Katherine Mangu-Ward and I Podcasting About Crime-Facilitating Speech
My first foray into podcasting here at Reason, a discussion with Reason editor Katherine Mangu-Ward.
Free Speech
When Does Speech About Crimes Become a Crime?: Podcast
A conversation with Eugene Volokh about what's legal to publish and why-plus doxxing, lock picking, source protection, and more.
University of Michigan Realizes Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings, Changes Speech Policy
A day after DOJ joined free speech lawsuit, UM agreed to change policy that said "the most important indication of bias is your own feelings."
Department of Justice Backs Free Speech Lawsuit Against University of Michigan Bias Response Team
"The United States has a significant interest in the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms in institutions of higher learning."
N.Y. Set to Criminalize Much "Verbal" "Abuse" of Under-18-Year-Olds Online
The N.Y. Senate just unanimously passed a bill that would do that.
16-Year-Old Distributed Child Pornography -- by Sending Sex Tape of Herself to Friends
So holds the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, affirming a juvenile court finding of responsibility.
You Don't Need a Local Lawyer to Get a Case Unsealed
Each one of us has the right to access court records, so we can just sue pro se (though it helps to know the legal rules).
"What a Company Decides to Put on Their Vehicle Is a Matter of Free Speech and the Market"
A tiny free speech victory.
Telling Trump to Stop Blocking Critics on Twitter Doesn't Affect the Platform's Rules
The First Amendment constrains speech regulation by the government, not by private parties.
Sealed Case with Sealed Emergency Speech-Restrictive Injunction
How much do you trust judges to make such decisions without public scrutiny?
Criminal Libel Laws Are Constitutional If They're Limited to Deliberate Lies
There's a New Hampshire prosecution for criminal libel of a police chief -- and it may well be legally viable, at least if the defendant's statement is seen as a knowingly false factual claim. [UPDATE, June 8, 2018: Charges have now been dropped.]
SCOTUS May Yet Approve Gay Wedding Cake Demands
Despite its ruling in favor of a Colorado baker, the Court remains hostile to religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.
President Trump Apparently Unblocking Twitter Critics, Even While Appealing the Decision
The court decision was just a declaratory judgment, and thus not strictly legally binding.
First Amendment and Off-the-Job Political Speech Criticizing Black Lives Matter Movement and "Thugs"
An interesting opinion from three Georgia Supreme Court Justices.
After Stanford's Niall Ferguson Controversy, Free Speech Conservatives Need to Practice What They Preach
"Slowly, we will continue to crush the Left's will to resist, as they will crack under pressure."
Candidate for Oklahoma Legislature Sues Over Sealed Mystery Libel
A libel lawsuit in which the alleged libel is sealed is like Hamlet without the Prince -- or maybe like Othello with Iago's slanders redacted.
What Does the Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Say About the Free Speech Claim?
Four Justices opined on this issue, with Justices Thomas and Gorsuch saying that requiring bakers to make cakes for same-sex weddings is an unconstitutional speech compulsion, and Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor saying the opposite.
Supreme Court Rules for Baker in Gay Wedding Cake Case But Carefully Avoids Central Debate
This 7-2 ruling is more about Colorado's biased enforcement of discrimination law than freedom of expression.
Chelsea Manning Loses Wikileaks First Amendment Appeal
"[A] soldier who willfully communicates information relating to the national defense 'is not entitled to invoke the First Amendment as a shield to immunize his act of thievery.'"
Minister Has Sex with Married Parishioner -- Can Church Be Liable for Saying the Parishioner Committed Adultery?
No, says the Iowa Supreme Court, rejecting the claim that such statements (labeled "counterculture practices" by the plaintiffs) were libelous or negligent.
Samantha Bee Apologizes for Insulting Ivanka Trump After Right and Left Play 'We're Offended' Tit-for-Tat
Conservatives want to hold the left to the Roseanne standard.
How the Right Abandoned Free Speech in Europe
The center-right Danish government, whose members defended the Mohammed cartoons, has passed more laws restricting free speech than any government since World War II, says free-speech podcaster Jacob Mchangama.
Liberty Comes to Liberty High School -- "Trump Border Wall" T-Shirt Allowed
But it took a federal court order.
