First Amendment News

Twitter is gearing up to put a stop to lies and calls for violence in the days before the presidential election. The changes involve installing a delay before users can retweet and post. Twitter will also flag false content and warn users they are about to disseminate it. The company seeks to avoid providing a conduit for false tweets that go viral and affect the election. (The New York Times, October 9, 2020, by Kate

Those charged in a plot to kidnap and possibly harm Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitman may try to harness the First Amendment in fighting conspiracy charges. But the federal prosecutors will probably duck that in favor of a kidnapping charge that is much easier to prove. (Detroit Free Press, October 9, 2020, by Phoebe Wall Howard) The plotters used Facebook to help plan the crime, and Facebook claimed they had cooperated with a Michigan investigation of

Aspen Institute Director Garrett M. Graff, Wired, October 7, 2020, warns the news media about running “hack and leak” information during the presidential election. He cites the coverage of the Wikileaks publication of thousands of e-mails Russian agents stole from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta. The “horse race coverage” confused voters, messed up the Clinton campaign and abetted the Russian assault on the election. Graff urges the news outlets to provide context, even being

With Covid-19 endangering President Donald Trump and his inner circle, an angry White House press corp is asking pointed questions about the lack of quarantining and the needless risks they’re facing. Reporters are often blindsided with events they were not told were inside or events that were supposed to be small but turned out to involve over a thousand participants, few of whom wore masks. (Vanity Fair, October 5, 2020, by Joe Pompeo) Several White

A federal district judge stopped the work of President Donald Trump’s law enforcement panel for breaking an open meeting law requiring public notice when holding closed meetings. The judge’s main objection to the panel centered on its composition. While the law on advisory committees stipulates balance in their make-up, Trump’s panel only included law enforcement officials and excluded voices from the black community suffering the most from poor policing practices. (Politico, October 1, 2020, by