Category: Free Speech

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Society

Michigan City Moves To Criminalize Swearing

250px-Downtown_Brighton_Michigan_Grand_River_Avenuenicubunu_open_mouthFor many years, I have questioned the constitutionality of criminalizing swearing (here and here and here and here). As many know on this blog, I do not like profanity and we delete such comments on this site. However, we are a private site. The issue changes dramatically when people are arrested for foul language and subject to penal sanctions. It is part of the criminalization of America where pet peeves of politicians are ramped up to criminal offenses to make a point. The latest such move is found in Brighton, Michigan (shown here on Main Street) where police will be charging people with disorderly conduct for swearing. They just will not say what will constitute criminally foul language.

Continue reading “Michigan City Moves To Criminalize Swearing” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Society

Federal Court Holds Hearing On Potential Sanctions and Special Master’s Investigation In World Bank Protest Case

200px-World_Bank_Logo.svgThis afternoon, United States District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan will hold a hearing in the Chang litigation over the mass arrests during the World Bank/IMF protests. The hearing was called to specifically explore the possible sanctions to be imposed against the District of Columbia and the status of the Special Master’s investigation and litigation. Since I am co-lead counsel with my colleague Daniel Schwartz of Bryan Cave, I have been circumspect in any public comments in the case. However, to reduce calls to my office, we have been posting the relevant information and filings for hearings in the case. The hearing will be held at 11:30am in courtroom 24A on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.

Continue reading “Federal Court Holds Hearing On Potential Sanctions and Special Master’s Investigation In World Bank Protest Case” →

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion

Saudi Arabia Sentences Blogger To 10 Years In Prison and 1000 Lashes

badawiSaudi Arabia has given the world a new example of Sharia abuse. Sharia law continues to be used to target homosexuals, religious dissidents, women, and reporters. The latest sentence was handed down against Raif Badawi, who started the “Free Saudi Liberals” website. He has now been sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes.

Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Sentences Blogger To 10 Years In Prison and 1000 Lashes” →

Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Society

Whiter Whites and Fuhrer Loads! Company Pulls Detergent In Germany After Outcry Over Use Of Neo-Nazi Number

ariel88Procter & Gamble has issued an apology after its new campaign for Ariel laundry detergent in Germany does not suggests a powerfully whitening soap as much as a white power soap. The Ariel powder boxes featured a soccer jersey with a prominent “88.” The problem is that neo-Nazis use “88” to get around laws criminalizing the use of such phrases as Heil Hitler.” “H” is the eighth letter in the alphabet. The company has apologized for “any false connotations” and changed the exterior of the product. The number 88 for the company represented the number of loads that you can wash with one package. For others, any promise to make your “whites the whitest” had a more disturbing historical meaning.

Continue reading “Whiter Whites and Fuhrer Loads! Company Pulls Detergent In Germany After Outcry Over Use Of Neo-Nazi Number” →

Academia, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Military, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

May 4th, 1970, The Day My Generation Lost Its Innocence

220px-Kent_State_massacre

Submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Weekend Contributor

I was going to write this last weekend on the actual 44th anniversary of a very sad event.  For some reason, I had a hard time focusing on what I wanted to say, in light of the many emotions that were going through my head.  I don’t want the anniversary to go by without writing about the personal significance that day in May had on my life, and I believe on the lives of many in my generation.  The Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by John Filo, included above from Wikipedia, is one that I have never forgotten.  Nor should anyone forget it. Continue reading “May 4th, 1970, The Day My Generation Lost Its Innocence” →

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Lawyering, Politics, Religion

The Murder Of Rashid Rehman

rashid-rehmanThe legal profession this week lost one of our best and bravest. Pretending to be potential clients in a matrimonial case, two people entered the law firm of Rashid Rehman Khan and shot him to death. Rashid Rehman, a coordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), had faced death threats for years after he courageously represented a university professor accused of blasphemy. Unable to kill the accused, Islamic extremists appear to have now killed the lawyer. Rehman never flinched in his commitment to the rule of law and to this country.

Continue reading “The Murder Of Rashid Rehman” →

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech

New Laws and Lawsuits Target Mugshot Sites

350px-Bertillon_selfportraitThere is a new and disturbing industry that has sprung up: publishing mugshots of people and then charging to have those pictures taken down. One individual in the article below, Jaclyn Lardie, paid hundreds of dollars to remove the mugshot from a college drinking arrest only to have the picture appear on other sites. States have moved in to try to legislate protections. While invented in its standard form in 1888 by Alphonse Bertillon (shown here), it took the Internet to make a rather shady business out of the millions of mugshots generated in criminal arrests great and small.
Continue reading “New Laws and Lawsuits Target Mugshot Sites” →

Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics

California Assembly Moves To Ban Sale Or Display Of Confederate Flag

220px-Confederate_Rebel_Flag.svgCalifornia flagThe California state assembly has passed a new law that will be prohibit the selling or displaying items with an image of the Confederate flag. We have previously discussed the disciplining of students and others over the display of this flag as protected speech. In the same way, this bill raises serious constitutional questions and could trigger a court fight.

