[See UPDATE for later developments.] The Daily News reports: An incensed federal judge sentenced a racist Brooklyn woman to indefinite jury duty on Tuesday after she trashed the NYPD and minorities. “This is an outrage, and so are you!” Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis told the woman, holding up her bile-filled juror questionnaire…. Asked to name […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
Law and Changing Technology, and a “Natural Right to Fly”
Here’s a fun passage from Francis Holt, Law of Libel 38-39 (1812) [UPDATE: switched to citing the original 1812 edition rather than the 1816 second edition]; it’s an English treatise, but one that was highly influential in America in the early 1800s, and my sense (from the pretty substantial reading I’ve done on the subject) […]
Is the Freedom of the Press “Redundant” of the Freedom of Speech?
In my new article on the history of the Free Press Clause, I argue that the freedom of the press was seen near the time of the Framing (and near the time of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as in between and largely since) as protecting the right to use the press […]
“The Freedom … of the Press,” from 1791 to 1868 to Now — Freedom for the Press as an Industry, or the Press as a Technology?
That’s the long but descriptive title of my new article, which I’ve finally gotten out the door and to law reviews. Here’s the Introduction, minus most of the footnotes; the full article is here. * * * “[T]he freedom … of the press” specially protects the press as an industry, which is to say newspapers, […]
“Dutch Court Orders Resumption of Wilders Race Hate Trial”
By Eugene Volokh on March 31, 2011 5:03 pm in "Hate Speech", Freedom of Speech, Religion and the Law
Deutsche Welle has the most detailed account that I’ve seen in any professional media source. Some excerpts: Wilders is charged with five counts of offending and inciting hatred against Muslims and groups of non-Western origin, particularly Moroccans…. He has likened Islam to fascism and made comparisons between the Muslim holy book, the Koran, and Hitler’s […]
Library Cancels Showing of Anti-Abortion Film (for Fear of Protests), Relents Under Threat of Litigation
The Thomas More Society reports: Today, Thomas More Society attorneys confirmed that Marathon County library officials have agreed to rescind their decision to cancel a showing of the pro-life documentary “BloodMoney” by the Wausau “40 Days for Life” group in one of the library’s public meeting rooms. Scott Corbett, Marathon County Corporation Counsel, said in […]
Bus System Barred (at Least Temporarily) from Excluding “Leaving Islam?” Ad
This happened in American Freedom Defense Initiative v. Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) (E.D. Mich., decided today). The ad said, “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get answers!,” and included the Web site address “RefugeFromIslam.com.” SMART — the Detroit-area public transportation system — rejected […]
Multiculturalism (of an Important Sort) as an American Constitutional Value
By Eugene Volokh on March 31, 2011 10:13 am in Federalism, Freedom of Speech, Parental Rights, Religious Freedom
I have a piece on this in National Review Online today (based on a 2008 post). Here are the opening paragraphs: People talk a lot about “multiculturalism,” whether to praise it or condemn it. But standing alone, the concept is too vague to be supported or opposed. In this respect, it’s much like certain other […]
Crime-Facilitating Speech
I’ve long been interested in when speech may be restricted because it conveys information that may help people commit a crime; my Crime-Facilitating Speech, 57 Stan. L. Rev. 1095 (2005) is all about that. But I just ran across an excellent example that I hadn’t found when doing research on that case, State v. Northwest […]
Illegal to Speak Electronically to “Frighten, … Abuse, Harass, or Alarm” People “In Furtherance of Severe, Repeated, or Hostile Behavior”
The Arkansas Legislature has just passed, and sent for the governor’s signature, a bill that would make it misdemeanor “cyberbullying” to transmit[], send[], or post[] a communication by elect[r]onic means [including computers and telephones] with the purpose to frighten, coerce, intimidate, threaten, abuse, harass, or alarm another person … in furtherance of severe, repeated, or […]
Ohio ACLU Criticizes Board of Education’s Exclusion of Anti-Radical-Islam (and Possibly Anti-Islam and Anti-Muslim) Speaker
Here’s the Ohio ACLU’s statement, on the national ACLU’s Web site: Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio expressed disappointment and concern over the cancellation of an event to be hosted by the Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association at Mansfield Senior High School on Monday, March 28, 2011. After consultation with city […]
Return on Investment of Thuggery
Some of the comments to the Thugs Win Again post point out that there might not have been any specific threats that led to the Mansfield officials’ decision to kick out the an anti-radical-Islam / possibly anti-Islam and anti-Muslim speech. (The speech was on government property, but in a limited public forum that had generally […]
Thugs Win Again
The Mansfield North Central Ohio Tea Party Association was planning to have a meeting featuring an anti-Islam (and, by some accounts, anti-Muslim) speaker. As usual, the meeting would be at the Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ohio: The high school opens its meeting rooms to “any recognized political party or organization for the purpose of […]
Non-Permanent-Resident Non-Citizens and the First Amendment
Bluman v. FEC, a district court case that will be heard in May by a three-judge panel in D.C. (consisting of D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh and District Court Judges Ricardo Urbina and Rosemary Collyer, asks: (1) Do non-permanent-resident non-citizens have the First Amendment right to contribute to candidates’ campaigns? (2) Do non-permanent-resident non-citizens have […]
Alleged Defamation of Estranged Wife Leads to Order Not to Talk About Her, Loss of Gun Rights; Court of Appeal Reverses
The case is In re Marriage of Mendlowitz. The alleged slanders were an e-mail and a letter to the estranged wife’s business associates that seemed likely to interfere with her business relationships. They might indeed have led to a successful defamation lawsuit, and a lawsuit for interference with business relations. But a trial court judge […]