The Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC) is defending the First Amendment rights of Saline County residents who object to minister-led Christian prayers at county board meetings. Saline County Board Chairman Jay Williams received a letter today from the AHLC informing him of the unconstitutional nature of its practice of commencing county board meetings with sectarian Christian prayers led by a local minister who also happens to be a board member. Jeremy Stroud, First Deputy in the Saline County Clerk’s Office, al

This post originally appeared on TheHumanist.com. The US Supreme Court issued an unsigned opinion on January 8, 2018, regarding the merits of appealing a case based on the racial bias of a juror. The case in question, Tharpe v. Sellers, was decided back in 1991, and the Supreme Court’s opinion raises the important possibility of using evidence of juror bias to later nullify a verdict on appeal. Seven years after Keith Tharpe was found guilty of killing his sister-in-law, his attorneys interviewed juror Barney Gattie in the interest of uncovering racial bias. Gattie (a white man) told them in a signed statement: “there are two types of black people: 1. Black folks and 2. N——-s.” Despite Gatti

This post originally appeared on TheHumanist.com. In a December 19 Washington Post article, “To Deter Criminals, Expand DNA Databases Instead of Prisons,” Keith Humphreys writes that expanding criminal DNA databases is a cost effective and efficient approach to crime determent. To those who say they’ll gladly offer a sample because they have nothing to hide, please note: DNA analysis is a very powerful tool and is given a lot of weight in cases of rape and murder. DNA evidence can better help investigators to find the perpetrators of crime, but it is not a foolproof forensics procedure. The analysis of forensic evidence can be malignantly manufactured to create profile matches, or worse, you

This post originally appeared on TheHumanist.com. On December 12, 2017, the UK Government Department of Health announced that England is considering reforming the soft “opt-out” organ donation program. The announcement was met with broad cross-party support and the policy reform is currently in the open public consultation phase. The government is taking public feedback for the next ten weeks. This potential policy reform raises the possible notion of a similar overhaul here in the United States. There are currently over 116,000 individuals on the US national transplant waiting list. In 2016 33,611 transplants were performed. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 95 pe

For Immediate Release Contact: Amy Couch, 202-238-9088, acouch@americanhumanist.org Monica Miller, 202-238-9088, mmiller@americanhumanist.org (Herington, Kansas, January 2, 2018)--The Appignani Humanist Legal Center (AHLC) rings in the new year by defending the First Amendment rights of Kansas elementary students. Herington Elementary School Superintendent Ron Wilson and Herington Elementary School Principal Donalyn Biehler received a letter today from the AHLC regarding the unconstitutional distribution of Bibles on public school property. The parents of several children attending Herington Elementary School contacted the AHLC to request assistance after Herington Elementary allowed the Gid