Lawmakers Call for the Drug Enforcement Administration to End Its Surveillance of Protesters
“The DEA’s narcotics interdiction tactics are not appropriate measures to address the limited violence that has taken place over the past few days or to monitor peaceful protests,” the letter said. “The expansion of the DEA’s law enforcement authority, including the use of ‘covert surveillance’ and collection of intelligence, is unwarranted and antithetical to the American people’s right to peacefully assemble and to exercise their Constitutional rights without undue Intrusion.”
D.C. Circuit Upholds Injunction Blocking White House From Revoking Reporter’s Press Pass
While the White House had a legitimate interest in maintaining a degree of control over media access to the White House, U.S. Circuit Judge David Tatel wrote that the administration could not do so in a way that interfered with a reporter’s due process rights.
ACLU Sues Minneapolis Police for Deliberate “Indifference” to Press Freedom
The complaint cites six incidents of arrests, 14 incidents of the use of physical force, five incidents of the use of chemical agents, and five incidents of threatening language and gestures, made by police officers against reporters, often without warning.
D.C. Circuit Rejects Laura Loomer’s First Amendment Lawsuit Against Tech Giants
The D.C. Circuit refused to revive a lawsuit filed by the conservative blogger Laura Loomer against Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Google for allegedly conspiring to censor conservative views.
Journalists Face Threats and Physical Violence While Covering National Protests
Journalists have long understood the risks involved in covering protests, but the events of the past weekend point to a worrisome shift: journalists are not only finding themselves caught in the middle of violence; they are increasingly becoming targets.
"[T]he Court has significant concerns about forum shopping," U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Judge Robert E. Paynes wrote. "As the Court has explained to Plaintiff's counsel on numerous occasions, the Court cannot stand as a willing repository for cases which have no real nexus to this district.”
Judge Dismisses OAN’s $10 Million Libel Suit Against MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow
"Maddow had inserted her own colorful commentary into and throughout the segment, laughing, expressing her dismay (i.e., saying 'I mean, what?') and calling the segment a 'sparkly story' and one we must 'take in stride,” Bashant wrote. Adding, "for her to exaggerate the facts and call OAN Russian propaganda was consistent with her tone up to that point, and the Court finds a reasonable viewer would not take the statement as factual given this context.”
When Benjamin Franklin’s Grandson was Jailed for Criticizing President Adams
For those who cannot imagine a time less favorable to a free press than the present moment, Ronald K.L. Collins' essay serves as a useful reminder that some of the biggest threats to the First Amendment took place in the first decade following ratification.