News & Opinion

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled against anti-Bush protesters who said the Secret Service discriminated against them by moving their protest away from the President during a 2004 campaign appearance in Oregon. The protesters contended that they were moved because they were anti-Bush whereas the President’s supporters enjoyed a more central position. But the Court with liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing for the majority found that the move was not based on content but

Responding to a Freedom of  Information lawsuit brought by the ACLU and The New York Times, the federal government has indicated it will release a key Justice Department legal memo explaining the rationale for its targeted killing program. The memo, written by David Barron, authorized the killing of a U.S. citizen living in Yemen suspected of plotting terrorist acts. A federal appeals court in April ordered the disclosure of the memo. (American Civil Liberties Union,

Twitter is increasing employing the “country-withheld content” tool to block particular tweets in spite of a pledge in 2012 to use the tool sparingly. The result is that countries are using the tool under the radar to block content that is offensive, an ever increasing list. (Gigaom, May 21, 2014, by Mathew Ingram) Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, May 21, 2014, concludes that Twitter has failed to stand up to countries demanding censorship particularly

Supporters of Prop. 8, the California ballot measure that voters approved invalidating gay marriage lost in federal appeals court when a panel voted 2-1 that political contributions of $100 or more must be public. The supporters of the measure overturned by federal court in 2010 feared their donors would be harassed when their identifies were revealed. Judge Milan Smith Jr. noted that disclosure protected the electoral process by discouraging corruption and informing voters of the

Speaking at the Haverford College commencement on Sunday, William G. Bowen, the former president of Princeton University, ripped students for campaigning against the previously scheduled commencement speaker, former UC Berkeley chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau. Students opposing Birgeneau’s appearance wanted to express their solidarity with UC students over Birgeneau’s decision to use force on students protesting rising tuition. (The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 18, 2014, by Susan Snyder) But Lucia Graves, National Journal, May 20, 2014, objected