donal brown

Forces opposing book banning are challenging a Virginia law that allowed obscenity claims against two books, one a LGBTQ memoir, “Gender Queen,” and a fantasy novel, “A Court of Mist and Fury.” A judge ruled that under the law, the books could be obscene for minors owing to sex scenes. Conservatives want the books removed from public libraries and private bookstores. (Virginia Mercury, July 6, 2022, by Graham Moomaw) For the American Booksellers Association, May

Three Nashville school board members beat back an attempt to prevent them from saying anything disparaging about a former school director. A Tennessee appeals court said the restriction was a violation of their free speech rights. (Main Street Nashville, June 22, 2022, by Ashley Perham) Two Wisconsin high school students won a battle in the Seventh Circuit appeals court when the court ruled that a lower court failed to consider Tinker v. Des Moines in

Justice Clarence Thomas stated again his antipathy for the free press in his dissent to denial of certiorari in Coal Ridge Ministries Media v. Southern Poverty Law Center. He wrote, “New York Times and its progeny have allowed media organizations and interest groups ‘to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.’” (The Guardian, June 29, 2011, by Lawrence H. Tribe and Dennis Aftrergut) An editorial in the Las Vegas Sun, July 3, 2022,

Seventy-three journalists of the White House press corps signed a letter to the Biden administration asking them to stop prescreening journalists for presidential events. They said the process was an affront to the free press and left journalists wondering about the criteria used in the screening. (New York Post, June 30, 2022, by Steven Nelson) Indicating that the threat of COVID led to the restriction, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration was now

Sonoma County must release a report on an harassment complaint against an elected sheriff who claimed a California law protected personnel records of police officers. Referring to the report, a state appeals court wrote, “The truth and accuracy of such statements [the harassment complaint] must be open to testing in the public square. Indeed, the fact we are dealing with what may fairly be characterized as political speech among elected officials toward one another underscores