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.
Civil Liberties
All New Cars Could Have Mandatory Surveillance Tech Unless Congress Stops This Mandate
Cars are already spying on drivers. A 2021 law requires manufacturers to install more tracking technology.
Fauci Aide Charged
Plus: A dicey FISA reauthorization, kingly quips about burning down the White House, the world's narrowest tax breaks, and more...
"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."
A SCOTUS Case Exposes the Dangers of 2 Misguided Fourth Amendment Doctrines
"Geofence" searches illustrate the perilous combination of modern technology and deference to law enforcement.
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.
SCOTUS Weighs 'Geofence Warrants' and the Future of Digital Privacy
The government wants access to millions of cell phone location histories. The Supreme Court will decide what the Fourth Amendment allows.
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."
Why Homewrecking in North Carolina Could Cost You Millions
Some states still allow vengeful spouses to sue a third party for destroying their marriages.
Civil Liberties Groups Sue for Information on ICE's Speech-Chilling Subpoenas
The feds have been demanding that tech companies identify the administration's anonymous online critics. That violates the First Amendment.
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.
Congress Still Has a Chance To Curb Section 702 Surveillance Abuses
Sen. Ron Wyden warns that Americans would be “stunned” at how officials have used the law.
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.
Reports of Abuse Pour Out of Federal Immigration Detention Centers
Deaths in ICE detention have hit a two-decade high, and allegations of medical neglect and poor conditions continue to surge.
A New Age-Verification Bill Could Make You Show ID To Use a Computer or Smartphone
Plus: The war with Iran is raising condom prices, increased legal liability for chatbot advice could backfire, and more...
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.
Judge Says DOJ and DHS Likely Coerced Tech Firms To Censor ICE-Tracking Platforms
The platform creators filed a lawsuit claiming their First Amendment rights were violated after the Trump administration convinced Apple and Facebook to remove their content.
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."
Afroman on Becoming the 2028 Libertarian Presidential Nominee
Afroman discusses his free speech court victory, why he thinks he could unite America, and whether he feels pressure to always be high.
"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.
An Important Cert Petition Pending Before the Supreme Court on Section 230 Immunity
The briefing is completed on a cert petition presenting the urgent question of whether section 230 immunizes Twitter's knowing possession and distribution of child sex abuse materials.
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.
