How Bad Facts Make Good First Amendment Law
Jay Near was a hateful man whose litigation set a vital precedent for free speech.
Free Speech
"Gaslighting" Isn't "Abuse" for Child Custody Law Purposes
So holds an Oregon appellate court.
California Can't Define 'Hate Speech' But May Mandate Workplace Training Anyway
The term “hate speech” gets thrown around a lot, but it’s legally protected in the U.S.
"[Anti-Harassment] Injunctions Are Not a Remedy for Interpersonal Conflict"
So reasons a Florida appellate court, though other courts in other states seem to take a different view.
Free Speech Unmuted: "Defamacast" and More: How American Defamation Law Works
Jane and I lay out the structure of American defamation law, using the recent lawsuits brought by FBI Director Kash Patel as a launching point. Special bonus: Almost no discussion of New York Times v. Sullivan (an important case but one that listeners have doubtless heard much about elsewhere).
Bankers Scouring Porn Sites. Payment Processors Punishing Journalists. Here's How 'Big Finance' Is Chilling Speech
Financial censorship should worry us all, suggests Rainey Reitman in Transaction Denied.
"Making Negative Statements" About People to Their Employers = Criminal Harassment
"[S]tatements made to third parties can be 'directed at' the victim," and thus criminal harassment if they're repeated and likely to cause serious annoyance or distress, "when they are designed to provoke an adverse consequence against the victim."
Trump Administration's Review of ABC's Broadcast Licenses Looks Like 'Illegal Jawboning'
When he returned to the White House, Trump vowed to protect free speech from the government. The FCC's latest move against ABC and Disney looks like the opposite.
D.C. Circuit Lets Pentagon Require That Journalists Be Escorted While in Pentagon
The panel (by a 2-1 vote) stayed a district court order that, among other things, blocked the newly established escort requirement.
Judge Reaffirms: EEOC May Subpoena Penn's Records as to "Jewish-Related Organizations" (and Others) in Investigation of Anti-Semitic Harassment at Penn
But the judge suspends his decision pending appeal, so that the appellate court has "time to consider and decide the merits of this case, absent unnecessary procedural deadlines."
Allowing Censorship of Military Retirees Like Sen. Mark Kelly Would Set a Chilling and Dangerous Precedent
To justify punishing a legislator for his speech, a FIRE brief notes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth relies on a Supreme Court precedent that is clearly inapposite.
Injunction Against Publicly Identifying Pseudonymous Litigants Is Content-Based Prior Restraint,
and thus presumptively a First Amendment violation (though here the presumption was rebutted by national security interests).
Fourth Circuit Upholds Injunction Against Disclosing Names of Perceived Afghan Collaborators
The order came in a peculiar context—a civil lawsuit over the custody of a child born in Afghanistan—but its logic extends further.
FBI Director Kash Patel Loses Defamation Lawsuit Over Morning Joe Statements
The wild things are in the nightclubs.
Retired Pastor Faces Trial Under U.K. Speech Laws for Preaching John 3:16 Near Hospital
Despite not mentioning abortion in his sermon, Clive Johnston is being charged for trying to "influence" people not to go through with the procedure.
Megan Thee Stallion's Request for Anti-"Cyberstalking" Injunction Against Online Defamer Denied as Prior Restraint
"Plaintiff is allegedly the target of hurtful, angry, offensive, humiliating, racial, and gender-based hate made in online posts by Defendant's followers. As tempting as it might be to force some civility into the matter by staunching Defendant's speech against Plaintiff through an injunction, doing so would ignore the protections of the First Amendment."
"Once the [Rainbow Flag] Cat Is out of the Bag, the Ball Game Is Over"
No pseudonymity for teacher challenging removal of pride flags from classroom, because his identity had already been disclosed through public records requests.
Woodrow Wilson's War at Home
Silencing "Fighting Bob" details how the government targeted anti-war critics like Sen. Robert La Follette.
The Supreme Court Ruled Against 'Informal Censorship' 6 Decades Ago but Officials Are Still Jawboning
The Court's 1963 ruling in Bantam Books v. Sullivan is freshly relevant in light of recent efforts to restrict speech through government intimidation.
Virginia's Unconstitutional Effort to Strip Property Tax Exemptions From Pro-Confederate Groups
The groups and their ideology are awful. But Virginia's policy violates the First Amendment. Allowing it to stand could set a dangerous precedent.
Pete Hegseth Wants the D.C. Circuit To Let Him Punish a Senator for Criticizing Him
The defense secretary's asserted authority to control the speech of retired military officers "would chill public participation by veterans," a brief supporting Mark Kelly warns.
