Teen Arrested Under Connecticut's Unconstitutional Hate Speech Law for Racist Social Media Post
Calling a classmate a racist slur on Snapchat is offensive. It’s also protected speech.
Hate Speech
Another "Racial Ridicule" Arrest in Connecticut, This One for an Online Insult
But the "racial ridicule" statute under which this is happening (1) by its terms doesn't cover such speech, and (2) if it did, it would be unconstitutional.
Baltimore Prosecutor Asking FCC to Investigate TV Station for Criticizing Her
The elected prosecutor (Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby) is claiming that the station's coverage of her is "blatantly slanted, dishonest, misleading, racist, and extremely dangerous."
N.Y. Court Pressuring Mother to Remove Rock with Small Painted Confederate Flag
"Given that the child is of mixed race, it would seem apparent that the presence of the flag is not in the child's best interests, as the mother must encourage and teach the child to embrace her mixed race identity, rather than thrust her into a world that only makes sense through the tortured lens of cognitive dissonance."
John McWhorter on Cursing, Anti-Racism, and Why 'We Need to Stop Being So Afraid'
Columbia University linguist John McWhorter on "anti-racism" as a new, misguided civic religion and his new book on curses, Nine Nasty Words.
Our Right to Criticize Governments and Countries,
whether the U.S., China, Israel, or anyone else.
New Colorado Bill Would Create Commission to Restrict "Hate Speech," "Fake News," "Conspiracy Theories" on Social Media Platforms
The bill was introduced by Colorado Senate president pro tem Kerry Donovan (who is also running for Congress).
May N.Y. Businesses Fire Employees for Using Parler and Gab?
Colleen Oefelein was fired by the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, and the incident illustrates the vagueness of New York law on this point.
"The Law School Acknowledges That the Racial and Gender References on the Examination Were Deeply Offensive"
A controversy at the University of Illinois Chicago John Marshall Law School (not to be confused with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Can a Fighting Words Charge Lead to a Higher Sentence Because of the Defendant's Racial Motivation?
Yes, the Ohio Court of Appeals held Thursday.
Suppressing 'Hate Speech' on Social Media Drives Users to New Platforms
The more that big social media companies act like they can control what people say, the more competition they encourage.
N.Y. Aims to Ban "Symbols of Hate" Sold by Private Vendors at State (or State-Funded) Fairgrounds
But such a ban would be unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, whether applied to the Confederate flag, white supremacist symbols, or whatever else might be labeled as "hate[ful]."
Biden Transition Team Member's Op-Ed on "Why America Needs a Hate Speech Law"
Richard Stengel published that argument in the Washington Post last year.
Ira Glasser: Would Today's ACLU Defend the Speech Rights of Nazis?
The subject of the new film Mighty Ira explains why social justice warriors are wrong to attack free speech.
German-Style Internet Censorship Catches On Around the World
Inspired by Germany's notorious hate-speech law, more countries seek to impose steep penalties on platforms that don't comply with their censorship whims.
Mother's "Islamophobic" Remarks About School Board Member Yield Ban from School District Property
(at least unless she gets case-by-case permission to enter that property). But a federal district judge has correctly held that this likely violated the First Amendment.
Tenured Professor Fired for Accurately Quoting Leading Campus Speech Code Case
The professor, chair of the Central Michigan University journalism department, was teaching a media law class, and quoted a case that discussed the use of the word "nigger" at public universities.
Should Universities Recommend (or Demand) Epithet Filtering on Students' and Professors' Internet Devices?
A thought experiment that came to my mind; I'd love to hear what others think about it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Professor Put on Administrative Leave for Accurately Quoting Leading Campus Speech Code Case
The professor, the chair of the Central Michigan University journalism department, was teaching a media law class, and quoted a case that discussed the use of the word "nigger" at public universities.
And Another N.Y. Bill Targeted at "Hate Speech" (and Advocacy of Boycotts of Friendly Countries)
This one focuses on student groups that get funding from public colleges, but it's an unconstitutional viewpoint-based restriction.
N.Y. State Bill to Ban "Hate Speech" from Social Media
"Hate speech" would be defined as an intentional "insulting statement about a group of persons because of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion or beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity or physical, mental or intellectual disability."
Students Don't "Shed Their … Freedom of Speech … at the Schoolhouse Gate" …
... they apparently shed it well before the schoolhouse gate.
