How Conservatives Weaponized the First Amendment

WASHINGTON — On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm.

• Adam Liptak
• The New York Times

The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow.

The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California law requiring religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about abortion.

Conservatives, said Justice Kagan, who is part of the court’s four-member liberal wing, were “weaponizing the First Amendment.”

The two decisions…

• How Conservatives…