A police chief’s daughter in Bucks County Pennsylvania got drunk with a group of her friends and went on a gay bashing event that resulted in beating two gay individuals merely for being gay.
The daughter and others were charged.
A local person started a parody web site that made fun of the Chief’s daughter. All of this is a different county within the state of PA. Chief goes to the local District Attorney and before you know it, the District Attorney dispatches detectives to the workplace of the woman who started the web page. They get her fired and threaten to charge her with crimes if she doesn’t stop her web site.
She finds a lawyer and sues. Pennsylvania courts rule that the detectives and the DA have qualified immunity which means she can’t sue them.
US District Court rules that you cannot use your office to perform prior restraint on the 1st Amendment.
A victory for freedom.…
Who saw this coming? A “conservative” court making a ruling based on the constitution. Georgia’s court is not packed with liberal, “let the criminals run free” judges.
This is the “killer” paragraph that judges everywhere need to read, learn and embrace:
We interpret a constitutional provision according to the original public meaning of its text, which is simply shorthand for the meaning the people understood a provision to have at the time they enacted it. This is not a new idea. Indeed, there are few principles of Georgia law more venerable than the fundamental principle that a constitutional provision means today what it meant at the time that it was enacted. “[T]he Constitution, like every other instrument made by men, is to be construed in the sense in which it was understood by the makers of it at the time when they made it. To deny this is to insist that a fraud shall be perpetrated upon those makers or upon some of them.”
A victory for freedom.
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Since 2015, there has be a secretive new surveillance tool, commonly referred to as a "Stingray," being used by the FBI in cases around the country.
The device, which acts as a fake cell phone tower, essentially allows the government to electronically search large areas for a particular cell phone's signal—sucking down data on potentially thousands of innocent people along the way. At the same time, law enforcement has attempted use them while avoiding many of the traditional limitations set forth in the Constitution, like individualized warrants.
Our own Homeland Security has given grants to law enforcement to buy them. Of course, “officially” for fighting terrorism.
Ignoring 4th Amendment protections for a moment, the use of the Stingray violates Federal Communications Act provisions also.
Many states have upheld these warrantless searches. Recently the DC Court of Appeals, citing the 4th Amendment ruled that stingray use without a warrant is unconstitutional.
A victory for freedom. …
The First Amendment seems to get more attention these days than any other. You would think that with all of the attention, people would actually take the time to learn about it and figure out what protections it really offers.
But alas, knowledge is a lost concept in America.
We all laugh at the stupidity of those who defend sports stars from claiming some infringement on their rights. Dumb statements and misguided at best arguments.
Many well intentioned folks though misunderstand the constitution and make claims that private companies like Facebook, Twitter and other social media are somehow depriving folks of their first amendment rights.
Here is a great site that highlights success in fighting real infringements on first amendment rights. The thing I find interesting isn’t merely their successes. As you go into their various success stories, you get to see actual first amendment issues that you might never realize are protected conduct. …
Americans are creatures of habit. We get used to doing the same things, used to stupid rules and laws, and were brought up with the notion that you “can’t fight City Hall”. Government bureaucrats live on this notion. They love the fact that people “accept” the BS that they do.
Well, there is a group that is changing this paradigm. The Institute for Justice’s “Ask Why” initiative challenges governments idiocy and is winning. Obviously they would like to motivate people across the country to “ask why” locally. They get involved legally when they can.
This is a great site that highlights government stupidity and actual success in overcoming the rules.
It’s a great motivator and reminds us that “You CAN fight City Hall”. …
The duty of Americans to hold their politicians accountable is paramount to our country’s well being. Attending and speaking out on issues of concern at City Council, County Commissioner and School Board meetings seems to be an American tradition.
Well, one school board decided that they would go through the motions of appearing to encourage such public participation but then made restrictive rules on actually doing it. It created the rule that the Superintendent would have to “pre screen” your “request” to speak and then could delay your request forever.
The good news is that the court ruled that they couldn’t have this delay process built into the request to speak process.
The bad news is that they ruled that the only reason that the school district lost here is because they had a policy that allowed someone to speak. In other words, if the school district merely eliminated the public forum part of the meetings, you would have no right to speak. …
I have some friends that legally immigrated from Pakistan many years ago. For those who are old enough to remember the Cold War, Pakistan used to be one of our best friends in the region. We talk about politics from time to time and one time he asked me a question, “why does the US allow lawyers to be politicians?” He went on to tell me that Pakistan didn’t allow that. That society works best when people understand the law. Lawyers want people to be ignorant of the law so that they can make money. Words of wisdom.
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The notion of safe spaces in colleges and universities always seemed bizarre. This author goes beyond the bizarre and suggests that the entire concept has damaging effects on our society. Well written.
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We know that Seattle is a 487 utopia. Unlike a lot of 487 places, they came late to the party, so they don’t have all of the old baggage like Baltimore, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc. And they have money. Their latest trick is to force everyone to fund their craziness. The courts get to decide if that’s wrong.…
The old maxim that “a license is no more than permission from the government to do something that is otherwise forbidden” is more true than ever. In the old days, the government required licenses in order to protect the “chosen”. Remember when the government granted the American Medical Association a monopoly on deciding who can provide healthcare, the first thing they did was to close medical schools so that there would be less doctors and the remaining doctors could make more money. These days, it’s transitioned to a money making venture for governments. And we all lose.…
