Archive for category: First Amendment

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  CR-CL Podcast – Episode 11 – Identity-Affirming School Speech and the Crack-Cocaine Sentencing Disparity

  Courts, Criminal Justice, Education, First Amendment, LGBTQ Rights, Podcast, Poverty and Economic Justice April 21, 2012 3:20 pm no comments

  Noah interviews Professor Ari Ezra Waldman about students’ right to speak affirmingly about sexual orientation, same-sex marriage, and gay identity in schools. Noah and Matt discuss the retroactivity of the Fair Sentencing Act, passed to address the disparity between federal sentences for crack and powder cocaine possession, how that disparity came about, and whether even the lessened disparity is justified.

   

• Can Congress Prohibit Lying About Military Decorations?

  By Matt Giffin, First Amendment March 19, 2012 8:23 pm no comments

  In light of the great deference traditionally shown by the Court – and evinced by several Justices in this case – towards the government in military matters, it may well be that the Court overlooks the troubling free-speech consequences of the Act’s overbreadth. In an area of its jurisprudence where it has shown willingness in recent years to give the First Amendment significant teeth, however, the Court would do well to subject the Stolen Valor Act to the full scrutiny it deserves under established doctrine despite the Act’s largely uncontroversial motives.

   

• CR-CL Podcast – Episode 6 – Experts Discuss Preventing Intellectual Property Theft

  Consumers and Corporations, First Amendment, Podcast, Privacy and National Security March 18, 2012 12:00 pm no comments

  Daniel Mandil, Associate General Counsel for Viacom, and Fred von Lohmann, Senior Copyright Counsel for Google, provide two perspectives on how to best balance internet freedom and protection of intellectual property. Mr. Mandil, now at Viacom, was formerly an attorney for the Motion Picture Association of America, and Mr. von Lohmann worked previously at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Their different perspectives provide a sensible discussion on how to move forward and ensure that both intellectual property and intellectual freedom are protected in the digital age.

   

• CR-CL Podcast – Episode 5 – The Occupy Movement

  Consumers and Corporations, First Amendment, Labor and Employment, Podcast, Poverty and Economic Justice March 12, 2012 2:31 pm 2 comments

  CR-CL’s Executive Editors for Online Content Noah Kaplan and Matt Giffin are joined by Ariel Oshinky and Stephen Squibb, members of the Occupy Boston Communications Committee. Ariel and Stephen discuss the motivating ideology of the Occupy Movement, the relationship between Occupy Boston, the city, the police, and the courts, and the future of Occupy as a movement. Will Occupy suffer the fate of the Tea Party and be coopted by mainstream politics? What has Occupy already accomplished? What can it accomplish in the upcoming election; in a year; in five years?

   

• The End Draws Near in New York School Worship Controversy

  By Mike Sacchet, First Amendment March 7, 2012 9:32 pm no comments

  Finally, after this decade long back-and-forth between Judge Preska and the Second Circuit, the Second Circuit has blinked. Despite Judge Preska’s flagrant disregard of the Second Circuit’s limitation of the injunction to The Bronx House of Worship, on February 29, 2012, the Second Circuit seemed to side with Judge Preska in refusing to grant the schools’ request to stay Judge Preska’s blanket injunction. The Second Circuit, however, did ask Judge Preska to resolve the case by mid-June, once and for all, so that the dispute is over by start of the new school year in the Fall of 2010. The New York school worship controversy will thus soon be over for not only Judge Preska and the Second Circuit, but also the multitude of religious groups seeking to use New York’s public school buildings for weekend worship.

   

• Making Sense of the Establishment Clause Test for Public Displays of Religion

  First Amendment March 1, 2012 11:28 pm 2 comments

  Each year, over 50,000 skiers and snowboarders visit the ski slopes at Big Mountain in northwest Montana, just 66 miles from the Canadian border.  This year, the mountain has set the stage for a battle between atheists and religious groups over the fate of a six-foot statue of Jesus that [...]

   

• Tradeoffs in the Right to be Forgotten

  By Andrew Mamo, Consumers and Corporations, First Amendment, Issue Areas, Privacy and National Security February 26, 2012 4:41 pm 2 comments

  The right to be forgotten creates a clear tension between two values that many of us concerned with civil liberties share: the protection of free speech and the protection of privacy rights on the Internet.

   

• Hosanna-Tabor Helps Resolve Hutterite Colony Dispute

  By Mike Sacchet, First Amendment January 30, 2012 1:19 pm no comments

  Contrary to its hopes, then, the Hutterville Colony found no secular enlightenment in the South Dakota Supreme Court in the wake of Hosanna-Tabor. Instead, the religious community must rely on its own internal dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve its decade-long controversy as to who shall reign supreme at Hutterville.

   

• Establishment Clause Backlash: Disgruntled Florists Unite Against Student Challenger

  Amicus, By Mike Sacchet, First Amendment January 23, 2012 11:30 pm 7 comments

  While it remains unclear whether additional litigation will ensue as a result of the florists’ discrimination against Ahlquist, one thing remains certain: student-plaintiffs often face backlash from a myriad of sources within their local communities in response to their Establishment Clause challenges. Thankfully, though, students such as Jessica Ahlquist are courageous enough to stand up for their First Amendment rights in the face of such community hostility.

   

• Employment Discrimation and Who is a "Minister"?

  By Minal Caron, Courts, Education, First Amendment, Labor and Employment January 15, 2012 9:21 pm 1 comment

  In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held on Wednesday that a “ministerial exception” barred a parochial school teacher from pursuing an employment discrimination claim against the church that runs the school. This opinion dramatically limits the scope of protection provided to religious employees under the “primary duties” test, the standard previously used by several federal circuits. Although lower courts can continue to carve out areas in which exceptional circumstances may compel the conclusion that the ministerial exception need not apply, “ministers” now receive no protection under civil rights or other discrimination statutes.