Key Takeaways from Talking abut Freedom

 This semester has been transformative in ways I didn't initially anticipate. As someone planning to pursue law, I found myself diving deep into topics that not only shaped my understanding of our legal system but also prepared me for the rapidly evolving technological landscape we're entering.

The Power of First Amendment Precedents

The first thing that truly captivated me this year was our semester-long exploration of First Amendment cases. We built a comprehensive timeline that stretched across decades of pivotal Supreme Court decisions, and the exercise was eye-opening in the most profound way.

What struck me most wasn't just learning about these cases—it was realizing how deeply they impact our daily lives. These aren't dusty old rulings sitting in law books. They're living, breathing protections that shape how we communicate, worship, and exist in society today.

Take Hustler Magazine v. Falwell from 1988, for example. This landmark case established crucial protections for parody and satire, even when they're offensive. It reinforced that free speech includes speech we might find distasteful or even hateful. That's not always comfortable to grapple with, but it's essential to understand.

Then there's Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which brought us into more recent territory. This case highlighted the complex tension between religious freedom and anti-discrimination laws. We learned that private business owners can, in certain circumstances, decline service when they believe it conflicts with their religious convictions. It's exactly the kind of grey area that makes law so fascinating and so necessary.

Understanding the Grey Areas That Define Freedom

These cases—and dozens of others we studied—represent what I like to think of as "grey areas." They're the controversies that don't have easy answers, the conflicts between competing rights and freedoms. But here's what's remarkable: these rulings create the framework that allows us to act willingly and freely today.

Every time we post something controversial online, practice our religion openly, or engage in political discourse, we're standing on the shoulders of these precedent-setting decisions. Understanding this foundation feels crucial as I prepare for law school.

Embracing AI as a Professional Tool

The second major takeaway from this semester was our integration of artificial intelligence into the classroom. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first. But this experience fundamentally changed how I view AI—not as a threat or a shortcut, but as a powerful professional tool.

It's become increasingly clear that AI will play a massive role in our daily lives in the coming years. We might not know exactly what that looks like yet, but the transformation is already underway. Having the opportunity to use AI in an educational setting, with guidance and structure, was invaluable.

I learned how to truly work with AI rather than just asking it for answers. Whether I was expanding my class notes into blog posts, drafting scripts for mock trials, or seeking historical context for complex legal concepts, I discovered how to extract meaningful information through thoughtful prompts and critical evaluation.

Building Confidence for Tomorrow

This hands-on experience gave me something I didn't expect: confidence. I now feel equipped to use AI as the common tool it's becoming in professional environments. As I move toward law school and eventually legal practice, I know this skill will serve me well.

The intersection of legal knowledge and technological literacy feels like the perfect preparation for tomorrow's legal landscape. I'm grateful for a semester that challenged me to think critically about both our constitutional foundations and our technological future.

EOTO Reaction: The Resurgence of the KKK in the 1960s

 With a dramatic resurgence in the 1960s the KKK grew in a drastic manor in order to combat the civil rights movement. After a turn table ruling in Brown V. Board of Education there was a major resistance in the south leading to a revival of the Ku Klux Klan. 

The Klan soon found a way to mobilize there racial attacks. Tactics and Operations included violent intimidation, where Klan members burned crosses, bombed predominantly black areas, and arson. These were targeted attacks to discourage voting and civil rights participation.

With the rapid growth of media coverage the Klan used newspapers, flyers, and TV coverage to gain attention and recruit members. This was deemed appealing to many in the south with a strong hatred to the Civil Rights Movement. While the Klan provided a place where there were formal ranks, titles, committees, and meeting structures all tailored to racists in the south. 

Speaking of deep south ties the Klan was constantly provided institutional support from local law enforcement agents. Police officers, sheriffs, judges by day, Klan members by night. With an environment where the Klan was supported behind community powers like police offices and courtrooms there was extreme cases of violence that members of the Klan were able to get away with, and receive only a slap on the wrist. 

A perfect example being Mississippi Burning, in the summer of 1964, three young civil rights workers disappeared in the deep south of Mississippi. Investigating the burning of a black church the three workers were stopped by local law enforcement on a fabricated traffic violation. Detained and held in jail until nightfall the workers were released from jail, and were ambushed by members of the KKK. The workers innocently murdered, and their bodies were buried in an earthen dam. 

