By Ilya Shapiro
If the First Amendment means anything, then school officials cannot prohibit students from handing out gifts with Christmas messages due to the religious content of those messages. Nonetheless, the Fifth Circuit …
The First Amendment Protects Students’ Rights to Speak on Religious Subjects is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
Is Congress about to limit freedom of speech on the Internet? Two bills wending their way through the Senate and the House may do just that. The proposals, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are aimed at stopping foreign-based Web sites from distributing copyrighted material, such as Hollywood movies, in violation of U.S. law. Such online “piracy” is a real problem, and since many of the so-called pirate sites distributing content are based off-shore, they have been able to operate without interference. … More
Few issues before Congress have united online activists like the current debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act in the U.S. House and its Senate companion, the PROTECT IP Act. Both bills attempt to address the theft of intellectual property. But critics say the legislation would do more harm than good. “The legislation addresses a legitimate problem,” noted Heritage’s James Gattuso in an analysis of SOPA, “but it may have unintended negative consequences for the operation of the Internet and free speech.” We discussed those consequences on this week’s Scribecast … More
College campuses would seem to be ripe environments for intellectual diversity to flourish. But rather than celebrate free speech, academic institutions across America routinely censor student publications and individuals. Such was the case recently at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Professor James Miller came under attack from the campus administration when he posted a picture and quote from the science-fiction show “Firefly” outside his office door. It was removed by campus police because it was perceived to be a threat to others. When Miller fought back by posting another sign condemning … More
Would you be outraged if the Department of Justice shut down The Foundry without any warning and blocked access for more than a year? That’s exactly what happened to a hip-hop blog called Dajaz1.com, which was falsely accused of criminal copyright infringement. The blog posted music from artists promoting their work. But federal authorities viewed it differently. They seized the domain name, then shared virtually no information with its owner for more than year. Only recently did they quietly drop the case. The government’s handling of this hip-hop blog is … More
By Tim Lynch
Federal prosecutors are pressing their case against Julian Heicklen, the elderly man who distributed pamphlets about jury nullification. A lot of things are said about jury nullification and much of it is inaccurate. But whatever one’s view happens to be on that subject, I would have thought that the idea of talking about (and that [...]
Jury Nullification and Free Speech is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
A constitutional amendment offered in the House of Representatives would strip American companies of all protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. While the amendment is aimed at curbing free speech rights afforded third party groups by the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC, it would, whether intended or not, open the door to a host of gross violations of Americans’ civil rights. The proposed amendment, offered by Rep. Theodore Deutch (D-FL) on Nov. 18, is wholly a product of the violent and subversive “Occupy” protest movement currently unwinding across the … More
