donal brown

The Supreme Court will decide if an Austin, Texas sign ordinance violates the First Amendment. The ordinance allows signs that advertise “on premises” businesses with a connection to the site where the sign is located but prohibits signs that are “off premises.” The city claims the ban is constitutional since it is based on the relationship of a sign to its location rather than to its content. (SCOTUS/blog, November 10, 2021, by Amy Howe) The

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

Conservatives are mounting an assault on free speech, argues Amanda Marcotte in Salon, November 1 2021. Look no further than former President Donald’s Trump’s social media network that is dedicated to “free speech” but forbids criticism of Trump and the site’s operation. Conservatives are asserting the right to be free of speech that attacks their beliefs. They use government power to prevent discussion of racism and its history and try to censor anti-racist fiction while

In hearing a case on the First Amendment and censuring fellow politicians, the Supreme Court is leaning toward a narrow decision in deciding if elected bodies can censure a member for certain speech. As Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, the issue the court may choose to decide is simply whether a censure can trigger a lawsuit, that is, does a censure stymie the free speech of a member? (The New York Times, November 2, 2021, by

The flimsy foundations of the lies about election fraud and voter system manipulation are crumbling under the pressures of court appearances, reports Jeremy Stahl of Slate, October 28, 2021. When faced with penalties of perjury, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and others lying about the 2020 election were forced to admit they had no facts to support their assertions of a stolen election. The civil lawsuits seeking damages have better than average chance of exacting millions