Freelance journalist Priscilla Villarreal won a round in the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals when it reversed a district court ruling granting the police qualified immunity for arresting Villarreal for violating a state law in soliciting information about a suicide later posted online. The Texas law forbade profiting from such information. A judge in the majority said Villarreal was jailed unconstitutionally for asking a question, and the U.S. Supreme Court has held police could not get qualified immunity when violating the constitution. (The Associated Press, November 1, 2021, by Kevin McGill)
A black Iowa Democratic Party chair was threatened with lynching for writing an opinion piece critical of former president Donal Trump. (Des Moines Register, October 19, 2021, by Brianne Pfannenstiel)
Fearing that a Colorado law will chill her freedom of speech, a website designer is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold her right to refuse service to clients asking for same-sex wedding designs. (Washington Times, September 24, 2021, by Mark A. Kellner)
When John McGee, a local businessman, grew suspicious that a Conyngham Township supervisor was dipping her hand into the till, he filed a Right-Know-Request Form for financial records. In reply the Pennsylvania township sent him a request for his business tax records and receipts for repairs on his rental properties. (Reason, September 24, 2021, by Eugene Volokh)
Citizens objected to a F— Biden sign on a state highway near Manitowoc, Wisconsin, but authorities refused to take the sign down noting it was posted by Bob Lewandowski on his own property. (Manitowoc Herald Times, September 22, 2021, by Alisa M. Schafer)
The Selah Alliance for Equality sued Selah City, Washington removing its signs promoting racial equality. The city cited lask of permits, but the alliance claims the city was regulating content. The city is revising its sign ordinance to make it constitutional. (Yakima Herald-Republic, September 21, 2021, by Donald W. Meyers)
The American Civil Liberties Union warned the Lawton Public Schools in Oklahoma that they violated the First Amendment in handcuffing and suspending two students who refused to stand for the national anthem. (The Black Wall Street Times, September 19, 2021, by Deon Osborne)
The Loudoun County Public Schools reinstated a teacher suspended for refusing to use transgender students’ pronouns. The school district placed him on leave and barred him from speaking at future board meetings. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the punishment was unconstitutional in preventing the teacher from speaking publicly on the issue of transgender rights. (The Washington Post, August 31, 2021, by Hannah Natanson)