First Amendment News

Florida legislators are pushing a law to prevent the public from knowing about the travel of Governor Ron DeSantis, his family and staff. They cite security concerns in granting a public records exemption for transportation records. (Miami Herald, March 22, 2023, by Mary Ellen Klas) The proposed legislation would keep the travel records of the governor, their families and staff from public scrutiny and also retroactively shield recent trips by DeSantis, his family and staff.

Amy Davidson Sorkin in The New Yorker, March 19, 2023, writes that should Fox win its defamation battle with Dominion Voting Systems, it would show that no matter how egregious your disregard of the truth might be, there would be no accountability under Times v. Sullivan thus undermining the decision. Noah Feldman of Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, March 18, 2023, writes that there is a way to allow news outlets to address false claims

First Amendment freedoms are under attack as censorship spreads and state legislatures propose laws that limit free expression and criticism of public officials. Experts say that there has been an upsurge in attacks that the U.S. has not seen in decades. (The Associated Press, March 15, 2023, by Rebecca Boone) Steven Greenhut in Reason, March 17, 2023, argues that given attempts of governments to “police the truth,” “…our nation would benefit from a renewed cultural

As Alex Murdaugh is sentenced to life in prison for murdering two family members, Michael M. DeWitt, Jr. in the Greenville News, March 15, 2023, writes, “The Murdaugh saga is a sweeping epic of generations of power and entitlement that led to outright crime and corruption, but on a deeper level it is also a testament to the power of the South Carolina press and the need to support local journalism.” In investigating financial and

In refusing to hear the case en banc, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reaffirmed the rising prominence of compelled speech in First Amendment cases. A plaintiff had held that the Miss United States America contest was discriminatory in limiting contestants to those who are “natural born female.” The court noted that the district court was right in ruling the First Amendment protects the beauty pageant’s “expressive association rights to exclude a person who