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Buzz Thomas, Guest columnist Published 7:00 p.m. ET Oct. 20, 2020

Amy Coney Barrett was nominated for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Barrett graduated magna cum laude from Rhodes College in 1994. Memphis Commercial Appeal

Amy Coney Barrett's belief in originalism means she interprets the words of the constitution as they were commonly understood when it was drafted.

Question: What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 70?

Answer: Your Honor

My favorite lawyer joke doesnt work very well for Judge Amy Coney Barrett or any member of the U.S. Supreme Court.They are, by and large, brilliant.But brilliant eggheads Im afraid.

Most have never tried a case and dont know the first thing about how laws are actually made.They are most often drawn from the sterile halls of academia as with Judge Barrett where they have spent their careers teaching and writing about the law. Like the consultant who knows 500 ways to tie a trout fly but has never been fishing.

For 15 years, I practiced law at the nations high court. I would prepare my briefs in the small library on the top floor and can remember bumping into great jurists like Thurgood Marshall, William Rehnquist and Sandra Day OConnor. To me, the Supreme Court is Americas greatest institution with a dignity and decorum unlike the other branches of government. Which is why Americans care so much about the judicial philosophy of any new nominee to the Court.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett speaks during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. [SUSAN WALSH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS](Photo: Susan Walsh, AP)

Judge Barrett, like her mentor Antonin Scalia, describes herself as an originalist. That means she interprets the words of the constitution as they were commonly understood when it was drafted in 1787.So, if equal protection of the laws did not apply to women, minorities or homosexuals then, it does not apply to them now.Unless, of course, the constitution has been amended as it was in 1865 to say that African Americans could not be enslaved and in 1920 to say that women could vote.

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But gays and lesbians are left out of the American Dream in an originalists reading of the constitution, and the right to privacy (including a womans right to terminate her pregnancy) simply disappears.

The Eighth Amendments prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment would be shrunk to the size of a postage stamp since public flogging was still commonplace in the 18th century. Likewise, there would be no barrier to teaching creationism instead of science in public schools or using public funds for parochial schools since there were no public schools in 1789 when the First Amendment was drafted.

If originalist thinking had prevailed on the Court in 1954, we would still have segregated schools in the south.

Noodle on that.

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Judge Barrett also describes herself as a textualist. That means she pays no attention to what a legislature was actually trying to accomplish when it passed a law but rather limits her analysis to the strict wording of the statute. Thats great if you have a bunch of geniuses working in the Congress and the legislatures across the country, but you dont. Far from it.

Buzz Thomas

For most, this isnt even their fulltime job.They are farmers, plumbers, shop owners, soccer moms. Sometimes discerning their primary reason for passing a law is the only way to make sense of the inartful language.

Remember the analogy about sausage making?Thats what the legislative process looks like.Anybody who has ever worked with a legislative body knows it.I worked on Capitol Hill, and believe me.Even the U.S. Congress can pass laws that read like they were written by a seventh grader.

Heres the thing.The framers of our constitution may have been a bunch of white, male, Protestant bigots, but they were also blithering geniuses.

Dont you think they realized they were drafting a constitution rather than a bunch of tax regulations?And that they might have been wise enough to select some incredibly broad terms like due process and equal protection for a reason? And that the reason might just be to craft a civic framework for our country that would last for the ages?

Buzz Thomas is a retired minister, constitutional lawyer and former interim superintendent of Knox County, Tennessee schools.

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Here is the problem with Amy Coney Barrett's judicial philosophy | Opinion - Knoxville News Sentinel

After seven months in the dark, the lights will soon be back on at two Regal Cinemas and two AMC theatre locations in Western New York.

Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Quaker Crossing, AMC Market Arcade and AMC Maple Ridge 8 will reopen Friday - the first day they are permitted to operate again under new state guidelines. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced last week that movie theatres outside New York City can reopen at 25 percent capacity.

Regal locations in North Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Williamsville, along with other U.S. markets, will remain shut down due to the lack of new releases. The chain is hopeful studios will reschedule some movies that are currently on hold for release in November and December.

AMC says it will be serving guests in 44 of the 45 states where it has theatres, featuring titles such as Tenet, The War with Grandpa, Honest Thief, 2 Hearts and The Empty Man.

The property owner of Regal's Quaker Crossing location recently filed a federal lawsuit against Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker.

In the suit, Quaker Crossing Retail Center Owner Gerry Buchheit claims the government-mandated total closure of movie theaters violates first amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression and takes away private property without just compensation.

According to the lawsuit, Regal hasnt paid Quaker Crossing its monthly rent of $133,000 since March.

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Two Regal Cinemas, two AMC Theatres in Buffalo area to reopen this Friday - WKBW-TV

On Friday, Oct. 9, SUNY Oswegos School of Media, Communication and the Arts announced the theme for the 16th annual Dr. Lewis B ODonnell Media Summit, which will take place virtually on Oct. 28. This years theme is On the Front Lines with the First Amendment.

