Court takes up constitutionality of town meeting prayer 
Published: May 20, 2013
Tags: 2nd Circuit, establishment clause, First Amendment, New York, prayer, U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – In a case that could have repercussions from a small upstate New York town to the legislative floor of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether prayers at open public meetings violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Circuit court strikes down NLRB notice posting rule
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: May 8, 2013
Tags: DC Circuit, First Amendment, labor law, National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, notice posting rule
WASHINGTON – A federal appellate court has struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial notice posting rule, the latest in a series of blows to the agency that has been mired in legal controversy.
Gov’t won’t appeal ruling on graphic cigarette warnings
Published: April 1, 2013
Tags: cigarettes, Department of Justice, DOJ, FDA, First Amendment, Food and Drug Administration, Liggett Group, Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds, tobacco labeling
The Department of Justice has decided not to appeal a court decision striking down the Food and Drug Administration’s new graphic warnings on cigarette packages on First Amendment grounds.
Benchmarks: Officer fired after arresting mayor’s son can sue
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: March 12, 2013
Tags: First Amendment, political corruption, retaliation, §1983
An Illinois police officer claimed he lost his job because he complained that his department had a bad habit of looking the other way when politically-connected drivers were caught committing traffic violations.
Monday, a federal appeals court decided that the officer could sue for a violation of his First Amendment rights.
Ariz. law targeting day laborers can’t be enforced
Published: March 7, 2013
Tags: First Amendment, immigration
An Arizona law making it unlawful for motorists to impede traffic when hiring day laborers probably violates the First Amendment, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in upholding a preliminary injunction.
Blog posts subject to lawyer advertising rules
Published: March 5, 2013
Tags: First Amendment, lawyer advertising, Rules of Professional Conduct
An attorney’s blog posts qualified as commercial speech subject to regulation under professional rules of conduct, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled.
Lawyer haunted by $108.6 M verdict in mother-child death case
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: January 24, 2013
Tags: comparative negligence, faith healing, First Amendment, home birth, pregnancy, religious cult, wrongful death
When a couple came to trial lawyer Danny Thomas’ office four years ago with a disturbing case involving the death of their daughter and her newborn baby at the hands of a religious group, he knew the case would not be easy.
FIRST AMENDMENT
Published: January 11, 2013
Tags: First Amendment, U.S. Supreme Court
Does the United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act violate the First Amendment by requiring an organization to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking in order to receive federal funding to provide HIV and AIDS programs overseas?
Defamation case exposes social media controversy
By:
David Frank
Published: December 27, 2012
Tags: defamation, Facebook, First Amendment, Massachusetts, social media, Twitter, wrongful termination
A Massachusetts judge’s refusal to issue an injunction in a suit involving a car dealership allegedly defamed by the relatives of an ex-employee demonstrates the struggle for courts that are asked to strike a balance between the First Amendment and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
State workers can sue for political-affiliation retaliation
Published: December 20, 2012
Tags: civil rights, First Amendment, retaliation
State workers did not need to be actually affiliated with a particular party or candidate in order to pursue First Amendment claims for political-affiliation retaliation, the 6th Circuit has ruled in reversing judgment.
