donal brown

In a nod to the First Amendment, the Federal Drug Administration is proposing new guidelines allowing pharmaceutical companies to downplay official safety warnings in sales pitches about drugs. The industry has long argued that it has a free speech right to publish information about their products without government restrictions. (The Washington Post, March 11, 2015, by Peter Whoriskey) In a press release, Public Citizen argued that giving the industry freedom to contradict FDA warnings would

The Center for Effective Government rated federal agencies for their performance in providing access to information and found that eight out of 15 agencies improved since last year but that none received A grades. Eight agencies earned Ds including the departments of Treasury,  Homeland Security and Defense along with the Securities and Exchange Commision while State and Health and Human Services earned Fs. Congress is considering legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act. (Center

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Los Angeles erred in arresting a protester at a event known as the Skid Row Walk in 2011. The walk was intended to convene the community to find solutions to homelessness, but many of the homeless thought it was designed to bring homeless out so they could be arrested for low-level crimes, hence the protest and the arrest. (Courthouse News Service, March 11, 2015, by Lorraine

Two University of Oklahoma students were expelled for leading their fraternity brothers in singing a racist chant.  A ten-second video of the chant went onto Twitter where it was widely viewed and condemned. In justifying the expulsions, the university’s president said the chant created “a hostile learning environment” on campus.  (Bloomberg News, March 10, 2015, by Akane Otani) Eugene Volokh of The Volokh Conspiracy, Washington Post, March 10, 2015, wrote that in expelling the students,

Protesters against the Catholic church won a victory as the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ended Missouri’s limits on demonstrations outside of places of worship. The House of Worship Protection Act had banned profane, rude or indecent behavior that would disturb church services. A number of groups with grievances against the church including survivors of abuse by priests had challenged the act on First Amendment grounds. The 8th Circuit found that the act was