Leaders of a Methodist church in California say the church was “desecrated” by federal immigration agents and suggested that their right to worship had been violated by the operation.

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement denying that agents had targeted the church and clarified that the illegal alien who was detained had previously been removed from the U.S. in 2016.

‘This was a violation of our Sacred Right to Worship and Serve our Lord Jesus Christ Freely and Safely.’

Local media reported that the community was “devastated” by the Thursday arrest that ended up on the grounds of the North Hills United Methodist Church in the San Fernando Valley.

“With sadness and pain in our hearts we want to share that on January 29 our Beloved Church was desecrated by immigration agents who entered our property wearing masks and carrying weapons. Despite being asked not to enter, they did not respect our request and forced their way in,” read a statement from the church.

Leaders said they were forced to stop their ministries because of the operation.

“This tragedy caused significant trauma to members of our church and to the broader community,” they added. “This was a violation of our Sacred Right to Worship and Serve our Lord Jesus Christ Freely and Safely.”

The church said that Carlos Chavez, a taco vendor, was arrested and described him as a “beloved community member.”

A nonprofit leader said that Chavez had sought refuge at the church but agents did not hesitate to rush in.

“We realized a second truck had positioned itself at the church parking lot exit, with three additional agents blocking the entrance — all were dressed in tactical gear, fully masked with large firearms,” said Mayra Medina-Núñez. “Their presence terrified children and families on sacred church grounds.”

The DHS issued a statement saying that other illegal aliens were captured during the operation.

RELATED: ‘Little f**king c***s!’ Democrat treasurer fired over video of him spewing obscenities at women at ICE protest

“U.S. Border Patrol did NOT target United Methodist Church or its parking lot in North Hills, California,” said the DHS in the statement.

“On January 29, Border Patrol conducted an immigration enforcement operation in the area of Rayen Street and Sepulveda Boulevard that resulted in the arrest of Carlos Chavez-Guzman, an illegal alien from Mexico who was previously removed from this country in 2016,” the department added. “Chavez-Guzman chose to run from law enforcement, a federal crime, leading them on a foot chase before his arrest.”

Two other individuals from Mexico were arrested and taken into ICE custody, the DHS said.

Chavez’s wife told KTLA-TV that he had already been deported to Mexico.

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Democratic allies and legacy media outlets are celebrating Taylor Rehmet’s victory in Texas Senate District 9’s special runoff as a historic upset for Republicans — but they fail to note that Rehmet will likely never even cast a vote unless he wins again later this year.

Mark Lucas, the founder of Veteran Action, stated that a progressive political action committee funded by George Soros spent $500,000 to flip the Texas Senate race in a district where President Donald Trump secured a 17-point victory.

‘The Democrats were energized. Too many Republicans stayed home.’

“My org @VeteranAction is incredibly important to counter the left’s attempt to chip away at the veteran vote — something the GOP cannot afford to take for granted,” Lucas wrote. “Meanwhile, the radical left is investing heavily to recruit veteran candidates to retake the House in 2026. They will quickly impeach Trump and obstruct our AMERICA FIRST agenda.”

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations provided $2.58 million in grants to VoteVets Action Fund from 2019 to 2024, according to the foundation’s website. The grants included support for the organization’s advocacy of “progressive, diplomacy-first foreign policy,” “congressional war powers,” and “preventing executive abuse.”

On January 31, VoteVets announced in a post on X that it was proud to have endorsed and financially supported Rehmet with “over $500K” in an independent expenditure.

Rehmet defeated Republican opponent Leigh Wambsganss, securing a 14-point victory.

RELATED: ‘Dead on arrival’: Chuck Schumer says Dems will ‘go all out’ to defeat voter ID bill

Photo by MARK FELIX/AFP via Getty Images

VoteVets celebrated Rehmet’s victory in flipping the district blue in the special runoff election, noting that a Democrat had not been elected in decades.

Legacy media outlets and Rehmet’s Democratic supporters have portrayed the election as a massive political upset for Republicans.

RELATED: Exclusive: SAVE Act hangs in the balance as Republican Study Committee pushes for Senate passage

Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Despite the substantial funds the Democrats invested in the race, it seems these efforts were primarily for show, as the seat will be contested again in November 2026 for a full four-year term. Further, the Republicans in the Texas Senate hold a solid majority, and the legislature is not in session until January 2027.

