The American Lawyer and ALM recently announced the first winners of the Tony Mauro Media Lawyer Award, "established this year to honor attorneys who zealously advocate for freedom of the press." From :
The winners are , a partner at Haynes and Boone in Austin, for her successful efforts advocating for legislation to strengthen free press and speech rights in Texas; and CNN’s legal department, led by and , for its day-to-day work to protect the rights of the journalists of CNN and beyond.
Drew Shenkman
“We had so many worthy submissions for possible nominees that we decided to give two awards, rather than one,” said Tony Mauro, ALM’s longtime Supreme Court correspondent. “It was heartwarming and uplifting to review the work of so many lawyers who have devoted themselves to protect First Amendment rights on behalf of the press and the public. What they do is crucial to our democracy.”
The award was created to mark Mauro’s recent retirement. In addition to covering the U.S. Supreme Court for the last 40 years, Mauro has been a long-serving member of the steering committee of the . In 2011, he was admitted into the , recognizing his work promoting greater public access to the courts and other institutions.
The awards will be given to the recipients at the annual in New York City on Dec. 4.
Laura Prather
The choice of Laura Prather reflects the importance of free press advocacy at the state level through legislation and litigation, and the award for CNN’s legal department highlights the perhaps under-publicized work of in-house counsel in the First Amendment arena.
“Laura has changed the legal landscape for free speech rights in Texas,” said George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center, who nominated Prather. Prather was instrumental in the passage of important pieces of legislation involving reporters’ privilege, defamation and SLAPP litigation. The latter refers to “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” baseless but costly lawsuits aimed at intimidating and silencing journalists and members of the public who speak out.
The Texas anti-SLAPP law, which Prather helped create in 2011, was under attack by the Texas legislature in 2019. Prather mobilized a coalition of media outlets and public interest legislature in 2019. Prather mobilized a coalition of media outlets and public interest organizations to support the law, and a reform measure that “preserves the integrity” of the law, and “in some instances, makes its protections stronger,” according to Freeman.
David Vigilante
CNN’s legal department, led by Vigilante and Shenkman, was instrumental in the high-profile case of CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. His “hard pass,” necessary for access to the White House, was revoked because of President Donald Trump’s displeasure over Acosta’s questioning and behavior. Working with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Theodore Boutrous Jr., the in-house team developed a “comprehensive strategy to hold the administration to account,” according to HBO senior vice president Stephanie Abrutyn, who nominated the CNN team. The strategy included an unusual lawsuit against the Trump administration. Last November, Acosta’s pass was restored, and the lawsuit was dropped.
But that was not the CNN legal team’s only recent action on behalf of CNN’s journalists. The legal department manages “a multitude of access and freedom of information cases around the country,” Abrutyn wrote. “Whether supporting physical security efforts or making sure the journalists know the lawyers have their backs if something goes wrong, CNN’s in-house lawyers are always there.”
Academic Freedom: FIREat Williams Call for a Boycott of the English Department
As in Inside Higher Ed:
Saying that their English department treats race and critical theory as an afterthought, students call on their peers to steer clear of most program offerings.
built its reputation on the liberal arts. Now students at the college are calling for a boycott of the English department, saying the program has long had a racist underbelly. Their comments echo those made by some past and present professors of color.
"We, the undersigned students of Williams College, pledge to an indefinite boycott of all English classes that do not take seriously the matter of race -- that is, those classes which do not include more than a token discussion of race and more than a token number of writers of color," reads a that is a part of a detailed pro-boycott The names and identities of those taking the pledge are not yet public.
"We are undergoing this boycott to create the pressure necessary to force the department, and the administration, to take these issues seriously and to redress past and current harm with urgency," reads the pledge.
No Standing: KY Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Print Shop Owner in Gay Rights Case
This from an Alliance Defending Freedom :
The Kentucky Supreme Court handed a victory Thursday to Lexington promotional print shop owner Blaine Adamson. In its , the Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously affirmed, as Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys argued from the beginning, that the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization did not have a legal right to sue Adamson or his business, Hands On Originals, for declining to print a message that violates his religious beliefs.
