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Legal Updates 2001

Legal Update

The Not So Little Secret of Statutory Language

The U.S. Supreme Court taught the owners of well-known trademarks the basics of legal reading and writing last week.  (Make that “statutory construction and drafting” for all the licensed attorneys out there.)...[more]

What Do Harry Potter, Captain Underpants and Huck Finn Have in Common?

Still three months away from the scheduled release of the fifth in the best-selling series by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter is back in the news and topping the charts.  But this time it’s not The New York Times Bestseller List or the weekend box office numbers.  According to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, Harry Potter tops the list of books most challenged in 2002...[more]

9th Circuit Upholds Pledge Decision

Solidifying its reputation as a “runaway train of liberal activism,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week refused to reconsider its controversial decision over the Pledge of Allegiance...[more]

‘Three Strikes’ Sentences Ruled Safe by High Court

The highest umpire in the land declared on Wednesday that the criminal justice system may impose stiff sentences, including life imprisonment, for repeat offenders under so-called “three strikes” laws without violating the constitutional prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishments” contained in the Eighth Amendment...[more] 

McLawsuit Reheated: It Doesn't Taste Any Better

The McFatties are back. A month after a federal district judge dismissed their class action lawsuit against McDonald's, a group of overweight children and their parents filed a new complaint against the fast food giant maintaining that Ronald, Grimace and the Hamburglar must pay up for childhood obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease...[more]

A New Ninth Circuit in the New Year?

It appears that the Ninth Circuit’s New Year’s resolution is to decrease the number of rulings overturned by the United States Supreme Court.  Only two months into the New Year, the traditionally rogue Ninth Circuit has issued two opinions in the campaign finance arena that are remarkably deferential to Supreme Court precedent and leanings...[more]

Second Amendment Showdown in the 9th Circuit Cloakroom

In a new Second Amendment ruling issued by the 9th Circuit on Tuesday, three of Reinhardt’s brethren, Judges Arthur L. Alarcón, Ronald M. Gould and Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, took the highly unusual step of criticizing a fellow sitting jurist in a published legal opinion for the entire world to see...[more]

GAO Drops Lawsuit Aimed at Forcing Vice President Cheney To Disclose Energy Task Force Information

It has been 30 years since Watergate and a time when the public eye closely watched a court battle between the executive branch and Congress over disclosure of documents.  In 1973, the special prosecutor investigating secretly recorded conversations in the Oval Office subpoenaed the tape recordings.  President Nixon refused to release them, asserting executive privilege and a risk to national security.  Some of the political backlash from Watergate resulted in the erosion of the doctrine of executive privilege...[more]

The Road to Democracy Starts at the Schoolhouse Door; Teaching our Children Beyond the “Three Rs”

Gone are simpler days when students were taught the “Three Rs” — reading, writing and arithmetic.  Today, the schools confront children with complicated social algorithms involving issues such as dress codes, bans on “junk food,” zero tolerance disciplinary policies, and political correctness.  Undoubtedly, these “educational” changes have come at the expense of more objective lessons that might actually improve academic performance.  But, more importantly, the “new curriculum” has sacrificed vigorous public education founded on free expression...[more]

Grape Expectations: Federal Appeals Court Rules Table Grape Check-Off Unconstitutional

Since 1996, grapes grown for wine production have produced bottles aged to perfection, while others have shriveled into raisins.  At the same time, a federal lawsuit over table grapes has wound its way through the courts like a vine...[more]

Law School Admissions to the University of Michigan… By the Numbers

• 100% … the percentage of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American applicants admitted in 2000 with grade point averages between 3.00 and 3.24 (B) and LSAT scores between 156-158 (between the 70th and 80th percentiles nationally) • 0% … the percentage of Asian and Caucasian applicants admitted in 2000 with grade point averages between 3.00 and 3.24 (B) and LSAT scores between 156-158 (between the 70th and 80th percentiles nationally)...[more]

The Methodology of Frivolous Lawsuits
(The Short Version)

When a federal judge threw out one of the baseless lawsuits against McDonald’s last week, John Banzhaf, the blustery plaintiff’s attorney and George Washington University Law School professor involved in bringing the case, told MSNBC’s Dan Abrams, “You don’t think we’ll find some judge somewhere…who’s going to buy it and let it go to a jury?  You may not like it…but we’ll find a judge…and then we’ll find a jury.”

