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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

Atheist challenges taxpayer grant to landmark Ill. cross

Posted on August 14, 2010
ST. LOUIS ? An atheist is suing to force the administrators of a towering cross in southern Illinois to return a $20,000 state grant toward its restoration, saying it was ?blatantly unconstitutional? to spend taxpayer money on a Christian symbol. Caretakers of the 11-story Bald Knob Cross of Peace near Alto Pass, Ill...

Texas nurses who complained about doctor settle lawsuit

Posted on August 13, 2010
LUBBOCK, Texas ? A lawsuit brought by two Texas nurses who were fired and charged with a felony for filing a complaint against a doctor was never about getting a check, one of the women said this week. "This has never been about the money," Anne Mitchell said, "because these situations are never about money...

Mass. curriculum can exclude questioners of Armenian genocide

Posted on August 12, 2010
BOSTON ? A federal appeals court has ruled that Massachusetts public school guidelines for teaching history can exclude viewpoints that dispute the mass slaying of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the early part of the 20th century. The Aug. 11 decision by the 1st U...

ACLU turns over blogger IPs in Pa. defamation case

Posted on August 12, 2010
PITTSBURGH — A civil liberties group has surrendered the Internet protocol addresses from six posts on an online message board to a local western Pennsylvania official who claims the authors posted defamatory information about him. The American Civil Liberties Union, who intervened in the case, turned over two IPs on Aug...

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WikiLeaks prepares to publish more Afghan war files

Posted on August 12, 2010
LONDON ? WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said yesterday that his organization is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be more damaging to security and risk more lives than the organization's initial release of some 76,000 war documents...

Conn. House overrides vetoed campaign-finance bill

Posted on August 12, 2010
HARTFORD, Conn. ? For the second time in two weeks, Connecticut lawmakers have voted to override Gov. M. Jodi Rell's veto of a bill intended to fix legal problems with the state's campaign-finance law. The bill now becomes law. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted 106-30 during a special session today to re-pass a bill opposed by the Republican governor...

N.J. blogger convicted of threatening judges

Posted on August 12, 2010
NEW YORK ? A New Jersey blogger has been convicted of making threats against federal appeals court judges in Illinois. A Brooklyn jury deliberated less than two hours today before finding Hal Turner guilty of making death threats. The three judges from the 7th U...

Judge testifies he felt threatened by N.J. blogger

Posted on August 11, 2010
NEW YORK ? A federal appeals court judge from Chicago testified yesterday that he felt threatened by a New Jersey blogger's inflammatory Internet tirades over a ruling supporting gun control. The rant against the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel "was a threat of violence," Judge William Bauer told jurors at a retrial in Brooklyn...

N.Y. governor says Islamic group won't relocate mosque

Posted on August 11, 2010
ALBANY, N.Y. ? Gov. David Paterson said yesterday that developers of an Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near the 9/11 ground zero have rejected his offer to help them find a different site. While in Manhattan, Paterson said the group apparently wanted to remain with its current plans to build near the site of the Sept...

Nev. court throws out teacher's suit against school paper

Posted on August 11, 2010
FALLON, Nev. — A Nevada judge says he dismissed a high school music teacher?s lawsuit against the school newspaper because there was nothing known to be untrue in the article she claims damaged her reputation. Kathy Archey, a teacher at Churchill County High School in Fallon, filed the lawsuit March 5 over an article published in January about parents? allegations that Archey withheld student audition tapes for a state musical competition...

Victims of Fla. Ponzi scheme won't be identified

Posted on August 11, 2010
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ? A list of victims of a Ponzi scheme operated by a former Fort Lauderdale attorney will not become public. A federal judge ruled Aug. 10 that the court document be sealed in Scott Rothstein's criminal case. The U.S. Attorney's Office argued for having the 259 names be kept out of the public file, saying it would cause "severe embarrassment and mental distress" for the victims entitled to $279 million...

Mayor entitled to immunity after man ejected from meeting

Posted on August 11, 2010
Comment? E-mail me The mayor of Cumberland, Md., is entitled to qualified immunity from a suit filed by a man who alleged he was tossed out of a city hall meeting in 2006 on the mayor?s orders, a federal judge has ruled. William A. Taccino contended that Mayor Lee Fiedler had him ejected from the building by police simply because he was questioning a city policy...

President signs 'libel-tourism' bill

Posted on August 10, 2010
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Aug. 10 signed into law a bill protecting American authors, journalists and publishers from foreign libel judgments that undermine free speech. Some countries with weak free-speech protections make it easy to sue foreigners for libel — a practice known as ?libel tourism...

N.Y. governor offers help moving ground-zero mosque

Posted on August 10, 2010
ALBANY, N.Y. ? New York Gov. David Paterson offered state help yesterday if the developers of a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks agree to move the project farther from the site. Paterson, a Democrat, said that he doesn?t oppose the project as planned but indicated that he understands where opponents are coming from...

Minn. appeals court rejects access to absentee votes

Posted on August 10, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS ? Rejected absentee ballots count as private information under the state's Data Practices Act, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled yesterday, rejecting a TV station's effort to gain access to ballots that were never counted in the state's 2008 U...

