First Amendment
California Justices Order Sunlight on Clemency Files
(CN) – The California Supreme Court has ordered Gov. Gavin Newsom to unseal court documents related to clemency applications for
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Religious Hospital Seeks Dismissal of Suit in Aid-in-Dying Dispute
A Catholic hospital sued for refusing to help a terminally ill patient end his life asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit Wednesday night.
Read moreLegal Experts Predict Tough Slog for NRA in Suit Against San Francisco
Legal experts predict the National Rifle Association won’t get far in its lawsuit challenging San Francisco’s decision to brand it a terrorist group, but that could change if the city takes action against contractors that work with the NRA, according to one First Amendment scholar.
Read moreNinth Circuit Probes Worth of IMDb Law in Fight of Hollywood Ageism
Signaling an uphill battle in the fight to revive a blocked California law that requires a popular entertainment industry website take down actors’ ages upon request, a Ninth Circuit panel on Monday struggled to understand how the restriction will deter age discrimination in Hollywood.
Read moreStudents Find Success With First Amendment Battles Over College Fees
College students in San Diego County saw two court victories this summer in First Amendment cases challenging how mandatory student fees are allocated by schools. It’s a trend legal experts say will continue as alternative student groups challenge who gets access to funds raised by students, with lack of funding amounting to censorship.
Read morePledge of Allegiance
A federal judge dismissed some but not all of parents’ constitutional class-action claims against Victory Preparatory Academy, a Colorado charter school, which allegedly sent home students for failing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, called the police on them for it, and banned their parents from campus, including from sports events and parent-teacher conferences.
Read moreCourt Has No Role in Woman’s Beef With Religion, Mormon Church Says
Is the Book of Mormon the word of God? That is not a question for an American court of law to answer, attorneys for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday in a motion to dismiss a federal conspiracy lawsuit against the church.
Read moreConservative Group Says First Amendment Should Apply to YouTube
Lawyers for Google and the website Prager University squared off before a Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday over whether YouTube censors the conservative platform in violation of the First Amendment.
Read moreVideographers Opposed to Gay Weddings Prevail at 8th Circuit
The Eighth Circuit paved the way Friday for two Christian videographers to subvert a Minnesota nondiscrimination law that would make them to film gay weddings.
Read moreConservative Students in First Amendment Case Over Use of Student Fees
California State University’s process of allocating mandatory student fees to fund student group activities is unconstitutional and excludes “unpopular viewpoints,” a federal judge has ruled in the group Students for Life’s challenge over being denied funding to bring an anti-abortion lecturer to CSU San Marcos.
Read moreNeighborhood Mosque
A city in Michigan properly negotiated a consent decree to permit the construction of a mosque in a residential neighborhood, the Sixth Circuit ruled. Citizens’ First Amendment rights were not violated when the mayor cut off public comments that were irrelevant to zoning considerations, such as commenters’ preference not to “live near Muslims.”
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Federal Workers Sue to Overturn Special Counsel’s Ban on #Resist
A union of federal government workers is challenging the Trump administration’s restrictions on political speech, claiming they not only violate the First Amendment, but could prevent federal employees from doing their jobs.
Read moreAbortion Protester Wins Appeal
An anti-abortion protester is entitled to an injunction allowing him to to stand near the entrance of a Planned Parenthood clinic, the Sixth Circuit ruled. The court found that the street connected to the abortion clinic’s parking lot is privately owned, but it “has all the trappings of a public street” and can be considered a public forum.
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Gun Rights Group’s Challenge of Montana Electioneering Mandate Rejected
The First Amendment doesn’t prevent Montana from requiring a gun-rights group to register as a political action committee before mailing fliers to voters that detail candidates’ positions on the Second Amendment, the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday.
Read moreJournalist’s Phone Data Was Used to Justify Home, Office Raids
Police used records of a journalist’s private communications with a confidential source, obtained by a now-quashed search warrant, to secure permission to raid the reporter’s home and office, two judges revealed in court Friday.
Read morePanel OKs Lawsuit Over Arrest for Police Parody Page
A parody Facebook account of an Ohio police department that landed a local man in jail falls under speech protected by the First Amendment, the Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously Monday.
Read moreJudge Dismisses $250 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Washington Post
A federal judge in Kentucky dismissed a $250 million libel and defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post, finding that the newspaper’s coverage of a January incident between a high school student and an American Indian activist was not defamatory in any way.
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