First Amendment

Right to Life, Judges File New Suit Challenging Judicial Ethics Code

Two candidates for judge and the Indiana Right to Life Committee have filed a federal lawsuit to block enforcement of state rules that bar the judges from answering a survey that asks about their views on abortion, assisted suicide and other hot-button issues. The candidates, Marion Superior Court Judge David…

Apr 21, 2008 10:31 AM CDT

Courts Reluctant to Stop Divorcing Bloggers From Airing Complaints

Courts are reluctant to stop divorcing bloggers from revealing intimate details of their marriages or engaging in angry rants about their spouses in online postings. The courts are citing the First Amendment in refusing to intervene, the New York Times reports. A New York judge has refused to block a…

Apr 18, 2008 1:47 PM CDT

New York’s Second Effort to Require Fast-Food Calorie Listings Is Upheld

New York City has revised its fast-food calorie posting rules to the satisfaction of a federal judge. The new regulations upheld yesterday require calorie counts to be posted next to prices in any restaurant chain with more than 15 outlets nationwide, the New York Times reports. U.S. District Judge Richard…

Apr 17, 2008 12:26 PM CDT

Coach Can’t Kneel in Prayer With Players

The Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit ruled Tuesday against a football coach who sued after his school district barred him from kneeling in prayer with his players. In the closely watched school prayer case, the court ruled that the East Brunswick, N.J., school district didn’t violate the rights of Marcus Borden when…

Apr 16, 2008 8:57 PM CDT

Mothers in Texas Ranch Raid Case Protest Removal of Children

Updated: As all involved gear up for a huge child custody hearing Thursday over 416 children removed from a Texas ranch run by a renegade Mormon group that allegedly promotes polygamy and underage marriages, a number of mothers are protesting that their children have been removed from their custody without…

Apr 15, 2008 5:30 PM CDT

Meet Gerry Goldstein, Lawyer for Polygamy Sect in Texas Ranch Raid

Known for taking challenging constitutional cases, Gerry Goldstein apparently didn’t hesitate when he got a chance to defend a fringe Mormon group that advocates polygamy, concerning a controversial raid of their Texas ranch. The gray-haired 64-year-old San Antonio lawyer wouldn’t condone the alleged child abuse that led authorities to search…

Apr 11, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

No Right to Hijab in Courthouse Holding, Judge Rules

A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Muslim woman who asserted her right to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf while being detained in a courthouse holding facility. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ruled March 26 that unlike jail or prison, a courthouse…

Apr 8, 2008 2:28 PM CDT

J.D./Journalist Slapped With Restraining Order for Posting Pellicano Audio

Lawyer/journalist Allison Hope Weiner may have thought she was getting a scoop when she exited a Los Angeles courtroom during a break in the racketeering trial of P.I. for the stars Anthony Pellicano. Indeed, it was a hot story. But it was about her. Weiner was handed a restraining order…

Apr 3, 2008 9:06 PM CDT

In an About Face, New Jersey Provides Lawyer Records to Website

The state of New Jersey has complied with a request for records of thousands of lawyers in the state by lawyer-ranking website Avvo. Avvo had petitioned the New Jersey Supreme Court for access to names, year of admission and current bar status of the state’s lawyers after the clerk of…

Apr 2, 2008 1:38 PM CDT

Brooklyn DA Gets Moms to Protest Gang Paraphernalia Peddlers

The office of District Attorney Charles Hynes is fed up with gang violence. So it’s decided to start its own gang of sorts. Of moms. Hynes’ office is working with Mothers Against Gangs to protest retail stores that sell sports memorabilia in gang colors and styles, the New York Daily…

Apr 1, 2008 6:50 PM CDT

Minority Leader Boehner Awarded $1M in Fees in Phone-Taping Suit

Lawyers for House Minority Leader John Boehner have been awarded more than $1 million in attorney fees in his lawsuit over a leaked phone call. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan awarded the fees to Boehner’s lawyers in his successful suit for violation of his privacy rights, reports Politico’s blog The…

Apr 1, 2008 5:21 PM CDT

Defamation Suit Over Realistic Fictional Character Allowed

A woman can sue novelist Haywood Smith for defamation based on allegations a hard-drinking, promiscuous character in his book bears a striking resemblance to the plaintiff, a Georgia appeals court has ruled. Plaintiff Vickie Stewart says she is not a promiscuous alcoholic, an atheist, or a “right-wing reactionary,” unlike the…

Apr 1, 2008 3:11 PM CDT

Ex-Judge Gets 3-Month Suspension for Alcohol Issues and Criticizing Another Judge

A former Iowa judge, after a second conviction for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, is being barred from practicing law for three months partly because he criticized the judge presiding over his case. The Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling (PDF) Friday cited the convictions and two statements former Muscatine Judge James…

Mar 31, 2008 6:33 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts Another Union First Amendment Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the constitutionality of an Idaho law that bars local governments from making automatic payroll deductions to pay for political activities by labor unions, SCOTUSblog reports. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled the ban burdened political speech by…

Mar 31, 2008 5:36 PM CDT

Supreme Court to Decide Dispute Over Display of ‘Seven Aphorisms’

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a Utah city’s effort to ban a monument in a public park donated by a religious group known as Summum. The group wanted to place a monument to the “Seven Aphorisms of Summum” in a park where a donated…

Mar 31, 2008 4:57 PM CDT