Articles Tagged with first amendment

On Thursday the Supreme Court issued a decision striking down a Minnesota law that prohibited political apparel in polling places. In a 7-2 decision, authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the court held that Minnesota’s political apparel ban violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.  Justice Sotomayor joined by Justice Breyer, filed a dissenting opinion.

Today, in a 7-2 opinion authored by Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a baker who refused to create a cake for a gay couple. The Court held that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s actions violated the baker’s right to free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.

A federal district court judge has ruled the President cannot block users from his Twitter account based on their political views. The account is a public forum and as such the President's first amendment rights do not out weigh those of his Twitter followers. Read the full opinion and view the case filings at Justia.

Along with other news organizations, the Los Angeles Times has filed a lawsuit challenging California's new execution rules. The complaint alleges violations of the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights to witness and report on executions on behalf of the public. At issue are provisions permitting lethal injection drugs to be concocted outside the view of media observers, and requiring the curtains in the lethal injection chamber to be drawn and media witnesses removed if an execution does not proceed as planned. 

Last August, an alt-right rally called "Unite the Right" took place in Charlottesville, Virginia that resulted in the death of a woman after a man drove his car into a crowd of counterprotestors. In Sines v. Kessler, Charlottesville residents filed a lawsuit against the co-planners of the rally claiming they conspired to deprive the plaintiffs of their civil rights by encouraging such violence.

In July of last year, the Knight First Amendment Institute of Columbia University filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump, among others, claiming that the President's Twitter account constitutes a public forum subject to the First Amendment. The lawsuit alleges that by blocking certain users who are critical of him, President Trump is effectively denying those users access to a public forum in violation of the First Amendment.

California Federal District Court Judge Vince Chhabria has overturned California Assembly Bill 1687 (the "Bill"), a law written to combat age discrimination by allowing actors to hide publication of their ages. Read the court docket and decision via Justia.