The Controversy Over Quoting Racial Epithets, Now at UC Irvine School of Law
Plus a new draft law review article on the subject, by Prof. Randall Kennedy (Harvard Law School), a leading scholar of race and the law, and me.
Free Speech
Ambazonia, Remedies, and the First Amendment
Across the Atlantic from Amazonia lies ... Ambazonia.
Sarah Palin's Libel Lawsuit Against the New York Times Can Go to Trial
There is enough evidence that the Times knew their allegations were false (or at least were likely false) to go to the jury.
Fighting Words in the Connecticut Supreme Court
Three interesting opinions: a sound majority, a plausible concurrence, and another concurrence focused on "hate speech" that I think is unsound.
Dean Lyrissa Lidsky on the Nicholas Sandmann Litigation
Dean Lidsky is a libel law scholar, and one of the two Reporters of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Defamation & Privacy.
Anti-Riot Act Partly Upheld, Partly Struck Down
The Fourth Circuit decides a case involving defendants who violently participated in two white supremacist rallies in California and in the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, but the logic applies equally to rioters of all stripes.
Tennessee's Lawmakers Respond to Police Reform Protests by Threatening Voting Rights and Gun Rights
The new law features harsher penalties, 12-hour detentions, and other invitations to abuse government power
#MeToo, #TheyLied, and Pseudonymous Litigation (II)
When can libel plaintiffs, suing over allegedly false claims of sexual misconduct, sue pseudonymously? When can defendants defend pseudonymously?
Statements about American Jews as a Group Can't Be Libelous
So holds a federal court, quite correctly; of course, the same is true about any religious group, racial group, or other such large group.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Donates $10 Million to Ibram X. Kendi, Who Wants To Make Racism Unconstitutional
"This research will inform and fuel much needed and overdue policy change."
Tweeting That Someone Is Xenophobic Is Nonlibelous Opinion
An interesting decision in former AP journalist Charles Ganske's lawsuit against former Member of Parliament Louise Mensch, with allegations of Russian bots and Tweeting frenzies thrown in for good measure.
Kamala Harris' Dishonest Campaign To Destroy Backpage.com
The vice presidential candidate opportunistically painted the site's co-founders as villains when they were actually helping law enforcement to catch sex traffickers.
Defendant Ordered "Not to Post Pictures or Comments About" the Administrator of Nursing Home Where Defendant's Mother Lives
Unconstitutional, says a Massachusetts appellate court (correctly).
"The Information [U.S. Customs & Border Protection] Wants to Seal … [Is] Not Secret Anymore"
"CBP asks the Court to close the stable door to keep an invisible horse from bolting. But that stable door sat open for five months before CBP asked the Court to secure it. Neither the Court nor CBP know whether the horse is gone, but the possibility that it's still be there can't outweigh public's interest in open doors."
Government's Seeking to Force Landlord to Evict You Because of Your Threatened Lawsuit Against Police
would clearly violate the Constitution, and so would giving a ticket to your lover because of the romantic relationship.
Lawsuit Against Pro-Palestinian / Anti-Semitic Protesters Outside Synagogue Thrown Out
The First Amendment protects "'anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist, [and] antisemitic" speech, the court correctly observes.
Iowa State English Professor Forbids Papers "Against Gay Marriage, Abortion, Black Lives Matter,"
threatens to kick students out of class for "othering." Fortunately, the university has stepped in and rejected this position.
Cincinnati Enquirer Writes About the Police Officer's Pseudonymous Libel Lawsuit,
mentioning the name of an officer against whom publicly available complaints -- the contents of which matches the contents of the allegedly libelous post -- were filed.
Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Critical Teaching About Islamic Terrorism
The case was filed against the Maricopa County Community College District, over Prof. Nicholas Damask's World Politics class.
Saying a Lawyer "Need to Go Back to Law School" Not Libelous
Bonus: We learn that calling a doctor "a real tool" isn't libelous, either.
Restrictions on Grand Jurors' Speech Upheld …
in a case stemming from the Darren Wilson prosecution.
Puerto Rico Banned Political Officials from Mentioning Their Positions and Accomplishments on Social Media,
including on their own non-government-run reelection campaign pages. A federal court has just struck that down.
Protests Outside People's Homes (Residential Picketing) and the First Amendment
They can be banned, so long as the ban is content-neutral, and so long as people remain free to generally march through the neighborhood (as opposed to protesting right outside the target's home).
"How Racist Are Universities, Really? Hyperbolic Accusations Do More Harm Than Good"
An excellent piece by Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy, one of the nation's leading scholars of race, law, and society.
Democrats Hate Facebook. Republicans Want To Ban TikTok. The Bipartisan Backlash Against Big Tech Is Here and It's a Disaster.
Even as Americans rely on tech more than ever, our early-pandemic truce with the industry is officially over.
Criticisms of People That Might Create a Risk of Attack by Third Parties
They are still protected by the First Amendment.
Court Rejects Lawsuit for Sending Gruesome Photos to NRA Lobbyist's E-Mail Address
The Eleventh Circuit threw out a lawsuit brought by former NRA President Marion Hammer.
Comedian Ricky Gervais Rips Cancel Culture While Admitting To Being Like Hitler
"I’m a vegetarian and I love dogs, like Hitler. But the only thing I have in common with Hitler are the good bits!"
A Judge Condemns Excessive Requests to Seal
"Judges often do not respond well to unreasonable efforts to keep as much out of the public record as possible. At least not this judge."
Alleged Rapist's Wife Gets Anti-Stalking Order Against Husband of Alleged Victim
The Vermont Supreme Court reversed the order (which had required defendant to stay 300 feet away from the plaintiff).
How Cancel Culture Violates Intellectual Freedom
Jonathan Rauch explains the difference between canceling and criticism
Trump Is Trying To Take Away Americans' Access to Popular Apps by Executive Order
Plus: the latest unemployment numbers, Biden apologizes for comment on diversity, Ohio governor gets flip-flopping COVID-19 results, and more…
'Cancel Culture' Is a Dangerous, Totalitarian Trend
It's a game of gotcha, played by people who want to destroy their political opponents—and drive them into the outer darkness.
"The Most Gullible Man in Cambridge" Story Gets Even Stranger
The legally strange dimension: A claim that the magazine article author sexually harassed the subject of her article, apparently by "seek[ing] inappropriate personal and romantic intimacy with Plaintiff."
Sargon of Akkad Wins Attorney Fees in We Thought She Would Win/SJW Levels of Awareness Copyright Lawsuit
"[T]he Court has little difficulty concluding that Hughes's dual goals in bringing her baseless suit were to inflict financial harm on Benjamin and to raise her own profile in the process."
