donal brown

Barred from Twitter since 2015, conservative activist Charles C. Johnson is suing the company in California state court for violating his free speech rights. Twitter banned Johnson after he used the site to urge viewers to “take out” a Black Lives Matter activist. (The Daily Dot, January 9, 2018, by David Covucci) Johnson claims Twitter banned him for his political views but faces an uphill battle since Twitter is a private business and can ban

A three-judge panel for the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that a Baltimore law requiring an anti-abortion counseling center to post notices in its waiting room that it does not include abortion or abortion referrals in its services. The judges said that the law was unconstitutional in compelling speech from a group against its core beliefs. The city also failed to bring forth any client who entered the center thinking she could obtain

The 9th Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found unconvincing Idaho’s defense of their law criminalizing hidden cameras on farms. In ruling that the law was mostly unconstitutional, the court disagreed that the recording of agricultural operations was activity rather than speech. It decided that Idaho could not criminalize the act of misrepresenting when entering a farm since the state already criminalizes trespass.  (Capital Press, January 4, 2018, by Mateusz Perkkowski) The 9th Circuit ruled

President Donald Trump is charging libel to prevent the publication of Michael Wolff’s book on Trump’s first year in office, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon is quoted in the book saying that Trump was not prepared and unable to grasp basic policy details. (Variety, January 4, 2018, by Ted Johnson) Trump’s lawyers sent Wolfe and his publisher a cease-and-desist letter to block the book’s release scheduled for 

The Washington Post tally of President  Donald Trump lies for 2017 will top 2,000. Trump claimed 61 times that the Affordable Care Act was dying or dead. He also lied 61 times about his role in promoting business and jobs. Fact check showed that investments and job announcements Trump claimed for himself took place before he took office. He also lied prodigiously about his tax cut and the corporate tax rate. (The Washington Post, January