First Amendment News

As the neo-Nazis a.k.a. alt-right use the internet to recruit young people and spread their doctrine, it falls to private enterprise to decide on what’s acceptable, a disturbing challenge to the vitality of free speech online. Is censorship of neo-Nazi speech online essential to curbing violence or is it generating sympathy for their cause and just driving them to deeper recesses of the internet. Private internet companies should closely follow the law in limiting speech

In its new term, the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to rule on two First Amendment issues, the first concerning mandatory union dues which a state governor worker in Illinois claims violates his free speech rights. The second pits  gay customers against a Christian baker who refused to bake a cake celebrating their wedding. The baker claims forcing him to provide the cake violates his First Amendment rights. (Fortune, October 2, 2017, by Jeff John

Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended free speech on college campuses and said the Justice Department would join legal battles around the country to stop the use of campus “free speech zones.” “Freedom of thought and speech on the American campus are under attack,” said Sessions in a speech at Georgetown. “The American university was once the center of academic freedom — a place of robust debate, a forum for the competition of ideas. But it

The 7th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Illinois full-slate requirement for elections was a violation of the First Amendment right to free association. The law required parties receiving less than five percent of the vote in the most recent election to field a full slate of candidates to allow the party name to appear on the ballot next to its candidates.  (First Amendment Blog, September 25, 2017) In the Illinois case the Libertarian

California Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign A.B. 90 into law to bring scrutiny and justice to the state’s gang database. A 2016 state audit showed that the database was grossly inaccurate with many included who were innocent. The law establishes new standards and regulations, audits and an advisory committee to include a wider group than only law enforcement representatives. (Electronic Frontier Foundation, September 25, 2017, by Amul Kalia) Civil rights advocates have criticized