First Amendment

Tax Protest Groups Can’t Solicit

A federal judge has barred two tax protest groups from circulating materials that advise citizens how to avoid paying federal income taxes. Judge Thomas McAvoy of Binghamton, N.Y., said the two groups are promoting an illegal tax shelter, the New York Law Journal reports. First Amendment protections don’t apply when…

Aug 14, 2007 11:17 AM CDT

Trying Times for Civil Liberties Lawyer

Life as a civil liberties lawyer isn’t easy for Christopher Dunn, who focuses on First Amendment issues as associate legal director for the New York Civil Liberties Union. He says the government has been trampling free speech and assembly rights through policies such as secret surveillance and mass detentions of…

Aug 10, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

Smut Review Yields No Prosecutions

An outsourced Justice Department program to review adult Web sites for obscene materials has not resulted in a single prosecution. It’s not for a lack of referrals, the New York Times reports. The review program, run for two years under an annual grant of about $150,000, has passed along 67,000…

Aug 10, 2007 2:13 PM CDT

States, Feds Ponder ‘Gender ID’ Bills

Gender identity isn’t a phrase that traditionally comes up in everyday conversation. But it’s a hot topic among lawmakers and lobbyists these days, as both Congress and a growing number of states consider legislation to make discrimination based on gender identity illegal. At this point, it isn’t completely clear what…

Aug 7, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

Footbaths Spur Constitutional Objections

Accommodations for Muslim students at public universities are raising legal questions about the separation of church and state. The University of Michigan at Dearborn is one of more than a dozen universities that have footbaths in restrooms for Muslims to wash their feet before prayers, the New York Times reports.…

Aug 7, 2007 3:18 PM CDT

En Banc Court Mulls Abortion Law

Anti-abortion groups are pursuing a strategy that focuses on the consequences for women who undergo abortion. An example is the law passed by South Dakota, Adam Liptak writes in his Sidebar column for the New York Times (sub. req.). The measure requires doctors to tell women considering abortion that the…

Aug 6, 2007 1:55 PM CDT

Teen Smoking Suit Extinguished

Joe Camel has made it through the eye of a needle. The California Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against four tobacco companies targeting ads that appeal to youths, the Recorder reports. The suit claimed the companies encouraged youths to start smoking through ads that featured icons such as Joe…

Aug 3, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Curbs on Condo Signs Upheld

Legal observers were taken aback last year when a New Jersey appellate court extended the state constitution’s free-speech requirements to a private homeowners’ association. Frank Askin, a law professor at Rutgers-Newark, told the ABA Journal eReport in February 2006 that the decision was the first of its kind at the…

Jul 27, 2007 4:43 PM CDT

NY PI Lawyers Ready New Ads

Don’t blame a New York State Bar Association task force for the advertising rules struck down by a federal judge. None of the overturned rules had been proposed by the task force, the New York Law Journal reports. Instead, they were all additions by four presiding justices of New York…

Jul 27, 2007 12:57 PM CDT

NY Panhandler Case Now a Class Action

A federal judge in New York City has certified as a class action a case brought on behalf of some 5,000 to 10,000 panhandlers allegedly arrested or forced off the streets for begging. Despite a 1992 federal court decision that the state loitering law being applied was unconstitutional–and an appeals…

Jul 25, 2007 7:57 PM CDT

N.Y. Lawyer Ad Rules Struck Down

Updated: A federal judge has ruled that many of New York’s lawyer advertising restrictions violate the First Amendment. Judge Frederick Scullin of Syracuse ruled the state had not shown the rules advanced its interest in protecting the public, the New York Law Journal reports. Scullin struck down bans on: –Nicknames…

Jul 24, 2007 3:40 PM CDT

Condit Defamation Suit Tossed

A Phoenix judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by former U.S. Rep. Gary Condit over a claim he lied to investigators about his relationship with an intern. The Sonoran News, an Arizona weekly newspaper, included the statement in a 2005 story, the Associated Press reports. The intern, Chandra Levy,…

Jul 23, 2007 4:48 PM CDT

N.J. Fee Arbitrations Remain Secret

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to adopt a rule that would let parties talk publicly about attorney fee arbitrations. The state Professional Responsibility Rules Committee had recommended that the gag be lifted, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. Under the proposal, clients who arbitrate a fee dispute with…

Jul 20, 2007 1:50 PM CDT

Valerie Plame Suit Dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed on jurisdictional grounds the privacy and constitutional claims for damages brought by former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband against senior Bush administration officials. Because they have not exhausted their administrative remedies under the Federal Tort Claims Act, there is no subject-matter jurisdiction…

Jul 19, 2007 10:39 PM CDT

Ruling Expected to Racially Polarize MS Politics

A federal court ruling that bars crossover voting in Mississippi Democratic primaries is reportedly likely to push moderate whites to register with the Republican party. U.S. District Judge Allen Pepper Jr. ruled last month that the Democratic party may disassociate itself from voters who are not party members, the New…

Jul 18, 2007 2:40 PM CDT