The Texas Scorecard noted that the special election runoff saw low turnout, with just under 95,000 ballots cast, representing roughly 15% of all registered voters.

Rehmet and Wambsganss are expected to run against one another again in the November election.

Wambsganss called the January 31 election results “a wakeup call for Republicans in Tarrant County, Texas, and the nation.”

“The Democrats were energized. Too many Republicans stayed home. … Mr. Rehmet and I will face each other again in November, and I fully expect the results to be different,” she stated. “The dynamics of a Special Election are fundamentally different from a November General Election.”

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“Today” host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, has gone missing under mysterious circumstances. Police suspect she may have been abducted from her home in Arizona.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that the 84-year-old was last seen Saturday night at her home in Catalina Foothills, just north of Tucson.

‘She didn’t walk from there. She didn’t go willingly.’

During a Monday press conference, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that Guthrie’s disappearance was first reported Sunday morning after a church friend noticed she was absent from services and alerted one of her adult children.

“The family went to the house. I’m thinking they spent some time looking for her themselves before they called us,” Nanos said, according to ABC News.

However, Guthrie could not be found, and now investigators believe foul play may have been involved.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a statement, “All her personal belongings, to include her wallet, cell phone, and vehicle, were still there, but she was nowhere to be found.”

CBS News reported that Nanos added, “We saw some things at the home that were concerning to us.”

“We believe now, after we’ve processed that crime scene, that we do in fact have a crime scene, that we do in fact have a crime, and we’re asking the community’s help,” Nanos added.

Nanos warned, “I hope we find her safe and sound, but we can’t ignore what’s in front of us.”

Sgt. David Stivers of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department revealed that investigators found “circumstances on scene that we believe are suspicious in nature.”

Sheriff Nanos told People magazine that investigators “have taken what we believe is biological DNA-type evidence, and we are submitting it to our labs.”

Law enforcement sources reportedly said investigators found blood inside Guthrie’s home.

The Los Angeles Times reported, “The sources, who were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, said there were signs of forced entry. It’s unclear whose blood was found inside the house.”

Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Kevin Adger told the Los Angeles Times, “At this point, investigators believe she was taken from the home against her will, possibly [in the] middle of the night. Detectives are looking into a possible kidnapping or abduction.”

Nanos said, “I believe she was abducted, yes. She didn’t walk from there. She didn’t go willingly.”

The sheriff said no motive has been established, and there is no early indication Guthrie was targeted because she is the mother of Savannah Guthrie. Yet, he cautioned, “We can’t dismiss that.”

Nanos told CBS News that investigators “will certainly” examine the possibility that Guthrie was targeted.

The sheriff said, “Was she being stalked? Did she have some people out there harassing her or something?”

Nanos added, “We’re not going to dismiss any angles, for sure, but right now, immediately, we don’t know of anything like that.”

RELATED: Stunned judge reveals fate of woman involved in deadly kidnapping of 2 young sisters found in a pit — 1 did not survive

Nanos urged Guthrie’s neighbors to review home security cameras to see if they notice anything suspicious from last weekend.

“They still might see something,” Nanos stated. “Maybe it’s somebody walking by. Maybe it’s some vehicle driving by at that time of day.”

A search-and-rescue team is utilizing drones, helicopters, and heat sensors to try to track down the missing woman.

Two sources told CBS News that the FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Guthrie’s family is working with law enforcement to help find her.

Nanos noted that Guthrie was “not of good physical health, and so naturally we are concerned,” Newsweek reported. Nanos added that her physical challenges and age limited her ability to move around.

“She did not leave on her own, we know that,” Nanos stated.

Guthrie’s family told investigators that she did not have cognitive issues, and the sheriff added, “She’s very alert, and she’s of good, sound mind.”

“This is not a dementia-related; she is as sharp as a tack,” Nanos said. “The family wants everybody to know this isn’t somebody who just wandered off.”

Nanos said during the press conference, “This is an 84-year-old lady who suffers from some physical ailments, has some physical challenges, is in need of medication — medication that, if she doesn’t have in 24 hours, it could be fatal.”

The sheriff’s department said Guthrie is 5 feet 5 inches tall, has brown hair and blue eyes, and weighs 150 pounds.

Savannah Guthrie was absent from the “Today” show Monday and Tuesday as authorities attempted to locate her mother, but the anchor issued the following statement Monday:

On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support. Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom. We thank law enforcement for their hard work on this case and encourage anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at (520) 351-4900.

