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Constitutional Law

First Amendment Center

News related to the first amendment of the US Constitution and freedom of speech issues.
By First Amendment Center

Post Frequency: 38.7/day

Last Entry: March 29, 2011 at 21:00:00

Planned House hearings raise concerns

Posted on February 02, 2011
Comment? E-mail me Planned House hearings on the 'radicalization' of the Islamic community in the U.S. have raised concerns among Muslim Americans and have drawn comparisons to the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has scheduled a series of hearings on the ?radicalization of the American Muslim community...

House panel chairman questions agency's FOIA claims

Posted on February 01, 2011
WASHINGTON — The new Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee cited discrepancies yesterday between internal government documents and statements by a senior political adviser in the Homeland Security Department about how the government responded to requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act from citizens, journalists and others...

11th Circuit: 2 girls in 'Wild' video to remain anonymous

Posted on February 01, 2011
ATLANTA ? The names of two underage girls who filed a lawsuit against "Girls Gone Wild" video producer Joe Francis should remain under wraps, and a federal judge should reconsider whether the names of the other two plaintiffs should be made public, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday...

Hawaii lawmaker pushes for renewal of journalist shield law

Posted on February 01, 2011
HONOLULU ? A Hawaii law protecting journalists from having to reveal their anonymous sources and private notes is expiring this year, and House Minority Leader Gene Ward is pushing to make it permanent. Ward, R-Hawaii Kai, has asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Gil Keith-Agaran of Maui to consider H...

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Neb. student-speech act introduced

Posted on February 01, 2011
Comment? E-mail me Public school students in Nebraska would have enhanced free-speech protections if the Student Expression Act clears the Legislature. Introduced Jan. 19 by state Sen. Ken Haar, the measure says ensuring students' free-speech protections would increase their appreciation and respect for the rights and values of a constitutional democracy...

5th Circuit strikes down some La. lawyer-ad rules

Posted on January 31, 2011
NEW ORLEANS ? Some of the Louisiana Supreme Court's new restrictions on lawyer advertising are unconstitutional, but several other rules can be enforced, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a blanket ban on ads that depict judges or juries or that refer to an attorney's past successes or results obtained for clients...

Pa. prosecutor: Newspaper's story killed prison probe

Posted on January 31, 2011
EASTON, Pa. — A prosecutor yesterday criticized a newspaper?s decision to run a story based on a sealed search warrant, saying its disclosure forced him to pull the plug on an investigation of prison corruption. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said the probe of an alleged $10,000-per-month smuggling ring inside the county lockup was compromised by the front-page story in The Morning Call of Allentown, published Jan...

Smithsonian board seeks changes after video flap

Posted on January 31, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The Smithsonian Institution's governing board called yesterday for changes in how potentially objectionable exhibits are handled, while also standing behind the head of the museum complex amid accusations of censorship. Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough came under fire after deciding in December to remove a gay artist's video that depicted ants crawling on a crucifix in an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery...

Air Force Academy faculty file suit to block prayer event

Posted on January 31, 2011
DENVER — Five Air Force Academy faculty members and a religious watchdog group asked a federal judge yesterday to block the school from sponsoring a National Prayer Luncheon event. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation and the faculty members filed a lawsuit in Denver federal court, saying the event appears to be sponsored and approved by the academy's command structure...

N.J. governor signs law requiring more local budget info online

Posted on January 30, 2011
TRENTON, N.J. ? Expanded budget information for more New Jersey towns will soon be posted online. Gov. Chris Christie recently signed legislation that requires the Department of Community Affairs to immediately post the current budget ? and the last three adopted budgets ? of any municipality or county that does not have its own website...

Federal judge strikes down Baltimore abortion-sign law

Posted on January 30, 2011
BALTIMORE — A federal judge has struck down a Baltimore ordinance that requires pregnancy counseling centers to post a disclaimer if they don?t provide abortions or birth control. In a ruling issued Jan. 28, U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis said the ordinance violates the First Amendment and is unenforceable...

Charles Haynes discusses legislative prayers

Posted on January 30, 2011
Civil Beat, an online news service that provides information about issues facing Hawaii, recently talked to Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, about the Hawaii Senate's recent decision to end daily chamber prayers...

Experts surprised by report of Minn. News Council's closure

Posted on January 30, 2011
Two news-industry experts said today they were surprised by the news that the Minnesota News Council had announced it was shutting down after 40 years in operation. They both added, however, that it was remarkable the organization had lasted as long as it did...

Lawsuit against Calif. campus newspaper editor dismissed

Posted on January 28, 2011
BERKELEY, Calif. ? A court has dismissed a small-claims lawsuit filed against a college newspaper editor by the father of a deceased University of California-Berkeley football player. Harvey Purtz sued Rajesh Srinivasan, executive editor and president of The Daily Californian, last October, claiming the editor intentionally inflicted emotional distress by refusing to remove from the newspaper?s online archives a 2006 article and two 2007 blog posts...

