Civil Liberties Groups Petition Supreme Court to Unseal “Secret” Surveillance Court Rulings
Most court opinions are made publicly available under the First Amendment so that people can understand what the law is and have trust in the judicial process. That is not the case for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) which decides when government agencies can spy on suspected foreign agents, and can sometimes target American citizens as well.
Free Speech Groups Call on USD to End Investigation of Law Professor
A professor at the University of San Diego School of Law is being investigated for a blog post he wrote criticizing the Chinese government. The blog post triggered a formal complaint filed by the Asian Pacific American Law Student Association calling for Smith’s termination.
MLB Umpire Joe West Hits it Out of the Park with $500,000 Defamation Award
Justice John J. Kelley of the New York Supreme Court, a trial-level court, has awarded Major League Baseball umpire Joe West $500,000 in a defamation lawsuit. West sued former MLB catcher Paul Lo Duca for making defamatory statements during a 2019 podcast show.
The treatment of former University of Virginia medical student Kieran Ravi Bhattacharya raises serious concerns about the use of “professionalism” to punish those who hold dissident views or dare to challenge authority. The university suspended and dismissed Bhattacharya after he raised concerns about a presentation from a faculty member about “microaggressions”.
Conservative Think Tank Loses Press Access Lawsuit Against Wisconsin Governor
The MacIver Institute sued Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers in 2019 after his office allegedly refused to invite reporters from the think tank’s news arm, MacIver News Service, to press briefings. On April 9th, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit sided with the Governor after finding his office had acted on viewpoint-neutral policies and that MacIver had failed to show evidence that the policy was applied in a discriminatory manner.
Constituents Sue Texas Attorney General For Blocking Them on Twitter
Filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division on April 8th, the complaint argues that because the Attorney General uses @KenPaxtonTX for “official purposes,” his account is a public forum and blocking users based on their viewpoint is a violation of the First Amendment.
Supreme Court to Decide Important Student (K-12) Social Media Case
The Supreme Court will clarify how far the arm of school authority extends—if at all—to student social media expression created off-campus. The case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., involves a message posted on Snapchat by student "B.L." on a Saturday afternoon off-campus after she learned she failed to advance from the junior varsity to the varsity cheerleading squad.
Sixth Circuit Rejects Garcetti in Context of University Professor’s Classroom Speech
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling creating a categorical bar on the free-speech rights of public employees who speak pursuant to their official job duties does not apply in the university classroom, a federal appeals court has ruled.