Nevada is subject of a free speech lawsuit for refusing to register the name “WTF Party” for political candidates. The state told plaintiff Jeffrey Berns that the party name is a profane acronym and contemptible of the political process. Berns’ lawyer said a 1992 Supreme Court ruling established the right to form political parties. (Nevada Appeal, August 1, 2019, by Ken Ritter of The Associated Press)
The city of Charlottesville, Virginia is trying to collect four year’s of business license taxes from a freelance novelist Corban Addison. The city does not collect business taxes from newspapers and magazines making the tax discriminatory and a violation of the First Amendment. (Institute for Justice, July 24, 2019, by Conor Beck)
A Texas oil and gas company met defeat in the Colorado Court of Appeals in its quest to sue Pete Kolbenschlag for writing that the company colluded with another oil and gas company to rig bid prices over a government lease. The court found the comment substantially true and the lawsuit an attempt to retaliate against a person exercising their free speech rights and ordered the company to pay Kobenschlag’s attorney fees. (The Daily Sentinel, July 26, 2019, by Charles Ashby)
A federal district judge ruled against Heather Del Castillo upholding a Florida law giving dietitians and nutritionists a monopoly on dispensing advice on diets. The court rejected Del Castillo’s free speech claims finding that talking with a person about diet isn’t speech but rather the conduct of practicing dietetics. (Institute for Justice, July 18, 2019, by Matt Powers)
Two Michigan gadflies are suing the city of Birmingham for violating their free speech rights for stopping them from speaking at a city commission meeting during the public comment period. They wanted to express their views on a parking project and a bond vote. The mayor and the city attorney stopped them on the basis that the city’s contract with a cable company did not allow political speech. (Downtown Newsmagazine, July 23, 2019, by Lisa Brody and Kevin Elliott)
A University of California Davis history professor is defending himself in Turkish court against charges of “spreading terrorist propaganda” for signing a petition in 2016 criticizing the Turkish army of massacring Kurdish civilians. Professor Baki Tezcan is basing his defense on his right to academic freedom. (The Sacramento Bee, July 18, 2019, by Elaine Chen)