donal brown

Special-ed teacher fired for objecting to paddling of autistic student

A federal district court ruled that because her speech was work-related, a special-ed teacher could be fired for opposing the paddling of one of her autustic students for disruptive behavior. -db First Amendment Center February 12, 2010 By David L. Hudson Jr. A special-education teacher in Booneville, Miss., who complained about corporal punishment of an autistic student by another teacher has no First Amendment claim, a federal district court has ruled. The court reasoned that

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Pennsyvania court fires on local agency for withholding names of Homeland Security contractors

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review will have access to the identities of contractors who supplied first responder equipment to local agencies. In making the records public, the commonwealth court said it found no reasonable public safety argument in favor of withholding the names. -db The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press February 11, 2010 By Cristina Abello A Pennsylvania agency improperly redacted the names of all recipients of Homeland Security-funded contracts for first responder equipment and

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Iranians bloggers and journalists face death sentence

In anticipation of the Islamic Revolution’s 31st anniversary on February 11, Iranian authorities are blocking the internet and prosecuting bloggers and journalists. -db MediaShift February 9, 2010 By Clothilde Le Coz Iranian authorities are once agan cracking down on the Internet. Internet connection speeds were degraded in several cities in advance of the Islamic Revolution’s 31st anniversary on February 2. This same tactic was previously used by the regime in advance of events likely to be

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Free speech: Patriot Act prevents civil rights lawyer from helping Kurdish group abandon terrorism

A civil rights lawyer is challenging a provision in the Patriot Act over his First Amendment rights to engage a Kurdish group he wants to advise about ways to resolve issues peacefully. The provision forbids him from engaing the group including offering “expert advice or assistance.” -db The New York Times February 11, 2010 By Adam Liptak WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ralph D. Fertig, a 79-year-old civil rights lawyer, says he would like to help a

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Olympic athletes allowed to twitter

Despite the International Olympic Committee’s confusion about blogs and journalism, it appears that Olympic athletes will be allowed much greater freedom to tweet from the games than previously thought. -db Citizen Media Law Project Commentary February 9, 2010 By Arthur Bright Rejoice, all ye Olympian fans, the International Olympic Committee (“IOC”) has said that its athletes can use Twitter! Apparently there’s been some confusion among Olympic athletes as to whether they were allowed to “tweet,” as

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