- Florida “health coach” charges for nutrition advice, isn’t a licensed dietitian. Does she have a First Amendment defense? [Scott Shackford]
- Results of Russian social-media manipulation episode could include foot in door for regulation of Internet speech [John Samples, Cato]
- Some in Australia having trouble distinguishing “impersonation” of government from anti-government satire [Timothy Geigner, TechDirt]
- Before deep-pocket publications can report on sexual misconduct by persons in high places, gauntlet of legal review needs to be run with special attention to on-the-record sources [Mike Masnick, TechDirt]
- Ohio lawmaker introduces anti-SLAPP bill that pioneers novel protections for anonymous speakers [John Samples, Cato]
- “Nadine Strossen’s Next Book — ‘Hate: Why We Should Resist it With Free Speech, Not Censorship'” [Ronald K.L. Collins] “Sanford Ungar Heads New Free Speech Project at Georgetown University” [same]
Posts Tagged ‘First Amendment’
Campus free speech roundup
- Many elements of First Amendment doctrine are applicable not at all to private universities and only in substantially modified form to public campuses. True enough, but few go as far in arguing this as does Yale’s Robert Post [Vox, Erwin Chemerinsky response, Will Creeley (FIRE) response, Post response to Creeley]
- Rundown of shout-downs: state representative kept from speaking at Texas Southern’s Thurgood Marshall Law School [Caron/TaxProf, Greenfield] University of Oregon president’s annual state-of-university speech [Oregonian] Pro-Trump hecklers shout down California Attorney General, assembly majority leader at Whittier College [Adam Steinbaugh, FIRE] College Republicans disrupted at UC Santa Cruz, not for inviting someone controversial, just for being them [Celine Ryan/Campus Reform, John Sexton/HotAir]
- Threats of violence against journal editors are one way to get a retraction [Sara Hebel/Chronicle of Higher Education, Jerry Coyne, Oliver Traldi, Quillette (Bruce Gilley, “Case for Colonialism” paper)]
- “New policy authorizes University of Wisconsin to expel students for repeatedly disrupting speakers” [ABA Journal] Will the new rules themselves improperly restrict speech? [Howard Wasserman, Joe Cohn/FIRE first and second posts]
- Debate over proposal by Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) to prohibit “hate speech” on campus [Andrew King vs. Chris Seaton, Simple Justice]
- Federal court agrees that Title IX does not oblige university to ban (now-defunct) student gossip anonymous messaging app Yik Yak [Adam Steinbaugh, FIRE]
Free speech roundup
- “I believe in the First Amendment” and FCC has no authority to revoke licenses over newscast content, says commission chairman Ajit Pai [Jacob Sullum/Reason, earlier]
- She stoops to censor: British Crown and her Wiltshire police are not amused by your tweets [Andrew Stuttaford, BBC via Helen Pluckrose on Twitter; earlier here, here, here, here, here, here, etc.] Hate speech laws will in practice be used by the politically powerful against dissenters and radicals, part 761 [Guardian on case of woman questioned by detectives over banner denouncing conservative ruling party in Northern Ireland]
- “Congress members threaten Twitter with regulation if it doesn’t suppress ‘racially divisive communications’ and ‘anti-American sentiments” [Eugene Volokh on bill introduced by Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) and Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.)]
- On the old “shouting fire in a crowded theater” trope, read this whole thread and then you won’t have to catch up later [Popehat on Twitter] Neither “extremist” speech nor “fake news” can be defined and identified closely enough for regulation to work [Cato Daily Podcast with Flemming Rose and Caleb Brown]
- Encyclopedia of Libertarianism article on freedom of speech is by Alan Charles Kors;
- “Screen Actors Guild Tells Court There’s Nothing Unconstitutional About Curbing IMDB’s Publication Of Facts” [Tim Cushing, TechDirt; earlier here and here]
Cop strikes out suing Mckesson, BLM movement, and hashtag
Updating our July roundup item: a Baton Rouge, La. police officer injured at a demonstration sued activist DeRay Mckesson and, purportedly, the Black Lives Matter movement after being injured during a protest. After Mckesson’s lawyers challenged the inclusion of the latter-named movement on the grounds that it is not a juridical person capable of being sued, plaintiff moved “to amend his complaint to add “#BlackLivesMatter” and Black Lives Matter Network, Inc., as Defendant.”
A federal court was not impressed. It ruled that the officer had not pleaded adequate facts to sustain a claim that either Mckesson or the incorporated entity had gone beyond their own rights to speech, as protected by the First Amendment, to become legally responsible for the violent actions of others, that the initial complaint “names as a Defendant a social movement that lacks the capacity to be sued,” and that the attempted amendment to the complaint likewise overlooks that “#BlackLivesMatter” – a hashtag – lacks the capacity to be sued.” (Italics are the court’s.)
The Court judicially notices that the combination of a “pound” or “number” sign (#) and a word or phrase is referred to as a “hashtag” and that hashtags are utilized on the social media website Twitter in order to classify or categorize a user’s particular “tweet,” although the use of hashtags has spread to other social media websites and throughout popular culture. The Court also judicially notices that “#BlackLivesMatter” is a popular hashtag that is frequently used on social media websites.
