First Amendment News

Conservative students at Clovis Community College won the right to post anti-communist and anti-abortion flyers. The agreement with the administration came this month after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruing in August of 2023 that the poster policy violated the First Amendments as overly broad and vague. The college was ordered to adopt a new policy and provide administrators with training on the First Amendment. (Fresno Bee, August 6,

A freelance photojournalist was arrested on hate crime charges for traveling with pro-Palestinian protesters when they vandalized homes of Brooklyn Museum leaders. Samuel Seligson’s intent was to record the illegal activity. (ABC News, August 6, 2024, by Jake Offenhartz of The Associated Press) For related FAC coverage, click here, here and here.

Law scholar Caroline Mala Corbin in the Stanford Law Review, July 26, 2024, argues that school district laws that censor content should undergo strict scrutiny under the Free Speech Clause. Teachers are at a disadvantage in challenging restrictions about the content of their classroom content because currently as acting in official capacity their speech is considered government speech. For related FAC coverage, click here, here and here.

Special prosecutors investigating the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher found that the police chief truly believed he was investigating a crime but had overstepped and will be charged with a crime. (Kansas Reflector, August 5, 2024, biy Sherman Smith) The prosecutors plan to charge the chief with obstruction of justice for searches based on inaccurate information and not legally justified. The prosecutors found that the newspaper staff committed

The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a congressional report on post-9-11 torture was not subject to public records requests. Citing a recent Second Circuit decision, the panel found that the Congress committee, not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, made redactions of details clearly establishing its intent to keep the information from the public. (Courthouse News Service, August 5, 2024, by Nika Schoonover)