First Amendment

It's Time for a War on the War on the "War on Christmas"

Mitchell Bard | Posted 11.21.2008 | Politics

Read More: Robin Hayes, Communion, First Amendment, Happy Holidays, Ted Haggard, Establishment Clause, Merry Christmas, Slavery, Daniel Henninger, War on Christmas, Japanese Internment, Bill O'Reilly War on Christmas, Bill O'Reilly, Wall Street Journal, Gay Marriage, Politics News
Mitchell Bard

I would like to see a country where we don't seek to make non-Christian citizens feel like they are not part of the national fabric by pointing out to them, again and again, that they are different than a majority.

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Anonymity Of "Obama Is A Muslim" Emails Constitutionally-Protected?

Chris Weigant | Posted 11.12.2008 | Politics

Read More: Supreme Court, Jaynes v Virginia, Mudslinging, First Amendment, Free Speech, Email, Spam, Constitutionally Protected, Obama, Anonymously, Jeremy Jaynes, Federalist Papers, Obama Is a Muslim, Barack Obama, Precedent, Virginia, Constitution, Anonymity, Chris Weigant, Constitutionality, Anonymous, Barack, Political Free Speech, Constitutional Question, Technology, Jaynes Virginia, Publius, Jaynes, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Emails saying absolutely anything about a candidate could not only be sent anonymously, but whoever sends them would actually be allowed to break any sort of anti-spam laws to do so.

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Is America Still a Beacon for Press Freedom?

Craig Aaron | Posted 10.27.2008 | Media

Read More: Reporters Without Borders, Press Freedom, First Amendment, Free Press, Media Ownership, Net Neutrality, Media News
Craig Aaron

While there are currently no jailed journalists in America, Reporters Without Borders said there are many concerns about the U.S. media.

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Schwarzenegger Signs California Journalism Teacher Protection Act

Esther Wojcicki | Posted 10.12.2008 | Media

Read More: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California Senate Bill 1370, Meet the Press, First Amendment, Press Freedom, Teachers, Journalism, Media News
Esther Wojcicki

More states need to pass laws like California's protecting student rights to free speech and making the workplace safer for teachers.

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Supreme Court To Decide How Much and How Often Government Can Violate Your Civil Rights

Cristóbal Joshua Alex | Posted 10.08.2008 | Politics

Read More: Supreme Court, 2008 DNC Convention, Bullet, First Amendment, Qualified Immunity, Protest, RNC Convention, Convention, Police Brutality, First Amendment Rights, Shopping Mall, Civil Rights, Republicans, U.S. Supreme Court, Politics News
Cristóbal Joshua Alex

The Supreme Court next week will hear a case that may allows police officers to do essentially anything unless courts have expressly told them that they couldn't.

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Pastor Endorsements Sought By Conservative Group Lobbying IRS

Washington Post | Peter Slevin | Posted 09.08.2008 | Politics

Read More: First Amendment, Irs, Alliance Defense Fund, Separation of Church and State, Politics News

CHICAGO -- Declaring that clergy have a constitutional right to endorse political candidates from their pulpits, the socially conservative Alliance De...

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Journalist Amy Goodman Arrested/Released In MN (Update With Press Conference)

Linda Milazzo | Posted 09.02.2008 | Politics

Read More: Democracy Now!, First Amendment, Mayor Chris Coleman, Obstruction, Amy Goodman, Journalist, Amy Klobuchar, Republican Convention, Minnesota, Fourth Amendment, Pacifica Network, St. Paul, Constitution, Rnc, Norm Coleman, Tim Pawlenty, Republican National Convention, Arrest, Politics News
Linda Milazzo

Amy Goodman of Pacifica Network's Democracy Now! was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota, while trying to free two of her producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddo...

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Anti-War Protesters Have Every Reason to Yell "Fuck FOX News!"

ZP Heller | Posted 08.25.2008 | Media

Read More: Iraq War, Fox News, First Amendment, Corporate Media, Iran War, Griff Jenkins, Free Speech, Democratic Convention Protest, Media News
ZP Heller

FOX is guilty of war- and fearmongering, spreading the administration's lies at every turn, and smearing those who try to set the record straight. I'd say these anti-war protesters get the message just right.

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Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone

Joan Brooker-Marks | Posted 08.04.2008 | Entertainment

Read More: Ifc, First Amendment, Documentaries, Movies, Larry Flynt, Entertainment News
Joan Brooker-Marks

I interviewed Larry Flynt fifteen times over the course of 9 months, in two hours sessions. What I got from him was a little biography, a bit of outrageousness, and lots of politics.