As a justification for putting judges on the bench who will stop the systematic abuse of our legal system, no further words are necessary.  Mr. Banzhaf, Esquire, is an unusual plaintiff’s attorney only in the openness of his cynical exploitation.

McLawsuit Deep Fried
Judge Dismisses Fat Case Against the Golden Arches

Eating a Big Mac a day does not keep the doctor away—everyone knows that … or, at the very least, should know that, according to a federal judge in New York.  A decision issued Wednesday by Judge Robert Sweet threw out a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit filed against fast food giant...[more]

Legacies:  The “Where’s Waldo” of Constitutional Law

Having filed what we believe is a fairly cogent brief against the University of Michigan’s unconstitutional admissions policies, we have a modicum of interest in the public debate that is as inevitable as the sun rising...[more]

Undergraduate Admissions to the University of Michigan… By the Numbers

• 100… the minimum number of points an applicant needs to be guaranteed admission • 20… the number of points an applicant receives for being African-American, Hispanic, or Native American  • 0… the number of points an applicant receives for being Arab, Asian, or Caucasian...[more]

Review of Walter K. Olson’s The Rule of Lawyers:
How the New Litigation Elite Threatens America’s Rule of Law

A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The Litigation Explosion, Walter Olson serves up an eye-opening, jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes look at how the self-anointed “Fourth Branch” has managed to infiltrate every corner of America’s legal and political landscape.  The author paints in lurid detail an incestuous picture of the trial lawyers’ well rehearsed “three prong” strategy comprised of legal, political and public relations efforts, bolstered by open checkbooks, lies, deceit and, dare we say, extortion...[more]

Supreme Court to Decide Whether Nike Can Just Do It

The United States Supreme Court last Friday granted Nike’s petition to review Nike, Inc. v. Kasky, a seminal commercial speech case with broad implications for corporations across America...[more]

Supreme Court Extends Disney Magic into Never Land;
The Constitutionality of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

Like the immortal Peter Pan, copyrights may never grow old or expire following the United States Supreme Court’s ruling this week that gave Congress the right to repeatedly extend copyright protection.  In a big victory for Walt Disney Company and other copyright holders of characters, songs, books and creations, the Supreme Court ruled that the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 was neither overreaching by Congress, nor a violation of free-speech rights...[more]

Center Files Amicus Brief on Affirmative Action in U.S. Supreme Court

Arguing that affirmative action admissions programs violate both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Center for Individual Freedom filed an amicus brief on January 16 urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the racial and ethnic preferences used by the University of Michigan’s undergraduate and law schools in their admissions...[more]

Medical Professional Liability Crisis Bleeds Across America

Get out the tourniquet because the shark bites have America bleeding again.  From Pennsylvania to Florida to Texas, and most states in between, victims of the shark (AKA trial lawyer) attacks are drowning in the Litigation Sea. National headlines make it increasingly apparent that a rise in malpractice lawsuits has caused a swell in professional liability insurance premiums, with the current medical liability crisis driving up health care costs and resulting in less access to care...[more]

Clicked Into Submission?

A decision issued by seven judges sitting half a world away, interpreting another country’s law, may have a greater effect on Internet publishing in the United States than our own First Amendment.  According to a ruling from the High Court of Australia, individuals and media that post material online available in Australia must answer for their electronic speech in the courts “down under.”...[more]

Boo-Hoo, Moo-Moo

Most would agree that cows are by and large pretty happy creatures, slightly less jovial than the common tree squirrel, but seemingly content with their lot in life. They stand.  They lie.  They chew.  They swat.  They get milked.  They get eaten.  ‘Nuff said. Au contraire, say the activists cum circus freaks at PETA...[more]

Rulings Breed Victory for Cheney in Dog-Fight Over Task Force Records

Proving that a watchdog’s bark is often worse than its bite, two federal courts have ruled that Vice President Richard Cheney does not have to turn over private energy task force meeting documents.  At least not yet...[more]

Government’s Hand in IOLTA Cookie Jar

Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court established that interest generated on client funds deposited in lawyers’ trust accounts is the private property of the clients.  But in arguments heard December 9, several justices seemed skeptical of following that decision to its logical conclusion by declaring that the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment constitutionally prohibits states from siphoning off the interest accrued on client funds in order to support legal aid programs for the poor...[more]

