First Amendment

FEC Drafting Campaign Ad Rule

The Federal Election Commission hopes to have a rule in place before the 2008 primaries that makes clear what kind of issue-oriented ads are permitted under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The issue has been hotly debated by election law blawggers who differ on the impact of the ruling,…

Aug 22, 2007 5:44 PM CDT

Pedophile Order Is Invalid, Case Dropped

A California judge’s unusual order prohibiting a self-described pedophile from getting within 10 yards of the state’s children is invalid, according to Los Angeles prosecutors. But an attorney who persuaded a judge to issue the order earlier this month says the real problem is prosecutors looking for an excuse not…

Aug 22, 2007 3:37 PM CDT

Pentagon Scraps Anti-Terror Database

The Pentagon is pulling the plug on an anti-terrorism database criticized for tracking information on peace activists. Army Col. Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman, said the database was being shut down because its analytical value had declined, the Associated Press reports. The data will be transferred to the FBI’s Guardian…

Aug 22, 2007 1:36 PM CDT

Polygamy Cases Fizzle; Religious Bias?

After two years, criminal cases brought in Arizona against eight men in the same polygamous sect for allegedly marrying underage girls are nearing an end. Three have been convicted—and sentenced to jail sentences ranging from one day to nine months. A fourth was acquitted, and charges were dropped against two…

Aug 17, 2007 9:33 PM CDT

Paris Hilton & Mel Gibson Protection Act?

A bill being considered in the California legislature attempts to regulate checkbook journalism and private investigators who pay for confidential information. The legislation, AB 920, would make it a misdemeanor for law enforcement personnel and court employees to profit by releasing confidential information or permitting photographs of a person in…

Aug 16, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Tale of 2 Cities: Tampa Porn Dorm Legal, But Miami’s Isn’t

A so-called porn dorm in Tampa, in which women live and participate in sexual activities that are videotaped and publicized over the Internet, is apparently legal. But that doesn’t mean that a comparable business—featuring buffed-up young men who are paid $1,200 plus room and board to live in a house…

Aug 15, 2007 4:34 PM CDT

Reporters Ordered to Reveal Sources

A federal judge has ordered five reporters to reveal their law enforcement sources in a lawsuit filed by a bioterrorism expert once identified as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Steven J. Hatfill claims the government violated the Privacy Act by leaking information about him. He has…

Aug 14, 2007 12:04 PM CDT

Tax Protest Groups Can’t Solicit

A federal judge has barred two tax protest groups from circulating materials that advise citizens how to avoid paying federal income taxes. Judge Thomas McAvoy of Binghamton, N.Y., said the two groups are promoting an illegal tax shelter, the New York Law Journal reports. First Amendment protections don’t apply when…

Aug 14, 2007 11:17 AM CDT

Trying Times for Civil Liberties Lawyer

Life as a civil liberties lawyer isn’t easy for Christopher Dunn, who focuses on First Amendment issues as associate legal director for the New York Civil Liberties Union. He says the government has been trampling free speech and assembly rights through policies such as secret surveillance and mass detentions of…

Aug 10, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

Smut Review Yields No Prosecutions

An outsourced Justice Department program to review adult Web sites for obscene materials has not resulted in a single prosecution. It’s not for a lack of referrals, the New York Times reports. The review program, run for two years under an annual grant of about $150,000, has passed along 67,000…

Aug 10, 2007 2:13 PM CDT

States, Feds Ponder ‘Gender ID’ Bills

Gender identity isn’t a phrase that traditionally comes up in everyday conversation. But it’s a hot topic among lawmakers and lobbyists these days, as both Congress and a growing number of states consider legislation to make discrimination based on gender identity illegal. At this point, it isn’t completely clear what…

Aug 7, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

Footbaths Spur Constitutional Objections

Accommodations for Muslim students at public universities are raising legal questions about the separation of church and state. The University of Michigan at Dearborn is one of more than a dozen universities that have footbaths in restrooms for Muslims to wash their feet before prayers, the New York Times reports.…

Aug 7, 2007 3:18 PM CDT

En Banc Court Mulls Abortion Law

Anti-abortion groups are pursuing a strategy that focuses on the consequences for women who undergo abortion. An example is the law passed by South Dakota, Adam Liptak writes in his Sidebar column for the New York Times (sub. req.). The measure requires doctors to tell women considering abortion that the…

Aug 6, 2007 1:55 PM CDT

Teen Smoking Suit Extinguished

Joe Camel has made it through the eye of a needle. The California Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against four tobacco companies targeting ads that appeal to youths, the Recorder reports. The suit claimed the companies encouraged youths to start smoking through ads that featured icons such as Joe…

Aug 3, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Curbs on Condo Signs Upheld

Legal observers were taken aback last year when a New Jersey appellate court extended the state constitution’s free-speech requirements to a private homeowners’ association. Frank Askin, a law professor at Rutgers-Newark, told the ABA Journal eReport in February 2006 that the decision was the first of its kind at the…

Jul 27, 2007 4:43 PM CDT