donal brown

The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that conservative University of Michigan students can pursue their lawsuit against the Bias Response Team that they say prevents students from discussing controversial topics like immigration and Black Lives Matter. Even though the team cannot exact any punishment, the court ruled that the team “acts by way of implicit threat of punishment and intimidation to quell speech.” (Courthouse News Service, September 23, 2019, by Jeff D. Gorman)

Claiming that Duke and the University of North Carolina are offering a biased curriculum in their joint Middle East studies program, the Education Department ordered them to make some changes to eliminate anti-Jewish bias. The program receives funding from the federal government which could be withdrawn. (The New York Times, September 19, 2019, by Erica L. Green) Teacher and journalist David M. Perry, in Erie News Now, September 21, 2019, questions the call for balance

Every day, citizens across the country fight for the First Amendment. The following are a sampling of their efforts. Four Wheaton College students are suing Chicago for limiting their free speech rights to preach and pass out religious literature in Millennium Park. Over several weeks, park officials blocked their attempts to voice their beliefs, according to the students, by banning any speech that may “disrupt another’s objective enjoyment of amenities or performance” in the park.

An alliance of free press organizations has published a legal guide to help fact-checkers surf legal issues. The guide addresses the law in the U.S., Brazil, the Philippines and Italy with the U.S. guide providing information about libel, privacy, newsgathering. (Poynter, September 19, 2019, by Cristina Tardaguila) The guide helps the fact-checkers deal with physical and legal threats, important since many fact-checkers are freelance or work for small or nonprofit news outlets. (Reporters Committee for

House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff alleged that the acting head of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is covering up a whistleblower complaint that should have been provided to the committee. Schiff said the whistleblower statute did not allow Maguire to consult with the Justice Department about the matter. (Politico, September 13, 2019, by Kyle Cheney) Schiff issued a subpoena to obtain the complaint that was of urgent concern, according to the intelligence inspector general. Schiff