First Amendment News

In their defense of Fox News in the defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over debunked claims of election fraud, Fox lawyers are not claiming truth as a defense but rather stating claims made by former president Donald Trump and his followers were newsworthy. The lawyers also said Dominion can’t prove actual malice. (NPR, January 23, 2023, by David Folkenflik) Not to be outdone in novel defenses against defamation lawsuits by Dominion, One America

In asking the Biden administration to weigh in on the constitutionality of Florida and Texas laws preventing social media companies from removing posts based on content, the court is delaying a decision on this key First Amendment issue. The court may now hear arguments no sooner than October. (The New York Times, January 23, 2023, by Adam Liptak) The court asked for the views of the solicitor general on the laws that would restrict Facebook,

A California court of appeals found that UC Irvine can release records under the California Public Records Act pertaining to alleged plagiarism in articles submitted to various academic journals. The assistant professor submitting the articles filed an injunction to prevent release. (Reason, January 14, 2023, by Eugene Volokh) The Los Angeles City Council voted to allow an option for city officials to hold remote meetings. That arrangement would require an amendment to the Brown Act,

The Supreme Court will take up the case of Billy Counterman who claims that his internet messages to a woman were not intended to be genuine threats and thereby protected by the First Amendment. Intend is key, but some lower courts ruled that prosecutors only have to establish that a “reasonable person” would consider the messages as threats. (NBC News, January 13, 2023, by Lawrence Hurley) Counterman is seeking to vacate his conviction of stalking

After covering the 14 votes to elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, C-SPAN sent a letter to new McCarthy to ask if C-Span could cover all House floor proceedings for all credited news outlets. Usually, footage of the proceedings are government-produced unless there are special events such as the election of the speaker. (CNN, January 10, 2023, by Oliver Darcy) The Washington Post editorial board, January 13, 2023, argues that the usual government coverage is dull