Don't Be Fooled By Our Media Wars: Everybody Hates Free Speech
Treating free expression like an instrument of power means that the fight is more about who gets punished most when politicians write new restrictions.
Civil Liberties
"Fake News": Preventing Falsehoods in Candidate Statements in Ballot Pamphlets
The Washington Supreme Court overrules a trial court's order requiring the removal of one such statement; but what should the general rule on this be?
Court Revives Wiretap Target's Attempt to Get Information About the Wiretap
In 2014, more than half of all California wiretaps (and one sixth of all the wiretaps in the U.S.) were authorized by one judge in Riverside County.
Rethinking the Seattle "CHOP" Takings Case
Property owners are suing the city for helping far-left activists seize control of their property during the period when it allowed the latter to rule an "autonomous zone" covering 16 blocks in the area.
Cop's Libel Claim Over Amazon-Distributed Free Meek Documentary Can Go Forward
Officer Saqueta Williams had been on the DA's "Do Not Call [to Testify] List" because of alleged assault during an off-duty incident (as to which she was later acquitted)—she alleges the documentary falsely implied that she was on the list because she was "dirty and dishonest."
When Encryption Was a Crime: The 1990s Battle for Free Speech in Software
Part three in Reason's documentary series, "Cypherpunks Write Code," tells the story of the U.S. government's long battle to keep strong cryptography out of the hands of its citizens
545 Migrant Kids Snatched by the U.S. Government Are Still Missing Parents
Plus: What Jeffrey Toobin teaches us about Section 230, Wisconsin's Foxconn boondoggle, Breonna Taylor juror speaks out, and more...
Can't Seal Case Just Because It's Frivolous
"In nearly all civil and criminal litigation ..., one party asserts that the allegations leveled against it by another party are patently false"; but "if the purported falsity of the complaint's allegations were sufficient to seal an entire case, then the law would recognize a presumption to seal instead of a presumption of openness."
Courts Should Check 'Majority Rule'
Democrats and Republicans agree on that point, although they disagree about what it means in practice.
Conservative Commentator Candace Owens Sues USA Today and Fact-Checker "Lead Stories" for Libel
over allegedly false fact-checking "charging [Owens] with spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic on the internet in 'an attempt to downplay the severity' of the pandemic."
Ted Cruz Threatens To Force Facebook and Twitter Heads To Testify About Hunter Biden Article
Plus: Supreme Court won't stop Pennsylvania from counting late ballots, proposed amendment would limit Court to nine justices, and more...
Politics and Social Media: Should We Use Exit, Voice, or Loyalty?
The Reason Roundtable argues over what to do when Twitter prematurely suppresses oppo-dump journalism unfavorable to Democrats, and when politicians respond with retaliatory regulation.
$465 Million Judgment Against Johnson & Johnson Threatens Freedom of Speech
A brief supporting the company's appeal argues that its discussion of pain treatment was constitutionally protected.
No Sealing of Health Care Quality Review Report in Doctor-vs.-Hospital Lawsuit
"Plaintiff would have his allegations litigated in a star chamber with a jury of ordinary citizens presumably barred from discussing the case after their service in a closed courtroom."
Cops Clash with Protesters in America and Around the World
Plus: Pennsylvania restaurant wins lockdown lawsuit, Pakistan bans TikTok, and more...
The Federal Death Penalty Returns
State-level executions have been on the decline since 2000, but the federal government recently got back in the business of executing prisoners.
Divided Sixth Circuit Upholds Kentucky Abortion Regulations
The Sixth Circuit joins the Eighth Circuit in recognizing the import of Chief Justice Roberts' controlling opinion in June Medical Services
Minnesota Order Banning "False or Defamatory Statements" Limited to Knowingly False And Defamatory Statements
So says the Minnesota Court of Appeals, as to a "harassment restraining order."