The summit will analyze freedom of the press and speech through the lens of 2020. The three major prongs to the discussion will be the press impact or role in Black Lives Matter protests, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Presidential Election. These three were selected during the spring 2020 semester, when the committee was unsure what would still be relevant in October.

We have to choose a theme fairly early on, so we can select the right people on the panel. We thought COVID, and then when Black Lives Matter happened, we thought maybe we should address that We didnt want to choose something that would be out of date or old news, said Julie Pretzat, the Dean of the School of Media, Communications and the Arts. We figured the overarching theme for a lot of these things, COVID as well as Black Lives Matter as well as some of the political things, has been the first amendment. Its freedom of speech. Its how journalists are being treated. When Black Lives Matter marches started, there was some violence and some against journalists.

In an era of media mistrust, it is critical to inform the American public about the goals of good journalism. These goals, according to the Society of Professional Journalists, include seeking and reporting truth, acting independently and being accountable and transparent, among others.

While some people do not necessarily know this side of the media, the Media Summit can act as a way to educate the community regarding the importance of good journalism.

Good journalism is crucial, Pretzat said. Theres bad journalism on both sides of the [political] spectrum, but good investigative journalism is crucial to our country remaining a free democracy.

In a time as complex as 2020, the constitution brings things back into perspective. During the Black Lives Matter protests, journalists were reporting live in the streets risking their own lives to inform the public. Other people on the scene were not as passive, as there were several incidents where police shot foam bullets or hit journalists on the scene, in cities like Minneapolis, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California; and New York City.

People get caught up in the volatility of a specific situation and they forget we have a constitution that tells us really good guidelines about the importance of freedom of the press and freedom of speech, Pretzat said. If you dont have a free press, and you dont have investigative journalism, governments can run amuck. It is really really crucial that we have checks and balances in our government.

Good journalism has become exceptionally important in the political world. Good journalism goes beyond what a demographic wants to hear, it is giving them all the information they need to make good decisions. The Media Summit provides broadcasting and journalism students, as well as all students who want to learn about how the major events of 2020 and the First Amendment have interacted, a chance to learn what good journalism truly is.

It is [important] to remain in the middle, Pretzat said. And to hear both sides so the American people can make their own decisions about things.

Photo By Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian

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Media Summit theme to look at 2020 through lens of first amendment - Oswegonian

Three members of Congress have joined the fight for the right to protest by sending a letter to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) to investigate federal surveillance against protesters. We commend these elected officials for doing what they can to help ensure our constitutional right to protest and for taking the interests and safety of protesters to heart.

It often takes years, if not longer, to learn the full scope of government surveillance used against demonstrators involved in a specific action or protest movement. Four months since the murder of George Floyd began a new round of Black-led protests against police violence, there has been a slow and steady trickle of revelations about law enforcement agencies deploying advanced surveillance technology at protests around the country. For example, we learned recently that the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a team specializing in cellular phone exploitation to Portland, site of some of the largest and most sustained protests. Before that, we learned about federal, state, and local aerial surveillance done over protests in at least 15 cities. Now, Rep. Anna Eshoo, Rep. Bobby Rush, and Sen. Ron Wyden have asked the PCLOB to dig deeper..

The PCLOB is an independent agency in the executive branch, created in 2004, which undertakes far-ranging investigations into issues related to privacy and civil liberties including mass surveillance of the internet and cellular communications, facial recognition technology at airports, and terrorism watchlists. In addition to asking the PCLOB to investigate who used what surveillance where, and how it negatively impacted the First Amendment right to protest, the trio of Eshoo, Rush, and Wyden, ask the PCLOB to investigate and enumerate the legal authorities under which agencies are surveilling protests and whether agencies have followed required processes for use of intelligence equipment domestically. The letter continues:

PCLOB should investigate what legal authorities federal agencies are using to surveil protesters to help Congress understand if agencies interpretations of specific provisions of federal statutes or of the Constitution are consistent with congressional intent. This will help inform whether Congress needs to amend existing statutes or consider legislation to ensure agency actions are consistent with congressional intent.

We agree with these politicians that government surveillance of protesters is a threat to all of our civil liberties and an affront to a robust, active, and informed democracy. With a guarantee of more protests to come in the upcoming weeks and months, Congress and the PCLOB board must act swiftly to protect our right to protest, investigate how much harm government surveillance has caused, and identify illegal behavior by these agencies.

In the meantime, if you plan on protesting, make sure youve reviewed EFFs surveillance self-defense guide for protesters.

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Members of Congress Join the Fight for Protest Surveillance Transparency - EFF

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Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings; the First Amendment and disinformation; and the latest election machinations. - Slate