First Amendment News

The Justice Department ordered the union of immigration judges to stifle their criticism of the backlog in immigration courts. The union must now get approval to write articles, blogs and to speak to Congress and the news media. The Trump administration ended the union’s collective bargaining rights. (The Associated Press, March 7, 2024, by Elliot Spagat with contributions from Farnoush Amiri) For related FAC coverage, click here.

An Alabama federal district judge ruled that the U.S. Treasury Department could not require small business owners to report information on their owners and others associated with their business. The judge found that the U.S. anti-money laundering law was unconstitutional. Small businesses had contended that the reporting rule was burdensome and violated privacy and free speech rights. (The Associated Press, March 5, 2024, by Fatima Hussein) The court determined that while goal was worthy, Congress

Eugene Linden in the Columbia Journalism Review, March 5, 2024, observes that recent Supreme Court decisions are based on flawed data that could have been corrected had there been vigorous local reporting on the issue. Linden cites several instances including the lawsuit to overturn President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. At the time, to establish standing, Missouri’s attorney general claimed the plan would hurt a local nonprofit group servicing student loans. Actually the group

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case from Virginia Tech over a policy enabling students to report incidents of perceived bias on campus. An appeals court backed Virginia Tech, but the Supreme Court said the policy had been discontinued so was moot. (NBC News, March 4, 2024, by Lawrence Hurley) The nonprofit Speech First brought the case and several others challenging universities on policies they contend are intolerant of conservative views on such

A federal appeals court ruled unconstitutional that part of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” preventing private employers and schools from holding mandatory work meetings endorsing viewpoints the state disapproved of. The law targeted so-called progressive ideas including that a person is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive” by virtue of his race or that anyone should feel guilty about the acts of their ancestors. (Courthouse News Service, March 4, 2024, by Kayla Goggin) A panel of the