John Whitehead

This Is What Tyranny Looks Like Now: No Crowns. No Coups. Just Unchecked Power.

NYT: “Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?” President Trump: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the…

Constitutional Attorney Sounds Alarm Over Trump Administration Efforts To Retaliate Against Veterans For Defending The Constitution

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As an organization that has long defended the First Amendment rights of veterans and active-duty service members, The Rutherford Institute is raising serious concerns about attempts by the federal government to intimidate or punish military…

Stop the Steal: Projection, Retaliation, & the Theft of Our Republic

“The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots… His public life is an endless series of evasions and false pretences. He is willing to embrace any issue, however…

2025 Annual Report: Protecting Liberty in a Year of Unchecked Government Power

The Rutherford Institute’s 2025 Annual Report documents a year in which constitutional freedoms faced some of the greatest assaults in modern American history. In 2025, the federal government expanded executive power, deployed the National Guard into civilian communities,…

2025: The Year The Government Stopped Pretending It Cared About Freedom

Some years chip away at freedom. Others tear the mask off. 2025 was the year the government stopped pretending it was constrained by the Constitution—when executive power expanded openly and unapologetically, surveillance became ambient, dissent became dangerous, and…

U.S. Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks President Trump’s Attempt to Deploy the National Guard Against Civilians in Chicago

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pushing back on President Trump’s claim that “I have the right to do anything I want to do,” the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to lift a lower court order preventing the President from deploying National Guard…

If Jesus Were Born Today, Would He Survive the American Police State?

“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find…