Civil Liberties
Doctors Discovered a Baby's Minor Injury. Then Massachusetts DCF Seized Him in the Middle of the Night.
State actors are increasingly willing to seize children even with little evidence of child abuse.
Adam Schiff Attempts Censorship by Proxy, 'Demanding Action' To Suppress 'Hate Speech' on Twitter
Instead of debating whether the platform has been flooded by bigotry, Elon Musk should tell the congressman to mind his own business.
Pseudonymity for Would-Be Lawyer Seeking Extra Time on Bar Exam for "Mental Health" Reasons
Among other things, the court concludes that, "given that Plaintiff alleges that his 'personal background as an Arab-American and Muslim' was in part responsible for his lack of a traditional diagnosis of ADHD, his personal background may make him particularly vulnerable to the harms of disclosure."
Bari Weiss Twitter Files Reveal Systematic 'Blacklisting' of Disfavored Content
Twitter employees have indicated that shadow banning—at least by some definitions—is both real and common.
No Pseudonymity for Plaintiff in Action Claiming Florida Discriminates Based on Race in Funding Universities
Plaintiff "has alleged nothing suggesting he has any greater basis to fear retaliation than the plaintiffs in most discrimination cases."
A Federal Judge Suggests That Oregon's 10-Round Magazine Limit Does Not Implicate the Second Amendment
The new ban, which has been blocked by a state judge, so far has fared better in federal court.
CPS: Mom Can't Let Her 3 Kids—Ages 6, 8, and 9—Play Outside by Themselves
Pearisburg, Virginia, social services says kids must be watched—at all times—until they turn 13.
China Eases 'Zero-COVID' Policies After Nearly 3 Years of Harsh Lockdowns
The long-term economic and social impacts of zero-COVID can't be reversed as easily.
Apple Announces Stronger Data Encryption, to the Dismay of FBI Snoops
Photos and information you store on iCloud will be safer from hackers, spies, and the government.
School District Must Release E-Mail List of Parents to Whom It Sent Various Ideological Advocacy Messages
"[T]he District wants to be able to use government resources to collect and utilize these e-mail addresses to promote and advance the particular 'community outreach' issues and positions of District (government) leaders while denying others in the community the opportunity to utilize the e-mail addresses to share differing viewpoints."
Republicans Will Have To Rely on New Deal–Era Court Precedents If They Want a Federal Abortion Ban
The Supreme Court said in 1942 that local activity, not just interstate activity, was subject to congressional regulation.
We Should All Be Nervous About Killer Police Robots
The San Francisco Police Department assured the public it had "no plans to arm robots with guns." But assurances aren't guarantees.
Journal of Free Speech Law: "Hate Speech, Holy Prophets, and Human Rights: The Struggle for Free Speech from 1945–2021,"
by Jacob Mchangama (Justitia), Heini Skorini (Univ. of Faroe Islands) & Mathias Meier (Justitia).
Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Law Forces Artists To Echo the State's Message
A website designer asks SCOTUS to let her eschew work that contradicts her opposition to gay marriage.
Computer Code Can Be Regulated Because of What It Does, Even If Not Because of What It Says
The D.C. Circuit rejects a First Amendment challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anticircumvention and antitrafficking provisions.
Ninth Circuit Orders Press Pass for The Gateway Pundit, Pending Appeal
The press pass is for election-related events connected to Maricopa County's ongoing ballot counting; the panel concluded that The Gateway Pundit was likely to succeed on its claim that the denial was unconstitutionally based on its viewpoints.
A 10-Year-Old Boy Shot and Killed His Mother. Wisconsin Is Charging Him As an Adult.
There is little utility to charging 10-year-olds as adults, yet Wisconsin still mandates the practice in certain cases.
California Law Strips Licenses from 'Misinformation'-Spreading Doctors
"You have this looming power over you that essentially can end your career," says Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya.
Cronyist Journalism Measure Could Prompt Facebook To Ban News
Plus: ACLU sides against religious freedom, abortions after Dobbs, and more...
Rep. Khanna on Twitter, Free Speech, and the Hunter Biden Story
A Democratic member of Congress laments how Twitter handled the New York Post's reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop.
What Twitter's Suppression of the Hunter Biden Laptop Story Tells Us About the Media
Plus: The editors consider a listener question on the involuntary hospitalization of the mentally ill.
New York Forces Websites To Monitor 'Hateful' Speech. A New Lawsuit Says This Violates the First Amendment.
"The state of New York can't turn bloggers into Big Brother, but it's trying to do just that," said FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner.
Supreme Court Debates Whether Web Designers Can Be Forced To Make Gay Wedding Pages
A million hypotheticals bloom in arguments over when and where the government may compel speech.
Sex Offender Registry Prevents Dying, Bedridden Man From Spending Final Days at Home
"My opinion is no exceptions should be made," says the chief of the police.
Geofencing Warrants Are a Threat to Privacy
A precedent set in the January 6 prosecutions could be dangerous to the public.
President Biden Wants to Ban 'Semiautomatic Weapons'? Dream On.
It’s a bold and probably unconstitutional goal that’s bound to alienate millions of Americans.
Court Holds That Indiana RFRA Provides Religious Exemptions from Abortion Ban
Note that the decision is not inconsistent with the Supreme Court's holding in Dobbs, though it may of course still be overturned on appeal on other grounds.
Elon Musk and Matt Taibbi Reveal Why Twitter Censored the Hunter Biden Laptop Story
The Twitter Files are interesting but contain few true surprises. A mix of incompetence and partisanship got the site in trouble.
Elon Musk Enforces Twitter's Ban on 'Hateful Conduct' As Critics Predict a Flood of Bigotry
The "free speech absolutist" is maintaining some content restrictions while loosening others.
Challenge to California Fee-Shifting Statute That Targets Gun Lawsuit Plaintiffs (and Lawyers) Can Proceed
The case is not rendered moot or unripe, the court says, by the California AG's "commitment not to seek attorney's fees or costs under this provision 'unless and until a court ultimately holds that the fee-shifting provision in [a similar Texas law provision related to abortion] is constitutional and enforceable....'"
Wildlife Agents Placed a Camera on His Property Without a Warrant, Then Raided His Home After He Removed It
How a Prohibition-era legal precedent allows warrantless surveillance on private property.
David Lat on Hogan Lovells' Firing of Semi-Retired Equity Partner for Comments on Abortion and Race
"[T]here is increasingly no place for social conservatives in many large law firms."