donal brown

Former President Donald Trump is suing social media companies alleging they violated his First Amendment rights. The suits want the court to order the companies to allow Trump to resume his use of their platforms and to declare Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act unconstitutional. While legal experts see little chance that the suit will succeed, it is expected that Trump will use it successfully to rally his core and raise money. (CNBC, July

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch recently expressed his support for Justice Clarence Thomas for reining in the landmark 1964 ruling New York Times v. Sullivan that protects the news media in libel suits brought by public officials. Under the standard set by the ruling, it must be established that the alleged libel was made with “actual malice” or made with knowledge of the falsity of the statements. Gorsuch argued that with the proliferation of news

The trustees of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill reversed their denial of tenure to Black journalist Nikole Hanna-Jones. She hailed the decision as a victory for academic freedom for black writers. Hanna-Jones created the 1619 project at the New York Times, causing concerns among conservatives at UNC that the journalism school would become too associated with the project. (The News Observer, June 30, 2021, by Kate Murphy and Martha Quillin) Hannah-Jones recently refused the

The Supreme Court blocked California’s efforts to bring transparency to nonprofit charities as a way to track possible misconduct of major donors. The Court ruled 6-3, with three liberal judges in dissent, that the law violated the First Amendment’s right to freedom of association. (The New York Times, July 1, 2021, by Adam Liptak) Some Democrats are worried that the ruling will give more influence to dark money but some, the NAACP and CAIR included,