NSA Ruling Reminds Us That Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security Is a Bipartisan Impulse
A federal appeals court concludes that the agency's mass collection of phone records was illegal and probably unconstitutional.
Civil Liberties
Daniel Prude's Brother Called 911 Because He Was Behaving Erratically. Prude Ended Up Dead.
Another example of how police can respond poorly to drug and mental health calls
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.
FOSTA Is Unconstitutional, Argue Sexual Freedom Advocates and First Amendment Lawyers in New Motion
Plus: People have doubts about democracy, Washington state sues Juul, and more...
If You Want to Fix Policing, Listen to the Pragmatists
Reason asked writers who have been on the criminal justice beat for years to lay out serious proposals for reforms with a fighting chance of being implemented.
3rd Circuit Federal Appeals Court Says Large-Capacity Magazine Bans Are OK
Last month, the 9th Circuit said the opposite. It's a question the Supreme Court might have to resolve.
"Some [Academics] Fear for Their Career Because They Don't Believe Progressive Orthodoxies"
From Prof. John McWhorter (Columbia) in The Atlantic.
Right of Publicity Lawsuit by Alleged "Pantless Couponer" Dismissed
“Just because the story and the photograph may be embarrassing or distressful to the plaintiff does not mean the newspaper cannot publish what is otherwise newsworthy.”
'Who Funds the Rioters?' Is Not a Question the Federal Government Needs To Ask
The notion that the violent protests cropping up in U.S. cities are funded by a secret, shadowy cabal is a myth.
Trying to Unseal Affidavit and Block Pseudonymity in Cincinnati Police Officer Libel Case
The Cincinnati Enquirer and I have just filed a petition seeking this, in the Ohio Court of Appeals.
In New Tests, Facial Recognition Products Are Consistently Thwarted by Masks
Defeating surveillance is a powerful argument for covering your face.
How Portland's Protests Drifted into 'Dangerous Territory'
"When terror is seen as justified, I think it's inevitable that something terrible is going to happen," journalist Nancy Rommelmann told Nick Gillespie last week.
New Jersey Mayor Bills Teen Protest Organizer for Police Overtime Pay
Plus: Congress to vote on marijuana decriminalization, tech visas are getting turned down at high rates, and more...
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.
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.
Qualified Immunity Is a Disgrace, No Matter Where You Live
Even the most police-skeptical courts grant the doctrine in egregious circumstances.
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.
Tucson Handyman Gets His Jeep Back After He Threatens to Fight the Forfeiture
The cops seized Kevin McBride's $15,000 car because his girlfriend allegedly used it for a $25 marijuana sale.
Remember When a Democratic Polling Firm Fired the Guy Who Thought Violent Protests Could Backfire Politically?
A pre-Kenosha poll shows support for Black Lives Matter plummeting among white voters in Wisconsin.
The ACLU Defends the NRA
David Cole writes in defense of the National Rifle Association
Kenosha Doesn't Have To Be a Vision of America's Future
Neither does Portland. But the fact that the violence is continuous and seems to be escalating is cause for concern.
2 Dead, 1 Gunman Arrested In Kenosha Riots, As Family of Jacob Blake Calls for Calm
A 17-year-old Illinois teen has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
The Politics of Guns Are Changing. Politicians Need To Catch Up.
Millions of new firearm owners who have lost faith in cops and government will be a tough audience for shopworn gun control schemes.
The Senseless Destruction of Property in Kenosha, Minneapolis, and Elsewhere Is Not Advancing Justice
Demand justice for those hurt and killed by police. Stop creating more victims.
'Silence Is Violence': D.C. Black Lives Matter Protesters Adopt Strategy of Intimidating Random White People
Evergreen College, but everywhere
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.
Mike Godwin, the Creator of Godwin's Law, Is Suing Trump Over His TikTok Executive Order
"I know what moral panics look like; they look kind of like this."
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?
When You Say Yes to Hate: Dispatch From Portland
The situation in Portland on Day 87 is not getting better.
The Cops Took This Guy's $15,000 Jeep Because His Girlfriend Allegedly Used It for a $25 Marijuana Sale
Kevin McBride argues that Arizona's civil forfeiture law is unconstitutional.
10,000 Gather In Bangkok to Protest Thailand's Monarchy
Increasing tensions between the military-backed ruling class and the student-led democracy movement have prompted massive rallies in the capital.
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.
Are the Democrats Right That We Are Seeing an 'Epidemic of Gun Violence'?
The rhetoric may not be accurate, but it is definitely useful.