On Monday night, Savannah Guthrie asked her Instagram followers for prayers:

We believe in prayer. We believe in voices raised in unison, in love, in hope. We believe in goodness. We believe in humanity. Above all, we believe in Him.

Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. Raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment.

We need you.

“He will keep in perfect peace those whose hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord,” a verse of Isaiah for all time for all of us.

Bring her home.

Police are asking the public for help in locating Guthrie.

“Every detail matters. Even small tips could make a difference,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said. “Please share this post to help us reach more people. Thank you for your continued assistance and support.”

A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for her disappearance.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department established a tip line; anyone with information is urged to contact the department at 520-351-4900.

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Cellphone videos caught the moment when an all-out brawl erupted between an adult male with a MAGA hat and over a dozen apparent high school students at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest Monday afternoon in Texas.

The Buda Police Department said a Hays County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer at Moe and Gene Johnson High School in Buda indicated that students were conducting a “walkout” protest on RM967. Buda is about 20 minutes southwest of Austin.

‘Hey, you want another a**-beating, come on out!’

Law enforcement personnel responded to the area to provide safety and security for pedestrians and motorists, police said.

But police added that Buda officers were dispatched to the intersection of RM967 and FM1626 for a fight in progress just before 3 p.m.

Arriving officers were notified that a female juvenile on the sidewalk and an adult male in a vehicle were engaged in a verbal argument, police said, adding that the argument escalated into a physical altercation involving multiple people.

You can view a clip of the brawl in KXAN-TV’s video report about the altercation; it shows what appears to be at least a dozen apparent high school students punching and kicking the adult male, knocking him to the ground, and even putting him in a headlock until he’s able to get up and retreat to his vehicle. There is no audio.

Both primary parties involved were identified, the situation remains under investigation, and no arrests have been made at this time, police said.

A Hays Consolidated Independent School District spokesperson told KXAN-TV that the district is aware of the video of the fight but said police are handling the investigation since the incident happened off campus.

RELATED: Minnesota police FINALLY fight back: Cops hit violent anti-ICE mob with tear gas, arrests outside hotel supposedly housing feds

Image source: Buda (Texas) Police Department

Buda Police on Tuesday told Blaze News they expect to make an arrest or arrests but have no timeline for when that will happen. Blaze News asked police if the adult male involved in the fight is a teacher — due to numerous social media posts indicating he is — but police replied, “Not that we’re aware of.”

One crucial element police confirmed to Blaze News is that the adult male involved in the fight did indeed have a red MAGA hat on his person during the altercation.

There are a handful of videos of the fight apart from the clip included in KXAN’s video report — and they are linked in comments under the police department’s Facebook post about the brawl.

As police noted, the adult male was in a vehicle when he verbally argued with the juvenile female — and then things got physical. Indeed one clip recorded from a distance shows what appears to be the adult male on the street swinging at a female as they move from the street to the sidewalk and to the grass.

A second clip recorded very close to the fight shows what appears to be the adult male holding a MAGA hat while swinging at a female and pushing her backward as she fights back; she momentarily grabs the MAGA hat before she falls to the grass.

A third clip includes what the KXAN video shows — except with audio. Those fighting and watching the brawl are heard yelling, “What the f**k?” and “Get him!” and “F**k ICE! You’re a bitch!” and “F**kin’ kill yourself!”

Once the adult male is back in his vehicle — and his MAGA hat is back in his possession — one individual from the crowd is heard yelling at him, “Hey, you want another ass-beating, come on out!” The adult male eventually puts the MAGA hat on his head.

What isn’t clear is why the adult male got out of his vehicle in the first place.

When Blaze News asked police if the adult male indicated why he left his vehicle and physically fought the juvenile female, police replied that it’s still under investigation.

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​Adult male, Brawl, Buda, Crime, Fight, High school, Ice, Ice protest, Juvenile female, Physical attack, Police, Texas, Politics 

77-year-old William Stevenson, the ex-husband of former first lady Jill Biden, was taken into custody Monday and charged in the death of his second wife.

A grand jury indictment filed in Delaware said that Stevenson is facing a first-degree murder charge after 64-year-old Linda Stevenson was found dead on Dec. 28 in their home in New Castle County.

William Stevenson had previously said of Linda, ‘She’s the greatest thing in my life.’

William Stevenson was married to Jill Tracy Jacobs for five years beginning in 1970, until she met then-Sen. Joe Biden in March 1975. Stevenson says she had an affair with Biden and a civil divorce was granted to the couple two months later. She and Biden were married in 1977.

