Category Archives: First Amendment
Ameer Benno Presents Lawline’s Second Annual SCOTUS Preview!
Last week, Erica Dubno and I presented Lawline’s Second Annual SCOTUS Preview. We addressed the following critical cases that are to be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in its 2018 Term: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission Gill v. Whitford Class v. U.S. Jesner v. Arab Bank McCoy v. Louisiana Christie […]
STATE OF MICHIGAN REJECTS “WAR SUX” LICENSE PLATE ON BASIS THAT VIEWING IT WOULD PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY HARM CHILDREN
In another awful example of government intrusion upon First Amendment freedoms, the state of Michigan is defending its rejection of an anti-war license plate, saying children riding in cars and playing in their yards need to be protected from seeing the words “WAR SUX.” Attorneys for the Michigan secretary of state’s office asked a judge […]
FEDERAL JUDGE RULES THAT FIRST AMENDMENT DOES NOT PROTECT MAN ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO KIDNAP, RAPE AND KILL WOMEN
New Jersey resident Michael Van Hise, Stuyvesant High School librarian Robert Asch, Massachusetts Veterans Affairs police chief Robert Meltz allegedly chatted over the internet about kidnapping, raping and killing women – including Vanhise’s wife, his stepdaughter, his sister-in-law, and the sister-in-law’s minor children. According to this article: Vanhise was [already] tucked away in jail when undercover […]
SCHOOL BANS FIFTH GRADER FROM PUBLIC SPEECH COMPETITION BECAUSE HIS SPEECH IS ABOUT RELIGION — STUDENT TOLD TO “TAKE THE RELIGION OUT” OR DON’T COMPETE
Apparently, it’s not just institutions of “higher” learning that, although publicly claiming to exalt the robust exchange of ideas, actually seek to quash free expression if it embraces religion or, for that matter, endorses anything that might be considered not ”politically correct.” According to this article, when the fifth grader’s parents protested, the school postponed the competition “until parents signed […]
OFFICER’S PEPPER-SPRAYING OF PROTESTORS IS UNDER INVESTIGATION
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau and the Manhattan D.A.’s Office are separately investigating Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna’s use of pepper spray on a number of female protesters at a demonstration on Saturday. The incident was captured on video and disseminated on the internet. In that video, Inspector Bologna walks up to a group of women standing on the sidewalk […]
FLORIDA COURT RULES THAT DRIVERS HAVE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO BLAST MUSIC
A Florida court has struck down a Florida law that makes it illegal for a vehicle’s sound system to be “plainly audible at a distance of 25 feet or more from the motor vehicle” on the basis that playing loud music on the radio is constitutionally protected speech. This comes on the heels of a lawsuit arguing that flashing […]
MTA REFUSES TO POST BUS AND SUBWAY ADS CALLING ENEMIES OF ISRAEL “SAVAGES”
According to the Daily News, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency has rejected a proposed bus and subway ad denouncing enemies of Israel. The poster was submitted to the MTA by blogger Pamela Geller earlier this month in response to ads in 18 stations urging the United States to end military support to Israel. According to the MTA’s media management company, CBS […]
PROTESTORS KETTLED AND MACED BY NYPD COPS
Despite the fact that the First Amendment guarantees ”the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,”a group of female protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street organization were “kettled” (corralled with plastic netting held by officers), a tactic used to contain and control protesters, then pepper-sprayed for good […]
TUBE SITE EPORNER.COM SUED FOR $4.05 MILLION FOR COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT
Private Media Group has filed another lawsuit against a tube site that it alleges has poached its material. The $4.05 million suit, filed in federal district court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is against tube site EPorner.com. The lawsuit alleges that the EPorner.com website contained ”over 27 separate instances of copyright infringement of plaintiff’s copyrighted and trademarked intellectual property.” Read more here.
LAWSUIT: FLASHING HEADLIGHTS TO WARN ONCOMING DRIVERS OF PRESENCE OF COPS IS CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED SPEECH
When Erich Campbell passed two Florida Highway Patrol cruisers parked in the median near Tampa International Airport in December 2009, he flashed his headlights to warn oncoming drivers of the cops. You can guess what happened next: Campbell was pulled over and ticketed for improperly flashing his high beams. In August, Campbell filed a class-action lawsuit in […]
