[UPDATE: Whoops, Jonathan beat me to it; I’m turning off comments, so people can post on that thread instead.] So holds Autor v. Pritzker (D.C. Cir. Jan. 17, 2014), a very interesting D.C. Circuit decision just handed down today. (Congratulates to my Mayer Brown LLP colleagues Charles Rothfeld and Joseph Minta, who represent the plaintiffs.) […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
Bloggers = Media for First Amendment Libel Law Purposes
So holds today’s Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox (9th Cir. Jan. 17, 2014) (in which I represented the defendant). To be precise, the Ninth Circuit concludes that all who speak to the public, whether or not they are members of the institutional press, are equally protected by the First Amendment. To quote the court, The […]
Abrams on McCullen v. Coakley
On January 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in McCullen v. Coakley, a challenge to Massachusetts’s abortion-clinic-entrance-access law. In this case, the Court will have the opportunity to limit, or overrule, Hill v. Colorado, “what may well be its most indefensible First Amendment ruling so far this century,” according to First Amendment lawyer extraordinaire Floyd Abrams. […]
Mann v. Steyn Mulligan
By Jonathan H. Adler on December 27, 2013 8:41 am in Climate Change, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Politicizing Science
On December 19, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals effectively erased Michael Mann’s initial court victory in his defamation lawsuit against Mark Steyn, National Review, Rand Simberg and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Here’s how Mark Steyn pithily summarizes the developments: 1. Dr Michael Mann’s lawyer, John Williams, filed a fraudulent complaint falsely representing his client as […]
Northwestern Can’t Quit ASA Over Boycott Because it is Not a Member
By Eugene Kontorovich on December 22, 2013 11:58 am in Academia, Anti-Semitism, Freedom of Speech, Israel
Northwestern University recently condemned the American Studies Association boycott of Israel. Unlike some other schools that quit their institutional membership in the ASA over the boycott, Northwestern has not. Many of my Northwestern colleagues were about to start urging a similar withdrawal. Then we learned from our administration that despite being listed as in institutional […]
The Crime of “Annoy[ing]” Local Governments Through “Offensively Repetitious” Threats of Litigation
From Tennessee House Bill 540, which has been recommended for passage by the House Local Government Committee: A person commits an offense who intentionally, without or prior to the filing of a [lawsuit] … communicates, in writing or by electronic communication, with a local government unit or local public servant in an offensively repetitious manner […]
Why the Utah Law Criminalizing Polygamy Is Unconstitutional
By Eugene Volokh on December 16, 2013 12:35 pm in Freedom of Speech, Religious Freedom, Same-Sex Marriage
I’m no fan of the Utah federal court’s opinion striking down the Utah law criminalizing polygamy. But I do think that the law, at least as currently interpreted by Utah officials, is indeed unconstitutional. Here’s a brief sketch of my thinking. 1. The relevant statute states, A person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he […]
Bans on “Disquiet[ing]” Houses of Worship Through “Profane Discourse” Outside Them
Here’s one more brief that the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic has filed in the last few weeks; its argument is that the “profane discourse” law is content-based, which would make it unconstitutional. This one is on behalf of the Thomas More Society, in SNAP v. Joyce (8th Cir.) (the link is to the […]
Would New Jersey Bill Criminalize the Speech in Hustler v. Falwell?
I’m sure the legislatures aren’t thinking of the bill this way, but it might well be what this bill — which cleared one New Jersey Senate committee by a 5-0 vote this summer, and which unanimously passed another committee today — would do. The bill provides, in relevant part, 1. a. A person commits the […]
The KlearGear Controversy
I haven’t had a chance to blog about the case, but I thought I’d note that Public Citizen has gotten involved. Here’s the press release: Public Citizen Asks Online Retailer KlearGear.com To Remedy Its Retaliation Against Customer for Critical Online Review Company Damaged Customer’s Credit After He Refused Company’s Demand for $3,500 Over Critical Web […]
Freedom of the Press as Protecting All Users of Mass Communications Technology — Responding to the Redundancy Objection
In the post below, I argue that the freedom of the press was originally and traditionally understood as protecting all users of the printing press as technology (and now its technological heirs), not the press as an industry or profession. One common response, which I’ve seen in many recent comments, is that this would make […]
Freedom for the Press — Protection for an Industry/Profession, or for All Users of a Technology?
Since the issue has come up again in recent comments, I thought I’d repost the introduction to my article, Freedom for the Press as an Industry, or for the Press as a Technology? From the Framing to Today, 160 U. Penn. L. Rev. 459 (2011); the entire article is available in its full PDF form […]
Who Qualifies as “Media” for Purposes of Texas Law Governing Appeals?
I wanted to pass along another brief the UCLA First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic submitted last week. This one is on behalf of the bloggers at SCOTUSblog, the Supreme Court of Texas Blog, How Appealing, InstaPundit, and Power Line (3/4 of the bloggers there), in SEIU v. Professional Janitorial Service, Inc. (Tex. Sup. Ct.) (the […]
Google Books’ Scanning and Snippet Display of Books Is Fair Use, and Thus Not Copyright Infringement
By Eugene Volokh on November 14, 2013 1:54 pm in Copyright, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Gather Information
So holds Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google Inc. (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 14, 2013). I’m still on the road, and thus can’t blog about the opinion in detail, but I’ve read it and I think its fair use finding is quite right. Thanks to How Appealing for the pointer. UPDATE: Matthew Sag has a summary of the […]
Tarek Mehanna Conviction for Aiding al Qaeda Upheld
I’m on the road right now, and won’t have the time to blog further about this, but I suspect that some of our readers have followed the case — especially given the defendant’s First Amendment arguments — so I thought I’d note today’s First Circuit opinion. (Note that the title of the post is an […]