donal brown

The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked enforcement of a South Dakota law requiring ballot petition workers to disclose their personal identification information. Judge Steven Grasz wrote that disclosure would be “chilling” and the law a violation of the First Amendment. The law was seen as an impediment to the initiative process as a pro choice-group plans a campaign to put a constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot. (Rapid City Journal, November 1, 2022,

Tech reporter Adi Robertson of The Verge, November 2, 2022, sees the First Amendment endangered with politicians attacking speech laws. The advent of the internet created new circumstances that defy easy regulation, and lawmakers and judges are gutting the First Amendment in their attempts to address the problems. “…the internet allows people to speak to each other at a scale unprecedented in human history,” says Robertson. “The shortcomings and tradeoffs of the laws governing that

California just passed a law that would punish doctors for spreading misinformation to patients about COVID-19. They define misinformation as “false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care.” Some doctors argue that with something as evolving and unknown as a virus, there are plenty of legitimate differences of opinion about the best practices. Others think that the law only focuses on “extreme deviation from scientific standards of care

Elon Musk said he would form a policy advisory body made up of those with “diverse viewpoints” to oversee decisions on content moderation. Any decisions about restoring the account of former President Donal Trump will have to wait. In the meantime, Musk made decisions to allow at least one controversial person back on Twitter. Twitter already had an advisory council in place. (TechCrunch, October 28, 2022, by Taylor Hatmaker) Just before taking over Twitter, Musk

Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2022, argues that Elon Musk’s plans to go easy on lies on Twitter could hurt free speech. As free speech is essential to open and democratic societies, it is important to keep political lies and propaganda from dominating the nation’s forums lest the public give up on their efforts to determine the truth. Brynn Tannehill in the New Republic, October 26, 2022, makes