Sixth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to School Officials
Court finds parent's right to comment on their interactions with their child's coaches or teachers is cleartly established.
Civil Liberties
Playground Sign Outlaws 'Loitering at Slide Entry or Exit'
"This is literally a playground that's for 2- to 5-year-olds," says former preschool teacher Katie Courtney.
Court Rejects Lawsuit by Sorority Members Against Sorority for Admitting Transgender Member
The sorority, the court held, had a First Amendment freedom of expressive association right to choose which students to admit (logic that suggests that a sorority would equally be free to exclude transgender members).
Hospital Threatens Defamation Suit Over a 15-Year-Old's Change.org Petition
The hospital baselessly claimed the teenager's mother wrote the petition after she was fired without cause.
The Washington Post Says Democracy Demands Less Freedom of Speech
The paper worries that "social media companies are receding from their role as watchdogs against political misinformation."
Court Rejects RNC's Lawsuit Claiming Google Discriminatorily Treated RNC's Email as Spam
Section 230, the court says, immunizes good-faith attempts to block spam—and RNC didn't introduce enough evidence of bad faith.
Joke "We Need You Brad Pitt" Post at Start of COVID Pandemic Protected by First Amendment
The post led to the author being arrested for "terrorizing"; so clearly unconstitutional that the police officer lacks qualified immunity, says the Fifth Circuit.
Penis Squeezing Not Protected by Qualified Immunity
Plus: FIRE fights college's vague "greater good" policy, Biden administration pushes double talk on tariffs, and more...
No Pseudonymity or Sealing for Japanese User Seeking to Use American Courts to Subpoena Twitter Critics' Names
"Applicant's warning of a prima facie violation of Japanese law's privacy protections fails to constitute a harm severe enough" to justify pseudonymity.
Second Amendment Roundup: Looking for Historical Tradition in All the Wrong Places
The Government drops reference to the slave codes as a historical analogue in Rahimi.
Stop Publishing Mug Shots—Even Donald Trump's
Mug shots are not taken to humiliate a defendant before they've been convicted. But that's the purpose they widely serve now.
California Public Records Requester Can File Anti-SLAPP Motion Objecting to Attempt to Block Request
The motion allows early dismissal of a lawsuit, here the lawsuit that aimed to block UC Irvine from responding to a public records request from the Center for Scientific Integrity (the Retraction Watch people).
Federal Judge: "Public Interest" Requires That Restrictions on "Medical Misinformation" Not Be Enjoined
So a court concludes in a case brought by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Candidates Spar Over National Abortion Ban in First Republican Debate
Plus: Invade Mexico?!, "Trump added $8 trillion to our debt," and more...
Why We Should Care About Pseudonymity in Litigation
Like other features of legal procedure—such as the jury trial, the mechanism for appointing judges, the availability of appeal—pseudonymity both deeply affects the fairness of litigation and, often, the substantive outcomes.
30 Years Later, Politically Incorrect PCU Has a Lot To Say About College
“The whole woke movement, it’s obviously an echo of those times.”
Both Biden and Trump Are Bad Candidates
The next presidential election may be between the two men. Can't we do better?
Lawsuit Over Alec Baldwin's Publicly Labeling Woman "Insurrectionist" for Her Jan. 6 Activities Dismissed by Court
Plaintiffs sued for defamation, and also for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from the comments aroused by Baldwin's posts.
Public School May Hang "Black Lives Matter" Posters Without Displaying Other Viewpoints
The government gets to pick and choose which speech it displays on its property, and doesn't have to give others a right to reply (except in public fora, which don't include school walls).
U.S. Emulates Communist China in New TikTok Draft Agreement
Plus: Americans vote too much, Indiana abortion ban to take effect, and more...
Court Reduces $1.4M Verdict to $71.5K in #TheyLied Renaissance Faire Libel Case
Defendant had accused plaintiffs, "the King and Queen of [the Pittsburgh] Renaissance Faire," of failing to properly deal with allegations of sexual harassment, and of retaliating against sexual harassment victims; the jury found that the defendant knew the statements were false, or at least recklessly disregarded the risk of falsehood.
Court Rules in Favor of Pro-Life Protesters Arrested for Chalk Messages
While chalking on D.C. sidewalks and streets is illegal, the protesters say they were targeted for their beliefs.
Government Blocking of "Tornado Cash" Cryptocurrency-Related Service Was Legal, Didn't Violate First Amendment
So a federal court held Thursday.
First Amendment Protects Sign at University Saying "God Created Male and Female and Artemis Langford Is a Male"
Langford had been in the news for joining a sorority, which has caused a good deal of controversy at the University of Wyoming.
Jay Bhattacharya & John Vecchione: Biden's Social Media Meddling Was Illegal
Plaintiffs in Missouri v. Biden allege that federal pressure to remove and suppress COVID-19 material on Facebook and Twitter violates the First Amendment.
No Sealing of Plaintiff's Expunged Court Records That Are Central to Plaintiff's Libel Claim
"[T]he fate of Plaintiff's claims hinges to some extent on the truth or falsity of Defendant's statements regarding Plaintiff's conviction of a crime. Whether Defendant's statements are false—a determination that relies at least in part on Plaintiff's criminal records—is directly relevant to the public."
Appeals Court Rules in Much-Anticipated Abortion Pills Case
Plus: Court urged to stop Arkansas' social media age verification law from taking effect in September, legalizing medical marijuana linked to lower insurance premiums, and more...
The Lab Leak Theory Still Counts as Misinformation in a New Study of COVID-19 Claims
A new study of COVID-19 narratives makes the very mistake it purports to correct.
Without a Diversion Agreement, Hunter Biden Could Go to Prison Under an Arbitrary Gun Law His Dad Supports
Special Counsel David Weiss will face a Second Amendment challenge if he prosecutes the president's son for illegally buying a firearm.