Stevenson then met and married his second wife, Linda, and was married to her for nearly four decades until her death.

Police said they were called to the home on a report of a domestic dispute and found Linda Stevenson unresponsive in the living room. They were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her body was turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science, which has not yet released a determination of cause of death.

William Stevenson failed to post a $500,000 bail and is being held at the Howard Young Correctional Institution in Wilmington.

Police said Stevenson’s arrest was the result of a “extensive weeks-long investigation” into his wife’s death.

Stevenson had been a supporter of former President Barack Obama but later became a fan of President Donald Trump. In 2023 he called Trump “a president that I love and respect” and accused the “Biden crime family” of unfairly targeting Trump.

RELATED: Jill Biden mocked for comparing Hispanics to tacos at ‘Latinx Incluxion’ conference

Stevenson also grew critical of Jill Biden as Joe Biden’s mental diminishment became more obvious.

“I just don’t understand why she is so adamant about defending him and keeping him in the race since it appears that he’s struggling,” he said. “It appears that he’s struggling with everybody these days.”

William Stevenson had previously said of Linda, “She’s the greatest thing in my life.”

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A kidnapper and a child predator were apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Monday, according to a press release obtained by Blaze News.

The Department of Homeland Security, which has been tracking and sharing the “worst of the worst” immigration enforcement arrests at wow.dhs.gov, reported that ICE has nabbed more “heinous criminals.”

‘Seventy percent of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the US.’

“While sanctuary politicians and Hollywood were vilifying our law enforcement, our officers we were arresting kidnappers, pedophiles, and drug traffickers,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

The DHS highlighted four of ICE’s arrests from Monday.

The department stated that federal immigration agents captured Armando Miguel Hernandez-Valdez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Hernandez-Valdez was previously convicted in St. George, Utah, for kidnapping, possession of a controlled substance, and escape.

RELATED: ‘ICE on Notice’: Chicago Mayor Johnson threatens to prosecute federal agents enforcing immigration laws

Armando Miguel Hernandez-Valdez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

ICE nabbed Carlos Martinez, a Salvadoran national with a prior conviction in Dallas County, Texas, for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old.

Carlos Martinez. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Immigration officers captured Freddy Railandy Medina-Cruz, an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was previously convicted for crimes in multiple states, including drug trafficking in Massachusetts, fraud in Michigan, and re-entry of a removed alien in Florida.

Freddy Railandy Medina-Cruz. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

The DHS also highlighted the arrest of Jianqiao Lu, a Chinese national who was convicted of criminal possession of an assault weapon in New York. According to a 2023 article from the Hudson Valley Post, Lu initially faced a 113-count felony indictment after police allegedly discovered over a dozen illegally owned firearms.

RELATED: ‘Target their families’: Fetterman slams Democrats’ absurd ICE demands, cites doxxing concerns

Jianqiao Lu. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

“These thugs have no place in our communities. Seventy percent of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.,” McLaughlin stated. “This statistic doesn’t even include foreign fugitives, terrorists, and gang members who lack a rap sheet in the U.S. With every arrest, we are making America safe again.”

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Inflammatory rhetoric on the left is getting worse, and former Pastor John Pavlovitz’s recent Substack article titled, “A pastor’s warning: We’re not in a civil war, but a Christian nationalist holy war — and they must not win,” could not make that any clearer.

“Conservative white Evangelicals need to be stopped,” one excerpt Pavlovitz proudly posted begins, before he accuses conservative white evangelicals of being “unmatched in their fervor, ferocity, and organization” as “religious extremists.”

“If allowed to continue to hold their death grip on all three branches of Government, Conservative Christians will render this nation unrecognizable. LGBTQ people, Muslims, women, people of color, immigrants, and non-Christians will never have equality under the law again,” he warned.

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is rightfully disturbed by Pavlovitz’s piece and points out the glaring flaws in his argument.

“Does democracy mean people who I like are elected? Like, I just want to be clear about that,” Stuckey comments on “Relatable.” “He says we have a ‘death grip’ on all three branches of government. Well, Donald Trump was elected by popular and electoral vote. So, what happened there? Why is it a ‘death grip’ just when the people that you didn’t vote for get elected? Do you believe in democracy or not?”

