The Ninth Circuit has just refused to rehear en banc the panel decision striking down the Stolen Valor Act; the opinions are here. I look forward to reading them shortly, but in the meantime I thought I’d note them for our readers. My post on the panel decision is here. My amicus brief urging the […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
Misdemeanor Plea in Case Involving Making Video of Yourself Supposedly Singing Sexually Themed Songs to Children (Who Actually Weren’t Present During the Singing)
I blogged last month about the original — and legally unsupported — felony charges for manufacturing child sexual abusive material in this case. According to the principal, [A] recent graduate (who contacted the teacher ahead of time) visited a first grade classroom and informed the teacher that he wanted to video himself singing to the […]
Minnesota Trial Court’s Latest Opinion in the Solicitation of Suicide Case
I blogged about the case yesterday, but didn’t then have a copy of the trial court’s latest opinion rejecting the free speech defense. (I quoted an earlier order from the trial court on the same topic.) I’ve now read the latest opinion, and its reasoning strikes me as unpersuasive. The court analogizes to the fighting […]
Freedom of Speech No Defense for Urging A Particular Person to Commit Suicide
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: A former nurse from Faribault, Minn., was convicted of two felonies Tuesday when a judge ruled he had used “repeated and relentless” tactics during Internet chats that coaxed two people to kill themselves. Rice County District Judge Thomas Neuville found that William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, “imminently incited” the suicides of Mark Drybrough […]
Copyright and Free Expression:
By David Post on March 13, 2011 9:50 pm in Copyright, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Supreme Court
Last week brought the news that the Supreme Court has granted cert in a pretty interesting copyright case case from the 10th Circuit, Golan v. Holder, that promises to raise some important questions at the ever-elusive copyright/first amendment boundary. The background is this: the US signed on to the Berne Convention on Literary Property, the […]
$60,000 Damages for Blogging the Truth About Someone, Intending to Get The Person Fired
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports: Controversial north Minneapolis blogger John Hoff must pay $60,000 in damages to a former Jordan Area Community Council executive director Jerry Moore, a jury in the civil case concluded Friday. The Hennepin County District Court jury found that an “Adventures of Johnny Northside” blog post in June 2009 resulted in […]
Funeral Protesters Win at High Court
Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Snyder v. Phelps. The funeral protesters won 8-1. Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the Court. Justice Breyer concurred, and Justice Alito dissented. The majority opinion concludes: Our holding today is narrow. We are required in First Amendment cases to carefully review the record, and the reach of […]
ACLU of Virginia Defends Students Who Want to Post Ten Commandments on Their Lockers
By Eugene Volokh on February 26, 2011 10:17 pm in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at K-12 Schools, Religion and the Law
Here’s the Virginia ACLU’s letter to the principal, as posted by WSLS-TV: We were concerned to hear that the administration of Floyd County High School had removed copies of the Ten Commandments from students’ lockers. If the school is treating students’ religious speech less favorably than other forms of speech, it may violate the First […]
Thugs Win Again
This time they are pro-Israel thugs as opposed to extremist Muslim thugs (and various other thugs), but thugs are thugs. Here’s what happened; I quote Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign v. King County (W.D. Wash, decided last Friday): The county Department of Transportation in Seattle sells advertising on buses; the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign bought space […]
Suppression of Jury Nullification Advocates’ Speech Outside Courthouse
The New York Times reports: Since 2009, Mr. Heicklen has stood … at courthouse entrances … and handed out pamphlets encouraging jurors to ignore the law if they disagree with it, and to render verdicts based on conscience. That concept, called jury nullification, is highly controversial, and courts are hostile to it. But federal prosecutors […]
Conviction for Disorderly Conduct Based on Angry Political Speech Reversed
The case is State v. Albarelli (Vt. Feb. 18). Note that the conviction was based on a theory that the speech was disorderly conduct because it was “threatening,” not on the theory that it disrupted a “lawful assembly or meeting of persons.” Whether the speech could be regulated on such a theory — or some […]
Stripping Most Institutional Media of Constitutional Protection?
Several Washington State legislators have proposed a resolution that would “urge[] Congress to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution for the states’ consideration which provides that corporations are not persons under the laws of the United States or any of its jurisdictional subdivisions.” It’s pretty clear from context that they mean corporations aren’t […]
Making Video of Yourself Supposedly Singing Sexually Themed Songs to Children (Who Actually Weren’t Present During the Singing) = Felony?
So the prosecutor seems to think in this case: [Evan Daniel] Emory, 21, who authorities say “victimized” an entire Ravenna first-grade classroom on Jan. 12, was arrested late Tuesday, charged with manufacturing child sexual abusive material, a 20-year felony…. Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said what Emory did by posting a YouTube video of him […]
Third Circuit Judge Denies Lawyer’s Request for Order That “Will Compel … Volokh to Remove His … Blog [Post]”
I wrote about this controversy last month: Check out the Appellant’s Emergency Motion to Seal Portions of Court Filings Referencing Libelous Statements Made by Others in Wolk v. Olson (3d Cir.). To review the bidding, Arthur Wolk sued Overlawyered.com, alleging Overlawyered had libeled him. The case was dismissed on statute of limitations grounds, and Wolk […]
Blasphemy Conviction in Austria
Nina Shea (The Corner) reports: Today, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a young Viennese mother, was convicted under section 283 of the Austrian penal code of vilifying religious teachings for her negative commentary on Islam in a lecture before a political-party gathering in Vienna; she was fined 480 Euros. Sabaditsch-Wolff, a diplomat’s daughter, had lived and worked for […]