Quote from the (2019) opinion regarding lack of standing:
Normally in these cases, courts look to whether the requesting customer, or some end user that will actually use the product, is a member of the protected class. And even when the reason for the denial is something other than status (conduct, for example), ways exist to determine whether the individual(s) (the requesting customer(s) or end user(s)) was actually discriminated against because the conduct cited is so closely related to that individual’s status. But in either scenario (whether the person allegedly discriminated against is the requesting customer or some end user) the individual is the one who has filed the lawsuit, so the court can properly determine whether that person has been discriminated against. . .
But without an individual, as required by Section 2-32(2)(a), this analysis cannot be conducted. Our decision, based on lack of standing, is necessary because without a proper complainant, no determination can be made as to whether the ordinance was violated.
As such, under Section 2-32(2)(a), an organization—here, GLSO— cannot bring a claim under Section 2-33. Accordingly, GLSO lacked statutory standing, and the Commission erred in not dismissing the case.
$25 Million Defamation Lawsuit Filed Against Politico by Trump Staffer
As by First Amendment Watch:
A senior director of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council (NSC) has filed a $25 million dollar defamation suit against Politico and one of its reporters, Natasha Bertrand, over two articles published in October he claims disparaged his “honesty, veracity, and integrity.”
µţ±đ°ůłŮ°ů˛ą˛Ô»ĺ’s claimed that a current NSC staffer believed Patel had “circumvented normal NSC process to get negative material about Ukraine in front of the president.”
Both articles relied on anonymous sources who had attended closed-door hearings with Fiona Hill, the former senior director for European and Russian Affairs, and Alexander Vindman, the NSC’s top Ukraine expert. The chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, eventually shared the transcripts from the .
In his complaint, Patel denies communicating with the president about Ukraine or supplying the president with negative information about the eastern-European country. The complaint accuses Politico and Bertrand of intentionally publishing false information in order to damage Patel’s reputation, and colluding with Schiff to advance the "impeachment inquisition."
→ Complaint: (Cir. Ct. of Henrico, Va., 2019)
→&˛Ô˛ú˛ő±č;, Counsel for Plaintiff
Sweden Drops Assange Rape Investigation
As in Politico:
The alleged rape investigation involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently in prison in Britain, has been discontinued, a Swedish prosecutor said Tuesday.
"I want to inform about my decision to discontinue the preliminary investigation," Deputy Chief Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson told a news conference.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, said in a tweet that the focus should now move onto the "threat" that Assange has been "warning about for years: the belligerent prosecution of the United States and the threat it poses to the First Amendment."
And this from a New York Times :
In September, that Mr. Assange must stay in a British jail until his extradition hearing, which is planned for early next year.
The Justice Department has indicted Mr. Assange on a slew of charges including , accusing him of the solicitation, acquisition, and publication of classified information from the
The charges , and critics have expressed concern that the case could set a precedent to criminalize future acts of national security journalism.
'IM GOD' License Plate Request: Kentucky Man Wins First Amendment Case
As in the Courier Journal:
After a three-year legal battle, a Kentucky man got the OK Wednesday by a federal judge in Frankfort to get a license plate with the letters "IM GOD."
According to , Ben Hart applied in 2016 for a Kentucky license plate with those words through the state's Transportation Cabinet, which allows people to pay for special plates "with personal letters or numbers significant to the applicant."
According to court documents, other similar plates have been approved, such as "GODLVS," "TRYGOD," "1GOD" and "NOGOD."
In an opinion issued by a U.S. District Court in Frankfort on Wednesday, the court ruled "vanity plates are private speech protected by the First Amendment."
Richard Stengel: 'Why America Needs a Hate Speech Law'
Richard Stengel
Mr. , the former president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, recently wrote an in the Washington Post, which in part stated:
Let the debate begin. Hate speech has a less violent, but nearly as damaging, impact in another way: It diminishes tolerance. It enables discrimination. Isn’t that, by definition, speech that undermines the values that the First Amendment was designed to protect: fairness, due process, equality before the law? Why shouldn’t the states experiment with their own version of hate speech statutes to penalize speech that deliberately insults people based on religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation?
All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails. I’m all for protecting “thought that we hate,” but not speech that incites hate. It undermines the very values of a fair marketplace of ideas that the First Amendment is designed to protect.
Fish on Free Speech
English and law Professor has returned to the First Amendment and free speech world with a new book and several op-eds:
"" (Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2019)
, Wall Street Journal (Nov. 17, 2019)
, CNN (Nov. 1, 19)
So to Speak Podcast: (Oct. 31, 2019)
Note: On Monday of this week, Professor Fish spoke at a First Amendment Salon in New York City. The video from that provocative exchange will be posted soon.