Pavlovitz went on: “Full-blown theocracy is the plan, and trust me when I tell you that we won’t recover from it if they are given greater power or prolonged influence. If we fail in opposing their Christo-fascist agenda both in the streets and at the polls, they will have a political power that will render every election null and void, and we will never have a voice again in our lifetimes.”

“This is the kind of stuff that inspires, very tragically, people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti to go out into the streets and to bust the taillights of ICE officers and try to run over another ICE officer, because people believe stuff like this without any citation or any source,” Stuckey comments.

Pavlovitz even goes on to accuse white evangelical Christians of being the “source of everything afflicting our nation,” which includes all of the “violence, chaos, dehumanization, and suffering.”

“I just want to remind you that evangelical Christians, Christians who pray every day, Christians who go to church every week, that statistically we give the most in charity, that we adopt the most children, that we offer the most volunteer service hours every year. This is the hallmark of Christianity,” Stuckey says.

But it gets even worse.

“America is not in a Civil War; we’re in White Christian Nationalists’ grim and loveless holy war. All people of faith, morality, and conscience need to stand together and push them back into the hell they came from,” Pavlovitz concludes.

“You cannot get any stronger language that seems to be a death threat without coming out and saying it,” Stuckey says. “Like, that is some pretty radical stuff that is getting almost 50,000 likes on Instagram.”

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To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Allie Beth Stuckey, the host of BlazeTV’s “Relatable” podcast, joined “The Glenn Beck Program” on Tuesday morning to discuss the hit piece Hillary Clinton wrote about Stuckey last week.

Clinton mentioned Stuckey several times in a Thursday op-ed in the Atlantic, arguing that “Christian influencers” like Stuckey have promoted a distorted view of Christianity that has waged a “war on empathy.” Clinton positioned herself as an authority on Jesus’ teachings, despite admitting that she has “never been one to wear my faith on my sleeve.”

‘Sometimes people need to see that there’s another side of the story that demands your heart too.’

The former secretary of state’s hit piece mentioned Stuckey’s book, “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion,” and mocked the concept that empathy could ever be “toxic,” calling Stuckey’s position “appalling.”

Stuckey told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on Tuesday’s podcast that Clinton’s article was a “badge of honor” that had effectively backfired, noting that it had boosted sales for the 2024 book.

Beck called Clinton’s hit piece on Stuckey “a good endorsement.”

Stuckey stated that while Clinton’s op-ed failed to detail how Stuckey had defined toxic empathy in her book, she believes that “the left actually understands the concept.”

“They talk about things like toxic masculinity, and what they’ll say is that not all masculinity is toxic, but this form of masculinity is toxic. And yet when I talk about toxic empathy, they pretend that I say that all compassion is toxic and bad, and that’s not what I’m saying at all,” Stuckey told Beck.

RELATED: Hillary Clinton baselessly attacks Allie Beth Stuckey in desperate op-ed — accuses MAGA Christians of ‘war on empathy’

Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images

Stuckey explained that empathy becomes toxic when it leads a person to affirm sin, validate lies, or support destructive policies.

“Your empathy becomes toxic when you feel so deeply for one particular person, a purported victim, that you are blinded to both reality and morality. You are so focused on this person that you forget that there are other people on the other side of the moral equation,” Stuckey stated.

She contended that toxic empathy is to blame for the support of destructive policies.

“If you concentrate on feelings, then reason shuts down,” Beck said. “You have all of these people that, I think, they’re actually thinking they’re doing the right thing, but they’ve shut down the thinking process so deeply that they’re just trapped.”

RELATED: ‘They’re scared’ — Allie Beth Stuckey fires back at Hillary Clinton’s hit piece on the biblical movement she helped ignite

Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

“How do you reverse this?” Beck asked Stuckey.

“We need to tell the story on the other side of every issue,” Stuckey responded. “Sometimes people need to see that there’s another side of the story that demands your heart too.”

Stuckey gave the example of the legacy media’s narrative about a woman who wishes to have an abortion but feels forced to carry her pregnancy to term because of pro-life legislation.

“I tell the story from the baby’s perspective. This is what would have happened to this baby had there not been this pro-life law in Texas. She would have been poisoned; she would have been dismembered; she would have been tossed aside like toxic waste,” Stuckey said.

“When you allow people to zoom out and show them there are other people on the other side of this political issue that you’re talking about, sometimes that expands their understanding to the point that they can be persuaded by facts,” she added.

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“Who will rid us of this meddlesome philosopher?”