Another bone chilling Klan murder occurred in the summer of 1955, when a fourteen year old name Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Money, Mississippi. Till, the teenager allegedly whistled/ flirted with a white woman working at a local grocery store- this seemed clear to the southerners that this was an obvious breach of the Jim Crown racial codes. Four days later, the woman from the stores husband and friends abducted Till from the home he was visiting. Proceeding to brutally beat, shoot in the head and finally throwing Tills body in the Tallahatchie. 

When his body was found three days later, his face was mutilated and was barley recognizable. His mother, made an action that rippled throughout the Civil Rights movement in holding an open-casket funeral in Chicago. In order to let the world see what had been done to her son. Thousands came to view his body in person and with photographs published by Jet magazine the nation was able to see for themselves what occurred in Money Mississippi.

The victims of Klan violence didn't die in vain. Their stories became powerful catalysts that pushed forward landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While the scars of this era still linger in our communities today, the courage of those who fought against hatred—and those who sacrificed everything in that fight—proves that even in the face of overwhelming evil, the human spirit's demand for justice and equality cannot be extinguished.

Faith and Justice: The Religious Case for Brown v. Board of Education

 On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court issued one of the most consequential decisions in American history.

In Brown v. Board of Education, the Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson nearly sixty years earlier.

While the legal arguments are well-documented, the powerful religious case against segregation deserves equal attention in understanding this landmark ruling.

The Story Behind the Case

The case began in Topeka, Kansas, where Oliver Brown sued the Board of Education on behalf of his daughter Linda.

Linda was forced to walk miles to a segregated Black school despite living near a whites-only school.

Brown's case was combined with four other school segregation cases from across the country, representing the broader struggle against institutionalized racism in American education.

The Foundation of Religious Opposition

At the heart of the religious argument against segregation lies a fundamental biblical principle: all human beings are created in the image of God.

Genesis 1:27 states clearly, "God created man in his own image."

This wasn't abstract theology in 1954—it was the moral foundation upon which the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights.

When the state forced Black children into separate schools, it directly contradicted this divine truth by suggesting some children bore God's image more fully than others.

Christian organizations across denominations recognized this moral crisis.

The Federal Council of Churches, representing major Protestant denominations, filed amicus briefs supporting Brown.

The National Catholic Welfare Conference similarly opposed segregation as incompatible with Christian teaching.

These weren't fringe voices but mainstream Christian institutions declaring that segregation was fundamentally at odds with the Gospel.

Scripture as Social Justice

The religious case against segregation drew on powerful scriptural commands that spoke directly to the issue.

Jesus Christ's teaching to "love your neighbor as yourself" from Matthew 22:39 wasn't merely a suggestion for personal piety—it was a call to justice that demanded action.

This Golden Rule principle asked a simple but devastating question: Would white parents accept for their own children what they imposed on Black children?

The answer revealed segregation's inherent cruelty.

The Apostle Paul's declaration in Galatians 3:28 that "there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free—for you are all one in Christ Jesus" provided theological grounding for integration.

If Christians were truly one body in Christ, how could they justify legal systems that divided God's children by race?

The very act of forced separation contradicted the unity that scripture demanded.

Bridging Faith and Law

The genius of the religious argument in Brown was how it connected moral truth to constitutional principle.

The Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection wasn't just a legal abstraction—it was the recognition in law of the equal dignity every person possesses as a creation of God.

Religious leaders understood that when civil law contradicted divine law and moral truth, civil law had to yield.

The prophet Amos's call to "let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" became a rallying cry.

Segregation had dammed that stream for too long, and people of faith demanded it be broken.

The Legacy Today

Brown v. Board of Education succeeded not just because of brilliant legal strategy but because it aligned constitutional law with the moral convictions of millions of Americans who recognized segregation as sinful.

The religious argument provided moral clarity: separate was inherently unequal because it violated the sacred dignity of every child.

Today, as we continue to grapple with questions of equality and justice, the religious case for Brown reminds us that our highest legal principles often reflect our deepest moral truths.

Faith and justice, properly understood, flow in the same direction—toward the recognition that all people, regardless of race, possess equal dignity under God and equal protection under law.

AI Disclaimer: After participation in a mock trial where I sided with Brown in the landmark case Brown V. The Board of Education I I took my argument script and put it into AI. Asking it to produce this blog post. Hope you enjoyed!