First Amendment Center: Constitutional Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Constitutional Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Under pressure, Craigslist nixes adult-services ads

Posted on September 06, 2010
Craigslist appears to have surrendered in a legal fight over erotic ads posted on its website, shutting down its adult-services section Sept. 4 and replacing it with a black bar that simply says ?censored.? The move came just over a week after a group of state attorneys general said there weren?t enough protections against potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution...

Tenn. police mulling plans to enforce anti-gang law

Posted on September 06, 2010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nashville police are trying to protect a relatively new law that allows them to ban gang members from certain areas. In response to growing concerns that gangs were disrupting the safety and quality of life of Tennessee?s citizens, the state enacted a nuisance law in 2009 that would allow police to file civil suits against gang members...

Newspaper gets records detailing remote Idaho shootout

Posted on September 05, 2010
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho ? Public records recently obtained by the Post Register detail a strange incident in which four Idaho State Police officers were left scrambling for safety when they were shot at by an unknown assailant at a remote mining claim. No one was hit by the gunfire and no arrests were made, but the Jan...

Federal judge won't dismiss KKK suit

Posted on September 04, 2010
ST. LOUIS ? A federal judge in St. Louis has rejected a state request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by a Ku Klux Klan group. Frank Ancona, imperial wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, is seeking to rent a pavilion at the Fort Davidson Historic Site in southeast Missouri...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Breast-cancer bracelets cause stir in schools

Posted on September 03, 2010
BALTIC, S.D. ? Rubber bracelets aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer and emblazoned with "I love boobies" are raising eyebrows among school officials in South Dakota. This week, Baltic High School joined several schools nationwide to ban the popular bracelets with a message some say is in poor taste...

Federal court overturns Neb. law on flag desecration

Posted on September 02, 2010
OMAHA, Neb. ? A federal judge overturned Nebraska's ban on flag mutilation yesterday, clearing the way for Kansas protesters to continue trampling on the U.S. flag when they protest at military funerals. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said the law can't be applied as long as Megan Phelps-Roper and fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church "otherwise act peacefully while desecrating the American or Nebraska flag during their religiously motivated protests...

9/11 groups oppose mosque rallies planned for anniversary

Posted on September 02, 2010
NEW YORK — Both supporters and opponents of a proposed Islamic cultural center should stand against rallies planned for the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, groups representing some relatives of attack victims said yesterday. Protests on that day would be ?disrespectful to all who see 9/11 as a day outside of politics, when we desire to remain united in honoring the lives and the courage of our many friends and loved ones,? the groups said in letters sent to developers of the Islamic center and to those planning to protest it...

Dems accuse Fox News of bolstering Ohio candidate

Posted on September 02, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Democratic Governors Association filed an elections complaint in Ohio yesterday, alleging Fox News Network illegally helped the Republican gubernatorial nominee solicit funds during a television appearance. In an escalating battle with Fox's news division, the association alleges that Fox allowed John Kasich to request contributions from viewers during an Aug...

Divided 7th Circuit: Univ. of Wis. must fund student religious group

Posted on September 01, 2010
MADISON, Wis. ? A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's ruling that the University of Wisconsin-Madison must pay for student activities involving prayer, worship and religious counseling. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 yesterday that the university's policy of turning down funding requests from student groups for such activities violates their First Amendment right to free speech...

Losing candidate files libel suit against 2 Fla. newspapers

Posted on September 01, 2010
MIAMI ? Failed Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene sued the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald yesterday, claiming they published knowingly false articles timed to damage his chances of winning. The 55-page lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, seeks $250 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages from the two newspapers, the reporters who wrote the pieces and editors who handled them...

NYC mayor: No reason to probe mosque's finances

Posted on September 01, 2010
NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this week that an investigation by the state attorney general into the finances of a $100 million Islamic community center and mosque planned near ground zero would set ?a terrible precedent.? ?You don?t want them investigating donations to religious organizations, and there?s no reason for the government to do so,? Bloomberg said Aug...

FCC seeks more public input on network neutrality

Posted on September 01, 2010
WASHINGTON ? Federal regulators are seeking public input on what rules should apply to wireless Internet access and specialized services that aren't part of the Internet but are delivered over wired broadband connections. Yesterday?s move by the Federal Communications Commission marks the next step in the agency's long-running effort to adopt so-called network-neutrality regulations to prevent broadband providers from discriminating against certain traffic flowing over their lines...

Detroit-area juror in hot water over Facebook post

Posted on August 31, 2010
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. ? A judge removed a juror from a trial in suburban Detroit after the young woman wrote on Facebook that the defendant was guilty. The problem? The trial wasn't over. Hadley Jons could be found in contempt when she returns to the Macomb County circuit court tomorrow...

EEOC sues meatpacker over treatment of Muslims

Posted on August 31, 2010
DENVER — Muslim Somali workers at two JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Colorado and Nebraska face ongoing harassment because of their race and religion, including being prevented from getting a drink at one of the plants after fasting all day during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges...

N.H. inmate loses facial-hair challenge

Posted on August 31, 2010
CONCORD, N.H. ? A federal judge has ruled that inmates have no First Amendment right to grow a beard, rejecting the claim of an Orthodox Jew who claimed prison policy banning facial hair longer than a quarter-inch violated his constitutional rights. U...

