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First Amendment News

Federal court bars display of Confederate flag in Texas high school

donal brown October 15, 2009

A federal circuit court held that a Texas high school could ban clothing displaying the Confederate flag given a history of racial violence and discord in the school, over 50  incidents since 2002. -DB Courthouse News Service October 14, 2009 By Annie Youderian (CN) – Citing a history of racial tension, the 5th Circuit upheld a high-school dress code in Texas barring students from displaying the Confederate flag. Burleson High School adopted the policy in

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Stimulus fund recipients post spending records online

donal brown October 15, 2009

Those awarded stimulus fund contracts are complying with government requirements to post the details of their expenditures online, so far submitting 112,000 reports to the data collection Web site. -DB NextGov October 14, 2009 By Aliya Sternstein Stimulus fund recipients appear to be complying with requirements to report their spending activities online. As of Wednesday recipients had submitted 112,000 spending reports to the federal government’s data collection Web site, according to the board monitoring stimulus

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Jury reinforces tenant that truth is defense in libel cases

donal brown October 14, 2009

In a closely watched trial, a Massachusetts jury found that a truthful mass e-mail criticizing an office supply company employee is not libelous because it was not sent with actual malice. A federal appeals court had found that the truth can be libelous. -DB The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press October 13, 2009 By Cristina Abello A Massachusetts jury has decided that a truthful mass e-mail criticizing the former employee of an office

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Chances fading of reining in government secrecy granted under Patriot Act

donal brown October 13, 2009

Civil libertarians may be losing the battle to curb  government excess as the Obama administration is loathe to relinquish the power to operate in secrecy without the checks provided by judicial oversight. -DB Center for Internet and Society Stanford Law School Commentary October 7, 2009 By Larry Downes “Patriotism,” as Samuel Johnson famously said, “is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” In that sense, perhaps the USA PATRIOT Act is appropriately named after all. In

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Telcos losing ground in attempts to withhold records of their lobbying government in warrantless spying case

donal brown October 13, 2009

A federal district judge ruled September 24 that the government had to release the names of telecom employees who lobbied the Justice Department and White House to legislation to grant them legal immunity in their warrantless spying on American citizens. The White House is appealing the decision. -DB Wired October 8, 2009 By Ryan Singel AT&T was the first of many telcos sued for helping the NSA spy on Americans without warrants The Department of

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