There is a troubling case out of New York where U.S. District Judge Mae D’Agostino of Albany threw out a lawsuit alleging the denial of free speech after the government banned a food truck from a vendor program because its name was an Italian slur. The slur is “dago.” It appeared on the food truck “Wandering Dago” owned by Andrew Loguidice and Brandon Snooks. I am half Sicilian and I may share that heritage with Judge D’Agostino. However, while we may both view the slur in the same way, we may see free speech protections differently. Judge D’Agostino wrote a comprehensive and interesting opinion that carefully looked at the governing precedent over forums and free speech. Moreover, it is important to note that Judge D’agostina was applying cases that she felt compelled this result as a lower court judge. She ultimately found no protection for barring a truck based on the sensibilities of others. The case is Wandering Dago, Inc. v. Destito, 1:13-cv-1053 (MAD/DJS), UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26046.
Category: Constitutional Law
Below is my Sunday column yesterday in the Washington Post on reforming our political system. We are certainly, as the Chinese curse says, “living in interesting times.” We seem to be in the midst of an American revolution where citizens have arisen in collective disgust of the establishment and the status quo. For years, citizens have objected to a political system that is dysfunctional and detached. The two parties have largely ignored these objections and many have objected to this “doupoly” on power. For many, answer of the two parties to the American people seems to be the same as Henry Ford to customers of the Model T Ford: “you can have any color so long as it is black.” In the United States, you can have any party so long as it is red or blue; Republican or Democrat. Yet, in 2016, the public has responded with a deafening rejection of the establishment. The most obvious is Donald Trump who is the perfect personification of an angry electorate. On the democratic side, a 74-year-old Democratic Socialist has rocked the Democratic party, which overtly rigged a primary system to guarantee the selection of the ultimate establishment figure: Hillary Clinton. However, we seem to go this cathartic exercise every four years rather than seek some changes to break down the insularity of government. There is another way. Instead of just choosing some personality that matches our angry politics, we can really change the system . . . for the better. The Framers gave the public the power to solve our own problems, including the ability to circumvent Congress with a constitutional convention. We have the anger. The question is whether we have the answer.
Below is the column. There are a host of other changes that can be made to improve the system, including many that can be down without a constitutional amendment. However, there is a value in focusing on a few basics that could have a transformative effect on the respective branches of government.
Continue reading “Voters Want A Revolution. Here’s What It Would Take.”
We have recently discussed how Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia have arrested and flogged atheists under medieval Sharia legal systems. However, the most recent case is not out of the Middle East but rather Russia. Viktor Krasnov has been arrested for simply stating his belief that “there is no God” during an argument on social media. For his atheist views, Krasnov has been charged with “offending believers feelings.” He is the latest victim of the political alliance of Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Continue reading “Russia Arrests Atheist For Questioning The Existence of God On Social Media”
In a move that can only be viewed as ominous by the Clinton legal team, the Justice Department has granted immunity to former State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Pagliano had refused to cooperate after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He was an obvious target of potential criminal charges if he knew that the server was meant to circumvent federal laws, including the mishandling of classified information. Update: there is a new report that investigators are zeroing in on the possibility that passwords were exchanged to allow people to access classified sites (and explaining how classified information seem to “jump the gap” between secure and non-secure systems). That is a strictly prohibited practice.
Continue reading “Clinton Staffer Granted Immunity From Prosecution In Exchange For His Cooperation”
We have another case of a professor who was put under scrutiny for her postings on social media. Joy Karega, an assistant professor of “rhetoric and composition” at Oberlin College posted bizarre claims on Facebook blaming Jews and Israel for 9/11 as well as ISIS. The college however has decided that such postings are protected and it is correct in doing so. However, once again, there is a concern over how colleges treat such controversies depending on the views and conclusions of the academics or students.
Continue reading “Oberlin Professor Retained Despite Controversial Facebook Postings”
This week offered another insight into how little it takes to be blocked in China. Ren Zhiqiang, a highly influential businessman and commentator, offered a mild criticism of President Xi Jinping’s campaign to tighten control over state-run media. The result was the the government blocked him from Internet sites for spreading “illegal information” and having a “negative impact.” The result of being blocked by sites like Sina Corp.’s Weibo and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s QQ was the loss of access to more than 37 million followers on Weibo alone. Of course, his complaints are meritless since the chief censor of China announced recently that there is no censorship in China . . . and he should, after all, know. He is the chief censor.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has continued his assault on basic freedoms in his country with an assault this month on the decision of the Constitutional Court. The Court had the temerity to disagree with Erdoğan and rule that the imprisonment of two prominent journalists for a report on alleged illegal arms transfers to Syria was a violation of their rights. Erdoğan has announced that he will simply ignore the ruling of the court because he disagrees with it. Erdoğan has become increasingly bold in his crackdown on opponents and civil liberties — relying on his base of Islamic organizations.
