TurretLauncher

TurretLauncher OP t1_j93r8aa wrote

Thankless or not, somebody should step up and declare their candidacy. People in Ukraine are literally dying for their country right now, just as Americans did in 1776 ("Give me liberty, or give me death!"). Simply doing a "thankless" job for your town is way easier.

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TurretLauncher OP t1_j93c8ay wrote

Any attempt to do that would be blatantly unconstitutional.

> The U.S. Supreme Court [most recently] dealt with the right to travel in the case of Saenz v. Roe, 526 U.S. 489 (1999). In that case, Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority, held that the United States Constitution protected three separate aspects of the right to travel among the states:
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> (1) the right to enter one state and leave another (an inherent right with historical support from the Articles of Confederation),
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> (2) the right to be treated as a welcome visitor rather than a hostile stranger (protected by the "Privileges and Immunities" clause in Article IV, § 2), and
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> (3) (for those who become permanent residents of a state) the right to be treated equally to native-born citizens (this is protected by the 14th Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause; citing the majority opinion in the Slaughter-House Cases, Justice Stevens said, "the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ... has always been common ground that this Clause protects the third component of the right to travel.").

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TurretLauncher t1_j85szo1 wrote

> IJ’s fight against similar violations of the First Amendment rights of small business owners throughout the country includes a 2020 victory that allowed a North Dakota saloon to keep up its mural, a 2017 win for a Florida video game store that wanted to display an inflatable Mario in front of its store, and a 2013 ruling which permitted a California gym to advertise on a sandwich board out front.

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TurretLauncher t1_j85nj63 wrote

> The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

US Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

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TurretLauncher t1_j85k0ex wrote

Then you obviously have no understanding of the relevant legal principles.

> Leavitt’s Country Bakery owner Sean Young teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file the lawsuit, which argues that Conway’s sign code violates his and other town residents’ First Amendment rights.

There is an important difference between these two. Leavitt's speech (e.g., the store's logo) falls within the First Amendment category known as 'commercial speech':

> The “different degree of protection” accorded commercial speech has a number of consequences as regards other First Amendment doctrine. For instance, somewhat broader times, places, and manner regulations are to be tolerated, and the rule against prior restraints may be inapplicable. Further, disseminators of commercial speech are not protected by the overbreadth doctrine.

However, in this case Leavitt simply provided a space (in First Amendment terms, a 'forum') within which the local high school students could create their own speech.

Murals are within the First Amendment category known as 'artistic expression'. And since the high school students did not charge any fee for the art they produced, this artistic expression was by definition not created for commercial purposes, but was instead created as “pure speech” which as a matter of First Amendment law is fully entitled to comprehensive protection.

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TurretLauncher t1_j85ac0b wrote

A bakery owner filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Conway, New Hampshire, on Tuesday after officials demanded he paint over a mural that local high school students created last summer. Leavitt’s Country Bakery owner Sean Young teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to file the lawsuit, which argues that Conway’s sign code violates his and other town residents’ First Amendment rights.

Leavitt’s is so loved that a group of Kennett High School students offered to paint a mural for the business. The students decided that the mural should depict a colorful mountainscape of baked goods with the sun rising behind them, in honor of the nearby White Mountains. The mural, which was unveiled in June 2022, became an instant hit with Leavitt’s customers.

The assistant building inspector informed Sean that he could apply for a variance to keep the mural up. When Sean did so in September 2022, he had the backing of Conway residents: More than 1,000 people commented on Leavitt’s Facebook page in support of the mural and scores of letters to the editor have been published in the Conway Daily Sun arguing that the mural should stay. Yet the Conway Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) voted unanimously against granting the bakery a variance. Then, in November, the ZBA doubled down, again denying the variance.

“I couldn’t believe the town was going after me for giving high school students a way to express their artistic passions and contribute something fun and delightful to the community,” Sean said. “This mural isn’t hurting anyone. If anything, it has brought the community together.”

Trying to right this wrong and avoid litigation, IJ sent a letter to Conway officials in December 2022 urging town officials to back off Leavitt’s. As IJ’s letter explained, the town’s sign code was both confusing and unconstitutional. Although IJ offered to help the town craft a new sign code, it refused the offer, instead sending Sean yet another letter ordering him to either get a sign permit or take down the mural forever.

“Leavitt’s mural is beautiful and showcases what can be accomplished when a community comes together,” IJ Litigation Fellow Betsy Sanz said. “Conway’s crackdown on this artwork serves no legitimate government interest.”

IJ’s fight against similar violations of the First Amendment rights of small business owners throughout the country includes a 2020 victory that allowed a North Dakota saloon to keep up its mural, a 2017 win for a Florida video game store that wanted to display an inflatable Mario in front of its store, and a 2013 ruling which permitted a California gym to advertise on a sandwich board out front.

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TurretLauncher t1_j858959 wrote

That's called majoritarianism, and it's exactly what the Bill of Rights was meant to prevent:

> The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

US Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

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TurretLauncher OP t1_j3k41kp wrote

Abstract

Diverse DNA-deforming processes are impacted by the local mechanical and structural properties of DNA, which in turn depend on local sequence and epigenetic modifications. Deciphering this mechanical code (that is, this dependence) has been challenging due to the lack of high-throughput experimental methods. Here we present a comprehensive characterization of the mechanical code. Utilizing high-throughput measurements of DNA bendability via loop-seq, we quantitatively established how the occurrence and spatial distribution of dinucleotides, tetranucleotides and methylated CpG impact DNA bendability. We used our measurements to develop a physical model for the sequence and methylation dependence of DNA bendability. We validated the model by performing loop-seq on mouse genomic sequences around transcription start sites and CTCF-binding sites. We applied our model to test the predictions of all-atom molecular dynamics simulations and to demonstrate that sequence and epigenetic modifications can mechanically encode regulatory information in diverse contexts.

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TurretLauncher t1_j22qzgg wrote

In the case you refer to, the school itself failed to avail itself of the opportunity to register itself as a "religious corporation," which would exempt it from prohibitions against discrimination by a place or provider of public accommodation under the New York City Human Rights Law:

> Yeshiva does not meet the definition of “religious corporation incorporated under the education law or the religious corporation law,” which would exempt it from the prohibitions against discrimination in public accommodations as an organization “deemed to be. . .distinctly private”

Moreover,

> Yeshiva already recognizes LGBTQ+ student organizations at three of its graduate schools, which are legally part of Yeshiva’s corporation, has done so for over 25 years, and made clear as early as 1995 that this recognition did not mean Yeshiva endorsed or accepted the views of those student groups.

Hence,

> Yeshiva University must formally recognize an LGBTQ student group, rejecting the Jewish school's claims that doing so would violate its religious rights and values.

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TurretLauncher t1_j22j5vd wrote

Have these groups formally accepted the school's policies regarding diversity, equity and inclusion? If not, the school can legally refuse to be associated with the group, as they are in violation of the school's regulations.

Same goes for K-12 schools. Students can't force their school to accept a neo-Nazi club. But students remain free to self-organize such a club off campus.

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TurretLauncher t1_j2217yc wrote

> “You essentially have to sign a statement of faith that promotes homophobia and transphobia” to be a board member of the coalition, said Taylor Largmann, president of the campus’s chapter of the Lambda student group, which advocates for LGBTQ students. “That does not reflect UNH Law’s values. At least, I would hope not.”
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> In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with a California law school that rejected an application for recognition from the Christian Legal Society. That case hinged on a state law that required all student organizations to allow any student to participate and become an officer in a club. Hastings College of Law argued that because some students could not swear to uphold certain beliefs of the society, it would violate the “all-comers” policy for student groups.

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