Journalists Injured by Police While Covering George Floyd Protests are Winning Large Settlements
Nine days after George Floyd’s death, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a story characterizing the attacks on journalists covering the protests as a “full-scale assault on the First Amendment freedom of the press.” Lawsuits were filed and we detail the top three settlements this year obtained by journalists and a citizen documenting the protests.
Alex Jones Files for Personal Bankruptcy, Owes $1.5 Billion in Sandy Hook Trial Damages
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filed for personal bankruptcy Dec. 2, citing the $1.5 billion in damages he owes to nine families who lost their children in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Timeline: E. Jean Carroll v. Donald Trump and the Defamation Legal Battle
E. Jean Carroll sued former President Donald Trump for defamation in 2019 due to statements he made about her while publicly denouncing her sexual assault allegations against him. The jury has awarded her $88.3 million.
Federal Judge Blocks DeSantis’ ‘Stop WOKE’ Act, Says It’s ‘Positively Dystopian’
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker blocked a key provision of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act, citing First Amendment violations of viewpoint discrimination after Florida claimed that public university professors were bound by state-sanctioned speech.
Washington School District Ordered to Reinstate Praying Football Coach
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a praying high school football coach this summer, and a U.S. district judge issued an order Nov. 10 instructing a Washington school district to reinstate him.
Ninth Circuit: First Amendment Protects Beauty Pageant that Barred Oregon Transgender Woman
A federal appellate court ruled in favor of a beauty pageant that barred an Oregon transgender woman from competing, citing the pageant’s First Amendment right to freely express its desired message of “womanhood.”
Judge Orders Alex Jones to Pay Additional $473M in Punitive Damages to Sandy Hook Plaintiffs
Alex Jones and his company Free Speech Systems owe an additional $473 million in punitive damages to eight families who lost children in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre as well as an FBI agent, Connecticut Judge Barbara Bellis ordered Nov. 10.
An anti-abortion group of self-proclaimed citizen journalists, Center for Medical Progress, secretly videotaped Planned Parenthood after creating false identities and a fake company to infiltrate restricted areas. The group released the project "Human Capital" in 2015, which includes various documentary-like videos accusing Planned Parenthood clinics in California of selling aborted fetal tissue. The activists argued that its project was protected by the First Amendment, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that no journalist is above the law.