First Amendment News

California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was disappointed that UCLA’s move to the Big 10 was done without consulting with the University of California regents. The regents will convene on July 21 to discuss the move in a closed session, indicating that legal action might be lurking. (San Jose Mercury News, July 15, 2022, by Jon Wilner) Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde weighs in on the issue., “But here is my thought on this whole thing.

Several new movies feature journalists in the U.S. and abroad facing physical threats and political pressure to report the news. “Endangered” on HBO Max focuses on four journalists including Oliver Laughland of the Guardian who endured abuse at Trump rallies. Netflix’s “The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar” tells the story of an Argentinian photo journalist killed for taking a photo of secretive businessman. “The Dissident,” available on Plex or from Prime Video, tells the story of

the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that recording police is an established constitutional right. The ruling reversed a lower court decision in a case filed by a blogger and YouTube journalist protesting the actions of a police officer who blocked off his camera and shined his flashlight at him to prevent his filming a DUI stop. (The Gazette, July 11, 2022, by Julia Cardi) While five of the federal appeals court have yet

Forces opposing book banning are challenging a Virginia law that allowed obscenity claims against two books, one a LGBTQ memoir, “Gender Queen,” and a fantasy novel, “A Court of Mist and Fury.” A judge ruled that under the law, the books could be obscene for minors owing to sex scenes. Conservatives want the books removed from public libraries and private bookstores. (Virginia Mercury, July 6, 2022, by Graham Moomaw) For the American Booksellers Association, May

Three Nashville school board members beat back an attempt to prevent them from saying anything disparaging about a former school director. A Tennessee appeals court said the restriction was a violation of their free speech rights. (Main Street Nashville, June 22, 2022, by Ashley Perham) Two Wisconsin high school students won a battle in the Seventh Circuit appeals court when the court ruled that a lower court failed to consider Tinker v. Des Moines in