WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Supreme Court today punted the question of whether the government can compel nuns, priests, and faith-based schools to provide employees with contraceptive coverage, even if they are bound by religious teachings that forbid certain forms of birth control.
Jason Riley must be suffering from whiplash. This spring, the Wall Street Journal columnist and scholar with the prestigious Manhattan Institute was invited, then disinvited, and now finally re-invited to give a lecture at Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business as part of its Distinguished Lecture series.
Why all the back and forth? The controversy stems from the fact that Riley is a conservative in an era when conservative viewpoints are unwelcome on many college campuses. Riley thus joins a long list of right-leaning analysts and policymakers – including George Will, Greta Van Susteren, Ann Coulter, and Scott Brown — whom activists have sought (with mixed results) to "disinvite" from campus speaking engagements around the country.