Arizona State University hopes the Arizona Supreme Court will. I’m confident that my case against required diversity, equity, and inclusion training raises issues far larger than one professor or one ideological program. Fundamental questions about employee rights, public accountability, and the rule of law hang in the balance.

If I succeed in showing that ASU bears legal responsibility — and that employees can hold it accountable — the implications reach far beyond one HR program.

Why would the largest state university in the country defend mandatory DEI training in court? Why would it spend thousands — likely tens of thousands — defending its “inclusive communities” training, a program that teaches employees about the alleged moral and social failures of “whiteness” and “heteronormativity”?

The answer defies common sense. Yet ASU presses forward. In doing so, it has turned what many dismiss as a culture-war skirmish into an employment-rights case with statewide consequences.

Most people hear “DEI” and instantly map the political lines. This case deserves a different reaction. Required ideological training should make any employee — left, right, or indifferent — pay attention.

First, the training relies on racial essentialism. It instructs ASU employees to view themselves and others primarily through skin color, then assigns moral weight and collective guilt on that basis.

Second, it attacks traditional Christian moral teaching, especially marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Either flaw should have pushed administrators to retire the program long before I raised formal objections.

A third issue should unite every employee, regardless of where they stand on DEI: ASU treated this as an employment matter. The university did not admit error, revise the program, and move on. It hired Perkins Coie to defend racial essentialism. Yes, Perkins Coie — the firm widely associated with the Hillary Clinton-era Steele dossier controversy. ASU employs a full team of in-house attorneys. Why pay a nationally prominent and politically charged firm to defend a training program many already viewed as controversial — and, I argue, unlawful?

ASU’s posture gets stranger. The university has since taken down the required training, yet it continues paying lawyers to defend it in court. When this ends, Arizona lawmakers and taxpayers will want a number: How much did ASU spend on legal fees, and which administrators approved the contracts?

RELATED: Feds probe ASU for racial bias — will other universities be held accountable?

Just_Super via iStock/Getty Images

ASU’s legal strategy aims at dismissal. The university claims I lack standing. Put plainly, ASU argues that an employee cannot hold his public employer accountable for violating state law. At that point, the dispute stops being about DEI and becomes about every employee in Arizona. If ASU wins at the Arizona Supreme Court, employees across the state lose a crucial tool for legal accountability.

Professors to my political left may sneer at my critique of DEI. They should still worry about the precedent.

Imagine a scenario pulled from their nightmares: A future administration takes over ASU and imposes mandatory ideological training from the opposite end of the political spectrum — required ICE-themed training, or MAGA-themed training. If that training violated Arizona law, those same professors would demand the right to sue. ASU’s argument would bar them. This case concerns enforceable employee rights, not just contemporary politics.

ASU’s first bid to dismiss the case failed. A lower court rejected the university’s argument. ASU appealed, and the appellate court sided with the university. That posture put the case on a path to the Arizona Supreme Court.

RELATED: A gay whistleblower just punked Colorado’s DEI machine

AndreyPopov via iStock/Getty Images

Two facts matter here. The Arizona Senate and the state representative who authored the law I claim ASU violated have filed an amicus brief supporting my position. Their message is simple: A public employee has standing to hold a public employer accountable for breaking the law. The statute prohibits the kind of racial blame and collective guilt that ASU’s training promoted. The principle should not require explanation: Don’t assign moral fault to entire groups based on skin color.

So why does ASU defend this?

Because ASU does not view this fight as one training module that can be swapped out and forgotten. Race-based blame sits near the center of the contemporary left’s approach to education. If I succeed in showing that ASU bears legal responsibility — and that employees can hold it accountable — the implications reach far beyond one HR program. ASU’s initiatives aimed at combatting “whiteness” would come under scrutiny. Its embedded social justice goals face legal challenge and public examination. Students could follow with suits over race blame in a “decolonized curriculum.”

“Who will rid us of this meddlesome philosopher?” ASU really hopes the Arizona Supreme Court will.

Every employee in Arizona should watch what happens next. The outcome will determine whether public institutions answer to the law — or whether employees must comply silently, no matter what ideology administrators impose from above.

​Opinion & analysis, Diversity equity inclusion, Arizona state university, Owen anderson, First amendment, Compelled speech, Dei policies, Freedom of speech, Whiteness, Racism, Rule of law, Employee abuse, Rights, Human resources, Ideology, Perkins coie, Legislation