Judge Reinhardt’s Ricochet

Having ruled the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week focused its sights on the Second Amendment, declaring there is no individual right to keep and bear arms...[more]

Flying the Unfriendly Skies:
It’s Time for Tort Reform to Take Off

Perhaps running low on new deep-pocket defendants to sue, plaintiffs’ lawyers are reaching to new heights and making the skies an unfriendly place in which to do business.  The latest wave of personal injury lawsuits, titled the “economy class syndrome,” are being brought by long-haul air travelers who claim they have developed life-threatening blood clots after sitting immobile on long flights in economy class...[more]

Time to Close the Door on “Plused” Admissions

Race may finally be declared constitutionally off-limits when it comes to college admissions, nearly a quarter century after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an affirmative action program that admitted students to the University of California-Davis medical school based upon the color of their skin...[more]

High Court to Review at Least One Campaign Finance Case this Term

In what might be considered an appetizer before the much anticipated main course is served up by the constitutional challenge to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether a law banning corporate contributions to federal candidates goes too far and violates the free speech rights of advocacy groups organized as nonprofit corporations...[more]

Center Files Amicus Brief with Supreme Court In Nike Commercial Speech Case

Arguing that remarkable and immediate damage to First Amendment interests are at continued risk, the Center for Individual Freedom today files an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review in Nike, Inc. v. Kasky...[more]

Empire State Restrictions On Out-Of-State Wine Declared Unconstitutional

A federal judge in Manhattan on November 12 ruled that New York’s laws prohibiting the out-of-state shipment of wine directly to consumers in that state are unconstitutional.  Nevertheless, the judge stopped short of striking down the restrictions, instead choosing to wait and hear arguments on December 5 about remedies to the constitutional problem...[more]

Hand-Slapping Opinion Issued in Sexual Harassment Case:
Burns v. City of Detroit Update

Many avid court-watchers take pleasure in reading the frequent hand-slapping opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court and state supreme courts as they issue decisions on appeal from lower courts. Much like a parent-child disciplinary situation, it is not often, if ever, that the reverse occurs, with a lower court slapping the hand of a higher court. But that’s what appears to have happened recently in a decision of a panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals...[more]

Voters Not High On Easing Drug Laws

The American electorate drew the line on softening our nation’s drug laws after voters in three states overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures designed to either legalize or ease penalties for personal possession or use of certain drugs, including marijuana.  The votes came just a week after the battle for medical marijuana scored an important victory in the courts…[more]

Federal Judge Rules Beef Checkoff is 'Government Speech'

Abandoning the notion that the beef checkoff is a “self-help” program, the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) have temporarily staved off one of a number of challenges to the beef checkoff by persuading a federal court that the program is, in fact, “government speech.”...[more]

Pork: The Other Unconstitutional Checkoff

A federal judge in Michigan declared another of the nation’s agricultural commodity promotion programs unconstitutional in an order issued October 25.  The order struck down portions of the federal Pork Production, Research and Consumer Education Act of 1985, which created the pork checkoff program authorizing the collection of mandatory assessments on pork producers that pay for generic advertising, such as the campaign touting “Pork: The Other White Meat.”…[more]

Suing Government: Courts Part the Skirts of Qualified Immunity

Government entities and their insurance carriers should take note of a sea change in qualified immunity jurisprudence. The defense of qualified immunity to constitutional rights violations is increasingly and, in many instances, appropriately coming under attack since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against defendant officials last June in a case involving a prisoner punished by being lashed to a hitching post. Just last week, the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits each decided cases involving constitutional rights claims, and in each such case where the affirmative defense of qualified immunity was raised, the "state actor" was not entitled to its protection…[more]

South Dakota: A State of Men, And Not Of Laws?

The proposed addition to South Dakota's Constitution, known as Amendment A, states that criminal defendants have the right "to argue the merits, validity, and applicability of the law, including the sentencing laws." Thus, if approved, the amendment will enable a defendant and his lawyers to openly argue that jurors should ignore the law and vote to acquit for any variety of reasons, even if the facts show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime. By allowing such an argument, the amendment would institutionalize the power of jury nullification in South Dakota's Constitution.