2019 Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award Presented to Late VA Whistleblower Kois
From the :
Dr. William “Ed” Kois, the late VA Medical Center doctor who prompted a nationwide review after exposing poor conditions at the Manchester VA hospital, was the recipient of the . Kois, who died in July in a car crash in Hampton, will be posthumously honored at the 17th annual First Amendment Awards event this past Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre.
Greg Lukianoff on the Mend
As noted on , ĂŰÖĎăĚŇ's CEO Greg Lukianoff is recovering rather well from his surgery.
Unprecedented Podcast on Snyder v. Phelps
This of Unprecedented concerns the following:
When Albert Snyder arrived for the funeral service of his son Matthew, a young Marine who died in the Iraq War, he was surprised by the noise and chaos that greeted him. Seven members of the Westboro Baptist Church—which believes that U.S. military casualties are a result of God's anger at an America that embraces sin—were picketing the funeral, holding signs with messages like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers." Snyder sued Westboro for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, and the Supreme Court had to decide: Does the First Amendment protect hurtful speech directed at a private citizen?
So to Speak Podcast Interview with Timothy Zick
In this episode of So to Speak William & Mary Law School Professor Timothy Zick discusses his new book, .
Forthcoming Book on Comedy & Censorship
Judy Gold, (Dey Street Books, July 28, 2020). Abstract:
From award-winning comedian Judy Gold, an equal parts thoughtful and hilarious polemic on the current efforts to censor comedians, arguing that they undermine the art—and purpose—of comedy itself.
“You can say anything that comes to mind as long as it is funny.” — Richard Pryor
The fallout after Michelle Wolf’s roast at the 2018 White House Correspondent’s Dinner, Samantha Bee’s forced apology after calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless c*nt,” Kathy Griffin’s being “blacklisted” from Hollywood after posting a photo with what looked like the president’s severed head, all represent a dangerous and growing trend—to censor comedians.
In Yes I Can Say That, comedy veteran Judy Gold argues that "no one has the right to tell comics what they can or cannot joke about…. Laughter is a unifier. It's the best medicine. It's also the most palatable way to bring up seditious, subversive topics.” For Gold, nothing is more insidious than enforcing silence and repressing jokes—the job of a comedian is to expose society's demons, and confront them head-on, no prisoners allowed. In ten impassioned polemics, she frames comedy as a tool of empowerment, a way to reclaim hateful rhetoric and battle the democracy-crushing plight of censorship.
Uninhibited and bold, Gold is as skilled at making readers laugh as she is at exposing uncomfortable truths about our culture and society. In this era of partisan politics and gaping inequalities, Yes I Can Say That is the refreshingly candid, wickedly funny and deliciously blunt manifesto we need.
Forthcoming Book on Democracy & Free Speech
Ashutosh Bhagwat, "" (Cambridge University Press, June 30, 2020)
More In the News
Eugene Volokh, , The Volokh Conspiracy (Nov. 19. 2019)
Eugene Volokh, , The Volokh Conspiracy (Nov. 18, 2019)
Lee Brown, , New York Post (Nov. 18, 2019)
, First Amendment Watch (Nov. 18, 2019)
First Amendment Watch (Nov. 18, 2019)
David Hudson, Jr., , Free Speech Center at MTSU (Nov. 16, 2019)
, First Amendment Watch (Nov. 15, 2019)
David L. Hudson, Jr., , Free Speech Center at MTSU (Nov. 14, 2019)
Eliza Relman, , Business Insider (Nov. 11, 2019)
2019–2020 SCOTUS Term: Free Expression & Related Cases
Pending Petitions
Pending Petitions: Free Speech Related
(motion to file cert. petition with sealed filing )
Ayaan Hirsi Ali grew up in a culture of conformity. She was
beaten and mutilated. She was told who she must marry. Eventually,
she rebelled. "You don't speak up at first," she told us. "First
you leave and you find a place of safety. It's...
First Amendment News is a weekly blog and newsletter about free expression issues by Ronald K. L. Collins and is editorially independent from ĂŰÖĎăĚŇ.
When 15-year-old Samson Cournane wrote a petition calling attention to patient-safety concerns at a local hospital, the hospital threatened to sue his mother for defamation.