TV station airs video after Miss. high court gives OK

Posted on January 27, 2011
JACKSON, Miss. ? A Hattiesburg television station aired a video yesterday that allegedly shows guards abusing juveniles at a youth detention center, after the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that it could. On Jan. 11, Youth Court Judge Mike McPhail barred WDAM-TV from airing the video because he said it would jeopardize the juveniles' privacy...

House panel seeks details of 5 years of FOI requests

Posted on January 27, 2011
WASHINGTON — The new Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is demanding details of every request for federal records made by citizens, journalists, companies and others during the last five years under the Freedom of Information Act...

Congresswoman again introduces bill to outlaw nooses

Posted on January 27, 2011
Comment? E-mail me For the fourth straight year, a congresswoman from Texas has introduced a bill that would criminalize the display of nooses with the intent to intimidate or harass others. Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduced the Noose Hate Crime Act of 2011, H...

Group fights company's bid to I.D. makers of bogus website

Posted on January 27, 2011
WICHITA, Kan. — Lawyers representing the environmentalists behind a media hoax targeting Koch Industries Inc. have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by the Wichita-based company seeking the pranksters? identities. The Washington-based Public Citizen Litigation Group said the lawsuit would have a chilling effect on anonymous Internet communications and basic First Amendment rights...

Mo. measure addresses academic freedom, evolution

Posted on January 26, 2011
Comment? E-mail me Public elementary and secondary school teachers in Missouri would have greater academic freedom to teach about scientific evidence regarding evolution, if a bill recently introduced in the Missouri House becomes law. Republican state Rep...

Federal judge upholds Ga. ban on guns in places of worship

Posted on January 26, 2011
ATLANTA ? A federal judge this week upheld Georgia?s law banning guns in churches and other places of worship by dismissing a lawsuit that claims the ban violates the First and Second amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit was filed by a gun-rights organization ? GeorgiaCarry...

Calif. city OKs mosque despite protests

Posted on January 26, 2011
LOS ANGELES — Opponents of a proposed mosque in the Southern California city of Temecula collected hundreds of signatures, bombarded city planners with angry letters and e-mails, and even staged protests with bullhorns and dogs. None of it worked...

Mo. appeals court: Judge wrongly closed case file

Posted on January 25, 2011
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri appeals court has ruled that a judge wrongly closed records in a criminal case against a former police chief and has ordered that the file be made available to the news media. An attorney for a newspaper that sued to see the records said yesterday that the decision was a significant victory for the public?s ability to keep tabs on government officials...

Wall Street Journal sues seeking Medicare data

Posted on January 25, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. ? The publisher of The Wall Street Journal went to court yesterday seeking to overturn a 31-year ban on the release of records about how much Medicare money individual doctors receive. Dow Jones & Company Inc. filed suit in federal court in Orlando in an effort to end a prohibition that was implemented in 1979 following a successful lawsuit in Florida by the American Medical Association...

Calif. fights bearded man's bid to become prison guard

Posted on January 25, 2011
SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? California?s attorney general says religious beliefs aren?t enough to trump a corrections department ban on prison guards wearing beards ? a stance that drew protests yesterday from civil rights organizations. Attorney General Kamala Harris argued in a Sacramento County Superior Court filing Jan...

S.D. newspaper settles libel lawsuit

Posted on January 24, 2011
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. ? The Argus Leader says a libel lawsuit against the Sioux Falls newspaper and a former editor has been settled out of court. Former Sioux Falls Development Foundation Director Dan Scott sued in the summer of 2007, saying a satirical column written by then-Executive Editor Randell Beck had damaged his reputation...

GOP lawmakers target federal funding for public broadcasting

Posted on January 24, 2011
WASHINGTON — Can the tea party kill off what Newt Gingrich couldn?t? Federal subsidies for Amtrak, mohair farming, public broadcasting, small airlines serving rural airports and many others were targeted in the heady days of the 1995 GOP takeover of Congress...

Ex-Border Patrol agent says opinions cost him his job

Posted on January 24, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit for a former Border Patrol agent who claims he was fired — just weeks before his probationary period ended — because he expressed opinions about illegal immigration and drug legalization...

News-media groups urge Miss. court to lift order against TV station

Posted on January 23, 2011
JACKSON, Miss. ? The Mississippi Supreme Court has allowed about three dozen news organizations and media trade associations to file legal papers in support of a Hattiesburg television station. WDAM-TV contends it should be allowed to broadcast video that it says shows abuse at a local juvenile-detention center...

Federal judge upholds national forest's limits on motorized travel

Posted on January 23, 2011
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit by groups wanting to reverse a U.S. Forest Service ban on motorized travel in a section of the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The Badger-Two Medicine Travel Plan went into effect in October along the Rocky Mountain Front, limiting access by wheeled motor vehicles to 8 miles of roads and banning snowmobiles...

Kan. woman aims to outlaw mean posts on memorial websites

Posted on January 23, 2011
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. ? Karla O'Malley was upset when she heard that an Arkansas teenager she had stopped to comfort after a Christmas Eve car accident in Overland Park had died. But she was outraged when she went to post condolences on a memorial website for the teenager and found that it included hurtful and offensive comments about the boy's death...

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