A California teacher won a round in court when a state appeals court ruled that when she compared her gum-chewing student to a prostitute chewing gum, it was not a statement of objective fact and consequently not defamation. From the First Amendment Center, July 2, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr. Full story
On Thursday, US District Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that the class action suit filed by the 700 individuals swept up in a mass arrest on Brooklyn Bridge in Octboer may proceed, denying New York Police Department officers assertion that they were entitled to qualified immunity from the arrests. The ruling opens with the following: “What a huge debt this nation owes to its ‘troublemakers.’ From Thomas Paine to Martin Luther King, Jr., they have forced
A former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo fired from his job at the Library of Congress for criticizing the Obama administration in op-ed pieces in major newspapers can pursue his case against the library to get his job back according to a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. -db From a commentary for the American Civil Liberties Union, June 1, 2012, by Josh Bell. Full story
A New York appeals court decided that a upper New York state man could not sue for defamation after someone called him gay. The court argued that the history of legal precedents on the act was based on the assumption that it was a disgrace to be described as gay which is now no longer the case. -db From the New York Post, May 31, 2012, by Dareh Gregorian. Full story
California schools have added heft in their anti-bullying campaigns with the legislature passing an amendment allowing public schools to punish students who post threats or abuse of fellow students on social networks. -db From the First Amendment Center, May 29, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr. Full story