News & Opinion

A federal judge in Oregon was the most recent judge to rule that flashing your lights on a freeway to warn other motorists of a speed trap was protected speech under the First Amendment. The traffic court judge held that the sheriff’s deputy had acted improperly in arresting the driver for “expressive conduct” protected under the First Amendment. (Portland Press Herald, April 11, 2014, by Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press) A federal judge in Missouri

A media coalition is bolstering efforts to challenge the National Security Agency’s National Security Letters program, particularly the non-disclosure provision that they claim constitutes prior restraint of journalists reporting about the program. The FBI routinely issues the letters to phone companies and Internet service providers with non-disclosure orders gagging them from discussing the letters. (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, April 9, 2014, press release) Slightly over a year ago, Google filed a petition

A Willits News photographer filed suit in state court to contest his arrest for newsgathering activities in a Highway bypass construction zone near the town of Willits, California. Stephen E. Eberhard was preparing to take photos of protesters chained to construction equipment and carrying signs protesting the construction, but after he announced his intent to a California Highway Patrol officer, he was put into handcuffs and taken to the county jail. (The Willits News, April

A March decision by a federal judge that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not have the legal authority to ban drones from the sky is spurring growth in the drone industry. The government will surely develop new rules for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) but not easily. Brendan Schulman a lawyer representing a drone operator said that “Given the myriad applications for the technology, the scope of ‘drone law’ is broad, stretching from freedom

University of Virginia law students at the school’s First Amendment Clinic are suing the federal government to tear at secrecy surrounding non-prosecution agreements. The students filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for over 30 settlement deals still in shrouds. One of the deals was a settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston over a sex abuse scandal in 2005. The students believe the public should be entitled to know why wrongdoers in