Secret Litigation Over Secret City Council Records
A very unusual Wisconsin case.
Free Speech
Criminal Libel Prosecution -- Under a Statute Struck Down 30 Years Before
A woman's case against the defendants who arranged the prosecution (a police department captain, who was her ex-husband and the target of her speech, and his friend who was a police investigator) can go forward.
Faisal Al Mutar Fights Radical Islam with Western Bestsellers
The head of Ideas Beyond Borders is translating books by Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, and others into Arabic and distributing them for free.
Birth Mother Ordered Not to Post Photo of Deceased Adopted Child
When she did post such a photo, she was arrested and prosecuted -- a remarkable case from two years ago, which I just learned about.
Government Boycotts Based on Companies' (and Their Employees') Speech
More on their unconstitutionality.
No, Government Boycotts of Nike Aren't Constitutional
The government may not discriminate against businesses because of the political views the business (or its spokesman) has expressed.
Twitter Should Punish Marco Rubio for Doxing a Miami Steakhouse Owner
Inviting followers to harass this man violates the platform's terms of service.
Brett Kavanaugh Fans Try to Attack His Accuser, Go After the Wrong Christine Ford
The perils of poorly sourced stories
"The Schoolhouse Gate": The Unpopularity of Free Speech in Public Schools
The Supreme Court's decision in Tinker is viewed as the high-water mark for students' First Amendment rights, but Justice Black's strident dissent-not the majority-spoke for most Americans at the time.
E.U. Passes Censorship-Inducing Online Copyright Regulations
Online platforms will be subjected to a costly, easily-abused system that will likely pull down legal content.
In Constitution Day Speech, Betsy DeVos Says 'Government Muscle' Is Not the Answer to the Campus Free Speech Problem
"Solutions won't come from new laws from Washington, D.C., or from a speech police at the U.S. Department of Education."
Debate: Bakers Should Not Be Forced To Produce Cakes for Same-Sex Weddings
How should we feel about conscience-based discrimination?
British Lawmaker Wants to Ban Your Private Facebook Groups Because She Worries You're Using Hate Speech
Bill also calls for holding forum moderators legally liable for extreme speech.
California Ban on Handgun Ads at Gun Stores Violates First Amendment
So a federal judge just held.
ThinkProgress Accuses Facebook of Censorship After Conservative Factchecker Correctly Points Out an Error
"Brett Kavanaugh said he would kill Roe v. Wade last week." Except he didn't.
Then-Candidate Trump's Speech at Rally Wasn't Constitutionally Unprotected "Incitement" of Violence Against Protesters
So a Sixth Circuit panel just held, and it also concluded that the statements weren't actionable under Kentucky law.
Connecticut Prosecution for Forgery of Court Order, Aimed at Getting Patch.com Article Altered or Deindexed
The defendant, Imani Pennant, reportedly said that there's a web site that helps people create such orders.
Beware the Press's Self-Serving Calls to Regulate Social Media
Demands for government oversight hide opportunism amid rhetoric about safety.
Who's Ready for an Obama Lecture About Trump?: Podcast
Critiquing an ex-president's warnings about anti-media rhetoric, non-voting, and unelected bureaucrats
State Civil Protective Order Doesn't Preclude Federal Challenge to Criminal Harassment Statute
An interesting new Younger abstention case from the Ninth Circuit, arising in our challenge to Washington's very broad criminal harassment statute.
Twitter Can Ban Alex Jones, But That Won't Stop Us from Talking About Him
Conspiracy theorist banned for "abusive behavior."
Regulators Want to Know: Are Social Media Companies 'Intentionally Stifling' Conservatives?
The Department of Justice plans to look into whether social media platforms are "hurting competition and intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas."
Senators Want Facebook and Twitter to Ignore Demands from Authoritarian Governments, Except Ours
Tom Cotton to Jack Dorsey: "Do you prefer to see America remain the world's dominant global superpower?"
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Overprotective Parenting Led to Fragility on Campus
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff explain how "good intentions and bad ideas" have made young people super-fragile-and how to make things better.
Indonesian Blasphemy Conviction for Complaining About Mosque's Loud Call to Prayer
My Spanish blasphemy post reminded that I've been meaning to blog about the Indonesian decision, handed down last month.
