Last June, we wrote about a Kansas woman, Mary Anne Sause, who had police come to her house to investigate a noise complaint. During the officers’ investigation, she knelt down to pray, at which point the officers ordered her to stop praying and stand up. She sued them, arguing that the officers violated her First Amendment… Read More Kansas Woman Ordered by Police to Stop Praying Will Get Her Day in Court
Today, the Supreme Court decided a case called Janus, which involves whether public-sector unions (for employees such as teachers, police, firefighters, etc.) can require non-union employees to pay so-called “fair-share” fees to the union when the employees disagree with the political messages the union advocates. (We previewed the case here.) In a 5-4 decision, and in… Read More SUPREME COURT OPINION ALERT: Public-Sector Unions May No Longer Force Nonmembers to Pay “Fair Share” Fees
Third time’s the charm. Today, the Supreme Court upheld the third iteration of President Trump’s executive order temporarily restricting people from several majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States—the so-called “travel ban.” In a 5-4 opinion, written by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court found that the executive order did not violate the Establishment Clause of… Read More SUPREME COURT OPINION ALERT: Court Upholds “Travel Ban 3.0”
Today, the Supreme Court decided NIFLA v. Becerra, which involves whether a California law requiring so-called “pregnancy crisis centers” (pro-life medical facilities that provide a variety of services for pregnant women) to disclose abortion-related information violates the First Amendment. (We previewed the case here.) In a 5-4 decision, and in an opinion written by Justice Thomas, the Court… Read More SUPREME COURT OPINION ALERT: Court Strikes Down California’s Restrictions on Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers
A Florida man named Fane Lozman is on a roll. (Yes, his first name is Fane; like ‘fame’ but with an ‘n’ instead of an ‘m’.) In 2013, he won a lawsuit against the City of Riviera Beach at the United States Supreme Court. And today, he won his second. In the mid-2000s, Fane was… Read More Florida Man Wins Second Supreme Court Case in Five Years Against the City of Riviera Beach
Today, the Supreme Court decided Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, which involves whether Minnesota’s ban on “political” apparel at polling places on election day violates the First Amendment. (We previewed the case here.) In a 7-2 decision, and in an opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court ruled against the state of Minnesota and struck… Read More SUPREME COURT OPINION ALERT: Court Strikes Down Minnesota’s Ban on “Political” Attire at Polling Places
In February 2017, Ryan Duke was arrested and charged with the murder of Tara Grinstead, who went missing almost 12 years earlier. Tara was a south Georgia high school teacher and beauty queen, and her disappearance and Duke’s subsequent trial attracted substantial media attention. (Indeed, her murder has its own Wikipedia page.) Five days after… Read More Gag Order in Georgia Murder Trial Stuck Down
Today, the Supreme Court decided Masterpiece Cakeshop, which involves whether a cake baker can be forced to bake a cake for a same-sex couple’s wedding. (We previewed the case here.) In a 7-2 decision, in an opinion written by Justice Kennedy, the Court ruled in favor of the cake shop and found that the Colorado… Read More SUPREME COURT OPINION ALERT: High Court Rules in Favor of Cake Baker in Same-Sex Wedding Case
This case is the next in a series of cases involving whether religiously affiliated organizations must comply with federal employment-nondiscrimination laws. By way of background, a 2012 Supreme Court decision declared that the First Amendment prohibits federal employment laws from applying to “ministers.” The Court wrote: “The Establishment Clause prevents the Government from appointing ministers,… Read More New York Methodist Hospital Exempt from Employment Laws
In New York, cable TV providers must provide their customers at least one public access channel. A public access channel is one that is “designated for noncommercial use by the public on a first-come, first-served, nondiscriminatory basis.” In Manhattan, a private non-profit corporation called Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) operates one of Manhattan’s public access channels.… Read More Individual TV Producers Allowed to Sue Private Operator of Public Access Channel Over Controversial Video
Ohio, like most states, allows its state constitution to be amended via a “ballot initiative,” a proposed constitutional amendment that appears on the ballot state-wide and becomes part of the state constitution if it receives a simple majority of votes cast (other states require a supermajority). In 2016, a group of Ohio citizens wanted to… Read More Court Upholds Ohio’s “One Subject Only” Law for Voter Ballot Initiatives
El Cenizo, Texas—a town of about 3,000 people—borders the Rio Grande in south central Texas. Last year, it along with several other Texas cities (including Dallas, Houston, and Austin) sued the state of Texas over a controversial state law related to so-called “sanctuary city” policies. But before we get into the cities’ lawsuit, you have… Read More Texas May Not Prohibit Elected Officials from Endorsing “Sanctuary City” Policies
