First Amendment News

A law professor warns about the side effects of applying the First Amendment to Twitter, arguing that bringing free speech there could restrict the social media platforms in their battle against fake news, harassment and hate speech. If courts continue to rule for free speech on these platforms, the social media will have to comply with established First Amendment law that allows lies, bigotry and racism.  (The New York Times, June 5, 2018, by Noah

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a Florida case involving a secret recording in a police chief’s office that allegedly violated Florida’s wiretapping laws that require all participants to agree to a recording. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in 2017 that since the chief did not tell the man recording their meeting that the meeting was private he had “no expectation” of privacy. (Miami New Times, June 5, 2018, by Jerry

A federal judge struck a blow for transparency as she ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for documents informing their conclusion that carbon dioxide was not a major cause of climate change. The EPA had protested that complying with the EPA request was burdensome in requiring hours to find the relevant documents. The judge rejected that argument and slammed the EPA’s contention that evidence for a

Under federal indictment, former campaign manager Paul Manafort asked a federal court to keep the news media from obtaining documents in one of his criminal cases. Manafort claimed releasing the documents would hurt his chances for a fair trial. Manafort’s lawyer observed that Manafort himself did not have access to the documents and that the court banned him from making any public comments on the case. (Courthouse News Service, June 5, 2018, by Britain Eakin)

The Washington attorney general is suing Google and Facebook for its lack of transparency on political advertising. Washington has clear laws requiring companies to reveal who pays for political ads and how much they spend. Washington said the companies have not filed the information since 2013. (Financial Express, June 5, 2018, by Agence France-Presse) With the Russian interference in the 2016 election, Google and Facebook are enacting new procedures. Facebook is providing the public with