First Amendment

Weekly Briefs: Emmett Till probe closed; Black couple’s suit says appraisal changed with pretend white homeowner

DOJ closes Emmett Till investigation The U.S. Department of Justice has closed its reopened investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black youth tortured and shot in Mississippi after he was accused of making sexual advances toward a white woman in her store. The woman had testified…

Dec 10, 2021 3:17 PM CST

SCOTUS considers whether public tuition program for private schools can exclude religious ones

The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest case about the Constitution’s religion clauses hails from Maine, where the state has paid tuition to send some students to private schools for more than a century but for the last 40 years has limited the choices to “nonsectarian” schools.

Dec 2, 2021 10:15 AM CST

Is the right to assemble and demonstrate under threat?

Legislators who are now seeking to restrict protesters say the measures are necessary to establish law and order; provide security; protect businesses; ensure the free flow of highways; and distinguish between peaceful protesters and rioters. But free speech experts warn that the legislative trend against protesting is harmful to fundamental First Amendment freedoms.

Dec 1, 2021 1:50 AM CST

Weekly Briefs: New charges against lawyer accused of staging his shooting; Christian florist settles

Suspended lawyer Alex Murdaugh faces new charges Suspended South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, previously charged in an alleged scheme to have himself killed for insurance money, is facing 27 new charges as the result of five indictments by a South Carolina state grand jury. The indictments allege that Murdaugh stole…

Nov 19, 2021 4:14 PM CST

Law profs seek to overturn New York law requiring their ethics complaints to be secret

Law professors who posted grievances that they filed against 21 prosecutors are challenging a New York law that requires lawyer disciplinary proceedings and related papers to be kept private until discipline is recommended.

Nov 12, 2021 12:38 PM CST

Supreme Court will decide whether innkeeper can sue border agent for First Amendment damages

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether the owner of a bed and breakfast establishment called the Smugglers Inn can sue a border patrol agent for damages under the First and Fourth Amendments.

Nov 8, 2021 11:06 AM CST

Supreme Court allows vaccine mandate for health workers that didn’t offer religious exemption

Maine’s vaccine mandate for health care workers, which doesn’t allow religious exemptions, is being enforced after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene Friday.

Nov 1, 2021 9:56 AM CDT

Let them eat cheesecake on Shavuot, 6th Circuit says in Jewish prisoners’ case

The Michigan Department of Corrections violated Jewish prisoners’ religious rights when it failed to provide them with kosher meat and a meal with dairy on the Jewish Sabbath and four Jewish holidays, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Oct 25, 2021 11:09 AM CDT

Weekly Briefs: Skirts-only dress code gets rehearing; ex-judge reprimanded for ‘sexual innuendo’

En banc 4th Circuit will rehear school dress-code case The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, has granted an en banc rehearing to consider a challenge to a skirts-and-dresses-only dress code for girls. A 4th Circuit panel ruled in August that the girls attending the Charter Day…

Oct 22, 2021 4:07 PM CDT

Supreme Court seems to be ‘reshaping itself in Justice Thomas’ image,’ op-ed says

We may be seeing the emergence of the “Thomas Court,” as the 6-3 conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court considers cases involving abortion, religious freedom and gun rights this term, according to a New York Times op-ed.

Oct 20, 2021 2:22 PM CDT

Top state court rules against public defender who sued ACLU for calling him ‘crooked’

A public defender is a public official who must prove actual malice in his defamation lawsuit against the American Civil Liberties Union for a blog post calling him “crooked,” the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled.

Oct 20, 2021 12:51 PM CDT

Do worker COVID-19 vaccine mandates have to offer religious exemptions? Courts differ; Breyer declines to act

Updated: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer on Tuesday refused to block a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Maine health care workers that did not include an exemption for religious exemptions.

Oct 20, 2021 11:18 AM CDT

CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom had circulated proposed suit seeking to overturn election

The president and CEO of a conservative Christian legal group played a behind-the-scenes role in a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to a report by the New York Times. The lawyer is Michael Ferris of Alliance Defending…

Oct 8, 2021 2:45 PM CDT

6th Circuit rules for student athletes denied religious exemption from vaccine mandate

Sixteen student athletes at Western Michigan University who were denied a religious exemption from a vaccine mandate will likely succeed in their lawsuit, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Oct 8, 2021 10:15 AM CDT

Supreme Court will consider Sen. Cruz’s challenge to campaign loan restrictions

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider a First Amendment challenge to a campaign finance law that restricts repayment of candidates’ personal loans to their campaigns.

Oct 4, 2021 9:41 AM CDT