Week In Review: Christian University Targeted

The Biden Administration is attacking the nation’s most successful private Christian college with a $37 million fine—and they’re refusing to say why. The Goldwater Institute sued the Department of Education in federal court this week to get answers.

The Department of Education’s unprecedented fine against Phoenix’s Grand Canyon University (GCU) is 10 times bigger than penalties the department assessed against Penn State and Michigan State for covering up the sexual crimes of Jerry Sandusky and Larry Nassar. GCU’s “crime”: The feds essentially claim GCU’s most highly educated students can’t read tuition brochures. When Goldwater pressed for more information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Biden Administration stonewalled, leading to the lawsuit.

GCU’s success stands in stark contrast to the failures of universities nationwide, who charge sky-high tuition rates to indoctrinate students with radical politics and fail to protect their free speech rights, even as those same schools face declining enrollment. By comparison, GCU has a track record of graduating students into high-demand and good-paying jobs, all without raising tuition in over 15 years.

So why is the Biden Administration trying to destroy GCU, a popular university that seems to be doing everything right?

That’s exactly what we’re going to find out.

Read more here. 

Fighting Union Corruption at AZ Supreme Court

Goldwater goes to the Arizona Supreme Court…again!

Fresh off our 10th victory at Arizona’s high court last week, Goldwater Institute attorneys were back at it Tuesday. In oral arguments at the state Supreme Court, we urged the justices to make the city of Phoenix stop forcing taxpayers and public employees to subsidize union political activities against their will.

Phoenix is one of countless municipalities nationwide that abuse “release time,” a corrupt practice whereby taxpayers foot the bill for salaries of employees who don’t actually work for the government at all, but who instead work for the union. These “released” employees engage in political activities that benefit the union, not the public –yet they’re paid for with public dollars.

Release time flouts both the Arizona Constitution’s Gift Clause, which forbids the government from giving taxpayer-funded gifts to private entities, and the First Amendment, since it compels non-union members to fork over their compensation to fund union political activities.

It’s not just happening in Arizona. Next week, Goldwater attorneys will be in the Texas Supreme Court to fight this pernicious practice in the nation’s second-most-populous state. We’ll keep going until release time is gone…for good.

Read more here.

Gun Range v. Government Censorship

When U.S. Navy veteran Rob Wilson found his constitutional rights violated after the Flagstaff, Ariz., government banned him from advertising for his shooting range at the local municipal airport, he turned to the Goldwater Institute.

As Rob recounts in a new video, Goldwater got right to work demanding that the city stop its illegal censorship–and in a matter of weeks, the Institute vindicated Rob’s free speech rights. Goldwater’s help was “priceless, because I could not do this on my own,” Rob says.

First, the city falsely claimed Rob’s ad promoted “violence or antisocial behavior.” Then, officials tried to illegally ban all firearms-related ads. It’s a “direct infringement on my First Amendment rights and my ability to conduct my business successfully,” Rob says.

That’s when Goldwater stepped in to serve up a dose of justice, demanding the city stop unconstitutionally censoring Rob. City officials had no choice but to back down—and that’s exactly what they did.

Watch the video and read more here.