Police Arrest Two Students at the University of Connecticut for Using a Racial Slur
While the boys’ language was undoubtedly offensive, civil liberties groups say the statute used to arrest them is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.
Students at Georgia Southern University Burn Book By Latina Author
After disagreeing with the way Jennine Capó Crucet’s novel, “Make Your Home Among Strangers,” presented white privilege, a group of students at Georgia Southern University decided to burn her book. The incident serves as an interesting example of a form of expression that is at once protected speech—symbolic speech—and a symbol of censorship.
Tech Executive Severs Ties With Extremist Site Linked to El Paso Shooting
Matthew Prince, the chief executive of the San Francisco cyber security company, Cloudflare, has cut ties with 8chan, the anonymous message board where the El Paso killer posted his manifesto. […]
Death Sentence of White Supremacist Overturned on First Amendment Grounds
The California Supreme Court unanimously overturned the death sentence of a white supremacist after finding that the prosecution erred by asking the jury to consider his racist beliefs when deciding […]
Deep Dive: The Nicholas Sandmann Defamation Lawsuits
This deep dive includes information about the defamation suits stemming from a viral encounter between a group of high school boys and a Native American activist. Students can use it to understand such as protected opinion, public figure doctrine, and other First Amendment concepts.
Appeals Court Rules that University Violated Satirical Publications’ First Amendment Rights
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a lower court’s ruling that had dismissed a lawsuit brought by a student publication against the University of California, San […]
Federal Judge Finds Neo Nazi Publisher “Acted with Actual Malice”
A federal magistrate judge in Montana found that Andrew Anglin, publisher of Daily Stormer, a white nationalist website, “acted with actual malice” when he shared a Jewish woman’s contact information and instructed his readers to target her.
Laura Loomer Sues Facebook for Defamation, Requesting More Than $3 Billion in Punitive Damages
Laura Loomer, an Internet personality known for her anti-Muslim rhetoric, is suing Facebook for defamation after the company banned her and other “dangerous individuals” from the platform in May 2019. […]