donal brown

A California superior court judge ruled that a baker who conducts a Christian-based bakery was protected by the First Amendment in denying service to a lesbian couple. The court, in a tentative decision issued Oct. 21, deemed the creation of a wedding cake as “pure speech” so the baker was protected in refusing the service even though state law forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Law & Crime, October 24, 2022, by Colin Kalmbacher) The

Two bills are progressing in Congress to provide better legal protection for journalists, one to prevent federal law enforcement from subpoenaing journalist’s records and the second to protect against certain lawsuits. (Voice of America, October 18, 2022, by Mina Allen) The percentage of Americans who trust the news media to report the news accurately and fairly ticked up two percentage points since 2016 but is still mired at a low 34 percent, according to a

A federal district judge ordered the lawyer of former President Donald Trump to turn over 33 new documents to the House January 6 committee. Eight of the documents were exempt from the attorney-client privilege since they concern criminal behavior. (NBC News, October 19, 2022, by Dareh Gregorian and Daniel Barnes) Judge David Carter said Trump lawyer John Eastman wrote Trump about the inaccuracies in a filing of a lawsuit alleging election fraud in Georgia, but

Four legal scholars published essays addressing the following: “What is the First Amendment status of false speech? What rules do or should apply to different kinds of false speech, like intentional lies, mistaken statements, or opinions based on falsehoods? What justifications exist for those rules? These are critically important questions to answer because the First Amendment provides the primary constraint on the government’s power to punish speakers who deceive.” The scholars deal with concerns that

Adam Serwer in The Atlantic, October 17, 2022, writes, “Most of the time, conservatives argue that it is not easy enough to sue for defamation. The standard for defamation of public figures in the United States is high in order to protect freedom of speech in general and political debate in particular. Altering that standard would make speech in America less free. But the response of many right-wing figures to the Jones verdict shows that