Judge rebuffs Va. official's demands for university's records

Posted on August 30, 2010
RICHMOND, Va. — A judge has set aside two subpoenas for records related to a former University of Virginia professor?s climate-change research, saying the state attorney general has failed so far to spell out what he suspects the professor did wrong...

Fire at site of future Tenn. mosque troubles city

Posted on August 30, 2010
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ? A suspicious fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a future mosque in Tennessee has some local Muslims worried that their project has been dragged into the national debate surrounding Manhattan?s ground zero. Authorities told leaders of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro that four pieces of heavy construction equipment on the site were doused with an accelerant and one set ablaze early the morning of Aug...

Group sues after state police revoke chaplain's appointment

Posted on August 30, 2010
CHICAGO ? A Muslim advocacy group filed a federal discrimination lawsuit yesterday over an Illinois State Police decision to revoke the appointment of the agency's first Muslim chaplain. Kifah Mustapha, a Chicago-area imam, was named a chaplain in December along with chaplains of other faiths...

Federal contractor charged with leaking secrets to reporter

Posted on August 29, 2010
WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration has accused an analyst who worked at the State Department of leaking top secret information about North Korea to a reporter. Steven Kim, who worked at the State Department as an employee of a contractor, maintains his innocence...

Texas official faces felony charges after releasing jail record

Posted on August 29, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas — The executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards is facing felony charges after angering a south Texas sheriff by releasing information about an inmate who committed suicide, a newspaper reported yesterday. Adan Munoz Jr...

N.J. freeholder advises officials how to skirt open-records laws

Posted on August 29, 2010
HACKENSACK, N.J. ? A freeholder who oversees the taxpayer-financed New Jersey Association of Counties told 22 trustees ? most of them elected officials ? they could skirt public-records laws with this advice: "Keep these documents solely in your personal possession...

Obama protester arrested at Alaska State Fair

Posted on August 29, 2010
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A supporter of frequent presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche who carried a sign that called for President Barack Obama?s impeachment was handcuffed and arrested at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. A bystander posted video of the incident on YouTube...

Va. attorney general weighs in on holiday displays

Posted on August 28, 2010
RICHMOND, Va. ? Local governments can display religious holiday displays, provided other beliefs are allowed to display their holiday symbols, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote in an advisory opinion. Cuccinelli publicly released the opinion on Aug...

Schools urged to disclose more data on student achievement

Posted on August 27, 2010
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged schools across the country this week to disclose more data on student achievement and teacher effectiveness, saying too much information that would help teachers and parents is being kept out of public view...

Sotomayor: Free speech vs. security likely to come before Court

Posted on August 26, 2010
DENVER ? Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said yesterday that the nation's high court likely would be asked again to weigh issues of national security versus free speech because of the recently leaked classified war documents posted on the WikiLeaks website...

FCC asks 2nd Circuit to review fleeting-expletives ruling

Posted on August 26, 2010
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators are appealing a recent court decision that struck down a 2004 government policy that says broadcasters can be fined for allowing even a single curse word on live television. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York threw out the Federal Communications Commission policy last month, saying it was unconstitutionally vague and left broadcasters uncertain of what programming the agency will find offensive...

Judge to EPA: Stop destroying records Union Pacific wants

Posted on August 26, 2010
OMAHA, Neb. ? A federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday to stop destroying records Union Pacific requested about lead contamination in Omaha. An expert was appointed to make sure the agency complies. The judge's order resolved several issues the railroad and EPA couldn't agree on when discussing the rules to protect records while Union Pacific's lawsuit progresses...

NFL cheerleader wins $11 million libel suit

Posted on August 25, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. ? A gossip website has been hit with an $11 million judgment for libel and slander after posting false accusations about a northern Kentucky teacher who sidelines as a Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader. The judgment against Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, which runs the site Thedirt...

Calif. university ordered to release Palin records, group says

Posted on August 25, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A group that sued over documents related to a fundraiser appearance by Sarah Palin at a California university claimed victory yesterday in a judge?s ruling. The open-government group Californians Aware said it received a ruling in the mail by Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Roger Beauchesne ordering California State University, Stanislaus to release Palin?s contract along with any documents related to the use of university property or services during her June 25 visit...

Western Ky. town rejects Somali mosque plan

Posted on August 25, 2010
MAYFIELD, Ky. ? A western Kentucky city has rejected a petition by a group of Somalis to build a mosque. The Mayfield Board of Zoning Adjustment cited a lack of parking as the reason for the Aug. 24 decision. The Paducah Sun reported more than 250 residents who attended the meeting cheered the decision...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

SCOTUS Eminent Domain: 5th Amendment and fighting government retaliation in Wilkie v. Robbins
It’s hard to imagine what else property rights might mean, o...

Eminent Domain, Fifth Amendment Property Rights, and Government Retaliation
On June 25, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States dec...

British Employment Discrimination Amendment About To Become Effective
An amendment to the definition of "religion or belief" in Britain'...

Equal Rights Amendment
Federal and state lawmakers have launched a new drive to pass the ...

Update on AILF's Legal Action Center Visa Bulletin Litigation (Updated 7/10/07)
The following is the latest update from AILF regarding its pening ...