Continue reading “California Assembly Moves To Ban Sale Or Display Of Confederate Flag” →

Free Speech, Media, Society, Torts

Sixth Circuit Hears Argument On Blog Liability For Defamatory Comments Over Ex-Bengals Cheerleader

250px-Cincinnati_Bengals.svgUS-CourtOfAppeals-6thCircuit-SealThere is an important case pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on liability over Internet speech for blogs and websites. The court heard arguments in Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment, where gossip blog, The Dirty, is appealing the decision of U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman that the site is liable of defamatory statements by third parties and cannot claim immunity under the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230. The site was sued by Sarah Jones, an ex-Bengals cheerleader and a former high school teacher in northern Kentucky, who was libeled on the site by commentators.

Continue reading “Sixth Circuit Hears Argument On Blog Liability For Defamatory Comments Over Ex-Bengals Cheerleader” →

Courts, Free Speech, International, Justice, Media, Politics

Egyptian Judge Wishes Three Reporters A Happy World Press Freedom Day Then Denies Them Bail

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Flag of EgyptThree al-Jazeera reporters were in court for a hearing in Cairo, Egypt where a judge wished them a Happy World Press Freedom Day before denying them bail and remanding them for further proceedings beginning May 15th.

The defendants, al-Jazeera English’s Cairo Bureau Chief Mohamed Fahmy, Reporter Peter Greste, and Producer Baher Mohamed have been incarcerated since December and are accused of creating false news, slandering Egypt’s reputation, and aiding terrorists. Prosecutors have been attempting to show that al-Jazeera is aiding the banned organization the Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered an enemy of the state.

Continue reading “Egyptian Judge Wishes Three Reporters A Happy World Press Freedom Day Then Denies Them Bail” →

Free Speech, International, Justice, Media

La Maison Des Journalistes: A French Refuge For Exiled Journalists

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

La Maison Des JournalistesIn honour of World Press Freedom Day, we bring to you la Maison des Journalistes (MDJ), a French non-profit organization that offers shelter and support to journalists forced to flee their home countries. The MDJ was founded in 2002, and has since housed more than 250 journalists from 54 different countries. Maison des journalists offers courageous journalists a temporary home and the help they need to rebuild their lives.

The first role of the organization is to recognize individual journalists and the sacrifices they have made in the name of press freedom and human rights. It works to ensure that they are not forgotten or left to their own devices upon arrival in a foreign country, whose language many of our residents do not speak. Men and women come to the Maison des Journalistes during a particularly difficult time in their lives and many are dealing with serious physical and psychological scars.

Continue reading “La Maison Des Journalistes: A French Refuge For Exiled Journalists” →

Free Speech, International, Media, Politics

May Third Is World Press Freedom Day

World Press Freedom Day
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

In honor of the day first proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 at the recommendation of UNESCO, and to garner attention to how press freedom fares twenty years later, Deutsche Welle has compiled a series highlighting the issues journalists and the public generally are facing.

Continue reading “May Third Is World Press Freedom Day” →

Free Speech, Society

Silver Bans Sterling . . . For Life

200px-Los_Angeles_Clippers_logo.svg100px-NBALogo.svgWe previously discussed the racist comments of Clippers owner Donald Sterling. We discussed the possible sanctions under the NBA rules, which are confidential. This afternoon NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that Clippers owner Donald Sterling will be suspended for life and fined $2.5 million. That blows away any prior sanction of the NBA.

Continue reading “Silver Bans Sterling . . . For Life” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

Communications Management Units and Prisoners Rights

USP-Marion

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty-(rafflaw)- Weekend Contributor

If you were like me, you may never have heard the term “Communications Management Units” before.  They are basically a section of a prison where certain prisoners are housed with limited or no access to communications or family visitations.  The reason very little was known about the CMU’s is that when they first were initiated at prisons in Indiana and Illinois, their existence was kept from the public.

“The units opened almost in secret in 2006 and 2008. Critics say they flouted federal law by not publishing the proposed rule and opening up a period for public comment.” Readers Supported News  If a lawsuit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights had not been filed in 2010, we may never have known much about these abusive tactics in our domestic prison system.  Maybe the harshest aspect of being sent to the CMU was the realization that you may never know why you were sent there or how you could get out of it. Continue reading “Communications Management Units and Prisoners Rights” →

Free Speech, International, Justice, Media, Politics, Society

New Law In Turkey Expands Surveillance State And Cracks Down On Journalists

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Flag of TurkeyBBC News is reporting legislation is now going into effect that would expand the authority of secret police agencies and offer further immunities to its agents while at the same time proscribing punishments of up to ten years imprisonment for journalists who publish what the government considers secret information.

Opponents to Prime Minister Recep Erdogan charge that the measures were enacted to boost his authority and power and to facilitate his will to stifle evidence of his various acts of corruption.

The new law extends the ability of secret service agents to conduct foreign operations, tap phone conversations and to access data held by private and public institutions

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, has said the law has effectively turned Turkey into an “intelligence state”.
Continue reading “New Law In Turkey Expands Surveillance State And Cracks Down On Journalists” →