Judge lacks First Amendment right to insult litigants

Posted on August 09, 2010
A judge has no First Amendment right to belittle and berate litigants in her courtroom, the Washington Supreme Court ruled in ordering that a state district judge be suspended for five days without pay. Numerous complaints had been filed against Judith Raub Eiler, a King County district j since 1992...

Ousted music critic loses lawsuit against Ohio newspaper

Posted on August 09, 2010
CLEVELAND ? An ousted music critic who claimed he was removed from his beat because of his critical coverage lost a lawsuit late last week against his newspaper and the Cleveland Orchestra. Donald Rosenberg, 56, claimed in the lawsuit that the orchestra lobbied The Plain Dealer of Cleveland to replace him as orchestra reviewer because he frequently panned its conductor, Franz Welser-Moest...

Calif. appeals court orders judge to reverse photo ban

Posted on August 09, 2010
LOS ANGELES — A state appellate court has ordered a judge to reverse her order barring the Los Angeles Times from publishing photos of a murder suspect taken in court. The court ruled yesterday on the order by Superior Court Judge Hilleri Merritt, who initially allowed photographer Al Seib to take photos of Alberd Tersargyan, who is accused of murdering a Hollywood family...

U.S. military judge seals sentence for Gitmo inmate

Posted on August 09, 2010
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba ? A U.S. military judge yesterday ordered that a plea agreement capping the maximum sentence of an Osama bin Laden aide be sealed, shrouding in secrecy the first Guantanamo conviction under President Barack Obama. The judge, Air Force Lt...

Ky. plaintiffs drop sex-abuse case against Vatican

Posted on August 09, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Three men who sought to hold the Vatican liable in an American court for sexual abuses by Roman Catholic priests in a Kentucky diocese are abandoning the case. Lawyers looked to question Pope Benedict XVI under oath but had to leap the high legal hurdle of the Vatican?s sovereign immunity status in the U...

National parks can't require permits for 'expressive activities'

Posted on August 08, 2010
National Park Service rules requiring a Minnesota man to get a permit before distributing religious materials at Mount Rushmore National Memorial are unconstitutional, a federal appeals court said in a decision released late last week. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said Aug...

Yahoo doesn?t have to reveal e-mailer's identity

Posted on August 08, 2010
A high school teacher cannot force Yahoo to reveal the identity of an anonymous individual who sent him disparaging e-mails, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. Tom Juzwiak, a high school teacher at Hightstown High School, received an e-mail on July 23, 2009, from someone called ?Josh Hartnett? with the e-mail address jharthat@yahoo...

N.Y. town board's prayers OK with federal judge

Posted on August 08, 2010
GREECE, N.Y. ? A federal judge has ruled that a town board in upstate New York isn't doing anything unconstitutional by opening its meetings with a brief prayer. The judge signed an order Aug. 5 tossing out a lawsuit filed by two residents of the town of Greece, a Rochester suburb, who had complained that prayers held at the start of town-council meetings favored Christians and violated the separation of church and state...

Ore. high court: Teacher should get jobless benefits

Posted on August 08, 2010
SALEM, Ore. ? A Klamath Falls teacher placed on administrative leave after an uproar over a film clip containing profanity has won an Oregon Supreme Court ruling saying he is entitled to unemployment benefits. Robert McDowell was a probationary first-year high school language arts and drama teacher for the Klamath County School District when he showed his senior English classes a clip from the film ?Glengarry Glen Ross,? based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Mamet...

Kids with Nazi-inspired names to remain in state custody

Posted on August 06, 2010
TRENTON, N.J. ? A New Jersey couple who gave their children Nazi-inspired names should not regain custody of them, a state appeals court has ruled, citing the parents? own disabilities and the risk of serious injury to their children. The state removed Heath and Deborah Campbell?s three small children from their home in January 2009...

Judge won't toss charges involving political-message condoms

Posted on August 05, 2010
A New York City criminal court judge has refused to dismiss charges against two men for selling novelty condoms bearing political messages without obtaining a street vendor?s license. Although the condom wrappers featured messages about President Barack Obama and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the judge found that such expression was predominantly commercial in nature and not entitled to an exception in the license law for newspapers, books and other written material...

Wis. candidate seeking controversial ballot description rebuffed

Posted on August 05, 2010
MADISON, Wis. ? A federal court has rejected a lawsuit filed by an independent candidate for the state Assembly who wants to use a racially charged phrase to describe herself on the ballot. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa said in the order filed Aug...

1st Circuit: Maine can restrict prescription info

Posted on August 05, 2010
PORTLAND, Maine ? A federal appeals panel has upheld the constitutionality of a Maine law restricting medical data companies' access to doctors' prescription information. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled this week on Maine's law after previously upholding a similar New Hampshire law making doctors' prescription-writing habits confidential...

Lawmakers: Close SEC's open-records loophole

Posted on August 05, 2010
WASHINGTON ? A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation to make regulation of financial companies more transparent ? and to close a major loophole in the sweeping financial overhaul enacted last month. The bill would reverse language in the overhaul law that allows the Securities and Exchange Commission to reject many open-records requests...

Schumer: No protection for Wikileaks in media-shield bill

Posted on August 04, 2010
WASHINGTON ? The sponsor of a bill to protect journalists' confidential sources in federal courts says he will make certain the Wikileaks website will not be shielded. Wikileaks posted more than 75,000 classified Afghanistan war records on its website last month...

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