donal brown

On behalf of five plaintiffs, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against Tennessee charging their law establishing criminal and civil penalties against groups conducting voter registration violate the Constitution. An earlier lawsuit brought by the NAACP and three other organizations charged that the law would “violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and have a chilling effect on the exercise of fundamental First Amendment rights.” (The First Amendment Encyclopedia, May

The Trump administration is not endorsing the international movement prompted by the massacre of Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand to stem terrorism and extremism on the social media. The administration said although they supported the movement’s goals, they were concerned about preserving freedom of speech. (Variety, May 15, 2019, by Todd Spangler) Internet free speech guardians were skeptical about the efficacy of the Christchurch Call, as the movement is called. Jillian C. York of the Electronic

San Francisco police raided a reporter’s home in search of the source of a leaked police report with details on the death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi. The police said they had obtained search warrants for the raid, but FAC’s David Snyder said the warrants were illegal in violating California’s shield law.  (San Jose Mercury News, May 13. 2019, by Erin Baldassari and Nico Savidge) The freelance journalist, Bryan Carmody, said the police handcuffed him for

A recent survey revealed that colleges students value inclusivity in society almost equally with free speech. With a sampling of 4,407 students, the survey found that 58 percent of those polled are against restricting free speech, but 41 percent said that hate speech should not be protected under the First Amendment.  (The Progressive Pulse, May 13, 2019, by Joe Killian) Fifty-three percent said they favored free speech rights above all with 46 percent valued inclusivity

Government officials who create social media sites to connect with their constituents but censor the comments of critics are finding federal courts frown on the practice. A New York court ruled that President Donald Trump violated free speech rights by blocking his detractors from his Twitter account. The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in January that when an official created a Facebook page for her office, she could not delete the comment of