Please join us for a call with Brian Hauss of the ACLU who will brief us on First Amendment issues concerning anti-BDS/pro-settlements legislation.

Brian is the lead attorney for the ACLU in its lawsuit challenging the Kansas law that requires all state contractors to certify that they are not participating in boycotts of Israel and/or settlements in the West Bank. The ACLU is representing Esther Koontz, a Kansas math teacher and trainer who was removed from a teacher training program administered by the Kansas Department of Education when she would not sign a contract certifying that she does not boycott Israel – or companies profiting from settlements in the Occupied Territories.

Brian Hauss is a staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. Brian was previously a staff attorney with the ACLU Center for Liberty, where he focused on combating religious refusals to comply with anti-discrimination laws. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Brian served as a law clerk to the Hon. Marsha S. Berzon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Listen here

To read Brian's article in Haaretz discussing the Kansas case, click here. For his blog post outlining why the First Amendment protects the right to boycott Israel and the settlements, click here. And for his thoughts on the recent episode in Dickinson, TX in which residents applying for Hurricane Harvey relief were required to sign applications indicating that they do not boycott Israel, click here. 

An audio recording of the briefing call will be posted on the APN website (peacenow.org) following the call.