In its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to rule on two First Amendment issues, the first concerning mandatory union dues which a state governor worker in Illinois claims violates his free speech rights. The second pits gay customers against a Christian baker who refused to bake a cake celebrating their wedding. The baker claims forcing him to provide the cake violates his First Amendment rights. (Fortune, October 2, 2017, by Jeff John Roberts)
The court declined to hear other First Amendment cases including a rapper’s appeal of his conviction of using a rap on Facebook to threaten to kill his estranged wife. The court rejected his argument that he was just venting his anger and ruled that the rap would be seen as an illegal “true threat” by an reasonable person. It also refused to hear the appeal of a firefighter fired for a series of posts on Facebook. After the man posted a statement about killing liberals, he voiced criticism of the department social media policy. But his “liking” a post by a colleague of a woman flipping the bird at the policy was perhaps the last straw. He claimed the department was violating his free speech rights in firing him. The court may yet agree to consider a case on a Minnesota law banning all political apparel at polling places. (Ars Technica, October 2, 2017, by David Kravets)