First Amendment News

FAC’s David Loy said that the new state law on curtailing disruptions of public meetings can work “if it is closely adhered to and only affects expression in meetings that genuinely disrupts the proceedings.” Rather than allow for clearing the room if disruption occurs, the new law allows removal of offending individuals after a warning. Some feel the definition of willful interruption is vague and fear that some authorities will remove individuals for views they

A bipartisan panel of experts on transparency in national security matters recommended in June that President Joe Biden completely declassify a February 2021 report that found that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ordered the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. (The Hill, September 29, 2022 by Jared Gans) The Biden administration published a report on the murder in 2021 holding the crown prince responsible and recommended sanctions and travel bans on some Saudi

A federal district judge failed to reinstate a state attorney suspended by Governor Ron De Santis but seemed inclined to favor the argument that Andrew Warren was denied his free speech rights. Warren had signed statements pledging not to prosecute cases of abortion or transgender health care. The judge said the statements were not official actions so protected by the First Amendment. The judge wants a speedy trial to settle the matter. (Tampa Bay Times,

Politico founding editor John Harris argues that criticism from the right and left about matters of bias, objectivity and detachment miss the point, that “the classic critique from the right about bias and the new critique from the left about false equivalency often strike me as frivolous.” “The point is,” writes Harris, “that the power of journalism comes from the primacy of reporting — from telling their audiences things that people in power would prefer

The National Rifle Association (NRA) lost a First Amendment claim against the New York insurance regulator in the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled that the regulator did not violate the NRA’s free speech rights when she warned banks and insurance companies about the risks of doing business with the NRA. The court found that the remarks did not contain implied threats to the institutions so could not be taken as government