Cardi B's "Wet Ass Pussy" Doesn't Infringe Plaintiff's Song
"The concept of using 'p**** so wet' as a rhetorical device in a song is neither original nor unique to Plaintiff, and, in any event, '[c]opyright does not protect ideas or themes.'"
Free Speech
Jessie Appleby and Bill Blanken: Do California Community Colleges 'Mandate Viewpoint Conformity'?
"Science should have no agenda other than a relentless pursuit of the truth.... With DEI, we're expected to search out racism within science curriculum, and it's just not there," says professor Bill Blanken.
That School Is Still Treading on Jaiden Rodriguez's Free Speech Rights
The district is still censoring the Gadsden flag patch as well as Second Amendment advocacy, according to FIRE.
In Scathing Rulings, Federal Courts Block Arkansas and Texas Age Verification Laws
Plus: Meta revises controversial "dangerous organizations" policy, a win against civil asset forfeiture in Detroit, and more...
How Can the State Prevent Viewpoint Foreclosure?
By guaranteeing five basic internet rights.
Protecting Kids on Social Media Act Cloaks Attack on Privacy Behind Concern for Children
There are already people responsible for regulating children’s online activity: parents and guardians.
Texas Law Mandating Age Verification for Sexually Themed Sites Violates First Amendment,
a federal judge held today.
Are California's New 'Woke' DEI College Standards Illegal?
Join Reason on YouTube at 1 p.m. Eastern for a discussion about a lawsuit against California Community Colleges' new DEI standards with FIRE attorney Jessie Appleby and the plaintiff
Should a Website Have the Right to Exist?
Even outcasts should be able to subsist on their own land.
Firing Based on Employee's Pre-Employment Social Media Posts Leads to Discrimination Lawsuit;
federal court allows the case to go forward.
Criticizing Business on TikTok Can't Lead to Anti-Harassment Order, Even When Criticism …
leads some readers to engage in "threats and harassment" against the business.
Don't Tread on Jaiden! School District Learns Its Lesson
The 12-year-old boy kicked out of class for sporting a Gadsden flag patch is back in school.
Denmark May Ban Burning the Quran
A cabinet minister who once defended the right to blaspheme now wants a crackdown.
Massive Sanctions Against Rudy Giuliani for "Willful Shirking of His Discovery Obligations" in Libel Lawsuit Against Him
Among other things, "Default judgment will be entered against Giuliani as a discovery sanction ..., holding him civilly liable on plaintiffs' defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage claims ...."
Can a Controversial User Really Get Kicked off the Internet?
In theory, yes; in practice, perhaps soon.
A Ruling Against a Man Arrested for a COVID-19 Joke Highlights the Influence of a Pernicious Analogy
A federal judge compared Waylon Bailey’s Facebook jest to "falsely shouting fire in a theatre."
12-Year-Old Boy Removed From School Over 'Don't Tread on Me' Patch
"The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution," says Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
The Fifth Circuit on the "Trump Train" / Biden-Harris Bus Lawsuit
The lawyer's true superpower is to turn every case into a case about procedure.
But Is It Art?
What counts as an "artistic work" for purposes of special protection under the Texas anti-SLAPP statute?
Can the State Regulate Content Moderation?
It's hard to argue that providing a pipe constitutes a speech act.
Talking About Sex Online Shouldn't Be Illegal
Porn sites and other online spaces with adult content are fun; they’re also important sources of community and information.
'No Reasonable Officer' Would Have Arrested a Guy for a COVID-19 Joke, the 5th Circuit Says
The appeals court ruled that a Facebook post alluding to World War Z was clearly protected by the First Amendment.
When Should the Law Regulate Content Moderation?
Only when necessary to protect five basic internet rights.
Did Banks Hand Private Financial Data to the FBI Without Legal Process?
Banks routinely snitch on customers and even deny services to people politicians don’t like.
Court Rejects Lawsuit by Sorority Members Against Sorority for Admitting Transgender Member
The sorority, the court held, had a First Amendment freedom of expressive association right to choose which students to admit (logic that suggests that a sorority would equally be free to exclude transgender members).
Hospital Threatens Defamation Suit Over a 15-Year-Old's Change.org Petition
The hospital baselessly claimed the teenager's mother wrote the petition after she was fired without cause.
The Washington Post Says Democracy Demands Less Freedom of Speech
The paper worries that "social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation."
Court Rejects RNC's Lawsuit Claiming Google Discriminatorily Treated RNC's Email as Spam
Section 230, the court says, immunizes good-faith attempts to block spam—and RNC didn't introduce enough evidence of bad faith.
Joke "We Need You Brad Pitt" Post at Start of COVID Pandemic Protected by First Amendment
The post led to the author being arrested for "terrorizing"; so clearly unconstitutional that the police officer lacks qualified immunity, says the Fifth Circuit.
No Pseudonymity or Sealing for Japanese User Seeking to Use American Courts to Subpoena Twitter Critics' Names
"Applicant's warning of a prima facie violation of Japanese law's privacy protections fails to constitute a harm severe enough" to justify pseudonymity.
California Public Records Requester Can File Anti-SLAPP Motion Objecting to Attempt to Block Request
The motion allows early dismissal of a lawsuit, here the lawsuit that aimed to block UC Irvine from responding to a public records request from the Center for Scientific Integrity (the Retraction Watch people).
Federal Judge: "Public Interest" Requires That Restrictions on "Medical Misinformation" Not Be Enjoined
So a court concludes in a case brought by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Why We Should Care About Pseudonymity in Litigation
Like other features of legal procedure—such as the jury trial, the mechanism for appointing judges, the availability of appeal—pseudonymity both deeply affects the fairness of litigation and, often, the substantive outcomes.
30 Years Later, Politically Incorrect PCU Has a Lot To Say About College
“The whole woke movement, it’s obviously an echo of those times.”
Lawsuit Over Alec Baldwin's Publicly Labeling Woman "Insurrectionist" for Her Jan. 6 Activities Dismissed by Court
Plaintiffs sued for defamation, and also for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from the comments aroused by Baldwin's posts.
Public School May Hang "Black Lives Matter" Posters Without Displaying Other Viewpoints
The government gets to pick and choose which speech it displays on its property, and doesn't have to give others a right to reply (except in public fora, which don't include school walls).
