1st Amendment | Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Part 8
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Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 14, 2018 42 Comments
UPDATE: The Judge has postponed the decision from 3 p.m. Thursday to 10 a.m. Friday. A federal District Court Judge in D.C., Timothy Kelly, heard two hours of argument today on the motion for a temporary restraining order requested by CNN and Jim Acosta regarding his White House "hard pass". The hard pass was revoked after an incident on November 7, 2018, when Acosta refused to yield the microphone when Trump wanted to move on to other reporters. Acosta physically blocked a White House intern from retrieving the microphone.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 14, 2018 51 Comments
On November 13, 2008, CNN and Jim Acosta filed in federal court in D.C. for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction seeking a court order overruling the White House decision to revoke Acosta's "hard pass" -- the press pass that provides Acosta with "regular and unescorted access to the White House and White House briefings.”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 29, 2018 45 Comments
Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, sued Donald Trump for defamation over Trump's assertion that Daniels' lied about supposed threats against her. She is represented in the case by Democrat presidential hopeful Michael Avenatti. Those alleged threats were covered by us on April 17, 2018, Internet Works Feverishly to Identify Sketch of Stormy Daniel’s Alleged Threatener After Her Attorney Posts Reward Offer:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 05, 2018 33 Comments
Among New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's leading political enemies is the National Rifle Association. Long before the Parkland Shooting and the national movement to pressure companies to sever ties to the NRA, the NRA was battling Cuomo's absurd gun control legislation, the so-called SAFE Act. That legislation had to be partially rewritten because, among other things, it would have exposed police to criminal liability and effectively banned most pistols because of the limitation of magazines to 7 bullets.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on July 01, 2018 79 Comments
In Janus vs. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees), the Supreme Court (in a 5-4 decision) ruled that government unions cannot require non-members to pay union dues. Earlier this week, Obama-appointed Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her minority dissent to the Janus ruling that the Court had "weaponized the First Amendment."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 14, 2018 10 Comments
The Supreme Court, in the case of Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, ruled that a Minnesota law that banned “political badge, political button, or other political insignia" at polling places on Election Day was unconstitutional. The case was brought by voters who, among other things, wanted to wear a Tea Party Patriots tee shirt (see featured image, via MVA Facebook):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 08, 2018 15 Comments
If you have not heard of Bias Response Teams, then you haven't been around campus in the last decade. These teams, often referred to at BRTs, are the equivalent of SWAT teams standing by to enforce campus speech and conduct codes. All of the problems we have documented with campus sexual assault kangaroo courts apply equally to BRTs - the teams enforce often vague standards highly dependent on how a complainant feels, there is an opaque process with little due process, and the results often track accepted campus political correctness rather than a search for the truth. Yet the punishments can cause lasting damage.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 15, 2017 10 Comments
I have to admit, I fell asleep at the baker's wheel. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was argued to the Supreme Court earlier this month and I, didn't cover it. Not out of lack of interest, but more feeling like we're chasing a swarm of daily dust ups created by (1) Trump Derangement Syndrome in all its many and varied forms, (2) Trump on Twitter, (3) media reacting to Trump on Twitter, (4) Alabama, (5) War on Women and #MeTwo, (6) Men at Work, (7) the End of the World. Plus, it was end of the semester, and things were busy. Excuses, I've had a few.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 28, 2017 48 Comments
I'm still trying to get my mind around the Vassar College campus reaction to my planned lecture on "hate speech" and free speech, which I wrote about in Safe Spaces and Safety Teams at Vassar College for My Lecture on Free Speech. Hundreds of students, faculty and staff were whipped into a frenzy by factually false accusations against me and regarding my appearance. There were many false accusations. In this post, I'll address just one aspect, that I supposedly posed a threat to campus safety.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 26, 2017 60 Comments
On October 25, 2017, I gave a speech at Vassar College on "An Examination of Hate Speech and Free Speech on College Campuses." The main sponsor was the Vassar Conservative Libertarian Union, which also sponsored my 2014 speech at Vassar. Other sponsors were Students for Liberty and the Leadership Institute. The lecture originally was advertised as "'Hate Speech' is Still Free Speech, Even After Charlottesville." The name was changed because the sponsoring student group filed for funding under another title, so we were asked to use that approved title. Regardless of title, the planned discussion of hate speech sent a portion of the campus into a vicious smear campaign against me.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 08, 2017 6 Comments
Reem's bakery in Oakland, CA, has been a center of controversy because of the full-wall mural of Rasmea Odeh. Rasmea is the former military member of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who was convicted in Israel in 1970 of the 1969 supermarket bombing that killed two Hebrew University students, Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner. She also was convicted of the attempted bombing of the British Consulate. Rasmea and her supporters have concocted a phony claim that Rasmea only was convicted because of a false confession extracted after 25 days of sexual torture. That claim is demonstrably false, yet the claim is repeated non-stop to this day, as I discuss in The Lies of Rasmea Odeh and Her Supporters Exposed.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 23, 2017 34 Comments
As detailed extensively in prior posts, Sarah Palin sued the NY Times for defamation based on an Editorial regarding the 2011 shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. James Bennet, Editorial Page Editor, was the primary author of the Editorial, working off a draft prepared by a news staffer. I discussed the suit and the motion to dismiss filed by The Times in a prior post, NY Times defense: Palin Crosshairs Editorial Wasn’t Actually About Sarah Palin. Please read the prior post for background and links to pleadings and motion to dismiss papers.