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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: 22.6/day

Last Entry: April 20, 2011 at 20:00:00

Ga. judge: 'Pure speech' isn't chilled by assisted-suicide law

Posted on April 20, 2011
A Georgia judge rejected a free-speech challenge to the state's law against assisted suicide, allowing a high-profile case to proceed against four members of a suicide group charged with helping a cancer-stricken man kill himself. Forsyth County Superior Court Judge David Dickinson said in the opinion released yesterday that "pure speech is in no way chilled or limited" by the law, siding with prosecutors in the state's case against four Final Exit Network members...

Court won't bar anti-abortion activist from contacting doctor

Posted on April 20, 2011
WICHITA, Kan. ? A federal judge on Wednesday refused the government?s request for a preliminary injunction to order a Kansas anti-abortion activist to stay away from a doctor who plans to perform abortions in Wichita. The Justice Department filed a civil complaint against Angel Dillard, 44, after she sent what the government alleges was a threatening letter to Dr...

White House may require contractors to disclose contributions

Posted on April 20, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The White House says it's considering requiring companies pursuing federal contracts to disclose their campaign contributions. Spokesman Jay Carney says that would be achieved by an executive order that's being drafted. With President Barack Obama officially a candidate for re-election, Carney denied any political motives behind the effort...

Court limits inmate lawsuits over religious rights

Posted on April 19, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court ruled today that a federal law intended to protect the religious rights of prison inmates bars most lawsuits that seek money from states that violate the law. The Court said in a 6-2 decision in Sossamon v. Texas that inmates may file suit to force states to change their policies, but without the threat of monetary damages that might cause states to speed those changes...

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CIA declassifies WWI-era secret documents

Posted on April 19, 2011
WASHINGTON ? The CIA lifted the lid on one corner of the cloak and dagger world of World War I, declassifying six of the oldest secret documents in the U.S. government archives, the agency announced yesterday. The documents show top techniques used by spies, generals and diplomats to send secret messages in a diplomatic war that raged long after the guns stopped...

Federal judge: First Amendment protects neo-Nazi's Web posts

Posted on April 19, 2011
CHICAGO — A federal judge ruled yesterday that a Chicago jury was wrong when it convicted a white supremacist of using his website to solicit violence against a juror in another case, saying the posts were protected by the First Amendment. The decision cleared the way for William White of Roanoke, Va...

Feds seek to shut down fake news sites featuring acai-berry diet

Posted on April 19, 2011
CHICAGO ? Consumers searching for unbiased journalism on the acai-berry diet clicked their way into a scam, according to federal regulators who have filed lawsuits in six states in an attempt to shut down the alleged Internet tricksters. The Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it had asked federal courts to stop a wave of fake news sites that entice consumers to buy the unproven weight-loss products...

Quran-burning pastor ordered to court ahead of protest

Posted on April 19, 2011
DEARBORN, Mich. — A Michigan judge has ordered a Florida pastor to appear in court ahead of a protest scheduled for later this week outside a mosque in Dearborn. Wayne County prosecutors say they fear the Rev. Terry Jones? appearance outside the Islamic Center of America on April 22 could lead to violence...

High court won't hear appeal from Ky. Baptist Homes

Posted on April 18, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Supreme Court has refused to hear a long-running dispute over public funding of a faith-based organization in Kentucky. Lawyers for the former Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children had appealed to the high court after the 6th U...

Pentagon inquiry clears McChrystal of wrongdoing

Posted on April 18, 2011
WASHINGTON ? A Pentagon inquiry into a Rolling Stone magazine profile of Gen. Stanley McChrystal that led to his dismissal as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has cleared him of wrongdoing. The probe's results released yesterday also called into question the accuracy of the magazine's report by Michael Hastings last June, which quoted anonymously people around McChrystal making disparaging remarks about members of President Barack Obama's national security team, including Vice President Joe Biden...

10th Circuit asked to rehear Secret Service lawsuit

Posted on April 18, 2011
DENVER — The U.S. Department of Justice has sided with attorneys for two Secret Service agents who were sued after arresting a man who confronted former Vice President Dick Cheney. The department argues that the law protects agents when they?re making split-second decisions while protecting the president and vice president...

Okla. governor signs new funeral-protest restrictions

Posted on April 18, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY— Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a bill that further restricts protests at funerals. The measure, S.B. 406, is aimed at members of a Topeka, Kan., church who protest at funerals of fallen U.S. soldiers. Westboro Baptist Church members claim that God is punishing the country for its tolerance of homosexuality...

Ariz. shooting suspect's former college releases records

Posted on April 17, 2011
PHOENIX — In the wake of the Tucson shooting rampage, the community college the suspect had attended worked to maintain its routine even as it was being flooded by news-media queries about Jared Lee Loughner, including whether he had threatened anyone on campus...

Tenn. county to display plaque featuring Ten Commandments

Posted on April 17, 2011
DECATUR, Tenn. ? The Meigs County Commission has decided to post a plaque featuring the Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence at the county courthouse. "We are going to hang them," county Mayor Garland Lankford said after the commission's work session on April 14...

