Civil Liberties
No Pseudonymity in Title IX Wrongful-Discipline Lawsuits, Holds Seventh Circuit
The decision departs from what most courts have done in such Title IX cases—but tracks what most courts do in the many other cases where disclosing a plaintiff’s name might damage the plaintiff’s reputation and professional prospects.
Court Upholds #TheyLied Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Award Against Student Who Accused Professor of Sexual Assault,
but throws out a similar award against another professor who backed the student's allegations. (A jury had concluded the student's allegations were false and defamatory.)
A Texas Reporter Busted for Asking Questions Asks SCOTUS To Reject the Criminalization of Journalism
Priscilla Villarreal is appealing a 5th Circuit decision that dismissed her First Amendment lawsuit against Laredo police and prosecutors.
Alabama Bill Would Criminalize Librarians Who Allow 'Material Harmful to Minors'
The bill also attempts to ban drag performances at public libraries.
The FBI Was Monitoring Student Protests Against Ben Shapiro
A newly-obtained intelligence memo shows that the feds took a keen interest in Trump-era campus speech controversies.
School's Out
Plus: Campus echoes of Occupy Wall Street, Trump's presidential immunity claims, plans to undo the Fed's independence, and more...
California's New Social Media Law Invites Expensive Lawsuits
Instead of trusting parents to manage their families, lawmakers from both parties prefer to empower the Nanny State.
Australia Tries To Censor the World
Local hostility to free speech may become a global problem.
Texas Public Colleges Crack Down on Peaceful Anti-Israel Protests
In March, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order demanding that colleges crack down on antisemitic speech.
Judge Acquits Backpage Co-Founder Michael Lacey on Most Counts
The court found insufficient evidence to sustain 53 of 84 remaining counts against Lacey.
Nina Jankowicz, Disinformation Czar, Is Back in Action
The American Sunlight Project contends that researchers are being silenced by their critics.
A Cruel and Risky Abortion Ban Versus an Overreaching Interpretation of Federal Law
There are no good sides in today's Supreme Court case concerning the EMTALA and abortion.
Ford Fischer: Why You Should Surveil the State
The News2Share cofounder is revolutionizing news coverage.
TikTok Gets 9 Months
Plus: Masking protesters, how Google Search got so bad, Columbia's anti-apartheid protests of the '80s, and more...
Supreme Court Takes Up ATF's Unilateral 'Ghost Gun' Rules
Lower courts have been extremely skeptical of attempts to regulate unfinished parts as firearms.
Capitalism Makes Society Less Racist
In the Jim Crow South, businesses fought racism—because the rules denied them customers.
The Morningside Heights Tent City
Plus: Supreme Court takes up ghost guns, Abbott takes on trans teachers, the literalism of Civil War, and more...
Does the Constitution Protect the Right To Get High?
Columbia law professor David Pozen recalls the controversy provoked by early anti-drug laws and the hope inspired by subsequent legal assaults on prohibition.
Combat Homelessness by Ending Exclusionary Zoning
The Eighth Amendment provides little, if any, protection for the homeless. But courts can help them by striking down exclusionary zoning, which is the major cause of housing shortages that lead to homelessness.
Worst 4/20 Ever
Plus: A listener asks the editors to steel man the case for the Jones Act, an antiquated law that regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters.
China's Retribution
Plus: Homework liberation in Poland, Orthodox rabbi tells students to flee Columbia, toddler anarchy, and more...
House Passes REPO Act Giving President Authority to Confiscate Russian Government Assets in the US and Transfer them to Ukraine
It's a good idea that will hopefully be imitiated by our allies.
"Last Week, a … [UC Berkeley] Professor Confronted a Muslim Student During a Dinner for Graduating Law Students"
From NBC, what strikes me as a misleading characterization of Professor Catherine Fisk's confronting a student who pulled out a microphone to orate at a dinner organized at the professor's (and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky's) house.
Pennsylvania Court Lets Suit Over Removal of Columbus Statue Go Forward
Such a removal by the city from city property wouldn't violate the First Amendment, but that doesn't preclude claims that the removal violated other legal rules.
Second Amendment Roundup: ATF redefines "engaged in the business"
Agency pushes the envelope to require gun dealer licenses beyond the statute.
If They Ban TikTok, Is Apple Next?
Banning companies for doing business with China is a bad path to start down.
New Title IX Rules Erase Campus Due Process Protections
The new rules allow students to be found guilty of assaulting a classmate without ever seeing the full evidence against them.
Appeals Court Rules That Cops Can Physically Make You Unlock Your Phone
The 9th Circuit determined that forcibly mashing a suspect's thumb into his phone to unlock it was akin to fingerprinting him at the police station.
Oklahoma Prisoners Say They Were Locked In Filthy, Tiny Shower Stalls for Days
At least one inmate claims that the shower stalls, which were just 3 feet by 3 feet, were covered in human feces.
How the FISA Reauthorization Bill Could Force Maintenance Workers and Custodians To Become Government Spies
"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," warns head of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Revised Section 702 Surveillance Authority Poses More Danger Than Ever
New language could make almost anybody with access to a WiFi router help the government snoop.
Laws Requiring Social Media Firms to Host Content they Prefer to Exclude Violate the Takings Clause
Ethan Blevins of the Pacific Legal Foundation explains why. I myself have made similar arguments.
USC Cancels Valedictorian's Speech Over Bogus 'Safety Concerns'
The university has a history of suppressing speech from both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.