A judge declines to toss an employment-law suit against the New York Post by an ex-staffer who — among other grievances — says she was retaliated against after denouncing a cartoon as racially insensitive [Romenesko]
Posts Tagged ‘free speech’
Sebelius and health insurers: shut up, she explained
Eugene Volokh, Michael Cannon and Ed Morrissey react to the Secretary’s announcement that her Department of Health and Human Services will show “zero tolerance” for regulated health insurers who inflict “misinformation” on the public in the course of blaming ObamaCare for rate increases. More: Monday WSJ editorial (“Zero tolerance for expressing an opinion, or offering an explanation to policyholders? They’re more subtle than this in Caracas.”) And Michael Cannon at Cato at Liberty has a further roundup post of reactions.
NY Times editorial on free speech
The paper’s pretty good, really, when it comes to arguing for First Amendment protection of violent videogames and depictions of animal cruelty. So let’s be thankful for that. Now if we could only get it to take political speech seriously! [Stoll]
Agency agrees: political expression isn’t fair-housing violation
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has agreed to stop investigating citizens on the theory that their political speech in and of itself constitutes a potential violation of housing discrimination laws. I’ve got more on the case at Cato at Liberty. Related earlier here and here.
Blawg Review #262
This week the traveling roundup of law-related posts is hosted by a nonlawyer — one who got sued over his blogging — in celebration of World Press Freedom Day. [Public Intellectual via Popehat; earlier coverage of the case]
May 3 roundup
- Lawmakers in Georgia vote for bill to forbid forced micro-chipping after listening respectfully to “this happened to me” story [Popehat]
- “Why does the Wall Street regulation overhaul give FTC authority over the Internet?” [Morrissey and WaPo via Gillespie]
- “Woman alleges termination due to gender, not sleeping on the job” [SE Texas Record]
- Writers’ Union of Canada surprisingly unfriendly toward writers’ freedom regarding fair use/fair dealing [BoingBoing]
- Despite purported bar on strategic use, Senate bill to stay deportation of illegal aliens while workplace claims are pending would create incentive to come up with such claims [Fox, Employer’s Lawyer]
- “California Magistrate Scoffs at Plaintiff’s MySpace Page, But Awards Damages Anyway” [Abnormal Use]
- State of free speech in Britain: police confront man over political sign in window of his home, arrest preacher over anti-gay remarks [Mail and more, Telegraph via Steyn, related from Andrew Sullivan and MWW]
- “Should Tort Law Be Tougher on Lawyers?” [Alex Long, TortsProf]
High court strikes animal cruelty video ban as overbroad
Discussion: 
Ken at Popehat, Ilya Shapiro at Cato at Liberty, and Eugene Volokh in several posts. Our earlier coverage is here. More: Writing for the Capital Research Center, Neil Maghami finds the Humane Society of the U.S. not so warm and fuzzy, policy-wise.
(For the Gadsden flag as illustration idea, h/t Above the Law.)
March 6 roundup
- France: Scholar faces criminal libel charge over mildly negative book review [Steven Landsburg/The Big Questions; more, Citizen Media Law] U.K. atheist convicted of religious harassment for leaving cartoon leaflets in prayer room [Media Watch Watch and earlier via Secular Right]
- Classic New Yorker writer of 1940s: “St. Clair McKelway on insurance, embezzlement, arson, and counterfeiting” [Freeland, North Mississippi Commentor]
- Bulletin: In hiring new editors, New York Times will stop preferring those with scores of 89 over those who score 65. Oh wait;
- “If I can drive a motorcycle, why can’t I drive a marginally more dangerous car concept? Because Detroit and its lobbyists have built it into the system, that’s why.” [reader at Andrew Sullivan]
- “Jersey Shore Victim Wants DVDs Suppressed” [Above the Law]
- Class action suit against Yelp.com alleges “extortion” [NY Times “Bits”, TechCrunch]
- “Some Employers Complain Law Barring Genetic Bias Hurts Wellness Efforts” [ABA Journal]
- “The Criminalization of Almost Everything” [Harvey Silverglate and Tim Lynch, Cato Policy Report]
Eugene Volokh on Reason.tv
Great interview with the prolific and influential UCLA law professor (and founder of the Volokh Conspiracy blog) in which he talks about the Bill of Rights, the “hostile environment” menace to free speech, why we should not necessarily expect judges to strike down bad laws, concealed carry and the gun control issue, and the nannyism potential in tort law (& welcome Erin Miller, SCOTUSBlog readers).
February 15 roundup
- “U.S. Still Won’t Join International Criminal Court” [Julian Ku, Opinio Juris via Adler] International jurisdiction is a bit of a crime in itself [Stuttaford, NRO “Corner”]
- “Tourette’s Sufferer Sues Starbucks for Discrimination” [Seattle Weekly]
- Colorado: “Science Fair Bans Most Science” [Free-Range Kids]
- For best results in lawsuit against “Girls Gone Wild” producer, it helps not to have made X-rated films [OnPoint News]
- New Mexico revolt against Feds’ takeover of community bank [Bank Lawyer’s Blog, more]
- Citizen’s United decision continued: “Yes, money is speech” [Rick Esenberg, Point of Law] “When Individuals Form Corporations, They Don’t Lose Their Rights” [Ilya Shapiro, Cato at Liberty]
- Thomas Lenard and Paul Rubin, “In Defense of Data: Information and the Costs of Privacy” [SSRN last year]
- Sex-harassment charge against six-year-old boy will cost Brockton, Mass. taxpayers $180,000 [Brockton Enterprise]