The Complicated Truth About the Boogaloo Movement
These Hawaiian shirt-wearing, gun-toting Gen Z activists say they stand with Black Lives Matter, against gun control, and are preparing for total state collapse.
Milo Yiannopoulos Defends Basic Traditions of Journalism
A federal judge makes it clear: "the consumption of alcohol at a party does not vitiate journalistic intent"; hard-drinking reporters are as covered by the journalist's privilege as the abstemious. Other journalistic traditions that aren't disqualifying: bias, and bearing grudges.
Guns and Control
San Francisco writer Guy Smith finds little evidence that the availability of firearms explains differences in suicide and homicide rates.
If Trump Was Serious About Police Reform, He Would Have Addressed Qualified Immunity
The legal doctrine makes it considerably harder to hold cops accountable. Trump refused to address it.
Eighth Circuit Seals Published (Printed) Opinion, Later Grants Our Motion to Unseal
An attempt to protect litigant privacy meant that binding precedent was vanished from Westlaw.
These 7th Circuit Decisions Suggest Amy Coney Barrett Takes a Constrained View of Qualified Immunity
In several cases, the Supreme Court nominee voted to allow civil rights lawsuits against officers accused of misconduct.
Twitter Blocking a New York Post Article Was Dumb—but Not Illegal, Censorship, or Election Interference
Plus: 898,000 new jobless claims, and more...
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.
"Does Owning a Gun Make a Judge's Second Amendment Rulings Suspect?"
"Barrett says she owns a gun, but could fairly judge a case on gun rights" -- why the "but"?
Judging From His Grilling of Amy Coney Barrett, Sen. Richard Durbin Thinks Voting Is More Important Than Staying Alive
The senator thinks people with felony records should lose the right to armed self-defense but not the right to cast a ballot.
Does Owning a Gun Make a Judge's Second Amendment Rulings Suspect?
If that standard were applied to other constitutional rights, no one would be left to enforce them.
Cryptography vs. Big Brother: How Math Became a Weapon Against Tyranny
Part two of a four-part series on the history of the cypherpunk movement
Colorado Couple's Adoption Plans Wrecked by Child Neglect Charges for Briefly Letting a Kid Nap in the Car
"If you're on that registry, you're bad."
No, Amy Coney Barrett Isn't Part of a 'Dark Money' Plot To Overturn Gay Marriage and Abortion
Such theories are not based in fact.
Defending Amy Coney Barrett, Ted Cruz Highlights the Threats That Democrats Pose to Civil Liberties
The Texas senator notes the opposing party's blind spots on freedom of speech and the right to arms.
Justice Thomas Writes in Favor of a Narrow Reading of 47 U.S.C. § 230
He seems open to materially increasing Internet service and content providers' liability for libels posted by their users, and based on other user misconduct.
The Reawakening of the Black Gun-Rights Movement
"I believe that I'm channeling my ancestors," says Second Amendment activist Brent Holmes, who carries an assault rifle to protests in Richmond, Virginia.
No Preliminary Injunctions Against Libel
A good illustration of the modern rule, which allows some permanent injunctions against repeating specific statements found to be libelous at trial—but only after such a finding on the merits.
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.
Should Facebook Have a Duty to Report Us to the Police for Felonies Potentially Revealed in Our Posts?
An Ohio judge suggests the answer should be "yes," and an Ohio statute seems to require that when Facebook employees learn of specific felonies revealed by posts that they might be monitoring for some reason.
Promoting On-Campus Discourse: Recommendations
Here are some ways to build a campus culture more open to free inquiry and discourse.
Supreme Court Won't Intervene (Yet) To Stop Abortion Pills From Being Prescribed Remotely
Plus: Trump says he plans to hold rallies despite lack of negative COVID-19 test, Biden won't answer question on court-packing, and more...
The Problem with Mandated Diversity Statements in Faculty Hiring and Promotion
Improving diversity is a worthy endeavor. But compelled “diversity statements” are a form of social engineering that, ironically, can be exclusionary.
