First Amendment News

To restrict media coverage of the military at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Defense Department is classifying daily briefings and orders. The Pentagon recently submitted requests for assistance for 2020 operations on the southwest border to the Department of Homeland Security, previously unclassified but now sent via a secret network. (Newsweek, December 17, 2019, by James LaPorta) For related FAC coverage, click here and here.

Freelance writers and photographers filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging California’s law providing wage and benefits to independent contractors. They say the law limits their free speech and constitutes a government restriction on the free press. With the passage of the law, Vox Media’s SB nation, a sports media outlet, announced it is reducing its use of freelancers. (San Francisco Chronicle, December 17, 2019, by Don Thompson of the Associated Press) The plaintiffs complain

Los Angeles may not require companies working for the city to disclose connections with the National Rifle Association. So ruled a federal judge who wrote that while the law seemed to focus on non-expressive activity, it was really aimed at restricting the NRA’s political speech. (Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2019, by Dakota Smith) U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson said that even though contracts are not shielded by the First Amendment, to require companies

The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling affecting the right to protest across the nation. The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Black Lives Matter leader was liable for leading a demonstration that blocked a highway during which one of the protesters threw a rock that injured a police officer. (The Washington Post, December 13, 2019, by Marissa J. Lang) Law professor Garrett Epps,

The U.S. Supreme Court restricted the free speech rights of doctors in turning down a request for review of a Kentucky law that requires patients wanting an abortion to view ultrasound images of the fetus. Under the law, medical staff must describe the images, including the size of the fetus and any organs or limbs visible. They must also amplify the fetal heartbeat so the patient can hear it. (Reuters, December 9, 2019, by Lawrence