The bill is HB8, though there’s a Senate amendment; apparently, the Legislature plans to enact the bill as amended. The bill bars the government from releasing information about who has applied for or gotten a concealed carry permit, and the Legislature certainly can impose such restrictions on the government itself. But then it also criminalizes […]
Archive | Freedom of Speech
Leakers, Recipients, and Conspirators
Leaks to reporters — and investigations of the leaks that included subpoenas of reporters’ e-mail logs and searches of reporters’ e-mail — have been in the news; see this post by Orin about the AP story and this post by Conor Friedersdorf (The Atlantic) about the Fox News story. I thought I’d say a few […]
The IRS Quizzing Pro-Life Groups About Their Intentions and Their Speech
Apropos the recent stories about the IRS’s quizzing conservative groups about their intentions and their speech, and delaying approval of those groups’ tax-exempt status, here are two items from a few years ago: 1. In 2011, the IRS quizzed Christian Voices for Life about whether they “[do] education on both sides of the issues” and […]
The IRS’ Inquiries into Conservative Groups [Post Pulled; See Note]
[Note: I’ve decided to pull this post about my experience with a conservative organization that had been contacted by the IRS about political activities because after further conversations with folks involved, I think the timing of letters from the IRS isn’t enough to connect this particular group, which has long had its tax exempt status, […]
Speaking Engagements This Week
By Dale Carpenter on April 21, 2013 4:25 pm in Flagrant Conduct: Lawrence v. Texas, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities
On Monday I’ll be speaking before the ACS chapter at Yale Law School on the topic, “What Has Lawrence Meant? Litigation and LGBT Rights on the Tenth Anniversary of Lawrence v. Texas.” The presentation will be in Rm. 129 from 1-2 p.m. On Tuesday I’ll be speaking at Minnesota State University-Mankato on “The Role of […]
“A Bad Time for Press Freedoms”
The Columbia Journalism Review has an interesting interview with James Goodale, former general counsel and vice chairman of The New York Times and author of the forthcoming book Fighting for the Press. Goodale is very critical of the current Administration’s hostility to press freedoms — “Worse than Nixon” — and the relative lack of critical […]
Florida “Revenge Porn” Bill
A Florida bill would ban “knowingly transmit[ting] or post[ing]” to any web site, a “photograph or video that depicts nudity of another person” coupled with “personal identification information” of that other person, “for the purpose of harassing the depicted person or causing others to harass the depicted person.” “Harass” is defined as “to engage in […]
Fighting Words
An interesting and likely correct application of current “fighting words” law, from In re E.O., 2013 WL 1339930 (Kan. Ct. App. Mar. 29, 2013) (nonprecedential): Although the phrase “fuck you” is offensive and profane, when it is said once by a juvenile to an adult, police officer or not, who is 150 feet away, while […]
Criminal Contempt Punishment for Trial Judge’s “Inflammatory” Speech in Judicial Opinion?
I blogged about this case when such punishment was imposed, but yesterday the Third Circuit reversed (In re Kendall (3d Cir. Apr. 3, 2013)): After the Virgin Islands Supreme Court issued a writ of mandamus in a criminal case presided over by former Superior Court Judge Leon A. Kendall, he published an opinion chastising the […]
Amicus Brief on Behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society in AID v. AOSI
I’m pleased to report that my Mayer Brown LLP colleagues Andrew Frey and Michael Rayfield and I have just filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the Christian Legal Society in Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, which will be argued […]
Defendant’s Reply Brief in State v. Brewington
Readers who were interested in the posts about State v. Brewington (the most recent one is here) might also want to see the reply brief. At this point, the case is teed up for the Indiana Supreme Court — they can decide to grant transfer (which means reviewing the Indiana Court of Appeals decision), hold […]
Obliviate!
From Nieman v. Versuslaw, Inc. (7th Cir. Mar. 19, 2013) (nonprecedential): Jason Nieman, an insurance-claims professional, … [sued] asserting invasion of privacy and retaliation against Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and VersusLaw, Inc., a legal-research website that provides the public with access to records of judicial decisions for a fee. Nieman alleged that the search engines operated […]
Ban on Saying “Bingo” for Six Months?
The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Austin Whaley was found guilty of disorderly conduct for going into a bingo hall and shouting “bingo” as a hoax. “This caused the hall to quit operating since they thought someone had won,” a police officer who was moonlighting as a security guard at the bingo hall at the time. […]
No Right to Anonymously Visit Government Meetings
An interesting decision in Paridon v. Trumbull County Childrens Servs. Bd. (Ohio Ct. App. Mar. 11, 2013) (some paragraph breaks added): At issue is whether appellee, Trumbull County Children Services Board …, may require attendees of its public meetings to sign in before being admitted to such meetings…. [Appellants allege] they attended a public meeting […]
Prof. Lawrence Schiffman’s Lawyer Demands Removal of Post Containing the Text of a Court Opinion
Here’s a remarkable e-mail that I received today: Law Offices of Rieders, Travis, Humphrey, Harris, Waters & Waffenschmidt 161 West Third Street PO Box 215 Williamsport, PA 17701 … E-MAIL TO: Eugene Volovh [volokh@law.ucla.edu] FROM: Clifford A. Rieders, Esquire DATE: March 13, 2013 RE: Lawrence Schiffman CC: Professor Lawrence Schiffman Please be advised that the […]