Stanford law professor (and former judge) Michael McConnell, who represented the Christian Legal Society before the Supreme Court in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, e-mails this: I had a mischievous thought, which I thought I would offer to your blog: I have a suggestion for the City of New York City, if it wishes to […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
Third Circuit Strikes Down Another Campus Speech Code
By Eugene Volokh on August 18, 2010 6:39 pm in "Hate Speech", Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
The case is McCauley v. University of the Virgin Islands, decided today. The court holds that the K-12 school cases — “Tinker, Fraser, Hazelwood, Morse, and other decisions involving speech in public elementary and high schools” — “cannot be taken as gospel in cases involving public universities,” and strikes down (at least when applied to […]
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Stolen Valor Act, Holds That Knowing Lies About Whether One Has Received Medals Are Generally Constitutionally Protected
By Eugene Volokh on August 17, 2010 6:25 pm in Freedom of Speech, Knowingly False Statements of Fact
The 2-to-1 decision, came in United States v. Alvarez; I think that this is probably not quite right, see this amicus brief I filed in a similar case, though I think the question — what restrictions does the First Amendment impose on laws that restrict knowing lies? — is difficult, and the majority makes a […]
Internet “Censorship,” part 1:
No, this is not about the Verizon-Google deal — I’ll be posting about that momentarily. This is a somewhat more mundane illustration of a different phenomenon (though one that is related, perhaps obliquely, to the issue of “net neutrality” at the heart of the Viacom-Google kerfuffle). It turns out — at least if this story […]
“New York MTA Accepts Controversial Anti-Mosque Ad After Lawsuit Is Filed”
So reports Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause). Here’s the ad: The Complaint quotes an e-mail from the representative of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority giving this ground for initially rejecting the ad: The problem with this ad still is the direct connection that is being associated with the Twin Towers attack and the new Mosque that […]
No Movie Ads With Guns in Them, We’re San Francisco
SF Weekly blogs reports that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency doesn’t allow movie ads with guns in them: While the official poster for [The Other Guys] features a maniacal Ferrell and the menacing Wahlberg sailing through the air, guns drawn, the version on Muni vehicles and in stations features Ferrell brandishing a vial of […]
Ground Zero Mosque (Actually, Two-Blocks-from-Ground-Zero Mosque)
By Eugene Volokh on August 9, 2010 11:47 am in "Hate Speech", Freedom of Speech, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
I don’t have anything helpful to say on the ethical, public relations, or interfaith amity questions raised by the ground zero mosque. Cathy Young takes one view, [UPDATE: Christopher Hitchens in Slate takes a somewhat different one, and this Ottawa Citizen op-ed takes yet another] and I know there are others, but I leave that […]
Important Case on Public Universities’ Charging Speakers Security Fees (Especially in Anticipation of Possible Hostile Reaction by the Audience)
By Eugene Volokh on July 29, 2010 12:49 am in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
From Sonnier v. Crain (5th Cir. July 27): Sonnier argues … that SLU’s speech policy violates the First Amendment because it gives the University the “sole discretion … in determining both the need for, and the strength of the security” at the public assembly or demonstration, and assesses the cost of additional security on the […]
Content-Neutral Speech Restrictions on Public University Campuses
By Eugene Volokh on July 29, 2010 12:30 am in Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
Sonnier v. Crain (5th Cir. July 27) has an interesting discussion, in which the Fifth Circuit panel (by a 2-to-1 vote) defers considerably to universities’ prerogatives, even without deciding that the university locations are not public fora. The appellate court upholds the trial court’s denial of a preliminary injunction of a policy that required all […]
Interesting Fourth Circuit Free Speech vs. Information Privacy Case
It’s Ostergren v. Cuccinelli (4th Cir. July 26). I’m on a trip with my son and can’t blog much this week, and the case is complex enough that I can’t quickly summarize it, though the short answer is that the speaker won. But if you’re interested in free speech vs. information privacy questions, you should […]
“NOT the ‘Whiteman’s Bitch'” Rejected as Candidate’s Label on a Ballot
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board rejected an independent Wisconsin Assembly candidate’s request to label herself on the ballot as “NOT the ‘whiteman’s bitch’”: Unlike candidates from the established Democratic and Republican parties, independents are allowed a five-word statement of purpose on the ballot to explain to voters what their candidacy […]
Tenth Circuit Reaffirms That Obvious Parodies — Which No Reasonable Reader Would Interpret as Factual Allegations — Can’t Be Libelous
This is the Mink v. Knox (10th Cir. July 19), the latest in the Howling Pig saga. The parody led to an investigation and a search based on the premise that the parody constituted criminal libel; the author is now suing the prosecutor who appears to have authorized the search warrant, and the Tenth Circuit […]
Stolen Valor Act Held Unconstitutional
The case is United States v. Strandlof, which I discussed here, and in which I filed this amicus brief. I found the opinion to be quite thoughtful and interesting, but I ultimately wasn’t persuaded (despite the recent United States v. Stevens precedent, on which the court heavily relies). The court’s theory seems to suggest that, […]
Amicus Brief in Snyder v. Phelps
I’m pleased to say that we’ve just filed an amicus brief in Snyder v. Phelps that I wrote on behalf of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and Profs. Ash Bhagwat, Marin Redish, Nadine Strossen, our own David Post, and me. As readers of the blog might gather, the brief argues that the Court […]
Second Circuit Strikes Down FCC’s Current Indecency Restrictions
The case is Fox Television, Inc. v. FCC, and it holds the policy violates the First Amendment. The court concluded that the current policy — which is considerably broader than the one upheld in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) — is unconstitutionally vague. A few key passages: [W]hen Judge Leval asked during oral argument if […]