Unholy Toledo -- Blasphemy Prosecution in Spain
"The Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers has announced that it is also planning to ask the judge to consider investigating Toledo for hate crimes after he said during a television interview that if people were shot for their religious beliefs and Catholic churches burned during the Spanish Civil War, it was because they 'must have done something."'
Maybe Social Media 'Outrage' Is Just a Lazy Partisan Ritual: Podcast
Before demanding censure or intervention, take a step back from the Twitter machine and ask yourself whether anyone really cares about this stuff.
Magistrate Rejects Sealing in Discrimination Lawsuit Against Novelist Nicholas Sparks and the School He Founded
A good example of a court properly protecting the public right of access to court records.
Arizona Supreme Court Rejects Proposed Lawyer Speech Code (Rule 8.4(g))
The rule would have banned, among other things, "harmful verbal ... conduct that manifests bias or prejudice towards others" "on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law," including "in bar association, business or social activities in connection with the practice of law."
Another "Stop Talking About Him" Court Order, This One Obtained by Convicted Securities Fraudster
Tracy Zona was ordered to "remove forthwith, all references to petitioner the family and legal representatives and make no further posting in re of any kind"; she was then ordered to spend five days in jail unless she removed the posts (which she did).
Federal Court: First Amendment Protects Feeding the Homeless—Sort Of
Referencing Shakespeare, the Bible, and American colonial times, a federal court rules in favor of a group's right to feed the homeless.
Trump Doesn't Like What People See When They Search 'Trump News'
Threatened regulations on "fake news" would be an attack on press freedom
Defense Distributed Lawyer Josh Blackman on 3D-Printed Guns and Free Speech: Podcast
Cody Wilson's attorney talks guns, speech, and "Lochner-izing the First Amendment."
President Trump Says "Google Search Results" are "RIGGED," "a Very Serious Situation" That "Will Be Addressed"
But would the First Amendment allow Congress to regulate search results?
Senator Ron Wyden (Co-Author of § 230) Trying to Pressure Internet Companies to Restrict "Indecent" Ideas?
That's how I read his item last week in TechCrunch, which warns Internet companies that this might happen if they "fail to understand one simple principle: that an individual endorsing (or denying) the extermination of millions of people, or attacking the victims of horrific crimes or the parents of murdered children, is far more indecent than an individual posting pornography."
Trump Says His Crummy Google Results May Be a Crime: Reason Roundup
Plus: "Sheriff Joe" Arpaio faces voters again, states go after sexual-assault NDAs, and Louisiana florists fight licensing exams.
How Trustworthy Does Facebook Think You Are?
Should we be concerned about a new system to keep track of real vs. fake news?
Rutgers Says: Professors' Facebook Opinions Can Be Punished for Disrupting "the University's Core Function of Educating a Diverse Student Body"
Prof. James Livingston (white himself) said he "hate[s] white people" -- but Rutgers' reasoning would equally punish professors who express a wide range of views that offend people with a particular religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and the like.
ACLU on the NRA's Lawsuit Against N.Y. Gov. Cuomo
The NRA accuses N.Y. government officials of unconstitutionally pressuring financial services companies into not dealing with the NRA -- an ACLU friend-of-the-court brief says, "If true, those allegations represent a blatant violation of the First Amendment."
Netherlands Prosecuting Man for Insulting Turkish President Erdogan
The insults were in e-mails sent to the Turkish embassy.
Trump Is No Match for the First Amendment
Far from undermining freedom of the press, the president's fulminations prove its durability.
Rap Song = Punishable True Threat, Says Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The court stressed that the song threated particular police officers by name.
Extortion and Super-Secret Prior Restraints
An Oklahoma case involving an employee's allegations of food plant contamination-litigated under seal.
The Senate Accused Them of Selling Kids for Sex. The FBI Raided Their Homes. Backpage.com's Founders Speak for the First Time.
An inside look at how indie media veterans James Larkin and Michael Lacey became the targets of a federal witchhunt.
"A Court Cannot Tell [Anyone] That He or She Cannot Be Rude, Insulting, or Boorish"
Words of wisdom from Rhode Island Judge Richard Licht.