Unfortunately, institutionalizing the power of jury nullification will only permit juries to dispense inconsistent justice on a more frequent basis...[more]

Nike Seeks Supreme Court Review of Free Speech Abomination
Center for Individual Freedom to File Brief

In a significant first step toward re-establishing sanity in the First Amendment universe, Nike has asked the Supreme Court to review a decision by the California Supreme Court holding that Nike’s statements defending itself against public criticism regarding its labor practices were merely commercial speech entitled to minimal First Amendment protection...[more]

"Take Me Out to the Courthouse":
Opening Day of the Supreme Court’s October Term, 2002

The United States Supreme Court opened its new term on Monday with the traditional call of "Oyez, Oyez, Oyez" as all the spectators rose. But for more than 1,000 cases with certiorari petitions pending, it was a day of plunges as the Court announced its first list of cases turned down for appeal following its three-month summer break...[more]

Seventh Circuit Adds New Constitutional Requirement
for Student Fees

After six years of litigation, including four trips to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and one trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has finally gotten a pass from the courts. In a ruling last week, the Seventh Circuit upheld the University’s mandatory student activity fee explaining that "numerous limits on the student government’s discretion for awarding funds" coupled with a "comprehensive appeals process," both added after previous constitutional rulings, "sufficiently limit the University’s discretion so as to satisfy the requirements of the First Amendment."...[more]

A Tale of Two Towns:
The Constitutionality of Local Ordinances

This is a tale of two towns. One is the City of Westover, located in West Virginia; the other is the Village of Stratton, in Ohio, just one-quarter mile from the border of West Virginia. Westover has a population of approximately 4,200 people; the Village of Stratton boasts 297 residents. Westover is on the west banks of the Monongahela River; the Village of Stratton is nestled against the Ohio River. Each town has a Mayor who recently got a lesson in First Amendment jurisprudence...[more]

Muzzling Corporate Speech

It’s open season on Corporate America. Somewhere between the tech stock bubble bursting and the first Enron executive testifying, an army of special interest groups, anti-globalization ideologues and trial lawyers awakened to the smell of opportunity, and sprang into action....[more]

Following the Bouncing (and Deflating) Ball
in the Discovery Phase of Campaign Finance Litigation

You need look no further than the federal lawsuit challenging the new campaign finance law for an example of a plaintiff –the party seeking redress – being victimized over and over again by the very litigation process that is the only avenue for plaintiff relief. That case (in which the Center for Individual Freedom is a plaintiff) exemplifies the growing and disturbing trend in litigation of parties imposing burdensome and absurd discovery requests, all in an effort to harass the other parties and pervert the issues....[more]

The U.S. Supreme Court: A Preview of the October Term, 2002

On the first Monday in October, the marshal will call the Supreme Court of the United States into session to formally begin the Court’s October Term, 2002. The Court’s work for the upcoming term started back in January when the Court began the ongoing process of filling its docket by granting petitions for certiorari in the cases to be heard this fall, winter, and spring...[more]

One Electron Too Far?: Trespassing Via the Internet

You get to the office, pour the obligatory cup of coffee, turn on the computer, and the work day begins. Most likely, your first order of business is checking your messages, which in this information age means checking your e-mail. Inevitably, the inbox opens to page after page of new e-mail messages that have piled up overnight, and now your sole goal is to quickly determine how many you can delete in one swift click without ever reading past the subject line. After all, although there might be one or two messages from colleagues at work or friends from college, most of your inbox is full with the Internet equivalent of direct mail advertisements and telephone solicitations...[more]

Beef Checkoff Litigation
Avoids Trial On Factual Issues

The Honorable Richard F. Cebull, United States District Court Judge for the District of Montana, entered an order on August 30, 2002, that averts a trial on factual issues in dispute in the legal battle over the Beef Checkoff Program filed by Montana ranchers Steve and Jeanne Charter and the Center for Individual Freedom. This legal twist comes in response to cross-motions filed by the parties requesting the court to summarily rule on the constitutionality of the checkoff program...[more]

The Indelible Right of Free Expression

The list of artists whose work has been banned is a long one. Ronald P. White has joined that list. It was 1999 when this South Carolina artist last created a work of art in his home state, and that creation was videotaped and broadcast to a local television audience. While most artists would bask in the glow of such exposure, White’s led to his arrest and conviction for merely having performed his craft...[more]