Plaintiff therefore is attempting to sue a hashtag for damages in tort. For reasons that should be obvious, a hashtag – which is an expression that categorizes or classifies a person’s thought – is not a “juridical person” and therefore lacks the capacity to be sued. Amending the Complaint to add “#BlackLivesMatter” as a Defendant in this matter would be futile because such claims “would be subject to dismissal”; a hashtag is patently incapable of being sued. [citations and footnote omitted]
Rejecting the option of granting plaintiff further leave to amend his complaint,
The Court also notes that Plaintiff’s attempt to bring suit against a social movement and a hashtag evinces either a gross lack of understanding of the concept of capacity or bad faith, which would be an independent ground to deny Plaintiff leave to file a Second Proposed Amended Complaint. The Court therefore shall dismiss this matter with prejudice.
Saying it with frosting at SCOTUS
My Cato Institute colleagues (Sept. 6) and the U.S. Department of Justice (Sept. 7) have both weighed in with amicus briefs in the Supreme Court’s fall-term case of Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, supporting the principle that the First Amendment does not permit Colorado public accommodations law to force independent baker Jack Phillips to create a cake intended for a same-sex wedding in which he does not wish to participate.
Cato’s brief emphasizes the expressive significance of custom cake baking, which involves the creation of a unique work of art with symbolic and emotional elements (more from Ilya Shapiro and David McDonald).
The Department of Justice brief advances a similar argument and also argues that creative expression aside, the law must not force “participation in an expressive event” under First Amendment precedents such as Barnette v. West Virginia Board of Education (public school students may not be compelled to take part in Pledge of Allegiance, flag salutes, or similar ceremonies), absent a more compelling state interest than Colorado has shown here.
Both briefs distinguish custom cake making from other wedding services. Cato notes that some services (wedding photography, custom floral design) share elements of creative expression with custom cake baking, while many other services do not. DoJ says there is no First Amendment problem applying public accommodation law to hall or limo rental or to the sale of off-the-shelf cakes. Where a product is not custom made for a particular client or event, the law is dealing with a sale of goods, not conscripting an expressive service.
Neither Cato’s nor DoJ’s brief is grounded in a free exercise of religion argument, but would apply to refusals to deal whether grounded in religious belief or not. Earlier here and here. More: Erica Goldberg.
Publishing a gun design online = arms export?
Design for using 3-D printing technology to produce a gun is posted on the internet. Feds order it taken down as a violation of arms export laws, because anything posted online can be read overseas and a data file counts as an “export.” Is there a constitutional problem with that? Trevor Burrus and Meggan DeWitt on a new Cato amicus brief. Update January 2018: Supreme Court denies writ of certiorari.
Must officials keep religion out of their social media feeds?
The Freedom from Religion Foundation claims that it’s unconstitutional for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to tweet Bible verses, as he often does [complaint letter] The question of when officials’ social media feeds should be deemed governmental in nature as distinct from personal sidelines, and what exactly that should mean in practice, has been much in the news, especially since a federal court ruled that a county supervisor in Virginia acted improperly by banning some constituents from her Facebook page. Critics have similarly sued on the theory that President Trump’s @realdonaldtrump Twitter account is a government forum that may not block viewers based on the viewpoint of their likely responses. Eugene Volokh sorts out some of the issues and notes that the Supreme Court, including some of the most liberal members, have taken the view that elected officials are free to voice religious convictions in public speeches without fear of violating the Establishment Clause. Earlier here and here.
Free speech roundup
- “You Can’t Sue People for Being Mean to You, Bob” – ACLU brief in Robert Murray-John Oliver case. Or can he? [Lowering the Bar, Popehat]
- Eugene Volokh will keynote lunch and colleague Emily Ekins will describe results of a new survey on free speech at Cato’s inaugural conference on “The Future of the First Amendment,” that’s aside from my religious liberty panel [register or watch online]
- “Build the Wall” flyers in Washington, D.C. draw reaction: “Council member Brandon Todd has told residents to call 911 if they are handed one of the flyers.” [Liberty Unyielding]
- Is legal fate of Gawker chilling journalism about the rich and famous? [Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post, on coverage of R. Kelly story] Did ABC News really pay $177 million even after insurance reimbursement to settle pink slime case? [Jacob Gershman on Twitter citing SEC filing]
- Symposium with Richard Epstein, Heather Mac Donald, KC Johnson, John McWhorter, Jonathan Rauch, Adam White and many others: “Is Free Speech Under Threat in the United States?” [Commentary]
- Calls for a crackdown on bad guys’ political expression in 1950s and today, compared [Eugene Volokh]
Supreme Court could revisit forced advocacy dues for public workers
A 1977 Supreme Court decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, upheld the constitutionality of forcing public employees to fund (through union dues) advocacy they might not like. More recently the Court has questioned the reasoning of Abood in Knox v. SEIU (2012) and Harris v. Quinn (2014), although the trend stalled in last year’s 4-4 split in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. Now the Court could revisit the issue by agreeing to review a Seventh Circuit case from Illinois, Janus v. AFSCME [Ilya Shapiro and Frank Garrison, Cato]
Antitrust as CNN leverage
Press accounts suggest that the Trump White House has given thought to using its leverage over the pending AT&T merger to pursue the President’s grievances against CNN, which is owned by merger participant Time Warner. Dangerous, though hardly unprecedented, stuff, I argue in my new post at Cato.