First Amendment News

California passed a law that makes social media companies reveal the details of their policies on hate speech, harassment, extremism, lies and foreign political interference. It also requires the companies to report how they enforce policies. According to Governor Gavin Newsom the law will help combat the way “social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a country.” (Fox News, September 14, 2022, by Julia Musto)

A panel from the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked a district judge’s order that handcuffed the investigation of former President Donald Trump’s mishandling of White House records. The panel is allowing the Justice Department to resume its examination of files held illegally at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. It also ruled that it is not necessary for an independent arbiter to review the documents before release to the Justice Department. (The New York Times, September

Citizens arrested during the 2020 George Floyd protests settled a lawsuit with Cleveland, Ohio. The city will pay $540,000 to 12 protesters who did not engage in violence or destroy any property. (The Black Enterprise, September 6, 2022, by Jeroslyn Johnson) One of the protesters was held without charges for six days. Others were injured as police pepper sprayed them, struck them with batons, and shot them with pepper balls. (Yahoo! News, September 8, 2022,

The New York Times argues that the recent rash of censorship reflects weakness parading as strength. Their editorial states, “A political project convinced of the superiority of its ideas doesn’t need the power of the state to shield people from competing ideas. Censorship is the desperate rear-guard action of a movement that has already lost the fight for hearts and minds.” (The New York Times, September 10, 2022, by The Editorial Board) Erin Blakemore in

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Washington state could restrict mental health workers from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity through conversion therapy. A family therapist claimed the state was violating his free speech rights, but the court ruled for the state, “States do not lose the power to regulate the safety of medical treatments performed under the authority of a state license merely because those treatments are