Credit-card companies charge retailers a small percentage of every transaction paid for with a credit card. Understandably, retailers can before frustrated by these charges and want to pass on the charges to consumers who choose to pay with credit cards. California—concerned that some consumers might be deceived by retailers who don’t clearly notify consumers of… Read More California’s Credit-Card Surcharge Law Held Unconstitutional
Landlords sometimes try to “buy out” their tenants—give them money in exchange for vacating the unit. (This is also sometimes called a “no-fault eviction” because the landlord is trying to remove the tenant through no fault of the tenant. And we’re guessing that landlords try to buyout tenants when it’s in the landlord’s financial interest… Read More San Francisco’s Notice Requirement for Landlords Upheld
In 2012, the Interior Department imposed a 20-year ban on new uranium mining on over a million acres of federal land in Arizona near the Grand Canyon. One of the reasons for the ban was concern over groundwater contamination. But another reason cited was to preserve “cultural and tribal resources” on the land because the… Read More First Amendment No Obstacle to Federal Uranium-Mining Ban in Arizona
Vice President Pence announced that he would attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Savannah, Georgia. Accordingly, city officials––in collaboration with the Secret Service–– released a list of 29 items that would be prohibited at the parade. Among those items were posters and signs that would presumably be used to protest against the Vice President. … Read More First Amendment Affirms Right to Protest at St. Patty’s Day Parade––Even When Vice President Pence Attends
Early last year, protesters gathered at the Denver airport to express their opposition to President Trump’s executive order temporarily restricting people from several majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States—the so-called “travel ban.” At the time (and still today), a Denver ordinance requires anyone protesting at the Denver airport to first obtain a permit. The… Read More Travel-Ban Protesters at Denver Airport Lose First Amendment Challenge
Rodney Keister is a traveling Christian evangelical. He proselytizes by preaching and passing out literature on public sidewalks. He also speaks and prays with people passing by. (He appears to have an organization named Evangelism Mission.) Two years ago, he was proselytizing on the sidewalk near an intersection on the campus of the University of… Read More Court Upholds University of Alabama’s Permitting Scheme for On-Campus Speech
Medford, Oregon, about 30 miles from the California border, was the site in May 2012 of a planned teachers’ strike that ended up lasting 9 days. During the strike, some high school students even took to the streets as a show of support for their teachers. About a week before the strike—knowing that it was coming—the school… Read More Unconstitutional for Oregon School District to Ban Picketing & Signs During Teachers’ Strike
This is another case involving prisons and mail. The Cape Girardeau County Jail in southeast Missouri has a somewhat restrictive mail policy for inmates: incoming non-legal mail may be on postcards only. Although there is no limit to the number of postcards than an inmate may receive (although only 10 at a time may be… Read More Missouri Jail’s “Postcard Only” Policy Upheld
Law-enforcement officers showed up at the house of Merritt Sharp, looking for his son, for whom the officers had an arrest warrant. They mistook Sharp for his son, arrested Sharp, and put him in the back of their squad car. Sharp was livid, “loudly swearing” and “threatening to sue them.” A few minutes later, the… Read More Unconstitutional for Police to Detain California Man for Being “Argumentative”
A food truck called “The Wandering Dago” wanted to sell some food at a public plaza in Albany, New York. However, New York’s Office of General Services denied the food truck’s application to set up shop. (A “dago” is slur, used disparagingly toward those of Italian descent, and sometimes Spanish and Portuguese.) The food truck… Read More First Amendment Protects Offensive Food Truck Logo
Laura Holmes and Paul Jost—a married couple who appear to have done political fundraising in the past—challenged a federal law’s per-election ceilings on First Amendment grounds. That law limits the amount that an individual can contribute to a candidate for a federal office (such as a presidential candidate). The per-individual limit is $2600. That same federal… Read More Court Upholds Federal Limit on Per-Election Campaign Contributions
In King County, Washington, the Republican Central Committee had a longstanding practice of appointing (rather than electing) its chairs in each legislative district. Andrew Pilloud, a former Republican candidate for state representative in Seattle, challenged the constitutionality of that practicing. He argued that state law requires the district chairs for political parties to be elected, not… Read More Unconstitutional for Washington to Require Political Parties to Elect Legislative District Chairs
You may remember the Supreme Court case from last summer in which the high court unanimously agreed that the Federal Government could not prohibit an all-Asian-American band from trademarking its band name, “The Slants.” The Court struck down as unconstitutional the law that prohibits “disparaging” trademarks. We noted earlier that the same federal law also prohibits “scandalous”… Read More Federal Government Cannot Prohibit “FUCT” Trademark
