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First Amendment News

Free speech concerns arise with new guidelines on disclosing gifts from manufacturers to their internet bloggers

donal brown October 8, 2009

The Federal Trade Commission approved new guidelines this week requiring manufacturers and bloggers on their payroll to disclose exchanges of free merchandise. The guidelines do not apply to journalists. There are concerns that extending the guidelines to the social media may have undesirable effects in restricting free speech. -DB Media and Communications Law Society Suffolk University Law School Opinion October 8, 2009 By Denise Ouellet The Federal Trade Commission announced on Monday that it will now require

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Citizen sues San Francisco Ethics Commission: Alleges commission withheld public records

donal brown October 7, 2009

Allen Grossman, an open government advocate, has filed suit in San Francisco, charging that the Ethics Commission has suppressed public records regarding their failure to enforce violations of state and local open government laws. -DB Press Release October 6, 2009 In a lawsuit filed Monday in the San Francisco Superior Court, Open Government advocate Allen Grossman charges that the Ethics Commission suppressed public records relating to its consistent failure to enforce violations of state and local

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Supreme Court lets stand lower court ruling that Illinois need not offer ‘Choose Life’ license plates

donal brown October 6, 2009

The Supreme Court rejected a free speech claim from Choose Life Illinois Inc. upholding an appellate court ruling that the plate would have given the impression that Illinois was taking sides in the abortion controversy. -DB Boston Tribune By David G. Savage October 5, 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Illinois need not offer “Choose Life” license plates to motorists, under a ruling the Supreme Court let stand today. The justices turned down a free-speech claim from

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Pittsburgh accused of trampling First Amendment at G-20 meetings

donal brown October 6, 2009

The Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says that the Pittsburgh police transformed the city into a police state during the recent G-20 Summit, shutting down dissent with tactics reminiscent of repression methods used in communist Poland in the early 1980s. -DB JURIST Opinion October 06, 2009 By Witold Walczak Law enforcement officials have, over the past decade, used gatherings of national and international leaders as license to suspend civil liberties.

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Pro sports’ bans on Twitter could provoke First Amendment protest

donal brown October 6, 2009

Professional athletes filling time around games by tweeting whatever was on their minds, some of it critical, are now facing rules restricting their freedom. Questions  remain about whether the bans violate the free speech rights of the athletes and whether they even care enough to challenge the bans. -DB The Dallas Morning News Opinion October 5, 2009 By Kevin Sherrington In the wake of insubordinate comments made recently on Twitter accounts, please match the coach to

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