YouTube Won't Host Our Homemade Gun Video. So We Posted It on PornHub Instead.
Our video is awesome. But nothing in the First Amendment says YouTube has to run it.
When You're Done Reading This Issue of Reason, You Might Want to Burn It
We offer how-tos, personal stories, and guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen right at the borders of legally permissible behavior.
U.K. Arrests Anti-Muslim Activist Tommy Robinson for Livestreaming Outside a Trial
The very fact that Robinson got 13 months in jail was also initially illegal to report.
Roseanne's Racist Tweet Leads Almost Immediately to Show's Cancellation
The show navigated a fascinating complicated world of ideological diversity. Its star was not so adept.
Why Can't Anyone Get Their Immigration Facts Straight?: Podcast
The president and his detractors both bungle scare stories in the outrage-politics contest that passes for our immigration policy debate.
At University of Virginia the White Supremacists Have Already Won
College limits protest, suppressing everybody's free expression.
Why Judy Gold Doesn't Play Colleges: 'You Don't Tell a Comic What Topics They Can Discuss on Stage'
A new Vice feature by Michael Moynihan highlights not just disillusioned comics but campus bookers ready to "pull the microphone" from performers who use language deemed intolerant.
4 Tips for Politicians With Social Media Accounts Who Don't Want to Be Sued
The ruling against Donald Trump's blocking of Twitter critics provides guidelines for staying on the right side of the First Amendment.
NFL's National Anthem Policy Exposes Free Speech Hypocrisy of Right, Left, and Trump
"You have to stand proudly for the national anthem," Trump says, "or you shouldn't be playing."
Is It Really Illegal for Trump to Block People on Twitter Now?
Federal judge rules that the First Amendment prohibits the president from blocking followers based on their political views.
Blocking of Twitter Users from @RealDonaldTrump Violates First Amendment
So holds a federal district court today, in Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump.
NFL Players WILL Respect the Flag's Authoritah, Says Commissioner
Teams will now be fined if their employees don't show sufficient on-field respect during the National Anthem, because we live in a very serious country.
SUNY Binghamton Tries to Suppress Students' Flyers Because They "Offended" Other Students
[UPDATE: The university is now reported (as of Friday, May 25) to be saying that no investigation is taking place, and that the original student newspaper account saying that there was such an investigation was mistaken; but the university hadn't responded to FIRE's earlier queries about the matter, and it hadn't responded to my query before I had to put up my post.]
High School Trump Fan Sues Over School Discipline for Border Wall T-Shirt
"If people are offended by his shirt-that's their right to be offended," said the student's attorney, state Rep. Mike McLane. "But it's also his right to have his opinion."
88% of Pomona Students Think the Campus Climate Silences Them
"'Very liberal' students are nearly four times more likely than moderate and conservative students to favor prohibiting some types of speech."
Will Lawyers Be Punishable for Using the "Wrong" Pronouns to Refer to Transgender People in "Social" or "Bar Association" Activities?
LAMBDA Legal suggests the answer would be "yes," under the American Bar Association's proposed rule 8.4, which they are supporting.
Crime in D.C. to Negligently Cause "Significant Mental Suffering" by Saying Two Non-Political Things About Someone
That's what D.C. stalking law, as interpreted by D.C. courts, calls for.
D.C. City Councilman Tried to Get Anti-Stalking Order Against Freelance Journalist
The councilman was Trayon "Rothschilds Control the Weather" White (or, if you prefer, Trayon "Nazi Stormtrooper Protectors" White).
Arkansas Prior Restraint Saga -- One Court Says Yes, One Says No
I'll grant Justice Courtney Goodson's request to block ads that allegedly libel her during her reelection campaign, says one trial judge. Unconstitutional prior restraint, says another.
Fight Hate Speech with More Speech, Not Censorship: ACLU's Nadine Strossen
Nick Gillespie talks to former president of the ACLU Nadine Strossen about the difficulties and importance of free speech.
Google Now Deindexing Some Web Pages Based on FDA's Administrative Agency Findings
A new Google policy calls for such deindexing based on administrative agency findings-without a court order-in cases where the agency is "charged with protecting consumers' physical safety from harm by products or services that they consume."
