The Orange County Board of Supervisors' written advisory to citizens wishing to speak at its meetings is that they must first state their name and city. But when this rule is questioned on free speech grounds, officials say it's only voluntary, reports the Voice of OC.
American Canyon City Council's frequent critic, Marianne Young, says she may pursue legal options after her comments to the council were cut off at a recent meeting.
A frequent visitor to—and critic of—San Jose City Hall, perceived as a threat after repeated aggressive behavior, has been ordered to stay well away from city officials despite his effort to challenge the ruling under the First Amendment.
FREE SPEECH – A San Francisco homeowner’s association recently avoided a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) by withdrawing its ban on the posting of political signs by a condominium resident.
FREE SPEECH – City council members in Santa Monica are considering placing restrictions on decibel levels at the popular Third Street Promenade to control the level of noise produced by musicians on the street—without banning loud music altogether.
FREE SPEECH – The National Park Service announced October 14 it will be lifting its permit requirement for small-scale First Amendment activities at all national parks after a court found its regulations to be unconstitutional, in a case involving the distribution of religious pamphlets in a "free speech area" at Mount Rushmore.
WHISTLEBLOWERS/FREE SPEECH – Government employees are only entitled to First Amendment protection for what they say under certain circumstances, an article in this month's issue of California Lawyer says—namely, when they step outside their jobs to speak up as citizens.
FREE SPEECH – A former public university president who summarily expelled a student without notice in retaliation for his criticism will be held personally liable in damages for violating the student’s due-process rights, a federal court has ruled in an unprecedented decision.
FREE SPEECH – A lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Community College District’s sexual harassment policy, alleging violations of the First Amendment, was dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals Friday, because the student bringing the case to court failed to show how anything he said or did could have triggered sanctions under the policy.
FREE SPEECH -- A policy that precludes openly gay people from serving in the military was found to be unconstitutional by a federal judge in Riverside Thursday.
FREE SPEECH-- Tattoo parlors must now be allowed access to
commercially zoned areas of Hermosa Beach following a decision by the
U.S. ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that granted tattooing First Amendment protection.
FREE SPEECH -- Josh Gerstein, writing for Politico's Under the Radar column, comments on today's 2-1 decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that Congress's Stolen Valor Act violates the First Amendment by criminalizing lies—"I won this military medal"—that cause no evident harm. As earlier argued here, this is the correct decision.
FREE SPEECH
-- The California Court of Appeal has decided, in Snatchko v. Westfield LLC,
that the owner of a shopping mall called the Roseville Galleria, north of
Sacramento, violated the speech rights of a Christian youth pastor when its
staff turned him over to police for having a religious conversation with two
other mall patrons. The decision is significant statewide for several reasons.
FREE SPEECH/ASSOCIATION -- The U.S. Supreme Court today held that a public university can
require that officially sanctioned and supported student groups allow ''all comers'' in order to receive the
benefits of formal recognition. Such a requirement, a 5-4 majority led
by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg decided, does not violate the First
Amendment's guarantees of freedom of speech or association, reports Chris Geidner for MetroWeekly.
FREE SPEECH -- "An attorney representing
the city of Santa Cruz was hard pressed Tuesday to explain to a rarely
convened panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals what constitutes
a disruption worthy of being forced from a public meeting," reports J.M Brown in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Several judges didn't seem to think a fleeting Nazi-style arm salute from the sidelines qualified.
FREE SPEECH -- The parents of three of the four boys who were sent home from Live Oak
High School for wearing shirts depicting the American Flag on Cinco de Mayo filed a lawsuit today against the Morgan
Hill Unified School District, Principal Nick Boden and Assistant
Principal Miguel Rodriguez for violating their First and Fourteenth
Amendment rights, reports Lindsay Bryant in the Morgan Hill Times.
