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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

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

Hawaii Senate ends daily chamber prayers

Posted on January 22, 2011
HONOLULU ? The Hawaii Senate last week silenced prayers previously offered before each of the chamber?s lawmaking sessions. Fears that the state would be sued over religious practices caused senators on Jan. 20 to pass new rules that delete a sentence requiring an invocation, effectively ending the practice...

Conn. library cancels movie 'Sicko' under pressure

Posted on January 21, 2011
ENFIELD, Conn. ? The Enfield Public Library has canceled a screening of the Michael Moore documentary "Sicko" about the American health-care system under pressure from the town council and mayor, leading to accusations of censorship. The screening was canceled Jan...

Verizon challenges FCC's net-neutrality rules

Posted on January 20, 2011
WASHINGTON ? Verizon Communications Inc. yesterday filed a legal challenge to new federal regulations that prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic flowing over their networks. In a filing in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia, Verizon argued that the Federal Communications Commission had overstepped its authority in adopting the new "network neutrality" rules last month...

Va. school board votes to rehang Ten Commandments

Posted on January 20, 2011
PEARISBURG, Va. — Heeding the complaints of hundreds of parents, a southwest Virginia school system is returning copies of the Ten Commandments to all of its public schools. The Giles County school board decided yesterday to rehang the commandments in the district?s five schools and technology center after the outpouring from parents...

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Ore. judge: 2 county officials violated open-meetings law

Posted on January 19, 2011
EUGENE, Ore. ? A judge has ruled that two Lane County commissioners violated Oregon?s public-meetings law in 2009 and are personally liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses in the case. Commissioner Rob Handy lined up votes to approve personal assistants for commissioners and worked with Commissioner Pete Sorenson in advance to script a vote, making the resulting public process a "sham," Coos County Circuit Judge Michael Gillespie wrote in a 44-page opinion...

Blog: Fla. lawmaker tries again to bar saggy pants

Posted on January 18, 2011
Comment? E-mail me Saggy, baggy pants apparently bother Florida state Sen. Gary Siplin. He has again introduced a bill to ban such fashion statements in public schools. Senate Bill 228 would require school districts in the state to prohibit students from wearing their pants too low...

High court says NASA background checks can continue

Posted on January 18, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court ruled today that background checks of low-risk employees at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California can continue. The high court overturned a lower court decision that had stopped the space agency's investigations of the contract workers...

Comcast wins government approval to take over NBC

Posted on January 18, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The government yesterday cleared the way for Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable company, to take over NBC Universal in a deal certain to transform the entertainment-industry landscape. Comcast is buying a 51% stake in NBC Universal, home of the NBC television network, from General Electric Co...

New Ala. governor: Only Christians are his brothers, sisters

Posted on January 18, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned yesterday whether he could be fair to non-Christians...

Reporters claim new Fla. gov. trying to limit press access

Posted on January 18, 2011
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ? Journalists who cover Florida's capital complained to news-industry leaders yesterday that the new administration of Gov. Rick Scott is skirting free-press traditions and attempting to control their work by limiting access to events and being slow to provide public records...

'Local Heroes' - theme for Sunshine Week

Posted on January 17, 2011
RESTON, Va. ? Sunshine Week 2011 (March 13-19) will highlight "Local Heroes" across America who have played significant roles in fighting for open government, the American Society of News Editors has announced. Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information...

TV station appeals judge's order blocking broadcast of video

Posted on January 17, 2011
JACKSON, Miss. ? A Hattiesburg television station has asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to allow it to broadcast video it acquired of alleged abuse at the Forrest County Juvenile Detention Center. Forrest County Youth Court Judge Mike McPhail last week barred WDAM from showing the video...

House panel wants info on Homeland Security FOIA policy

Posted on January 17, 2011
WASHINGTON — A House committee has asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a letter obtained Jan. 16 by the Associated Press...

Vt. settles dispute over religious vanity plate

Posted on January 17, 2011
MONTPELIER, Vt. — The state of Vermont has ended a years-long legal dispute with a man who has been fighting for the right to display a reference to one of the Bible?s most famous passages on a vanity plate. The state won?t ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision that said Shawn Byrne must be given the license plate ?JN36TN,? a reference to John 3:16...

Wash. high court sides with newspaper in open-records case

Posted on January 14, 2011
YAKIMA, Wash. ? The Washington state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Yakima newspaper in its quest for access to an estimated $2 million in billing records for court-appointed attorneys in a 2005 murder case. The Yakima Herald-Republic had argued that the public has a clear interest in knowing how the money was spent...

Neb. bill would increase distance between funerals, protests

Posted on January 13, 2011
A bill introduced in the Nebraska House of Representatives would amend the state?s funeral-picketing law to increase the distance imposed upon would-be protesters ? such as the Westboro Baptist Church. Nebraska state senator Bob Krist introduced Legislative Bill 284 on Jan...