R.I. considers statewide cyberbullying ban

Posted on April 15, 2011
PROVIDENCE, R.I. ? Rhode Island schools would have a single, statewide policy to address cyberbullying under legislation being reviewed in the General Assembly. The proposed policy would give teachers and administrators a uniform procedure to respond to bullying reports, notify parents and discipline students...

Pa. newspaper sued for publishing wrong mug shot

Posted on April 14, 2011
ERIE, Pa. — The Erie Times-News says it is being sued by a man whose mug shot mistakenly ran with a story the newspaper published about a robbery. Gary N. Wiley, of Albion, is suing the newspaper because it published his picture with the story in April 2009, even though the defendant in the case was a different man with a similar name — Gary C...

7th Circuit dismisses legal challenge to National Day of Prayer

Posted on April 14, 2011
MADISON, Wis. ? A federal appeals court yesterday threw out a previous ruling that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional and ordered that a lawsuit challenging President Barack Obama's right to proclaim the day be dismissed. A three-judge panel of the 7th U...

Closing sexual-assault trial to minors OK, says Wis. appeals court

Posted on April 13, 2011
MADISON, Wis. ? A Milwaukee judge lawfully closed a sexual-assault trial to children after deciding they shouldn't be exposed to graphic testimony, a state appeals court ruled yesterday. Ronald Carpenter's case raises questions about when judges can restrict access to criminal trials and whom they can keep out of court...

Public-broadcasting funding survives largely intact

Posted on April 13, 2011
NEW YORK ? Despite efforts to strip government funding for public broadcasting, PBS chief Paula Kerger said the federal budget deal retained most of the money that President Barack Obama had set aside for public television and radio stations. The deal allocates nearly $430 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a 0...

Mass. expands obscenity law to e-mails, texts

Posted on April 13, 2011
BOSTON ? Gov. Deval Patrick has signed into law a measure designed to close what critics describe as a loophole in state law that fails to protect minors from obscene electronic messages sent to them by suspected sexual predators. The change was included in a supplemental budget approved by lawmakers...

Federal judge backs off-campus religious class

Posted on April 13, 2011
SPARTANBURG, S.C. ? A federal judge has upheld a Spartanburg school district's program to give credit to students who take an off-campus religious class. The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg reported that on April 5, Senior U.S. District Judge Henry Herlong agreed to allow Spartanburg District 7 to continue to offer credit for students who participate in the Bible education class...

Pa. students can wear 'boobies' bracelets for now

Posted on April 12, 2011
PHILADELPHIA ? Breast cancer fundraising bracelets that proclaim "I (heart) boobies!" are not lewd or vulgar and can't be banned by public school officials who find them offensive, a federal judge in Pennsylvania said yesterday in a preliminary ruling...

Obama administration, BP win Muzzle awards

Posted on April 12, 2011
Oil giant BP and the Obama administration were among the winners of the 20th Annual Jefferson Muzzle awards, a dubious distinction bestowed today by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression to spotlight the worst censors of the previous year...

Full 11th Circuit upholds rules on feeding homeless in parks

Posted on April 12, 2011
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court yesterday tried to strike a balance in a debate over a Florida ordinance that restricts feeding the homeless in city parks, saying giving food to the needy in public spaces was protected by the First Amendment but efforts by Orlando lawmakers to regulate such gatherings were reasonable...

Colo. officials vote to settle lawsuit over jail mail

Posted on April 12, 2011
BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder County has approved settling a lawsuit over a policy that restricted county jail inmates' outgoing mail to postcards. The Longmont Times-Call reported that the county commissioners yesterday approved a settlement with the Colorado chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union...

Order returns land trust to polygamous church

Posted on April 11, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY ? A federal judge in Utah handed control of a $114 million communal land trust back to the leaders of Warren Jeffs' polygamous church last week, but a state judge yesterday moved to stop any handover of records related to the trust...

Federal court rejects challenge to Ky. limits on attorney speech

Posted on April 11, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Public comments by attorneys in Kentucky may be restricted as part of a general effort to uphold public confidence in the judiciary, even if the comments are true but considered reckless, a federal judge ruled today. U.S. District Judge Danny C...

Hunger Games makes debut on list of challenged books

Posted on April 11, 2011
NEW YORK — Suzanne Collins didn?t expect everyone to approve of The Hunger Games. ?I?ve read in passing that people were concerned about the level of violence in the books,? Collins said of her dystopian trilogy that?s sold more than a million copies...

N.M. to require agencies to provide electronic records

Posted on April 11, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new law will require New Mexico government agencies to provide public records electronically if the records exist in digital form. The measure, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously, goes into effect July 1. Gov...

Ore. judge seals some records in congressman's divorce

Posted on April 10, 2011
PORTLAND, Ore. ? An Oregon judge has sealed some documents in a divorce case involving U.S. Rep. David Wu and his estranged wife. The Oregonian reports the documents include affidavits filed last week by Michelle Wu in support of her petitions for financial support and parenting time...

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