Civil Liberties
Court Strikes Down California Limits on Personalized License Plates "Offensive to Good Taste and Decency"
With talk of QUEER, 69, AF, OG, "guns, weaponry, shooting, or an instrument normally used to inflict harm," and more.
Cops Who Beat and Killed an Innocent Man Are Not Entitled to Qualified Immunity, Appeals Court Rules. But the Cops Who Watched Are.
The legal doctrine provides rogue government agents cushy protections not available to the little guy.
Penguin Random House Employees Broke Down in Tears at Thought of Publishing Jordan Peterson's Next Book
"He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia."
Offensive License Plates Are Free Speech, Court Tells California
Plus: National Labor Relations Board rules against The Federalist, France is getting less free, and more...
UMD Public Policy School Mandating Ideological Statements on Syllabus, Requiring That Class "Materials" and "Discussions" "Respect All Forms of Diversity"
Seems quite inconsistent with basic academic freedom principles.
Overbroad Injunction Used to Try to Vanish Articles About Daughter's Property Lawsuit Against Father
A court order, in Kelly Hyman v. Alex Daoud, on its face seems to command all Internet services to remove material that mentions the daughter (Kelly Hyman), or her husband (retired federal bankruptcy judge Paul Hyman).
Predictive Policing or Targeted Harassment?
Audits and research into the effectiveness of predictive policing have yielded mixed to negative assessments.
Maybe He Deserved Those Negative Online Reviews?
"Underhill was disciplined for publicly responding to former clients’ negative online reviews with internet postings that disclosed sensitive and confidential information obtained during the representation. Underhill then ...."
Apple's Chief Security Officer + Santa Clara County Sheriff's Officials Indicted for Concealed Carry License Bribery
California is one of nine states that leaves law enforcement with broad discretion to decide whether to grant a license.
First Amendment Generally Protects Speech in the U.S. by Non-U.S.-Citizens/Residents
An interesting, though unsurprising, decision in a case brought by prominent Russian businessmen over the Fusion GPS Steele Dossier.
California Cops Arrested Teens Who Recorded Use of Force—Now They're Getting Paid
The department will update its training to remind officers that citizens should not be arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Tennessee Can Enforce Ban on Abortion Based on Sex, Race, or Down Syndrome Status of Fetus
Plus: More losses for the Trump campaign, a win for cannabis delivery services, a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy violates First Amendment rights, and more...
"Journalism Professors Demand Iowa State University Disband the College Republicans Over Offensive Tweet"
The University rightly responds: "At the core of this demand is a disconnect between the law and First Amendment freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution, and the desire by many in the campus community to punish those whose comments are hurtful to others."
Prison Guards Who Forced Naked Inmate To Sleep in Sewage and Urine Were Given Qualified Immunity. SCOTUS Disagreed.
The legal doctrine is a free pass for rampant government abuse.
Vaccine Nationalism Threatens Politicized Decisions to Fight a Global Pandemic
If governments stand in the way of vaccine production and distribution for the world market, the costs will be high in lives and in wealth.
Libel Case Can't Be Litigated with Alleged Libel Sealed
So says the Delaware Court of Chancery: "If the information currently redacted remains so, the public will have no means to understand the dispute MetTel has asked the Court to adjudicate."
Criminal Libel for High School Student to Falsely Write That He'd Had Sex with Teacher
Louisiana is one of about a dozen states that has a criminal libel statute; my sense is that, throughout the country, there are likely about 20-30 criminal libel prosecutions per year.
Christians Trying to Convert Muslims and Jews to Christianity
"So what?." asks David Harsanyi at the National Review, quite correctly.
"a homosexual social media website called reddit"
A mayoral candidate, a supposed Aryan bicyclist, a video, a newspaper story, and a libel lawsuit.
The Conservative Antitrust Case Against Big Tech Is a Giant Self-Own
It's hard to take seriously complaints that there are no alternatives to Facebook when they're made on Twitter.
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.
Senators Once Again Berate Twitter and Facebook CEOs for Content Decisions They Dislike
But what one side likes, the other side hates. There's no way Twitter and Facebook can appease them both.
Feds Propose Even More Surveillance of Your Banking Habits
By lowering the “travel rule” threshold to $250, the government could access more of our financial data.
Sinatra, Music, the Texas Guitar Army, the First Amendment, and Coronavirus
That's Judge John Sinatra (W.D.N.Y.), holding that a N.Y. restriction on live music was unconstitutional.
Some Thoughts on the Avenatti v. Fox News Libel Lawsuit
Past perfect, libel-proof plaintiffs, substantial truth, “actual malice,” statutes of limitations, and more.
Lawyer Gets Temporary Injunction Against Gripe Site That Says He's a "Fraud," "Cowardly," "Cannot Be Trusted"
But I think the First Amendment prohibits such pretrial injunctions, and in any event the injunction targets opinions and not just false factual assertions.
Supreme Court Decides to Hear Important Takings Case
It will review a Ninth Circuit decision holding that there is no taking when the government forces property owners to grant union organizers temporary access to their property.
Alito Rightly Slams Five Democratic Senators for 'Bullying' the Supreme Court
The senators warned that the Court might have to be "restructured" if it did not reach the conclusion they preferred in a Second Amendment case.
Justice Samuel Alito Highlights the Legal Issues Raised by 'Previously Unimaginable' COVID-19 Restrictions
When "fundamental rights are restricted" during an emergency, he says, the courts "cannot close their eyes."
TikTok Will Outlast Trump
Plus: Homeland Security says this election was "the most secure in American history," Chicago asks residents to stay home again, and more...
L.A. Suburban School District Forbids To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and More in High School Readings
Other excluded books: Huckleberry Finn, The Cay, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Trump v. CNN Libel Suit Dismissed for Now
The court finds that the Trump campaign didn't offer enough facts suggesting that CNN knew the statement was false (or was likely false); the campaign is allowed to file an amended complaint if it can make more specific allegations.
Joe Biden's Disastrous Record of Using 'Bold Federal Action' To Solve America's Problems
It's unclear what Biden will ultimately be able to accomplish as president, but he has been trying to bring transformative change since the 1970s.
Joe Biden Has Vowed To Undo Betsy DeVos's Title IX Reforms. Can He?
The new president could weaken due process protections for accused students, but it won't be easy.
Gun Restrictions as Analogy for Justifying Speech Restrictions
"The state may restrict a convicted felon's right ... to possess a firearm," so a state may order a civil case defendant to stop saying things online about plaintiff that "severe[ly] emotional distress" that plaintiff.
No Sealing of Case Based on "Defendant['s] … Damaging Assertions Against Plaintiffs"
"Plaintiffs decided to file a publicly available case and then ask the Court to protect them because defendant might say horrible things about them throughout the course of this litigation.... But harsh words are not a basis to seal a case, especially where it appears that both sides have no qualms about tearing each other down."
"Seditious Conspiracy" Is Still a Crime
But unlike the Sedition Act of 1798, the federal seditious conspiracy statute doesn't focus on antigovernment speech (such as alleged lies about the government).
