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NEWS ABOUT: free speech

Animal Cruelty Case Hits Supreme Court

Landmark case to decide 1st Amendment as it applies to cruelty

(Newser) - Animal cruelty takes the floor of the Supreme Court tomorrow, as the justices consider whether to overturn an appeals court judgment that allows the depiction of animal cruelty under the auspices of the First Amendment. The lower court wasn’t keen on animal cruelty, but found that our furry friends—... More »

Garrido: Cops Trampling Dugard's Civil Rights

Kidnap victim denied free speech, access to attorney, suspect writes to local TV reporter

(Newser) - Phillip Garrido says the woman he’s accused of abducting as a child and holding captive for 18 years is being denied civil rights as part of the ongoing investigation, he writes in a letter to Sacramento’s KRCA-TV. Jaycee Dugard’s “free speach [sic] rights are being violated,... More »

Cuban Activists Rally Around Drunken YouTube Ranter

Man thrown in prison for video plea for food

(Newser) - Cuban activists have found an unlikely cause celebré in the case of Juan Carlos González Marcos, who was sent to prison last month for drunkenly interrupting a shoot for a video about reggaeton with a rant about hunger. González was drinking, as he often did, at his neighborhood... More »

Sotomayor's First Case Could Transform US Politics

New justice in at the deep end with landmark campaign finance case

(Newser) - There aren't any easy cases at the Supreme Court level but the one newbie Sonia Sotomayor and her eight colleagues will tackle  tomorrow is as momentous—and as tricky—as they come, McClatchy reports. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission will require the court to decide whether the long-standing ban... More »

Comic's Mother-in-Law Sues Over Jokes

Sunda Croonquist's mother-in-law seeks damages for Jew jokes

(Newser) - The situation faced by comedian Sunda Croonquist sounds like it’s from one of her routines: mother-in-law sues comedian after being the butt of one too many jokes. But Croonquist’s mother-in-law is serious—she says her daughter-in-law makes her sound like a racist. She’s seeking unspecified damages and... More »

High Court May Lift Restrictions on Corporate Cash in Politics

Firms could be allowed to spend freely on ads

(Newser) - September 9 could mark a watershed in campaign finance, as the Supreme Court hears a special argument for overturning long-standing rules that restrict corporations from buying political advertisements, the Los Angeles Times reports. The court has used the case of Hillary: The Movie, a documentary that a lower courts decided... More »

Flickr Cowardly for Taking Down Obama Joker

Website caved too easily: image isn't a copyright violation

(Newser) - Flickr is catching fire for its decision to take down the now-infamous image of Barack Obama photoshopped to look like the joker. Flickr says it received a takedown notice under the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act for the Time cover mockup, but that excuse doesn’t fly for Michael Arrington... More »

Blogger's Case Tests Limits of Free Speech

Far-right critic remains in jail after calling for judges' deaths

(Newser) - When three federal judges rejected an NRA lawsuit, Internet radio host Hal Turner got angry. “These judges deserve to be killed,” he wrote on his blog. “Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty.” Then he posted photos of the judges, maps to their courthouse, and... More »

Sex Party Enters Aussie Political Fray

Sex Party gains official recognition

(Newser) - Australia’s “Sex Party” has been certified as a political party after receiving approval from the Electoral Commission, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The commission’s approval is a victory for free speech and “democratic rights,” says the Sex Party’s convenor. The party hopes to “... More »

US Army Evangelism: Is It a 'Crusade'?

(Newser) - US Army chaplains have distributed Arabic-language Bibles in Iraq, told soldiers to "hunt people for Jesus," and speculated that President Obama is a secret Muslim. Enough already, says a religious rights watchdog: Led by Air Force veteran Mikey Weinstein, the group is suing the Pentagon over alleged religious-based... More »

Town's Dress Code Mandates Deodorant, Underwear

(Newser) - A Florida town is requiring its employees to wear underwear and deodorant under a new dress code passed this month, the Tampa Tribune reports. Aimed at promoting “strict personal hygiene,” the rules ban “sexually provocative” apparel and forbid “the observable lack of undergarments and exposed undergarments.... More »

Nev. Newspaper Defends Commenters' Anonymity

Review-Journal , ACLU fight subpoena for commenters' identities

(Newser) - A tax-evasion trial has sparked a free-speech controversy at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The paper has declined to honor a federal subpoena demanding the identities of everyone who commented on an article on the trial. Businessman Robert Kahre faces tax-fraud charges for hiding the real value of sales of gold... More »

Falwell's Liberty U. Quashes Campus Dems

(Newser) - Jerry Falwell’s conservative Christian Liberty University has suspended the student Democratic Club for supporting candidates “directly contrary to the mission” of the school, the Lynchburg News Advance reports. Virginia Democrats are up in arms. “I urge the leadership of Liberty University to reverse this attack on the... More »

Toxic Teen Website Infuriates Parents, Cops

On anonymous message board, free speech becomes personal attacks

(Newser) - The creator of the online message board Peoplesdirt.com says he's just providing an "avenue for people to express their feelings," but parents and teachers disagree. The website allows teenagers to anonymously post slurs and false rumors about fellow students. Although it's legal, it's also hateful and humiliating,... More »

Press Freedom Declines Worldwide

New report sees losses in all regions for first time ever

(Newser) - Press freedom declined worldwide last year for the seventh year in a row, and for the first time suffered losses in all regions, according to a new report by Freedom House. Slipping from “free” to “partially free” were Israel, Italy and Hong Kong, while Cambodia fell to “... More »

1st Amendment v. Dogfight Video: High Court to Decide

Conviction rests on First Amendment status of animal abuse tapes

(Newser) - The Supreme Court agreed today to hear that pits the First Amendment against the production and sale of dogfighting videos, the Chicago Tribune reports. The case involves a man jailed for selling several brutally explicit videos of pit bulls fighting. A federal appeals court overturned his conviction on grounds that... More »

Controversial Muhammad Cartoon Goes on Sale

Some copies are signed by artists in hiding

(Newser) - Three years after political cartoons of the prophet Muhammad sparked violent riots in Muslim countries, the Denmark Free Press Society is selling prints of the controversial art. Some of the 1,000 copies, priced at $250 each, are signed by the artist, who remains in hiding due to death threats,... More »

Despite Cartoon Flap, Danish PM to Head NATO

Turkey shoots down Danish candidate

(Newser) - NATO named Anders Fogh Rasmussen as its new secretary-general today, overcoming a contentious stalemate with Turkey, the AP reports. Turkey had strongly opposed the Danish prime minister because he’d supported the newspapers that printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. Turkey argued that Rasmussen’s selection wouldn’t... More »

School Fired Prof Over 9/11 Essay: Jury

He wins case after calling victims 'little Eichmanns'

(Newser) - A jury decided today that the University of Colorado unjustly fired one of its professors after he called 9/11 victims "little Eichmanns" in an essay, the Denver Post reports. Jurors, however, awarded Ward Churchill only $1 in damages. A judge will now determine whether the school must reinstate Churchill... More »

ACLU: Lobbyist Rules Restrict Free Speech

(Newser) - The ACLU and other watchdog groups on both the left and right think President Obama is carrying his crusade against lobbyists too far, Politico reports. Obama's recent directive forbidding government officials from discussing how to spend the stimulus with lobbyists infringes on free speech, they say. The groups plan to... More »

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