Extra! Extra! Kansas City Newspaper Convicted of Criminal Defamation

"Is gossip that [Carol] Marinovich lives in Johnson County true?" It is not, and the politically-charged question posed by The New Observer, a free, periodically published Kansas City, Kansas newspaper, could land the paper’s publisher and editor behind bars...[more]

Big Win for the Little Guys: Federal Court Rules Irvine’s Campaign Finance Restrictions Unconstitutional

Time and again we read about the little guy who took on city hall and lost. Not this time...[more]

Bearing Arms in D.C.
Will Individuals Get Their Second Amendment Rights?
The District Presents the Test Case (pdf download)

By Robert A. Levy: (Reprinted with permission from Legal Times) Michael Freeman is probably a bad dude — even a poster boy for gun control. He was convicted as a juvenile for assault with intent to kill, then charged as an adult with violating the ban on handgun possession in the District of Columbia. In short, Freeman isn't the type of guy who elicits much sympathy for an argument that prosecutors should drop their pending charge because D.C. gun laws violate the Second Amendment.

To download the pdf, click here.

Much Ado About the 9th Circuit

There has been a lot of hand-wringing in our nation’s capitol lately over the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Fueled by the ongoing backlash to the court’s controversial decision against the Pledge of Allegiance, and the overwhelming reversal rate of 9th Circuit cases by the U.S. Supreme Court, some in Congress are arguing the appeals court is too unwieldy and should be split up...[more]

Keeping an Eye on Your Tail End
The Continuing Controversy over Specialty License Plates

In some quarters, the back ends of motor vehicles are the back ends getting attention. In Florida, an Italian-American couple is undertaking a legal challenge to get back from the Department of Motor Vehicles their confiscated "two dagos" personalized license plate, which they paid for and have had for several years. Some guardian of sensitivity found the plate offensive and filed a complaint...[more]

Harassment Law Chills Free Speech

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently heard arguments to determine whether Michigan's sexual harassment law violates the First Amendment. The law fails the constitutional test in a number of respects...[more]

One Nation, Under Siege by Establishment Clause Revisionism

A nation at war, which continues to mourn its fallen heroes from 9-11, wrapping itself in the collective comfort of a renewed spirit of patriotism, was rudely awakened this morning to news that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional...[more]

Beef Checkoff Declared Unconstitutional

In a case with broad implications for the nation’s agricultural commodity promotion programs, a federal judge in South Dakota on June 21 struck down the federal Beef Promotion and Research Act, which is responsible for the beef checkoff and messages such as: "Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner."

To read the Center’s statement on the LMA case, click here

Estrada Memos Deserve More Privileges: The Debate over the Role and Obligations of Government Lawyers

"All lawyers, whether they are White House lawyers, or private lawyers, or Justice Department lawyers, are bound by the same ethical obligations."

An attorney made that comment in a high-profile case involving the role and obligations of a lawyer in keeping confidential legal advise given to a client. Was it made in the Arthur Andersen document-shredding case involving Nancy Temple, the Andersen lawyer who advised her client not to put something in writing? Was it made by Daniel Bryant, assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, in reference to Senator Patrick Leahy’s request for litigation memorandums written by appeals court nominee Miguel Estrada?...[more]

High Court Sides with Police on Bus Searches

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that police may ask passengers aboard public buses to submit to searches without informing them of their legal rights to refuse the request...[more]

Ninth Circuit Issues Lincoln Club Ruling On Independent Expenditure Contributions

A quarter century ago, the Supreme Court in Buckley v. Valeo held that restrictions on contributions to candidates were subject to lower scrutiny than restrictions on expenditures themselves because such contributions were only "speech by proxy," enabling someone else other than the contributor to speak...[more]

Summer Reading Assignment:
Library Internet Pornography Filtering Case

The recent decision in American Library Association, Inc. v. United States is getting considerable attention because of the sexiness of the issue it addresses — access in public libraries to Internet pornography. The interest will likely still not inspire many to sit down and read the entire decision, which is decidedly unsexy. It is almost 100 pages long and filled with a multitude of technical terminology and legal citations. Don’t let that turn you off. This dissertation, rather opinion, is a must read for every First Amendment enthusiast and cyberspace junkie...[more]

Dairy Farmers File Motion for Summary Judgment in Dairy Checkoff Case

On June 6, 2002, dairy farmers Joseph and Brenda Cochran, in conjunction with the Center for Individual Freedom, filed a motion requesting summary judgment in the case challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory dairy promotion program...[more]

