First Amendment

A First Amendment right to dispute a parking ticket?

A limo driver’s angry tiff with a San Francisco parking control officer is headed for a showdown in federal court. The two engaged in a roiling disagreement that allegedly culminated in the meter-minder’s use of pepper spray and a fist. Now a federal appeals court has declined to dismiss the driver’s suit, in which he argues that the meter-minder violated his First Amendment freedom to protest a parking ticket. Read the full story.

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Court upholds paper’s right to publish minor’s name

A California appellate court has ruled that newspapers have a constitutional right to publish the names of children who suffer abuse, as long as the name is newsworthy. According to the Sacramento Bee, the decision in favor of the Redding Record Searchlight upheld a ruling in Shasta County Superior Court. Full story

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Fox News reporter faces jail or betrayal of source

A reporter for Fox News says she won’t reveal her source or sources for a story that Aurora, Colo., mass-shooting suspect James Holmes had sent a notebook to a psychiatrist indicating intent to kill people. According to Courthouse News Service, Jana Winter has vowed to appeal the order to testify. Her attorney says Winter would go to jail rather than identify a confidential source, Fox News reported. Full story and links

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When one person’s free speech is another’s threat

A San Francisco Chronicle columnist asserts that the city is more amenable to free speech when the speech is more agreeable to the city. Debra J. Saunders cites a proposal by city Supervisor David Campos to expand the 8-foot protective zone around abortion-related centers to 25 feet. She maintains that San Francisco would not likely entertain such restrictions on speech if the issue was war or Critical Mass bicycle events. Campos counters that his proposal

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Government’s dangerous crackdown on whistle-blowers

In a New York Times op-ed, two esteemed First Amendment advocates argue that the Private Bradley Manning case underscores a grave threat to the press and public — no matter what you think of Manning’s judgment when he released volumes of documents to WikiLeaks. While attorney Floyd Abrams argues that Manning acted carelessly, Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler asserts that Manning behaved much like Daniel Ellsberg, who famously released the Pentagon Papers — secret documents

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