First Amendment News

Politicians are cashing in on public gullibility, the tendency of people to think something is true based on gut feeling. It is fiendishly difficult to combat the lies even when confronting them immediately with the facts. During the 2024 presidential cycle, the news media would improve their coverage by not treating the election as a “horse race” and stick to the issues. (Poynter, June 27, 2023, by Ron Laforme) Research of Americans showed that younger

The U.S. Supreme Court established a weaker test for deciding when speech constitutes “true threat,” vacating the conviction of a Colorado man in a stalking case. Billie Ray Counterman was convicted on the test that a reasonable person would consider the speech “true threats.” The court found that a “true threat” finding could only be made if the speaker “had some subjective understanding of his statements’ threatening nature.” The comments have to be shown to

Judge Aileen Cannon denied the special counsel Jack Smith’s request to keep sealed the list of 84 witnesses in the case charging former President Donald Trump with illegally retaining national security documents. The ruling set the stage for a possible release of some or all of the list of witnesses. Judge Cannon found the special counsel’s request lacking in particulars. (The New York Times, June 126, 2023, by Alan Feur) A coalition of news outlets

Canada produced a number of laws and policies to bolster the faltering news industry including an act to make social media companies pay for news, a local journalism fellowship program and tax credits for news publishers and individuals. The tax credits have been a boost for local news. A U.S. report on the Canadian initiatives makes a number of recommendations for implementation here, including structuring payroll tax credits with the smallest newsrooms in mind; implementing

The First Amendment took a sharp blow when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to uphold a federal law that criminalizes knowingly encouraging illegal immigration. For the majority, Judge Amy Coney Barrett said the law “…forbids only the intentional solicitation or facilitation of certain unlawful acts,” and “does not prohibit a substantial amount of protected speech.” (Courthouse News Service, June 23, 2023, by Kelsey Reichmann) American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Esha Bhandari said the court had