The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that a law outlawing assisted suicide was an unconstitutional violation of free speech in that it made it a crime to promote assisted suicide. -db

From The New York Times, February 6, 2012, by Kim Severson.

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Stances against campaign finance limits and the online piracy act are among Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s  views on First Amendment issues detailed in a roundup for the First Amendment Center. -db

From the First Amendment Center, February 1, 2012, by Josh Tatum with research by Courtney Holliday.

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The Chicago Tribune pulled the  DonorsChoose cartoon in the Doonesbury strip on the grounds that the cartoon promoted cartoonist Garry Trudeau’s self-interest in making an appeal for a particular charity contrary to Tribune policy.

Trudeau disputed that the cartoon ws in his self interest since the appeal was for a charity that he was not connected with. -db

From a commentary in The Washington Post, February 6, 2012, by Michael Cavna.

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A federal judge ruled against a Wisconsin middle school student who sued the Sauk Prairie School District on First Amendment grounds for banning the “I (Heart) Boobies” bracelet.

The judge said the district could ban vulgar or offensive speech under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bethel v. Fraser precedent. -db

From the Student Press Law Center, February 7, 2012, by Brian Schraum.

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A number of free speech defenders have filed briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court contesting the constitutionality of the Stolen Valor Act.

The briefs were filed in support of a Pomona, California water district board member who lied about receiving the Medal of Honor and 25 years of service in the Marines. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, February 06, 2012, by Tim Hull.

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A federal judge gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit brought by three families claiming a school district violated the free speech rights of their children seeking to hand out candy cane pens stamped with religious messages. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, February 6, 2012, by Bonnie Barron.

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation is petitioning a federal judge to protect the anonymity of individuals involved in a copyright lawsuit over porn downloading.

An adult film company wants to determine the identities of 1495 Internet users. The judge ordered the individuals suing to protect their anonymity to reveal their identities before the suit could proceed. -db

From a commentary for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 30, 2012.

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The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has sued the Justice Department and the FBI claiming that they refuse to release information on the FBI’s surveillance of citizens who have shown support for or interest in WikiLeaks.

EPIC made the Freedom of Information Act complaint in federal court. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, January 31, 2012, by Iulia Filip.

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A gay police officer who alleged that St. Cloud Police Department refused to allow him his First Amendment rights to work in the Twin Cities Pride Festival even if he used his vacation time lost a bid in federal court on the First Amendment claim.

The court did say there was sufficient evidence to pursue an equal protection claim. -db

From the First Amendment Center, January 30, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr.

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Six journalists were arrested at an Occupy Oakland protest at Oakland City Hall where protesters broke in and vandalized the walls. That brings the total of journalists arrested during the protests to 52.

The reporters included those from KGO, an ABC affiliate, Mother Jones and the San Francisco Chronicle. As of now, it is not known why they were arrested. -db

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, January 30, 2012, by Rachel Bunn.

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A federal judge ruled that Republican presidential contender Ron Paul could not force YouTube and Twitter to provide the identities of whoever uploaded videos with a spoof of Ron Paul bashing former candidate Jon Huntsman for being a Chinese agent.

It is unusual for a candidate to sue in these matters given the courts’ tolerance of robust give and take in presidential campaigns, writes Jeff Roberts in paidContent. -db

From a commentary in paidContent, January 26, 2012, by Jeff Roberts.

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The Justice Department wants a federal judge to allow them to withhold photos of the death of Osama bin Laden on the grounds that releasing the photos could incite violence against the U.S.

The DOJ disputed the arguments of Judicial Watch that making the photos public would cause harm to national security by revealing intelligence methods or equipment. -db

From The Blog of Legal Times, January 26, 2012, by Mike Scarcella.

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After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional in a separate case, the 10th Circuit upheld the law which prohibits lying about military awards.

The opinion of the 10th Circuit judges cited a statement from a Supreme Court ruling that false statements do not get constitutional protection, “except to the extent necessary to protect more valuable speech.” -db

From The Denver Post, January 27, 2012, by John Ingold.

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After NBC TV station continued to air a Mitt Romney ad that the network wants pulled, they were charged with hypocrisy, but says Josh Gerstein in Politico, it’s not that the stations would sell out principles to make a buck, FCC rules say that stations have to take ads on a comparable basis from all viable candidates. -db

From a commentary in Politico, January 29 2012, by Josh Gerstein.

