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Hong Kong Needs Our Help To Preserve Religious Freedom Not Just On Paper, But In Practice - The May arrest of 90-year-old Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen put Hong Kong’s religious community on edge. On Nov. 25, Zen and five others were found guilty of failing to register a now-defunct fund to support pro-democracy protesters. The verdict resulted in an HKD 4,000 fine (a little over $500), but Zen’s ordeal is far from over. More serious accusations under the city’s draconian National Security Law (NSL), for which official charges are yet to be filed, could put him in jail for the rest of his life. On paper, Hong Kong is still a bastion of religious freedom. But those familiar with Beijing’s suppression of religious freedom on the mainland detect a familiar and worrying pattern. Heritage Expert: Michael Cunningham and Jeff Smith
Supreme Court agrees to decide fate of Biden’s student debt relief- The Supreme Court will hear the case in February, and that it will consider two questions: (1) whether the challengers have Article III standing and (2) whether the plan exceeds the Secretary of Education’s statutory authority or is arbitrary and capricious. At least one state, Missouri, appears to have standing, the courts must answer the fundamental question: Does Biden have the power to cancel $400 billion in student debt without specific congressional authorization? In fact, one lower court already has reached this question and answered it in the negative. A federal judge in Texas ruled Thursday that the HEROES Act, the 2003 statute on which Biden bases his action, doesn’t provide any authority to cancel student debt. The court, therefore, found the administration’s debt cancellation plan unlawful and vacated in its entirely. Heritage Experts: GianCarlo Canaparo and Jack Fitzhenry
Is Colorado’s Compelling Interest in Eliminating Discrimination Sufficient to Overcome a Designer’s First Amendment Claims? - Website designer Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, filed a pre-enforcement challenge to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) seeking clarification on whether CADA compels her to use the expressive medium of her website to communicate her approval of same-sex marriage. CADA requires, among other things, equal access to places of public accommodation regardless of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation (including transgender status), marital status, family status, religion, national origin, or ancestry. Places of public accommodation include any business engaged in offering sales, services, or facilities to the public. And while Lorie Smith works with all people regardless of their sexual orientation—a fact to which the state of Colorado has stipulated in lower court proceedings—she refuses to create custom websites celebrating same-sex marriages. Heritage Expert: Sarah Parshall Perry
The Life of the Party: Xi’s new Politburo and China’s technological ambitions - Personnel is policy, even in a communist dictatorship. Last month, Xi Jinping consolidated his power by engineering a shake-up of Chinese Communist Party leadership…. The new lineup reflects Mr. Xi’s push to make China into a technological superpower that can rival the United States both commercially and militarily. Heritage Expert: Michael Cunningham and Jeff Smith
History and Consequences: Setting the Record Straight on the Elections Clause and Moore v. Harper - In Moore v. Harper, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider “[w]hether a State’s judicial branch may nullify the regulations” the state’s legislature enacts to govern federal elections “and replace them with regulations of the state courts’ own devising, based on vague state constitutional provisions.” Most voters believe reasonable regulation of elections is appropriate, which is why most legislatures enact reasonable election laws. When they do not, federal law is more than equal to the task of intervening. Democracy has fared perfectly well since 1789 without rule by judges, and preventing that transition of power now would preserve it. Heritage Expert: Hans von Spakovsky
Railroad Strike Threat Shows How Unions’ Rigid Rules Often Hurt Workers - The deal negotiated by the Presidential Emergency Board in September was a fair deal and it is appropriate for Congress to use its powers to enforce this deal and spare Americans the significant consequences of a railway shutdown. The possible strike highlights how unions’ rigid rules have prevented many unionized employers from responding to changing circumstances throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. That rigidity and labor shortages likely contributed to railroad workers’ complaints about being overworked and under-compensated throughout the pandemic. When employers’ hands are mostly tied on workforce issues and they only have opportunities once every five years to address new circumstances and needs, it’s hard for companies to meet their workers’ and their customers’ demands—especially with a shock like COVID-19. The major holdout is over issues of scheduling and sick leave. Like most other workers, railroad workers should be able to take paid time off when they are sick and should have some flexibility in their schedules. But unions’ chokeholds on all things workforce-related make it extremely difficult and costly for railroads in particular to provide sick leave. Heritage Experts: Rachel Greszler and Diana Furchtgott-Roth
The U.S. Must Strengthen Its Nuclear Forces to Deter Growing Nuclear Threats - The United States must strengthen its nuclear forces in response to the significant growth in nuclear threats in recent years, especially from China. An effective nuclear force requires a long-term commitment, which in turn requires sufficient budget requests from the current and future Administrations and consistent funding from Congress. This undertaking should also address all areas of the aging nuclear enterprise, to include aging National Nuclear Security Administration infrastructure and nuclear component production capabilities. Nuclear weapons pose the only existential threat to the United States, and the United States must be prepared to meet the challenge. Heritage Expert: Patty-Jane Geller
New Polling Shows Americans Reject ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ Assault on Religious Liberty - Respondents were asked whether they supported or opposed the Respect for Marriage Act and a 47% plurality of voters in these states opposed the bill, compared with just 41% who supported it. Right-leaning voters, in particular, are especially opposed to this unnecessary legislation, with 70% of Republicans and 73% of self-identified conservatives expressing opposition. Heritage Experts: Jay Richards, Roger Severino, and Emma Waters
Democrats More Likely to Trust Delayed Elections Results, but Americans Don’t, Poll Finds - When asked, “How much do you trust that America’s elections are fair and accurate?” only 43.2% of respondents said they “strongly trust” the election system. A majority, 56.8%, expressed concerns about the system, with 17% saying they “somewhat trust” it, 17.9% saying they “somewhat distrust” it, and 21.9% saying they “strongly distrust it.” Heritage Expert Tyler O’Neil