First Amendment
First Amendment & Defamation Claims Against NewsGuard Dismissed With Prejudice
Amir C. TayraniThe decision reaffirms multiple important principles of First Amendment and defamation law, including the fundamental distinction between private conduct (which is protected by the First Amendment) and state action (which is constrained by the First Amendment), the non-actionable status of expressions of opinion, and the high bar that public figures such as Consortium News must…
Trump’s Assault on the Media and Law Firms, and How We Should React
George FreemanWhy Trump's attacks on the media and on law firms are both unconstitutional and unfounded, and what all lawyers — and especially media lawyers — can do about them. And a fond remembrance of former New York Times executive editor Max Frankel.
Arkansas Age-Gating Law Is Permanently Enjoined
Jeff HermesThe decision was a complete win for NetChoice, declaring that the law was a content- and speaker-based restriction that failed strict scrutiny and was moreover unconstitutionally vague.
Novel First Amendment Case Alleges PETA’s Right to Receive Communications from Monkeys in Federal Lab
Ashley RidgwayGovernment-funded laboratories confine and experiment on millions of animals each year, including highly intelligent primates. A federal court could soon decide whether Americans have the right to receive their communications, in response to an animal advocacy group’s groundbreaking lawsuit.
Truth, Information Quality, and the Increasingly Complex Work of the MLRC
Jeff HermesThe value of truth is not always as useful a signpost as it once was when thinking about the First Amendment.
TikTok Falls Under the Long Shadow of Holder
Jeff HermesThis case presents what I have started to think about as a First Amendment checksum error: If you interpret the First Amendment as not only permitting but actually justifying greater government control over the content of speech, then you know there is an error in your analysis even if you can’t pinpoint it.
Federal Court Enjoins California Ban on Deepfake Election Parodies
Matt KristoffersenPlaintiff Christopher Kohls, who has produced ostensibly humorous, computer-manipulated videos like Kamala Harris making statements that she is “the ultimate diversity hire,” argued that the law is an overbroad, content-based restriction on speech — and that it inappropriately limits false statements about the government. Judge Mendez agreed.
Threats to the Media in the Second Trump Term
George FreemanWhile we can also draw on his first term as a guide, the sad truth is that this second administration is likely to be far worse and far more hostile to the press and to First Amendment values: He’s learned from his first four years; he will only have yes-men surrounding him, no experts and…
Court SLAPPs County’s Suit to Restrain Publication of Text Messages
Linda Riedemann NorbutIn a significant victory for press freedom and a reaffirmation of First Amendment protections, a Florida court recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by Escambia County seeking to compel the return of text messages from County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh’s personal phone.
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Claimed Censorship Case Against Facebook and Fact-Checking Organizations Brought by RFK, Jr. Group
Daniela Abratt-CohenThe Court held the district court properly dismissed a case filed by Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that advocates against vaccines, finding that it failed to a state a claim that fact-checks, and other restrictions, regarding its ability to post and fundraise on Facebook violated the First Amendment…