New York, NY, January 23, 2025 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today welcomed the introduction of a bill in the New York Legislature designed to bring back and strengthen a law prohibiting masked intimidation. The law will protect New Yorkers from harassment, violence and intimidation by people wearing face coverings, which have been exploited in recent months to subject innocent New Yorkers to threats, violence and intimidation. Sponsored by State Senator James Skoufis (D-Cornwall)…
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School District of Philadelphia Agrees to Address Repeated Incidents of Antisemitism New York, NY, December 20, 2024 … The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) has entered into a resolution agreement to take a series of steps to address repeated incidents of antisemitic harassment, bullying and discrimination in response to a federal civil rights complaint filed by ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). Under the terms of the settlement announced yesterday, SDP will undertake a…
Remarks as delivered June 27th, 2024 Thank you- I join you all here this morning on behalf of ADL, the oldest anti-hate organization in the United States, alongside my good friend Marc Morial, President of the National Urban League, and our partners - Assembly members Brian Cunningham, Nily Rozic, Grace Lee, Jennifer Rajkumar and Pastor Johnnie Green. In addition. We are very grateful to Dr. Hazel Dukes of the NY NAACP, an icon of the civil rights movement for lending her strong words of…
Tips and guidance for helping K-12 schools encourage students to become civically engaged, provide safety and protection for all students, and adhere to students’ First Amendment rights.
At issue in this case is a wedding photographer who seeks a religious exemption to Louisville's anti-discrimination ordinance for the purpose of denying wedding-related services to same-sex couples. ADL joined 14 other faith-based organizations in a brief led by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The brief argues that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment does not require granting the photographer a religious exemption to this neutral, generally…
New York, NY, June 27, 2022 ... ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) is deeply disturbed by today's Supreme Court decision undermining the separation of church and state enshrined in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
“This is a significant change in how we approach prayer in public schools, and one that will have a negative impact in particular on students of marginalized faiths and non-religious students,” said Rachel Robbins, Chair of ADL’s Civil Rights…
Read ADL Letters, testimony and comments sent to Congress and Federal Agencies.
This case involves a public high school football coach who filed a lawsuit claiming religious discrimination under the Free Exercise Clause and employment discrimination laws after he was fired for refusing to stop kneeling in prayer at the football field's 50-yard line immediately following every game. This practice started after the school district directed him to stop leading his team in pre- and post-game prayer, which the coach had done for eight years prior. The lower courts repeatedly…
At issue in this case is a free exercise challenge to a Maine secondary school tuition assistance program. To provide for high school education in over half of the State’s school districts that do not have public secondary schools, Maine pays for students to attend public or private schools which provide secular education, including religiously affiliated schools that do not indoctrinate religion. The lawsuit was brought by parents seeking to send their children to religious schools. ADL…
New York, NY, October 5, 2021 … Thousands of individuals from all walks of life will join together in communities across the country, both in-person and virtually, with an aim to “Fight Hate for Good” in ADL’s (the Anti-Defamation League’s) Walk Against Hate.
Scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 10 in communities across the country, the annual event brings together families, friends, colleagues, teammates, community groups, students, educators and more…
At issue in this case is the application of the First Amendment’s ministerial employee exception to an art teacher at a religious elementary school. Grounded in constitutionally mandated separation of church and state, the exception exempts religious institutions from all employment discrimination laws for employees deemed to be ministerial. A lower state court ruled that the teacher, who performed no “vital religious duties,” could move forward with her pregnancy and marital…
New York, NY, June 23, 2021 … ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision in Mahanoy v. B.L., an 8-1 ruling that a school violated the free speech clause of the First Amendment when they suspended a student from the cheerleading team for a vulgar social media post made off-campus and outside of school hours.
“This is an important win for the free speech rights of all U.S. students,” said ADL Legal Affairs Chair Joe Berman. …
February 22, 2021 Social media platforms have received the lion’s share of attention for enabling users to spread hate and disinformation and plan and incite violence and terrorist acts. Flying under the radar are infrastructure providers like Epik, a domain registrar and web hosting company that works with nearly 750,000 websites and is ranked among the 50 largest web hosts. A domain is the address of a website you type into the URL bar of an internet browser. Domain registrars are…
At issue in this case is whether the First Amendment ministerial exception should be expanded to categorically bar any Title VII or other hostile work environment claims by clergy and other ministerial employees of religious organizations. The purpose of the exception is to ensure that faith-based organizations have full control in hiring, firing and disciplining employees who perform religious duties. ADL joined a legal brief rejecting this expansion. The brief asserts that such an expansion…
At issue in this case is a business invoking the Free Exercise Clause to seek a religious exemption from a state anti-discrimination law for the purpose of denying wedding photography services to LGBTQ couples. In opposing this claim, the legal brief joined by ADL asserts that such an exemption is not authorized by the Free Exercise Clause and prohibited by the Establishment Clause. Furthermore, the sought exemption would undermine the state law’s prohibitions on religious discrimination…
At issue in this case is a church invoking the Free Exercise Clause to seek a full exemption from a New Mexico coronavirus public-health order. The order limits indoor religious services to twenty-five percent of building capacity, which is similar to or less restrictive than limitations on comparable nonreligious activities. In opposing the church’s claim, the legal brief joined by ADL asserts that the public health order is fully consistent with all Free Exercise Clause standards…
New York, NY, November 9, 2020 ... ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) will honor chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov for using his platform to stand up for democracy and human rights in his native Russia, the United States and around the world. ADL will present Kasparov with its International Leadership Award, which pays tribute “to those exceptional individuals whose vision, imagination and creativity have left an indelible mark upon the global community.
Kasparov will accept the…
New York, NY, November 8, 2020 ... ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) announced today that Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc. is this year’s recipient of ADL’s Courage Against Hate Award for using his platform to speak out on behalf of marginalized communities and serving as an exemplary role model for corporate leadership.
Frazier is a leader who has demonstrated that the business community has a responsibility to make the world better for…
New York, NY, November 7, 2020 ... ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today congratulated President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their election victory. ADL called on both Democrats and Republicans to ensure a peaceful transfer of power once the election results have been validated.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO, issued the following statement:
We congratulate President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on his milestone election victory. We also…
At issue in this case is a church invoking the Free Exercise Clause to seek a full exemption from a Colorado coronavirus public-health order. The order limits indoor religious services to the lesser of fifty people (one hundred for large houses of worship) or fifty-percent capacity per room, which is similar to or less restrictive than limitations on comparable nonreligious activities. In opposing the church’s claim, the legal brief joined by ADL asserts that the public health order is…