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Time to Honor Our Fallen Heroes

Sen. Frank Lautenberg | Posted 08.01.2008 | Home

Read More: Lautenberg, Iraq, Iraq War, War in Iraq, Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, Veterans, Iraq Veterans, Military, U.S. Military, Arlington Cemetary, Dover Air Force Base, Pentagon, Pentagon Propaganda, Iraq and Pentagon, Lebanon, Terrorism, War on Terror, Media, Media Coverage, Media News, Journalism, Political Journalism, Iraq War Journalists, Ethics in Journalism, New Jersey, New Jersey Senator, Senate, U.S. Senate, Frank Lautenberg, Walter Reed, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, First Amendment, Free Press, Bush Administration, Bush Administration Spin, George W. Bush, George Bush, Bush, President Bush, Funeral, Iraq War Funerals, Home News
Sen. Frank Lautenberg

We have had a long tradition of coming together as a nation to memorialize our fallen heroes--the men and women whose lives were lost on the battlefie...

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After Losing Janet Jackson Battle, FCC Extends Its Misguided Policies into TV Product Placement Review

Jack Myers | Posted 07.29.2008 | Media

Read More: Nicole Richie, Television, Cher, First Amendment, Media News, Fcc, Kevin Martin FCC, Janet Jackson, Media News
Jack Myers

Unless the TV industry is permitted to stretch some boundaries in this new media environment, local TV news will quickly follow newspapers into the economic doldrums.

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Subcontracting the First Amendment

Leslie Harris | Posted 07.28.2008 | Politics

Read More: Spectrum, Unconstitutional, First Amendment Rights, First Amendment, Broadband, Fcc, Broadcast Indecency, National Broadband, Internet Censorship, Censorship, Politics News
Leslie Harris

The First Amendment doesn't allow the FCC to function as an Internet board of review. The real question is why would such a proposal even be put out for comment.

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Friday Talking Points [40] -- Obama Shines, McCain Whines

Chris Weigant | Posted 07.25.2008 | Politics

Read More: New Orleans, Gaffe, Gop, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, Speech, Giants, Atlas, Pakistan, Berlin, Czechoslovakia, Free Speech, Whine, Canada, Democratic, Iraq, Campaign, National Convention, Minimum Wage, Redskins, Oil Spill, 2008, Midotw, Victory Column, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Democratic National Convention, Mississippi, Risk, Dncc, Tiergarten, John McCain, Germany, Football, Whiny, Oil Rig, Democrat, 2008 Elections, Democratic National Convention Committee, 08, Photo-Op, Nfl, Democrats, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Election, 08 Election, Senior Moment, Presidential, Elections, Desperation, Free Speech Zones, 08 Campaign, Mddotw, Talking Heads, Convention, 2008 Presidential Race, Afghanistan, Burning Down the House, Mississippi River, Democrat-Lite, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Be careful what you wish for, John. That seems to be the message of the week for Senator John McCain. He took some campaign consultant's idea a few w...

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Who Deserves a Journalist's Shield?

Scott Gant | Posted 07.21.2008 | Media

Read More: Journalists Shield Law, Journalists, First Amendment, Citizen Journalism, Journalism, Shield Law, Media News
Scott Gant

The lines distinguishing professional journalists from other people who disseminate information have been blurred, but a federal shield law for journalists would have to take a stand regarding that very question.

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The Flag Salutes George Carlin

Huffington Post | Rachel Sklar | Posted 07.16.2008 | Media

Read More: New Yorker Obama, George Carlin Flag, First Amendment, George Carlin, Media News

Groundbreaking comedian George Carlin, who died last month, was honored by the United States Congress with the flag that flew over the Capitol on June 23, 2008, the day the world awoke to learn that he had died.

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What Would Abbie Hoffman Have Thought Of The Flag Lapel Pin Debate?

Chris Weigant | Posted 07.04.2008 | Politics

Read More: 4th of July, Bill of Rights, First Amendment, Flag, Red White and Blue, Free, Campaign, Fourth of July, Pat Schroeder, 2008 Election, Election, Barack Obama, Abbie Hoffman, Elections, Patriotism, Flag Shirt, Independence Day, Freedom, 2008 Presidential Race, American Flag, Flag Motif, July 4th Patriotism, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Flag lapel pins are all the rage these days, but the battle over wearing the flag is older than you may have thought.

