A fifth-grader from New York's PS 195 was told by the school's principal he would not be allowed to read a speech on same-sex marriage to the school, and must pick a different topic.
Dissent is in the air in America! Even behind bars, the people are rising up against oppression. In Connecticut, prisoners have begun a letter-writing campaign to defend their right to own "pictorial depictions of sexual activity or nudity," otherwise known as Pornographic Magazines. Letters today! Hunger strikesā¦
A Nebraska Cannabis Coalition activist who was attending Willie Nelson's concert at the Nebraska State Fair was told by state troopers that she couldn't wear her "Don't Panic, It's Organic" t-shirt because of a vague "fair policy" that doesn't even prohibit pot-themed t-shirts. Or pot-themed musicians, apparently!
A judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit filed by "Brooklyn-born and bred" coffee shop Gorilla Coffee against the New York Timesāupholding the paper's right to report on mean things that people say about each other during disputes. Kind of an important part of a newspaper's job, if you think about it.
In the Real-American stronghold of South Carolina, of all places, a 65-year-old woman has been accused of violating the state obscenity law by hanging a pair of Truck Nutz plastic testicles from the back of her pickup truck. What's next, a ban on the American flag?
The Supreme Court has just struck down a California law that would have outlawed the sale of violent video games to minors. Yee haw: Free speech covers busting open aliens' heads with a chainsaw!
Our ongoing story arc in Libya has been really tough on Republicans, who hate black presidents but love bombing Muslims, so we're glad to see Senator/tease Lindsey Graham (R - S.C.) back in his element, wondering if maybe this whole "constitution" thing has kind of run its course:
Here's Fred Phelps, head of "God Hates (Everyone)" Westboro Baptist Church, vowing to protest the funerals of those killed in Saturday's Tucson shootings. Including nine-year-old Christina Green. What a powerful demonstration of America's unparalleled Constitutional freedoms. God bless you, psychos.
There's almost universal agreement that the tactics and message used by parishioners of the small, fringe Westboro Baptist Church are despicable. Does that make their provocative protests near the funerals of dead U.S. soldiers ā under the theory that God is punishing the country because it tolerates gay and lesbianā¦
New Republic editor-in-chief Marty Peretz, who does not care for Muslims, Arabs, Persians, etc., has apologized for questioning whether Muslims "deserve" First Amendment rights. Good show! Do you have any more apologies on the way, Marty?
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg says Pastor Terry Jones has the right to burn Korans on 9/11! (Even though Mike finds it "distasteful"). What is with Bloomberg these days, throwing his weight behind unpopular things, like "the Constitution"?
Longtime Muslim-despising New Republic editor-in-chief Marty Peretz has come through again. He's disappointed that liberals characterize hatred or mistrust of Muslim-Americans as a problem, when Muslims have no respect for human life and maybe shouldn't have First Amendment rights.
Did you know that the First Amendment gives every American the right to a nationally-syndicated radio show? I sure didn't! But I learned that it's true on Wednesday, when former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin told me.
A federal court ruled that the FCC's "unconstitutionally vague" indecency policies violate the First Amendment.
Nneka Eneorj, an alternate juror in the NYPD/Iraq War vet brutality case, was dismissed on Thursday for wearing a shirt that said "Who the F*ck Is Kanye West?" (A: He is a rapper. This is his picture.) [NYP]
The Supreme Court has struck down a federal law against videos depicting animal cruelty. The justices voted 8-1 to overturn the ban on free speech grounds, with only Samuel Alito dissenting.
Cherry on the cake? It was famed defender of the First Amendment Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, and fancy-pants Manhattan prep school Dalton's class rag.
Floyd Abrams is a lion and the First Amendment is his precious cub. If you come near it, he will maul you. Which is usually a good thing, but now he's shilling for the great unsung villains of the economic collapse: credit rating agencies. He thinks they have rights!
Nothing prior about this restraint: A man escorting Leon Panetta, Barack Obama's nominee for CIA director, grabbed CongressDaily reporter Chris Strohm at a hearing and pulled him away for daring to ask Panetta a question.
Fantastic news, America-our constitutional right to repeatedly call a man a murderer has been upheld! Former congressmen Gary Condit, who allegedly caused 9/11 (j/k Gary!) sued Vanity Fair scribe Dominick Dunne for defamation, because Dunne kept claiming he knew that Condit knew stuff he wasn't telling about theā¦