Much has been written about parents that refuse to vaccinate their children. But as far as we know, this is the first time that the First Amendment has come up. Michigan requires that children be vaccinated. But like almost every other state, Michigan provides waivers from the vaccination requirement if parents have religious objections. A… Read More Michigan Anti-Vaxxer Told that Her Catholic Faith Does Not Oppose Vaccination
In Danbury, Connecticut, about 60 miles northwest of Manhattan, Michael Pelella (31) and his little brother (22) lived at their mom’s house. When Pelella’s little brother said that he wanted to move up to the attic, Pelella objected—purportedly because Pelella had some of his stuff up in the attic. Pelella allegedly told his little brother,… Read More Connecticut Man’s Threat to Younger Brother Not Protected
Orlando Batista had sex with his girlfriend and did not tell her that he was HIV positive, which he knew that he was. Two months later, she learned from one of his family members that he had HIV. Unsurprisingly, she was not happy. That’s when the police got involved. Batista was charged with felony assault… Read More Ohio Okay to Require Disclosure of HIV-Positive Status Before Sex
Huh? Banning liquor ads in liquor stores? Yes. That’s what California does. The state law goes back several decades to when (apparently) large alcohol manufacturers tried to use their market power to control distributors and retailers. That law is still on the books, and is part of California’s three-tiered market system for alcohol: manufacture, distribution, and… Read More California Allowed to Ban Liquor Advertising in Liquor Stores
A recent case gives us the opportunity to write about one of the most infrequently asserted First Amendment rights: the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The right shows up in a surprising place: federal antitrust law. A cable company called OneLink provides cable TV to people in Puerto Rico via… Read More The First Amendment and Antitrust Law
Gregory Luce and Nicholas Newman, two members of the local Tea Party, placed banners bearing messages such as “HONK TO IMPEACH OBAMA” on a pedestrian overpass in Wisconsin. After receiving complaints, the local municipal legislature enacted an ordinance forbidding all signs, flags, and banners (other than traffic-control information) on certain overpasses, or within 100 feet… Read More Court Upholds Ordinance Banning Signs From Wisconsin Freeway Overpass
In August 2014, Sonoko Tagami was in Chicago participating in GoTopless Day—an annual celebration of women’s suffrage. The police cited her for violating a city ordinance prohibiting public nudity. The City of Chicago’s public-nudity ordinance is quite specific. It prohibits appearing in public “in such a manner that the genitals, vulva, pubis, pubic hair, buttocks, perineum, anus,… Read More Chicago May Ban Women from Exposing Breasts in Public
The San Diego Comic Con (“con” is short for “convention”) is an international convention held each summer in San Diego, California. Attendance in recent years has been around 130,000. The San Diego Comic Conn (or SDCC for short) sued Dan Farr Productions, the producers of the “Salt Lake Comic Con”—a similar convention but half the… Read More Gag Order in Comic-Con Trademark Case Violates First Amendment
This is another case involving the constitutionality of laws that criminalize “disorderly conduct,” this time in Georgia. David Freeman attended a church service and sat in the back. During the service, the pastor asked all teachers present to stand up so that the congregation could recognize and pray for them. Freeman stood up with the… Read More Constitutional for Georgia Man to Give Church Pastor the Finger
Solicitation by hand-billing. We’ve all seen it. Recently, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the right of businesses in Miami Beach to solicit business via handbilling, even after complaints that hand-billers were annoying and aggressive. Due to these complaints, the City of Miami Beach enacted an anti-solicitation ordinance and an anti-handbilling ordinance. After receiving numerous citations, several… Read More Miami Beach’s Anti-Handbilling Ordinance Faces First Amendment Challenge
So this case is an interesting story about a government failing to accomplish its goals, and a 1999 nativity scene now in the back of a pickup truck. (No, this is not a religion case.) Tippecanoe County in central Indiana is home to Lafayette, West Lafayette, and Purdue University. Back in 1999, the county got… Read More Indiana County Was Wrong to Shut Down Pro-Marijuana Group Rally on Courthouse Steps
Like most states, Maine is no stranger to abortion-related protests–both pro-life and pro-choice. Sometimes these protests can turn violent. In 1995, Maine enacted a law making it illegal to make noise that can be heard inside a building with the intent “to jeopardize the health of persons receiving health services within the building,” or with… Read More Maine Allowed to Limit Noise Outside Abortion Clinics
Mary Lee is the elected Clerk for Mathews Township–a small, rural town in South Dakota. She also owns land through which a creek runs before running underneath a nearby street via culverts. The creek flooded in 2011, requiring the town to replace the culverts. Mary and her husband wanted the culverts to be bigger–presumably to accommodate… Read More South Dakota Official Excluded from Town Board Meetings
