The Goldwater Institute has long fought for patients’ freedom to access lifesaving treatments without government bureaucrats standing in their way. Now, a new Goldwater survey shows that Americans nationwide are overwhelmingly with us—90% of respondents agree it’s important for patients with terminal illnesses or rare diseases to access cutting-edge treatments, even if they haven’t yet been approved by the FDA.
Supermajorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents—86% of survey respondents overall—say the FDA’s approval process must be updated to accommodate personalized treatments based on a patient’s unique genetic profile. Of course, that’s exactly the point of the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments Act, or Right to Try 2.0, legislation that was just introduced in Congress. It establishes a clear legal pathway for patients with rare and ultra-rare diseases to access personalized medical breakthroughs that by their nature cannot get through the FDA’s outdated approval process.
Already, 18 states have passed Right to Try 2.0—now it’s time for it to be the law of the land. The Goldwater Institute’s survey clearly shows it’s a political winner.
For nearly a decade, UCLA has spent taxpayer money bringing activists to campus to turn the school “inside out,” but university leaders aren’t so keen on letting the public know what these radicals are up to—they refused for months to turn over records about the program. On the heels of a Goldwater Institute lawsuit, UCLA finally turned over the documents, shining a bright light on the nonsense the activists are lecturing students about.
In one session of UCLA’s Activists-in-Residence program, the instructors envisioned “an uprising against the propertied-policed order of ‘racial capitalism.’” Activist Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia—a self-described “revolutionary journalist” and “poverty scholar”—railed against a settler-colonial system structured by “commodification and poLicing of Mama earth and poor mamas.” A discussion about “Organizing the Abolition University” called for “freeing the university from its current formation.”
The lawsuit was led by attorney Brad Benbrook with Goldwater’s American Freedom Network of pro bono lawyers.
Public universities should not be hiding details about their programs from the taxpayers who foot the bill. The Goldwater Institute and its American Freedom Network of attorneys will always fight to ensure that universities aren’t operating in the shadows.
It’s time to finally banish so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” or DEI, to the dustbin of history. That’s why the Goldwater Institute is stepping up in Arizona court to defend a historic state constitutional amendment aimed at enshrining the nation’s strongest protections against race-based discrimination.
Last month, Arizona lawmakers agreed to send HCR2044 to the November ballot, giving voters the chance to approve permanent protections against DEI in all state institutions, including K-12 schools and universities. DEI-backers filed suit to keep the measure off the ballot. Now, Goldwater has filed a brief with the Maricopa County Superior Court refuting their absurd claim that the First Amendment requires the state to continue spending taxpayer dollars on racially divisive DEI programming.
Voters have a right to say ‘No’ to state-backed discrimination in the name of DEI. The Goldwater Institute will fight tirelessly to ensure Arizona voters have the chance to end DEI in the state for good.