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To Force the Paparazzi to Clean up Their Act, Turn the Cameras on Them

Peter Scheer | Posted 07.03.2008 | Media

Read More: First Amendment, Paparazzi, Britney Spears, Celebrity Gossip, Malibu, Britney Spears Paparazzi, Celebrity Journalism, Celebrities, Media News
Peter Scheer

Photographers who stalk celebrities to give us the latest image of Britney Spears' cellulite are just voyeurs with a telephoto lens, not First Amendment heroes. Nonetheless, anti-paparazzi laws are a bad idea.

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On Guns, Scalia is Right For Once, and Obama Agrees

Jackson Williams | Posted 06.28.2008 | Politics

Read More: Msnbc, Supreme Court, Second Amendment, Countdown, Scalia, First Amendment, Antonin Scalia, Michael Dukakis, Keith Olbermann, Fourth Amendment, Guns, Nino Scalia, Habeas Corpus, Politics News
Jackson Williams

If we don't like the Second Amendment, then we should agitate to get rid of it in the methods the Founders prescribed. But we might want to think twice.

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The "N" Word on Network Television

Samara O'Shea | Posted 06.26.2008 | Entertainment

Read More: Meredith Vieira and Cunt, Dick Cavett, John Lennon, The Vagina Monologues, Jesse Joyce, Jane Fonda, The N Word, Bad Words, Freedom of Speech, Language, First Amendment, Censorship, Entertainment News
Samara O'Shea

Thanks to the First Amendment, there's not a single word in the English language that I should be afraid to say. But I am -- and the more afraid we are to use a word the more control that word has.

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In Honor Of George Carlin, Examining Nipplephobia And Buttcrackphobia In America

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.23.2008 | Media

Read More: Buttcrackphobia, Puritanism, First Amendment, Children, Janet Jackson, Nudity, Puritan, Seven Words, Justice Department, Statue, Mermaid, Nipple, Butt Crack, Television, Naked, George Carlin, Nipplephobia, John Ashcroft, Logo, Taliban, Starbucks, Bill Maher, Coppertone, Tempurpedic, Media News
Chris Weigant

You would think, with cable television and the internet, that we've come a long way since Carlin's "Seven Word." But we really haven't.

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Will All Judges Who Have Viewed Porn Please Stand Up?

Peter Scheer | Posted 06.13.2008 | Politics

Read More: Pornography, Judge, Law, First Amendment, Kozinski, Online Porn, Pornography Websites, Porn, Politics News
Peter Scheer

To look at porn is a right that we all have, and for good reason: in a free society, government has no business overriding private choices about what movies to see, books to read or photos to view.

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Vietnamese Community Tests Free Speech

Peter Scheer | Posted 06.11.2008 | Media

Read More: Editorial Independence, Footbath, Ethnic Media, Vietnam, Flag Desecration, Free Speech, Little Saigon, Newspaper, First Amendment, Media, Journalism, Diaspora, Media News
Peter Scheer

When the biggest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the country, gave offense to its readers in an obscure but controversial article about a work of art, it triggered an explosion of protests among readers.

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California Uber Alles?

Greg Lukianoff | Posted 06.11.2008 | Politics

Read More: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, First Amendment, Loyalty Oath, Individual Rights, Fire, Free Speech, Violence, Politics News
Greg Lukianoff

California's Constitution requires state employees to pledge to take up arms to defend the state against enemies. The oath was added in 1952; it was hardly justifiable then and is a bizarre anachronism now.

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You're a Good Man Julian Sanchez: Why Shouting Down an Anti-Gay Speaker at Smith College Isn't Something to Be Proud Of

Greg Lukianoff | Posted 05.02.2008 | Politics

Read More: Julian Sanchez, Free Speech Rights, First Amendment, Smith College, Greg Lukianoff, Fire, Free Speech, Politics News
Greg Lukianoff

Check out Julian Sanchez's take on why students at Smith should not be proud they disrupted a campus speech by an anti-gay speaker. In his post--whi...

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Subsidizing Corporate Crime and Rewarding Constitutional Abuses

Shahid Buttar | Posted 04.22.2008 | Politics

Read More: Journalists, Secrecy, Transparency, Corporate Welfare, Municipal Wireless, First Amendment, National Security, Rule of Law, Oversight, Fisa, Surveillance, Watergate, Executive Power, Privacy, Domestic Spying, NSA's Terrorist Surveillance Program, Bear Stearns, Politics News
Shahid Buttar

Controversial government programs are theoretically restrained by checks and balances, but neither Congress nor the courts have a way to check a secret program.

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