Week in Review: Congress, Union Bullies, and a Battle for Parents’ Rights

“Nobody showed me a warrant. Nobody gave me any sort of written receipt. One police officer told me not to get involved, or I may face criminal charges myself,” Harris told lawmakers, recounting her harrowing experience. Because of civil asset forfeiture laws, the government can seize your property if they merely suspect that property has been used in the commission of a crime. Goldwater Institute attorneys helped Harris get her car back, but countless other innocent victims of civil asset forfeiture aren’t that fortunate.

As Harris told House lawmakers: “The rules should be clear and fair, so people who cannot afford a lawyer can still defend their property.” The Goldwater Institute is successfully defending Americans against civil asset forfeiture, and we’re fighting to stop the unjust practice nationwide. Watch Harris’ full testimony before Congress and learn more about how Goldwater is fighting civil asset forfeiture here.

Goldwater Client to Newsmax: Teachers Union ‘Bullying Tactics Will Fail’

Rhode Island mom Nicole Solas got hit with a lawsuit from the National Education Association just for asking what her daughter would be learning in school. This week, she highlighted the importance of parents standing up for their rights on the Newsmax program National Report.

“Parents have an absolute right to request public information about what their kids are learning in school. There’s no reason to be afraid of the teachers union, because their bullying tactics will fail,” Solas, a Goldwater Institute client, said in an appearance alongside Goldwater Director of National Litigation Jon Riches. “This is a matter of open government, it’s a matter of public education, and it’s a matter of civil rights.”

Watch the full segment here, and read more about Solas’ story here.

Parents Are Winning the Battle for Their Rights

Concerned parents are demanding to know what their children are being taught in taxpayer-funded schools, and with Goldwater’s help, they’re winning the battle, writes Goldwater Director of Education Policy Matt Beienburg at In Defense of Liberty. In Virginia, former governor Terry McAuliffe’s campaign imploded after he asserted that parents shouldn’t have a say in their kids’ education. And in Wisconsin, governor Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have allowed parents to access their children’s curricula online, but he did so “quietly” on a “Friday afternoon, as if to bury it in the waning hours of the week’s news cycle,” Beienburg says.

Evers’ veto shows that some politicians value union politics over parental rights. But academic transparency initiatives championed by Goldwater “will ensure that families are no longer subjected to bureaucratic and outrageously costly public records request processes simply to find out what is being offered at their nearby schools,” Beienburg adds.

Read the rest at In Defense of Liberty.

ICYMI: Critical Race Theory Is No Substitute for Critical Thought

Most children’s literature today is “fluff,” “junk,” and the “equivalent of a marshmallow,” Connor Boyack, author of The Tuttle Twins children’s book series, told Goldwater Executive Vice President Christina Sandefur on Tuesday during a special virtual event hosted by the Goldwater Institute. What’s more, whether it’s the Critical Race Theory indoctrination or just the lack of actual critical thought in public schools, it’s become clear that the education establishment isn’t doing its job.

Watch the full webinar here to learn more about how The Tuttle Twins are teaching children about liberty.