2nd Circuit: Filmmaker gave up journalistic privilege

Posted on January 13, 2011
NEW YORK ? Journalists can lose their privilege to shield notes and film from others' scrutiny if they fail to maintain their independence, a federal appeals court said yesterday as it upheld a judge's decision to force a filmmaker to release outtakes from his documentary about a legal dispute between Chevron and Ecuadoreans...

Old pics of sister-in-law lead to child-porn conviction

Posted on January 13, 2011
WASHINGTON — In retrospect, Gary Peel?s first mistake on the road to his conviction on child pornography charges was the affair he began in 1974 with his sister-in-law. She was 16 at the time. It probably also was not a good idea to take nude pictures of her...

R.I. governor won't do talk radio, calling it profit-driven

Posted on January 13, 2011
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. ? Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is freezing out talk-radio shows from his new administration, saying he and state workers who report to him will no longer appear on them because they're profit-driven enterprises that are more entertainment than news and are a diversion from state business...

FOIA Hall of Fame nominations invited

Posted on January 13, 2011
WASHINGTON ? Nominations are invited for the fourth class of the National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame, which honors those who have made significant contributions to protecting and expanding access to government information. The new honorees will be announced during the 2011 National FOI Day Conference on March 16 at the Newseum in Washington, D...

Miss. TV station barred from airing abuse video

Posted on January 12, 2011
HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? A Youth Court judge has ruled that Hattiesburg television station WDAM cannot broadcast video it acquired of alleged abuse at the Forrest County Juvenile Detention Center. Youth Court Judge Mike McPhail on Jan. 11 upheld an earlier injunction he issued that barred WDAM from showing the video...

Federal board orders government to reinstate Park Police chief

Posted on January 12, 2011
WASHINGTON ? A federal board has ordered the reinstatement of a U.S. Park Police chief who was fired in 2004 after complaining publicly that her department was understaffed and underfunded. The Merit Systems Protection Board, in a Jan. 11 decision, also ordered the U...

Register now for National FOI Day conference

Posted on January 12, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The 13th annual National Freedom of Information Day Conference will be held Wednesday, March 16, at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Hosted each year by the First Amendment Center, the conference brings together open records advocates, government officials, judges, lawyers, librarians, journalists, educators and others to discuss timely issues related to transparency in government and public access to official records...

Video: Sen. Leahy on First Amendment freedom

Posted on January 12, 2011
Sen. Patrick Leahy spoke at a press conference at the Newseum on Jan. 11 on a range of topics, including the importance of the First Amendment. The Vermont Democrat also discussed the shooting of Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as well as censorship, civility in public discourse�and�the Freedom Forum's commitment to the First Amendment and freedom of information...

Ahead of Ariz. services, lawmakers ban picketing near funerals

Posted on January 11, 2011
PHOENIX — Arizona legislators quickly approved emergency legislation yesterday to head off picketing by members of a Kansas church near the funeral service for a 9-year-old girl who was killed in the Tucson shootings. Unanimous votes by the House and Senate sent the bill to Gov...

Court denies press access to gruesome prison video

Posted on January 11, 2011
DENVER ? A federal appellate court in Denver has denied the news media access to video and autopsy photographs showing the mutilation of a prison inmate killed by his cellmates even though the images were used by prosecutors in two criminal trials. A three-judge panel of the 10th U...

Federal judge upholds Wash. 'top 2' primary system

Posted on January 11, 2011
SEATTLE — A federal judge upheld Washington?s primary system against a challenge from the state?s Republican and Democratic parties yesterday, but he struck down the way Washington runs elections for the parties? grassroots organizers. Washington?s voters adopted a new primary system in 2004, after the old blanket-primary system was deemed unconstitutional...

High court won't review Colo. church-zoning flap

Posted on January 10, 2011
BOULDER, Colo. ? The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Boulder County's request that it review a land-use dispute with a church. County officials told the Daily Camera that the high court had decided yesterday against weighing in on the matter. The county was appealing the 10th U...

State judge rules NYC can release teacher ratings

Posted on January 10, 2011
NEW YORK — A judge ruled yesterday that New York City can release performance ratings for 12,000 teachers based on a statistical analysis of student test scores. Justice Cynthia Kern of Manhattan state Supreme Court denied a petition by the United Federation of Teachers to keep the teachers? names private, saying that releasing the ratings with their names attached would not be arbitrary or capricious under the law...

Ariz. high court: Student's curses didn't 'abuse' teacher

Posted on January 10, 2011
PHOENIX ? The Arizona Supreme Court says that a school child must use "fighting words," not merely curse, to be found guilty of abusing a teacher. Yesterday's ruling overturns the delinquency finding of a student known in court papers as Nickolas S...

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