Supreme Court Issues New Guidelines In Patent Infringement Cases

"The patent laws [reward] innovation with a temporary monopoly . . .. The monopoly is a property right; and like any property right, its boundaries should be clear. This clarity is essential to promote progress, because it enables efficient investment in innovation. A patent holder should know what he owns, and the public should know what he does not. For this reason, the patent laws require investors to describe their work in ‘full, clear, concise, and exact terms,’ …as part of the delicate balance the law attempts to maintain between investors, who rely on the promise of the law to bring the invention forth, and the public, which should be encouraged to pursue innovations, creations, and new ideas beyond the inventor’s exclusive rights."...[more]

Federal Court of Appeals Rules Affirmative Action Can Be Used in Admissions Policy

Reserve your seat now at the United States Supreme Court for the almost certain debate about race-based admissions policies. In the long and contentious debate over preferential admissions policies, advocates of affirmative action were handed a big win this week when the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (which includes Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee) found it permissible for the University of Michigan Law School to consider race as a factor...[more]

Court Rules that Nike Can’t "Just Do It"
Image Advertising Constitutes Commercial Speech

Public relations executives and legal counsel at corporations desperately directing damage control through public statements, press releases and image advertising should pay close attention to a recent case decided by the California Supreme Court...[more]

High Court Pares Scope of ADA…Seniority Has its Privileges

Imagine you’ve spent most of your working life with your nose pressed to a 15-inch computer monitor. Each day your fingers trudge across a keyboard, entering an endless stream of data into intricate spreadsheets. Mental escapes come in oscillatory glances at the Britney Spears cutout taped to the wall of your cubicle. And then the promotion for which you’ve endured the last decade is on the horizon. Your escape from "cube row" to the corner office with the comfy couch and view of the river. But wait…[more]

"Annie Get Your Gun"
Second Amendment Right to Keep and Bear Arms

In recent weeks, litigation, legislation and news-related events regarding the right to keep and bear arms seem to be exploding nationwide. While gun-control advocates have claimed some minor victories, it is more the gun-rights advocates who are winning in these showdowns...[more]

Supreme Court Fills Free Speech Rx for Corner Drugstores

In Thompson v. Western States Medical Center, the Supreme Court has narrowly struck down a federal law that bans pharmacies from advertising "compounded drugs," holding that the ban violates the First Amendment right to free speech...[more]

Chardonnay Crowd Takes on the Empire State

Lawyers for a group of independent wineries recently had their day in a New York courtroom where they uncorked their case to transport direct wine shipment regulations out of the stone age and into the internet age...[more]

Reading Beyond the Headlines:
"Qualified Immunity" Case Disguised as "Hitching Post" Case

We are all guilty of it: merely scanning newspaper headlines and reading the entire article only if the headline grabs our attention. The shortsightedness of that habit, however, recently became more apparent.

On Thursday, April 18, 2002, the New York Times ran an article headlined "U.S. Joins Inmate in Prison Discipline Case — Justices Weigh Liability for Shackling Convict to a Post for 7 Hours." Another Eighth Amendment prisoners’ rights case, right? Wrong!...[more]

Supreme Court Round-Up

On April 16, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a much-anticipated decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the contentious "virtual" child pornography case. The 6-3 opinion, striking down portions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA), has free speech advocates cheering, including those challenging the federal campaign finance legislation on First Amendment grounds...[more]

Colorado Supreme Court Protects Privacy of Book Buyers

On April 8, 2002, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled police could not force a Denver bookstore to hand over the names of individuals who purchased books detailing the manufacture of illegal drugs...[more]

Patriotism Flies and Dives: A Lawsuit over a Swimsuit

With American patriotism at a fever pitch, judges at a recent Ohio State district diving tournament belly flopped in the deep end for disqualifying a diver over a flag design swimsuit that, according to them, broke Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) rules...[more]

Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Anonymous Speech Case

On February 26, 2002, lawyers presented their cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in Watchtower v. Village of Stratton, the closely watched Jehovah’s Witness anonymous speech case...[more]

Employers Dealt Setback in Supreme Court Ruling

On February 26, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court in Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A. (No. 00-1853) handed down a disappointing ruling for employers facing growing numbers of employment discrimination lawsuits...[more]

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