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The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals extended the Supreme Court ruling known as Hazelwood to public colleges and universities while ruling on a case over the expulsion of a student in a counseling program at Eastern Michigan University.

Hazelwood allows school administrators to censor student expression on the grounds of “legitimate pedagogical concerns.” -db

From the Student Press Law Center, January 27, 2012, by Nick Glunt.

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A grieving family is suing Hustler Magazine for $20 million after the magazine published nude photos of a model who was murdered by her husband.

Hustler is claiming that the model was a public figure and newsworthy. -db

From the  Daily Mail, January 26, 2012, by Daily Mail Reporter.

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A South Carolina county will have to pony up nearly $600,000 to settle a censorship lawsuit brought by a group who publishes a monthly newsletter for prison inmates.

Before the settlement, prison officials at a county detention center only allowed inmates religious texts for reading materials. -db

From the First Amendment Center, January 26, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr.

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In an incident reminiscent of  Cohen v. California, the Supreme Court police arrested a man in a corridor wearing a jacket with the words “Occupy Everything.”

For the Citizen Media Law Project, Andrew F. Sellars analyzes the case finding little basis for the arrest. “Here, in the halls of the very building that brought us Cohen, Grace, and every other major case which has safeguarded our liberties from the intrusion of government, we have absurd government intrusion, based on hypothetical harms, against a legitimate display of pure speech,” writes Sellars. -db

From a commentary for the Citizen Media Law Project, January 23, 2012, by Andrew F. Sellars.

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A federal judge ruled that San Diego could not enforce its $1000 cap on donations by political parties to local election campaigns.

The city wanted to stem the San Diego’s corrupt political scene, but the judge said she doubted that the anti-corruption interest was credible given the natural connection between parties and candidates. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, January 23, 2012, by Maria Dinzeo.

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Muhammad Ali, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, “embodies the essence of the First Amendment,” writes David L. Hudson Jr., of the First Amendment Center.

Hudson shows how Ali was at the “vortex of…First Amendment freedoms,” freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.  -db

From a commentary for the First Amendment Center, January 21, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr.

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The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are set to file an appeal concerning the U.S. government’s attempts to obtain Twitter records in their investigation of WikiLeaks.

The ACLU and EFF are seeking to prevent the government from sealing records of their efforts to obtain private information of Internet users without a warrant. -db

From a press release by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 20, 2012.

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Rejecting arguments that a 1994 law complying with an international treaty violated U.S. copyright law and free speech rights, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-2 to extend copyright protection to foreign works.

Google was among those against the law, but the government said that foreign works should receive the same treatment as domestic works under the reciprocal international copyright system. -db

From Reuters, January 18, 2012.

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The District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled that a software trade association did not have to disclose the name of an anonymous tipster.

Solers, a software company, had sued the trade association to determine the identity of the tipster who they claimed made a false accusation that the company used unlicensed software. -db

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, January 18, 2012, by Haley Behre.

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With copyright protection established in the U.S. Constitution and free speech in the Bill of Rights, it is vital to honor each in the fight over the new online piracy bills currently before Congress says Ken Paulson of the First Amendment Center.

It will be a difficult task to craft a law that intercepts pirated content headed for the U.S. while protecting the free flow of ideas. -db

From the First Amendment Center, January 13, 2012, by Ken Paulson.

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The 8th U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found that police had not violated protestors ‘ First And Fourth Amendments rights when they arrested 400 people at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The court cited widespread violence and vandalism in saying police were justified in conducting mass arrests to restore order. -db

From City Pages, January 13, 2012, by Aaron Rupar.

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Prosecutors in the case of a former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling accused of leaking classified information are attempting to reverse a lower court finding that a New York Times reporter James Risen was exempt from disclosing his sources for a story on a CIA program to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.

The government prosecutors claim that there is no right for reporters to withhold identities of sources in criminal cases. -db

From a commentary in Secrecy News, January 17, 2012, by Steven Aftergood.

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A reporter has sued President Barack Obama saying that under the Homeland Battlefield Bill reporters simply doing their job could be thrown in jail without due process.

Signed into law last December 31, the bill authorizes the military to indefinitely detain without charge or trial anyone accused of supporting terrorists anywhere in the world. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, January 17, 2012, by Adam Klaasfeld.