Saudi Arabia is again reminding the world of the medieval demands of its religious, Sharia legal system. Recently, Saudi Arabia enacted a law making atheism a form of terrorism. It was an act that reaffirmed the Kingdom as one of the most oppressive government’s in terms of free speech and free exercise of religion. The law was particularly ironic since Saudi Arabia and its extreme Wahhabi brand of Islam has been a major contributor to Islamic extremist and terrorism around the world. However, it is atheism that the Kingdom believes is the source of terrorism. Making good on that threat, a Saudi court has sentenced an atheist to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his views on Twitter posts.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Sentences Atheist To 10 Years In Prison and 2000 Lashes For Speaking About His Values On Twitter”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously featured beleaguering Missouri Professor Melissa Click who generated controversy by obstructing a student journalist and calling in “muscle” to push him away; denying his first amendment rights. She was later videotaped in another incident yelling at police officers while blocking a protest at a homecoming parade.
After the former incident, she was charged with assault.
Now, the Missouri Board of Curators voted 4-2 to terminate Assistant Professor Click’s employment. Since late January she was on paid administrative leave
Continue reading “Embattled Missouri Communications Professor Sacked”
I have long been critical of the indictment of former Texas Governor Rick Perry. Two years ago, Perry was indicted by a grand jury in Austin on charges of abuse of power. The charges stem from Perry carrying out a threat to veto funding the budget for the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, which handles political corruption investigations. The charges have now been dismissed but I remain concerned that such charges were brought in the first place.
Continue reading “Court Tosses Out Indictment of Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry”
The Malaysian High Court has issued a ruling that confirms the virtual eradication of free speech rights in that country, one of our closest allies in Asia. The Court upheld an absurd edict from Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi banning T-shirts with the word “clean” in Malay as a national security threat. That’s right. A t-shirt calling for clean government has been declared a threat to national security and High Court Judge Muhammad Yazid Mustafa has declared that there is nothing preventing the government from barring such speech. The t-shirts were a response to reports that nearly $700 million had been deposited in the personal bank account of Prime Minister Najib Razak (left).
Federal and state courts have handed down a virtually uniform line of rulings protecting the right of citizens to film police in public. That is until the February 19th decision of U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney. Kearney was only put on the federal courts in 2014 by President Obama but has written his first major ruling in curtailing the rights of citizens under the First Amendment. Kearney used that there is no First Amendment right to film police unless they can show that they are challenging or criticizing the police conduct.
After excerpts from Ahmed Naji’s novel Istikhdam al-Hayat, or Using Life, were published in a literary newspaper, a reader brought charges against the author and said that reading sexually explicit passages caused him distress and heart palpitations. An Egyptian court has now sentenced the author to two years in jail for public indecency. Notably, Naji was first acquitted by a court in Egypt on the basis of free speech, however the prosecution appealed. He was retried and convicted.
While the Obama Administration has staked a great deal on moderates in the Iranian regime, it is hard to see much progress in the Islamic Republic. That was made clear this week with the news that forty state-run Iranian media outlets have jointly offered a new $600,000 bounty for the death of British Indian author Salman Rushdie. Ayatollah Khomeini, the First Supreme Leader of Iran, issued the fatwa against Rushdie on charges of blasphemy for his novel The Satanic Verses on 15 February, 1989. Ayatollah Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 in the hateful fatwa remains in full force not just against Rushdie but anyone associated with the book. The fatwa captures the continuing problem that Islamic countries have with basic free speech and free exercise rights.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressed his worry of the waning of free speech rights in American. The suppression of dissenting speech on college campuses and Twitter he believes are prime examples.
“I think th[is] poses a special danger to a country that cherishes First Amendment speech, freedom of expression, even freedom of association. I think it’s dangerous, frankly, that we don’t see more often people espousing the First Amendment view that we should have a robust marketplace of ideas where everybody should be willing and able to participate.
Largely what we’re seeing, especially on college campuses, is that if my view is in the majority and I don’t agree with your view, then I have the right to shout you down, disrupt your events, or otherwise suppress your ability to get your voice heard.”
The text of the First Amendment is enshrined in our Constitution, but there are certain cultural values that undergird the amendment that are critical for its protections to have actual meaning.”