FREE SPEECH -- "Robert Norse's Nazi salute lasted fewer than
five seconds before he was removed from the Santa Cruz City Council
meeting in handcuffs, notes Paul Elias for the Associated Press. "But the Santa Claus-bearded gadfly's free
speech lawsuit against the city has lasted more than six years and may
be destined for the U.S. Supreme Court."
FREE SPEECH -- San Clemente city officials say they will abide by a federal appellate court ruling that the city's ban on leafleting windshields on parked cars violates the First Amendment. But they call the outcome a victory because they weren't ordered to pay the challenger's attorney fees, reports Fred Swegles for the Orange County Register.
FREE SPEECH -- The Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine is to have its official recognition suspended for a year for masterminding the orchestrated disruption of a speech by the Israeli ambassador earlier this year, report Deepa Bharath and Ellyn Pak for the Orange County Register.
FREE SPEECH -- The Ninth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled that a Los Angeles city ordinance
regulating the use and placement of billboards and "super graphics" covering entire building walls is constitutional, and threw out
a district court order enjoining enforcement of the law, reports Sheri M.Okamoto for the Metropolitan News-Enterprise in Los Angeles.
FREE SPEECH -- "In the wide panorama of human rights violations, the question just
presented before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may not be that
urgent, but it sure is interesting," says FindLaw blogger Tanya Roth. "The essence of the case of Anderson
v. Hermosa Beach is this question: Is tattooing a form of free
expression granted protection under the First Amendment?"
FREE SPEECH -- Given the difficulty some community college boards and administrators seem to have in grasping basic free speech concepts, the relevant faculty members may wish to apply for this grant to bring First Amendment experts to campus for general enlightenment. But act soon; deadline to apply is June 1.
FREE SPEECH -- California resident Julie Waltz's long fight for free
speech for opponents of state subsidized housing policies came to a
victorious conclusion today, when the California Department of Fair
Employment and Housing agreed to implement the "Julie Waltz First
Amendment Policy,"reports the Center for Individual Rights.
FREE SPEECH -- The Peralta
Community College District in Oakland is considering guidelines to limit where and
how groups can speak on campus, prompting outrage from employees and
students who say the proposed rules would restrict free speech, reports Matt Krupnick in the Contra Costa Times.
FREE SPEECH -- Jay Gaskill, former Alameda County Public Defender and now a blogger on legal and political issues, sayshe is "now persuaded, subject only to a searching inquiry in which the nominee convincingly testifies to the contrary, that E. Kagan cannot be safely confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice. Based on the latest available information about the nominee's judicial philosophy, reasonable legal minds (mine included) are persuaded that as a Supreme Court Justice, Ms. Kagan can be expected to work tirelessly to secure the votes to implement a radical change in the high court's approach to free speech cases."
FREE SPEECH-- Should a panhandler be allowed to sit down as he begs passersby if standing up would be hazardous to his health? A case going to trial in Palo Alto challenges a city ordinance that, in effect, says no sitting and no exceptions for medical reasons.
FREE SPEECH -- The California Supreme Court today upheld a Los Angeles International
Airport ordinance barring Hare Krishnas from soliciting donations within
airport terminals, reports Will Buchanan for the Christian Science Monitor. They can speak about their beliefs inside, but not seek money.
FREE SPEECH -- Patterson City Attorney George Logan has filed a libel lawsuit against an anonymous group of
locals behind the Patterson IrriTator website, who refer to themselves
collectively and individually as Fred Ross, reports Kendall Wright in the Patterson Irrigator.
PUBLIC INFORMATION -- "Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown has quietly granted
access to at least three people who requested to dig through more than
2,000 boxes of records documenting his two terms as governor, from 1975
to 1983," reports Chase Davis for California Watch. Brown's people say no one else has asked.
FREE SPEECH -- "Few recent confrontations have stirred as much emotion and debate as
the spate of protests conducted at funerals for U.S. soldiers
killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, the Supreme Court
agreed to take up one of the cases stemming from those protests, a
hot-button First Amendment dispute that will be argued in the fall," reports Tony Mauro in the Blog of LegalTimes.
