For more on the case, see this post from a few days ago. The conviction was for “committing acts aimed at inciting national hatred and strife,” but, as I argue in that post, this provision has essentially been interpreted as a ban on use of religious images that sufficiently offends believers, which is why I […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
It’s Now a Crime in Louisiana to Electronically Communicate With “Intent to … Abuse [or] Torment” a Minor
A newly enacted statute, Rev. Stat. 14:40.7 provides, in relevant part: A. Cyberbullying is the transmission of any electronic textual, visual, written, or oral communication with the malicious and willful intent to coerce, abuse, torment, or intimidate a person under the age of eighteen. B… (2) “Electronic textual, visual, written, or oral communication” means any […]
Museum Curators on Trial for Blasphemy
[UPDATE, July 12, 2010: The curators have been convicted and fined.] The AP reports: [T]he two prominent Moscow art curators who put on [an art] show are facing the prospect of three years in prison … [under] the law against inciting religious hatred…. In one [painting in the show], Christ appeared to his disciples as […]
Iowa Federal Court Finds Sheriff Denied Concealed Carry Because of Applicant’s Political Activity, Orders Sheriff to Take a First Amendment Class
The case is Dorr v. Weber, decided yesterday (some citations omitted); the court ordered the sheriff to grant the permit, but also wrote: Paul [Dorr] was denied a permit precisely because Sheriff Weber believed that his free speech rights offended the majority of voters in Osceola County…. In denying Paul a concealed weapons permit, Sheriff […]
An Unusual Flag Burning Arrest
From Bohmfalk v. City of San Antonio (W.D. Tex. magistrate report adopted by the district court June 29, 2010): This case arose from an incident in which plaintiff David Bohmfalk left his home in Hondo, traveled to the Alamo Plaza, and burned a flag of Mexico to “demonstrate and protest against Senate legislation granting amnesty […]
The Washington Post on Citizens United
I report below on the data reported by this Washington Post article, but I also wanted to comment about the way the article frames the issue: Labor unions have dominated spending on independent campaign ads so far this election season, despite a recent Supreme Court decision that freed spending by corporations, a Washington Post analysis […]
“Unions Outspending Corporations on Campaign Ads”
The Washington Post reports on the post-Citizens United spending: So far this year, $24.7 million in independent spending has been reported to the Federal Election Commission, campaign filings show. Unions have spent $9.7 million (or 39 percent of the total), compared with $6.4 million (26 percent) spent by individuals and $3.4 million spent by corporations. […]
Judges Order Newspapers to Delete Archive Stories
One judge rescinded the order, which he apparently signed without realizing that it covered the newspapers (it also covered various government agencies); but the other judge has not, though I hope he will shortly. [UPDATE: The second judge has now done so, see here.] The Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania) reports: Judge Bradley P. Lunsford has […]
Federal Court Strikes Down Pennsylvania Ban on Corporate Names Containing “Blasphemy, Profane Cursing or Swearing or [Words] That Profane the Lord’s Name”
I blogged about the law, and the litigation, here; yesterday, a federal district judge held (Kalman v. Cortes) that the statute violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Speech Clause. Thanks to Adam Bonin for the pointer.
To Get Children Back, Father Must Get Counseling to “Address His Use of Sexist and Racist Language”
So holds In re G.G. (Cal. Ct. App. June 29, 2010), by a 2-1 vote. (The court order said that “Father to be in individual counseling to address issues with a male therapist regarding father‘s racist and sexist views,” but the appellate opinion seems to treat the counseling as focused solely on the father’s use […]
Elementary School May Not Discriminate Against Students’ Distribution of Religious Materials
So holds Morgan v. Swanson, decided today by the Fifth Circuit — just the latest in a long line of cases striking down such discrimination against religious speech by students. (A school may limit religious speech within its own curriculum, including speech by students who are participating in school-conducted events; but this case didn’t involve […]
“On Free Association, the Court Makes the Right Call”
That’s the title of an online op-ed I have today at the New York Daily News. The opening paragraphs: We have many constitutional rights. But we generally aren’t constitutionally entitled to get subsidies for those rights. The right to privately educate our children doesn’t equal a right to government funding for private schools. The right […]
Judge Denies TRO in Minneapolis Pride Festival Case, But…
By Dale Carpenter on June 25, 2010 4:18 pm in Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
Minnnesota District Judge John Tunheim has denied a temporary restraining order sought by Twin Cities Pride (TCP) to prevent an anti-gay preacher from distributing literature and displaying signs inside the park where TCP has a permit for the annual gay pride festival. (The desision is here. I wrote about some of the basic issues here.). Twin Cities […]
Free Speech That Helps Bad Foreign Military Groups, and the Coordinated/Independent Advocacy Distinction
I blogged several items yesterday about Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. I’m still digesting the implications of the majority opinion, but it tentatively strikes me as somewhat troubling: It does allow a content-based restriction on speech by Americans, and while I think it can be limited to speech coordinated with designated foreign terrorist organizations — […]
Freedom of Speech and the Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Tort
I have a near-final version of this article — forthcoming in a few weeks in the Cardozo Law Review de novo online supplement — available at SSRN. Here’s a short summary, from the SSRN abstract: Twenty years ago, Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell held that even outrageous, severely distressing speech is constitutionally protected, at least […]