Category Archives: First Amendment

DES MOINES A bill to extend the buffer zone between funerals and protests from 500 to 1,000 feet won House Judiciary subcommittee approval despite a lawmakers warning the Legislature should not infringe on First Amendment free speech rights.

HSB 157 was proposed by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, in response to protests by members of Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, said the bill will help deal with protesters using hate speech and attempting to cover it under the First Amendment.

However, Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said that although the Westboro protesters are sick and wrong and I certainly couldnt disagree with them more, the intent of the First Amendment is not to protect popular opinion.

The bill goes to the full Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to meet again Wednesday afternoon.

The bill also provides for liquidated damages for infliction of emotional distress upon military family members of up to $10,000 per person

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Funeral protest restrictions move ahead in Legislature

Protesters would be subject to 1,000 foot buffer zone

March 3, 2015 | 11:16 am

DES MOINES A bill to extend the buffer zone between funerals and protests from 500 to 1,000 feet won House Judiciary subcommittee approval despite a lawmakers warning the Legislature should not infringe on First Amendment free speech rights.

HSB 157 was proposed by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, in response to protests by members of Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, said the bill will help deal with protesters using hate speech and attempting to cover it under the First Amendment.

However, Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said that although the Westboro protesters are sick and wrong and I certainly couldnt disagree with them more, the intent of the First Amendment is not to protect popular opinion.

The bill goes to the full Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to meet again Wednesday afternoon.

The bill also provides for liquidated damages for infliction of emotional distress upon military family members of up to $10,000 per person.

Here is the original post:
Funeral protest restrictions move forward in Iowa Legislature

DES MOINES | A bill to extend the buffer zone between funerals and protests from 500 to 1,000 feet won House Judiciary subcommittee approval despite a lawmakers warning the Legislature should not infringe on First Amendment free speech rights.

HSB 157 was proposed by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, in response to protests by members of Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, said the bill will help deal with protesters using hate speech and attempting to cover it under the First Amendment.

However, Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said that although the Westboro protesters are sick and wrong and I certainly couldnt disagree with them more, the intent of the First Amendment is not to protect popular opinion.

The bill goes to the full Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to meet again Wednesday afternoon.

Read the rest here:
Funeral protest restrictions move forward in Legislature

DES MOINES, Iowa A bill to extend the buffer zone between funerals and protests from 500 to 1,000 feet won House Judiciary subcommittee approval despite a lawmakers warning the Legislature should not infringe on First Amendment free speech rights.

HSB 157 (http://bit.ly/1Cq3fWY)was proposed by Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, in response to protests by members of Westboro Baptist Church at military funerals.

Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Bondurant, said the bill will help deal with protesters using hate speech and attempting to cover it under the First Amendment.

However, Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said that although the Westboro protesters are sick and wrong and I certainly couldnt disagree with them more, the intent of the First Amendment is not to protect popular opinion.

The bill goes to the full Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to meet again Wednesday afternoon.

The bill also provides for liquidated damages for infliction of emotional distress upon military family members of up to $10,000 per person.

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Wilton Rep. Kaufmann's funeral protest bill moves forward

The First Amendment Today
Professor Jane Bambauer, University of Arizona College of Law Professor Richard Delgado and Professor Jean Stefancic (co-presenters), The University of Alaba...

By: EmorySchoolofLaw

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The First Amendment Today - Video

Big media companies, including the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, have lined up to support video game maker Electronic Arts in seeking a new court hearing regarding EAs use of likenesses of former NFL players.

EA is fighting a2012 lawsuit over its popular Madden NFL game, filed by NFL players including Vince Ferragamo. The playersallegethat the company hasnt paid them or sought their permission to use their likenesses in the game.

According to the media companies, the First Amendment issues at stake in the lawsuit could have broad impact on the entertainment and media industry.

A wide range of speech was put in danger, when EA was found to be unprotected by the First Amendment in the lawsuit, according to a brief written by lawyers for the media companies.

EA is based in Redwood City, California, but the Madden game is made in Maitland, a suburb of Orlando, where the company employs 800 people.

EA tried to argue that the First Amendment protects its rights to use the likeness of well-known people, but a judge and an appeals court ruled against that argument last year.

Electronic Arts now seeks a rehearing on the First Amendment question, saying that the court missed some important issues in its previous rulings. Thats when the big media groups got invovled.

The media groups are asking the court to clarify the law for the benefit of video game makers, film producers, songwriters, and other creators.

If the use is relevant to the underlying expression in the work, the First Amendment should almost always protect the use (except when a use explicitly misleads consumers as to origin or sponsorship), according to the media groups arguments.

The media companies said they are focused on speech other than commercial advertising, so the definition of commercial advertising is also in play for the dispute.

Continue reading here:
Electronic Arts' fight over NFL avatars attracts big media attention

For the editors of the Chantilly High School newspaper, it was deciding to highlight free speech on the cover of the Purple Tide newspaper.

For the staff of the high schools student television newscast, it was a three-minute piece about the demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo., concerning racial tensions between citizens and police. And for the teens who oversee the Chantilly High yearbook, its the independence to edit the Odyssey without meddling by the administration.

