Civil Liberties
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."
Kanye's Suspension Shows Musk Twitter Might Look a Lot Like…Old Twitter
Plus: Freedom's Furies, SCOTUS to take up student loan forgiveness plan, and more...
Twitter Is More Like a Traveling Circus Than a Public Square
It's a private company. Its owner can do what he chooses, even if it seems crazy.
U.K.'s Awful Internet Bill Becomes a Bit Less Hostile to Free Speech
At a dangerous moment for the free exchange of ideas, civil libertarians can tally a win.
You Can Record Video of Police in Action. But Can You Livestream That Video?
Plus: Court rejects Biden plea on student loan plan, Ohio cops don't understand the First Amendment, and more...
Twitter Quits the Biden Administration's Ham-Handed Crusade Against COVID-19 'Misinformation'
Elon Musk's rescission of the platform's prior policy, which forbade dissent from official guidance, is consistent with his promise of lighter moderation.
Eric Adams' Plan To Involuntarily Hospitalize Mentally Ill Homeless People Will Face Legal Challenges
Civil liberties groups say Adams' plan violates constitutional rights protecting people with mental illness from being confined against their will simply for existing.
Kansas Judge Blocks Law Banning Telemedicine Prescriptions for Medication Abortions
Last week, a Kansas judge halted the enforcement of a law requiring a doctor to be in the same room as a patient taking abortion pills—a move hailed by abortion advocates as an important step to increase medication abortion access in the state.
Iran Attempted To Use the World Cup To Stoke Nationalist Pride
And their team wanted nothing to do with politics.
From Kansas S. Ct. Justice, About Univ. of Kansas Law School's Response to a Federalist Society Event
"Consider that—as reported in the local paper—several students were so distraught over this event and afraid for their 'physical and emotional safety' that they claimed they could not even be inside Green Hall at the same time as the speaker. Perhaps this should alert us to an institutional failure to cultivate the norms, habits, and skills necessary to the task of lawyering."
