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.”

Ninth Circuit Rules In Favor of Plaintiff In Bivens Claim Brought Against Federal Agents

A federal appeals court has ruled that a Washington state bed-and-breakfast owner has an implied right of action for damages, called a Bivens claim, for a First Amendment violation by federal agents. The decision is significant, as many lower courts have declined to find such an implied right of action for a violation of the First Amendment, leaving some plaintiffs without an effective remedy.   

University of California, San Diego Reaches Settlement with Satirical Student Publication

The newspaper sued the university after the student government passed a bill excluding media student groups from accessing activity funds. The legislation was passed just days after the paper published a controversial article satirizing safe spaces.