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Despite split rulings in two federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear arguments on whether school officials can regulate the off-campus speech of students on the Internet.

Two of the three cases under consideration concerned parodies directed at principals while the third involved cruel words directed at another student. -db

From the Student Press Law Center, January 17, 2012, by Brian Schraum.

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Spurning arguments that their lawsuit attacked free speech rights, a San Francisco Superior Court judge ruled that CalPERS could continue their legal battle against credit-rating firms, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.

The public pension system accused the firms of negligence in making careless investment ratings. -db

From the San Francisco Chronicle,  January 14, 2012, by Bob Egelko.

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Just as the Tucson Unified School District board voted the end the Mexican-American studies program, a federal judge ruled that students could sue to reinstate the program.

The judge said teachers had no standing to contest the ruling to end the program and that teachers “have failed to demonstrate that they have a protected First Amendment right to speak within the classroom.”  -db

From the Courthouse News Service, January 11, 2012, by Tim Hull.

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A group of citizens has been able to forestall a move by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to restrict the public in addressing the board.

A proposal before the board would limit speakers to three minutes for  various items on the agenda and two minutes for items not on the agenda. The board has also been asked to strengthen rules allowing them to throw disruptive speakers out of the meeting. -db

From the Los Angeles Daily News, January 10, 2012, by Christina Villacorte.

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A couple of legal heavyweights are joining the appeal of a $2.5 million judgment against an Oregon blogger accused of defaming the Obsidian Finance Group.

An Oregon federal judge had ruled that the blogger was not a member of the media and not protected by Oregon’s shield law. -db

From a commentary for the Citizens Media Law Project, January 9, 2012, by Arthur Bright

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The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed an applicant for a college teaching job to sue a law school dean for allegedly discriminating against her for her political beliefs.

The applicant said the then dean of the University of Iowa College of Law rejected her application for legal-writing positions based on her socially conservative beliefs. -db

From a commentary for the First Amendment Center, January 10, 2012, by Douglas E. Lee.

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There is some hope that when the U.S. Supreme Court this week  will decide that broadcasters should not be shackled with Federal Communications Commission fines for on-air indecency.

The case on the docket concerns swear words used by Cher and Nicole Richie on an awards show broadcast on Fox television and a scene of a naked actress on NYPD Blue broadcast by Disney’s ABC. -db

From Bloomberg News, January 6, 2012, by Greg Stohr.

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A study for the Brennan Center for Justice found that notwithstanding its reputation, the Roberts Supreme Court is ruling for free speech at a lower rate than the courts led by three previous chief justices.

In responding to the study, some point out that numbers don’t tell the entire story that the court had made some crucial decisions in such cases as the Kansas funeral protesters, violent video games and the animal torture videos. -db

From The New York Times, January 7, 2012, by Adam Liptak.

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The U.S. government has stepped up efforts to pressure Twitter to censor posts by a militant Somali group and the Taliban according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The Israeli government and U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman are also pressuring Twitter. -db

From a commentary for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, January 6, 2012, byy Jillian C. York and Trevor Timm.

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An anti-abortion group is asking for a injunction in federal court to prevent the state from blocking an anti-abortion display in a corridor linking the Capitol Building to a parking garage.

The group, WyWatch Family Action, said other groups had put up displays, and they were only asking for equal treatment. -db

From the Casper Star-Tribune, January 5, 2012, by Joan Barron.

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The U.S. Supreme Court declined last week to hear a case on commercial speech brought by interior decorators who claim that Florida is denying their free speech rights by requiring years of school, apprenticeship and an exam before a person can take clients in interior design.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that Florida’s law is an unfair burden and unconstitutional in restricting speech. -db

From a commentary in The National Law Journal, January 4, 2012, by Clark Neily and Paul Sherman.

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Another federal court approved restrictions on prison pen-pals by ruling that the Missouri Department of Corrections could prevent inmates from soliciting pen pals online.

The court said the policy protected security and rehabilitation and still allowed inmates other avenues to exercise their  First Amendment rights.

From the First Amendment Center, January 8, 2012, by David L. Hudson Jr.

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How does the First Amendment protect reporters on the OWS protest frontlines?  Attorney and University of Missouri Journalism Fellow Jonathan Peters spells it out in The Nation:

FAQ: What Are the Rights of Reporters Covering Protests? | The Nation.