Decriminalizing Jaywalking in California Will Help Reduce Police Harassment
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill in September that will chip away at a policy that has long been criticized as enabling racially-motivated policing.
Harassment
Kiwi Farms Is Back
The return of the trollish forum demonstrates the futility of bans on bad speech.
Writing About People Who Don't Want to Be Written About
How, if at all, should we try to be nice in an inherently not-nice occupation?
Court Refuses to Order Me to Remove References to Frequent Litigant from Law Review Article
My argument: "Petitioner Jane Doe—a frequent unsuccessful litigant—is asking this Court to impose unconstitutional prior restraint to prevent a law professor from writing about important, publicly available cases about pseudonymity."
Cloudflare Can Cancel Service to Terrible Websites Like Kiwi Farms. But Should It?
Cloudflare's decision brings up fundamental questions about how internet infrastructure companies should operate.
Objective vs. Subjective Inquiry in Restraining Order Based on Divorcing Spouse's Allegedly Threatening Speech
Clearly hostile, but was it threatening?
Cyberstalking Conviction for E-Mails to Nebraska Legislature Candidate Reversed
The Eighth Circuit tries to rein in the criminalization of the intentional infliction of emotional distress tort.
Court Rules for Student Free Speech as to Off-Campus "Me and the Boys Bout to Exterminate the Jews" Post
“Defendants cannot claim a reasonable forecast of substantial disruption to regulate C.G.’s off-campus speech by simply invoking the words ‘harass’ and ‘hate’ when C.G.’s speech does not constitute harassment and its hateful nature is not regulable in this context.”
Threatening to Disclose That Someone Had Been Molested Isn't Criminal Harassment (in N.Y.)
Plus a nice catalog of how high the bar can be for punishable threats under New York law.
No-Contact Order Against Law Students (and Professor) Based on Conversation About Homosexuality and Bible …
likely unconstitutional, holds a federal district court.
American U. Law Students Investigated for "Harassment" for Insulting Comments About Abortion in Group Chat
The complaining student alleged the students' remarks were "harassing and threatening" him because of his conservative "political affiliation" and his "religious beliefs."
Criminal Libel Law, Partly Coming Back in Washington State in Harassment Order Cases
When a judge hearing a protection order petition thinks the defendant is engaged in "harassment," which can include two or more statements the judge thinks is libelous, the judge can effectively criminalize future libels of the plaintiff by the defendant.
Contract Lawsuit Can Proceed, Over Private School Disciplining Student for Alleged Racial Epithet Use
The plaintiff alleged that the Wardlaw-Hartridge School had failed to comply with its own procedural rules in the Student-Parent Handbook.
Court Limits Ban on Speech That Causes "Substantial Emotional Distress" with "Intent to Harass or Intimdate"
The court concludes that the federal "cyberstalking" statute covers only speech intended to "put the victim in fear of death or bodily injury" or to "distress the victim by threatening, intimidating, or the like."
What are Georgetown Professors Forbidden to Say?
Under the reasoning of the Georgetown University Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action (IDEAA) report in the Ilya Shapiro matter, a wide range of public speech criticizing religions, political parties, veterans, etc. could be "prohibit[ed] harassment."
Court Upholds Denial of Restraining Order for "Online Rants That [We]re False" About Petitioner
The trial court reasoned: "You guys ... have a spat on Facebook.... Nobody cares about these s[p]ats. Just block them and move on."
Lawyer's Asking School Employee Whether She Had Ever Kissed a Woman Not Workplace Harassment,
when the lawyers are investigating allegations that the employee "had romantic or sexual feelings for one of the students she coached."
Continuing to Send Unwanted Political Mailings to a Business Isn't "Harassment" Under Minnesota Law
So holds the Eighth Circuit, even though a state trial court had indeed enjoined the Christian Action League's mailings under that law.
Lawyer Gets Harassment Restraining Order Against Ex-Clients Based on (Among Other Things) Online Criticism
No, says the Appeals Court of Massachusetts: "We take this opportunity to reiterate that, where a c. 258E order is sought on the basis of speech alone, the plaintiff must prove that the speech rose to the level of true threats or fighting words and not merely that it was 'harassing, intimidating, or abusive in the colloquial sense.'"
Police Officer Gets Critic Prosecuted for "Harassment," Based on Critical Online Posts
Now the critic's First Amendment lawsuit over this (and other matters) can go forward.
"Bullying and Harassing Behavior Are Prohibited on Social Media Platforms," Says Alaska Senate Bill
What counts as "bullying and harassing" behavior, you might ask? The bill doesn't say.
Nebraska Town Sues Resident to Stop Sending Officials Letters, Ends Up Paying Him $16,000
"[N]early every public official draws the attention of critics and cranks who have opinions they insist on sharing.... But rather than accept that as one of the privileges of public service, the defendants decided to pursue a lawsuit that asked a state court to impose a prior restraint on the plaintiff's speech."
Crime to Sexually Proposition, Knowing It's Likely to Annoy, Offend, or Alarm
That's the law in Delaware, it turns out.
"Yes, This Is a Witch-Hunt: A University's Office for Access and Equity Launches a Full-Scale Persecution Campaign"
From leading liberal constitutional law professor Andrew Koppelman (Northwestern), in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Realtors Group Hearing "Hate Speech" "Ethics Complaint" Against Pastor-Realtor …
for saying "LGBTQ+" "Pride" message is "against our biblical doctrine."
Ex-Wife Criminally Punished for Talking to Newspaper About Her Police Sergeant Ex-Husband
The court concluded that the conversation violated a previous order barring the ex-wife "from making any other public allegations against the Petitioner, Joe Stark, on social media (on any platform) or to his employer which may affect Petitioner's reputation or employment."
"[No] Posting Anything Further About [Plaintiff]"—You're "Planting Bad Thoughts in People's Heads"
That was the justification for a trial court order, which the North Carolina Court of Appeals has just reversed.
D.C. High Court Opines on Injunctions Against Speech About People
The decision raises more questions than it answers, but it does note that there is no general First Amendment exception for speech about "matters of private concern" (i.e., daily life matters unrelated to bigger ideological questions).
Wash. Court Reverses Order Banning "Defamatory and Harassing" Posts About Judge and Court Employees
It's an unconstitutional prior restraint, the court holds.