First Amendment News

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case of a California man who claims he has a First Amendment right to make money off false promises of a path to citizenship for immigrants. The Ninth Circuit appeals court ruled that the federal laws were overbroad and violated the man’s free speech rights. The federal government is arguing that Congress’ power to enforce immigration laws must be supported by power to prohibit encouraging someone to violate

Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, December 9, 2022, writes that the right is insisting on a right to post, that private media companies should not have the right to reject content that was suspect or prevent users from posting racist slurs anonymously. “Across the varied arguments advanced by conservatives in recent decades,” writes Serwer, “one consistent principle is readily discernible: Where a speaker is engaging in activism on behalf of conservative causes, they have an unfettered

2022 was a bad year for journalists with 67 killed along with their staff members, up from 47 in 2021. In addition the International Federation of Journalists reported that 375 journalists are in prison for their work, with China, Myanmar and Turkey the worst offenders (The Associated Press, December 9, 2022) Reporters Without Borders also reported new records in imprisonments. The number of female journalists in prison rose from 60 to 78 since 2021, and

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers argued in federal appeals court that when Trump made his speech to followers before the January 6 attack on the capitol, he was acting within his official role as president and could not be sued by Democratic members of Congress and Capitol police officers. The appeal judges were skeptical that when Trump said “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” that he was

With oral arguments, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed to lean toward ruling that a web designer in Colorado could refuse to serve same-sex couples given her Christian ideals. Their ruling could establish a First Amendment right to put religious beliefs above a state’s interest in restricting discrimination based on sexual orientation. (The New York Times, December 6, 2022, by Adam Liptak) Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2022, warns that a