Its completely up to us, said Rachel Palmer, 17, a senior and co-editor of the yearbook. Theres no one to say, You cant do that.

Its that kind of authority to publish whatever the students want to that earned the high school journalists the Journalism Education Associations 2015 First Amendment Press Freedom Award. Chantilly was one of seven high schools to receive the honor and the only school in Virginia. The students will accept the award next month at a student journalism convention.

The award comes a year after Chantilly principal Teresa Johnson was named outstanding administrator of the year by the Southern Interscholastic Press Association.

Johnson, who became Chantillys principal in 2011, was honored for supporting an independent student press. Johnson said she has no direct influence on student media and does not review students work before publication. Students described her as a crucial ally because she does not interfere.

Johnson said that her goal is ensuring that faculty advisers teach the students how to be responsible journalists without infringing on their abilities to express themselves.

There is no greater real-life experience for our students than journalism, because they learn to problem-solve, think critically, collaborate, deal with conflict and communicate, Johnson said. I have faith in our students abilities to make decisions and, at times, to learn from their mistakes as well.

Erin Fowler, 18, a senior and co-editor of the Purple Tide, said that one example of editorial independence came when a faculty member said he had been misquoted in an interview with a reporter. But the reporter had recorded the conversation, so editors kept the quote.

We stood our ground, Fowler said. It really modeled our First Amendment rights.

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Chantilly High student journalists win award celebrating First Amendment

NeNe Leakes And Kim Zolciak Want To Film A Real Housewives Of Atlanta Spin-Off | Home

February 27, 2015 04:00 PM by Stephanie Gustafson

If you or somebody you know has suffered from a sexually transmitted disease, you can place all of the blame for this predicament on the hippies. At least, thats what Phil Robertson thinks! TheDuck Dynastyrecently received the Andrew Breitbart Defender of the First Amendment Award at the Conservative Political Action Conference and his acceptance speech is already causing quite the stir on Facebook!

Phil Robertson managed to keep a low profile for the last few months of 2014, but that has all changed now that the reality star has once again been highlighted as a conservative role model. No longer content to sit back and keep his mouth shut, Phil is once again trying his best to get a rise out of his many haters on Twitter. Thus far, hes proven incredibly successful, having caused plenty of outrage with his long, rambling speech at CPAC.

Grateful to be recognized for his commitment to First Amendment rights, Phil used his acceptance speech as another excuse to talk at length about sexual sin. He advised his fans, Youre disease-free and shes disease free, you marry, you keep your sex right there. You wont get sick from a sexually transmitted disease.

This is all pretty normal stuff for Phil and really, for the entireDuck Dynasty clan. But he certainly didnt stop there. Things began to get bizarre when the reality star mused about beatniks and hippies, claiming that the 110 million Americans with sexually transmitted diseases were the revenge of the hippies. According to Phil, the age of rock n roll was the beginning of the end.

What do you think of Phil Robertsons latest tirade? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments section below!

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Phil Robertson Thinks STDS Are The Revenge Of The Hippies

Arizonas former governor is claiming First Amendment protections, and she may have a point

My law school mentor used to joke that the First Amendment has protected a bunch of unsavory characters: separatists, chauvinists, white supremacists, communists, jingoists, bigotsand on its darkest days, he would say, the First Amendment has even protected journalists.

Now, we might be able to add one more to the list: Jan Brewer, the former Arizona governor, who has some unsavory marks on her record and is kind of a journalist, she claims. Double the First Amendment fun!

Opponents of Arizonas tough immigration law, known as SB 1070, recently asked a federal judge to order Brewer to comply with a subpoena for the notes and materials she used to write her 2011 book Scorpions for Breakfast.

The opponents, mostly civil liberties organizations, subpoenaed Brewer as part of a lawsuit against the sheriff of Apache County. The groups are challenging SB 1070 on various grounds, and they argue that Brewer, who is not a party to the suit, possesses notes and materials relevant to the case.

Those materials would be the source documents Brewer presumably relied on to write her book, much of which discusses SB 1070, and which she says she wrote in her personal, not official, capacity. And those documentsemails, letters, memoranda, notes of meetings, recordings of interviews, etc.would shed light on certain facts at issue in the case, the laws opponents claim. The groups requested the materials from Brewer twice before, in August and November 2014, but both times she refused to disclose anything, citing several reasons.

One of them: the First Amendment.

Journalists privilege: Not just for journalists

In part, Brewer is arguing that the First Amendment-based journalists privilege allows her to shield her notes and source materials.

She may be right. In the Ninth Circuit, which covers Arizona, and in the majority of other circuits, the journalists privilege is a recognition that the free flow of information to the public is an interest of sufficient social importance to justify some incidental sacrifice of sources of facts needed in the administration of justice.

See the article here:
Why Jan Brewer is sounding like James Risen

Bribing a Teacher! (BO2)
All events and characters in this story are entirely fictional and are meant for comedic and entertainment purposes only. Riley, aka "ImSilentLion," is protected under the first amendment and...

By: ImSilentLion

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Bribing a Teacher! (BO2) - Video