This is yet another legislative-prayer case: analyzing whether it is a violation of the separation of church and state (the Establishment Clause) to begin a public meeting with prayer. Jackson County, Michigan–just west of Ann Arbor in southeast Michigan–opens its monthly meetings of its nine-member Board of Commissioners with prayer. The prayers are Commissioner-led and… Read More Sixth Circuit Upholds Prayer to Open County Board Meetings
Jim Barrett is a social-studies teacher at Saddle Ridge Middle School in rural northwest Georgia. He wanted to attend a school-board meeting and express views critical of the board and the superintendent–specifically about a new grading policy that Damon Raines, the superintendent, had implemented without any action by the board. The school board has a… Read More Georgia School Board’s Pre-Meeting Screening Process Held Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court of the United States begins its next term today–the first Monday in October, as it does every year. Right now, the High Court is slated to hear a few First Amendment cases, which are among the most high-profile cases of the term, and the Court could put more First Amendment cases on… Read More First Amendment Cases at the Supreme Court This Term
This is the second recent case to deal with a First Amendment challenge from the 2012 election. This one involved the Libertarian Party of Illinois. Illinois law has what’s called a “full-slate” requirement for non-major (minor) political parties that wish to field candidates on election ballots. It requires them to field candidates for all offices… Read More Illinois’s Full-Slate Requirement for Elections Held Unconstitutional
Gary Johnson and Jill Stein–the respective nominees of the Libertarian and Green parties–were excluded from the 2012 presidential debates. They sued, claiming that the Commission of Presidential Debates violated their First Amendment rights by excluding them based on their viewpoints. Last month, their case was finally decided by a federal appellate court. The D.C. Circuit… Read More Johnson’s & Stein’s Exclusion from 2012 Presidential Debates Constitutional
On the outskirts of St. Louis, the 400-person town of Twin Oaks, Missouri, dedicated a 11-acre park to the public in 1994. To “protect” the park, the town enacted a comprehensive ordinance that prohibited, among other things, obstruction of walkways, vehicles, hunting, and “all commercial activity” except with a permit. The park is quite picturesque.… Read More Missouri Town Allowed to Ban “All Commercial Activity” in the Park
Wyoming makes it a crime to cross private land (trespass) and “collect resource data” on adjacent public land–a crime that carries a more severe punishment than ordinary trespassing. The law broadly defines both “collect” and “resource data.” The former applies whenever people “take a sample of material” or “acquire, gather, photograph or otherwise preserve information in… Read More Wyoming Ban on Gathering “Resource Data” Subject to the First Amendment
You may remember when the Supreme Court in 2015 declared that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. Well that decision was not particularly well-received in Mississippi. Shortly after the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision, Mississippi enacted a law that enumerates three “sincerely held religious beliefs” entitled to legal protection. They are: (1) that marriage should… Read More Churches and LGBT Individuals Not Allowed to Challenge Pro-Religious Mississippi Law
Last week, a federal district judge temporarily blocked parts of a Texas state immigration law (known as SB4) that would have outlawed sanctuary cities and penalized local officials who did not cooperate with federal immigration-enforcement efforts. Plaintiffs–a group of cities that challenged the state law–made claims under the First, Fourth, Ninth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments.… Read More First Amendment Claim Plays Critical Role in Texas Sanctuary Cities Case
Nevada Highway Patrol Major Kevin Tice announced a policy prohibiting officers from talking about the K-9 program with anyone outside the department. Some officers complained that Tice’s policy was designed to prevent them from publicizing problems in the K9 program. So they sued Tice, alleging that the policy’s restriction on speech violated the First Amendment.… Read More Police Department’s Policy Banning Discussion of K-9 Program Unconstitutional
Slidell, Louisiana, is a city of about 30,000 people about 35 miles from downtown New Orleans. In the last two years, they received 70 complaints related to panhandling, but police were only able to identify the individuals complained of for 14 of those 70 complaints. In response, the city enacted an ordinance meant to help… Read More New Orleans Suburb Cannot Require Panhandlers to Obtain Permits
Dustin Buxton applied to the Radiation Therapy Program at a Baltimore-area community college. The 65-credit program grants an Associate of Applied Science, and graduates are poised to become radiation therapists for health-care providers, working with x-rays, MRIs, etc. Dustin got past the first stage of the application process (which was just a review of his… Read More No Right to Free Speech in Public Job Interview
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