Five U.S. Senators wrote President Joe Biden on December 15 to ask him to redouble efforts to protect journalists covering the war in Palestine, to protect their lives and to pressure Israel and Egypt to allow journalists to report freely and safely from the war zone.
Briefs filed in two cases before the Supreme Court that challenge Florida and Texas laws that regulate social media platforms argue that the Laws violate the First Amendment. Clay Calvert in AEIdeas, December 13, 2023, writes “The briefs vividly and comprehensively demonstrate the statutes’ numerous flaws and patent unconstitutionality by invoking multiple doctrines, principles, and concepts: chilling effect, compelled speech, content discrimination, editorial discretion, history and tradition, overinclusiveness, right not to speak, speaker discrimination, strict
Elon Musk’s platform X is enabling antisemitic posts to reach the mainstream from their origins on the fringe site 4chan. Among the AI generated hate memes was a post showing Taylor Swift in a Nazi uniform sliding a Jewish man into an oven. (The Washington Post, December 14, 2923, by Will Oremus)
Honking is common, part of the American tradition — and it’s also a type of expression FAC believes is protected by the First Amendment.
On November 15, 2023, the ACLU of Northern California (“ACLU NorCal”) and the First Amendment Coalition (“FAC”) sued the City of Fresno for holding secret budget negotiations in violation of the Brown Act, California’s open meetings law for local governments. The lawsuit asks the court to order Fresno to comply with the Brown Act’s open meeting, notice, and public comment requirements. Since at least 2018, the Fresno City Council’s Budget Committee has negotiated the city’s