Home : Free Speech : General

Botetourt County Promises to Repeal Ordinance Placing Time Limits on Campaign Signs (04/22/2008)
Botetourt County, VA - Botetourt County Administrator Gerald Burgess has informed the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia that a local ordinance prohibiting the posting of campaign signs on private property more than 60 days in advance of an election will be repealed in the near future and will not be enforced in the interim.

ACLU: Keep the Internet Open and Innovative (04/17/2008)
Washington, DC –The ACLU submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today calling for open access to the internet. Its activists plan to participate in today’s FCC public hearing on Internet freedom and net neutrality in Palo Alto.

ACLU Encouraged By Bipartisan Support of Shield Bill (04/15/2008)
Washington, DC - After reports that the three major presidential candidates expressed support for The Free Flow of Information Act, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the Senate leadership to use that momentum to bring H.R. 2102, the House-passed version of the bill, to the floor for a vote. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) all signaled their support for a federal shield bill yesterday, with Senator McCain announcing his backing in a speech and Senators Clinton and Obama adding their names as co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill.

ACLU Encouraged By Bipartisan Support of Shield Bill (04/15/2008)
Washington, DC - After reports that the three major presidential candidates expressed support for The Free Flow of Information Act, the American Civil Liberties Union asked the Senate leadership to use that momentum to bring H.R. 2102, the House-passed version of the bill, to the floor for a vote. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) all signaled their support for a federal shield bill yesterday, with Senator McCain announcing his backing in a speech and Senators Clinton and Obama adding their names as co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill.

ACLU Slams Administration Attempts to Curb First Amendment (04/04/2008)
Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today reiterated the need for a strong federal shield law for journalists in light of letters sent to the Senate by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, outlining administration concerns about the “The Free Flow of Information Act.” This legislation, introduced by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), is designed to protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources. It was marked up earlier this year by the Senate Judiciary Committee but has not been voted on by the full Senate. The House passed its version of the bill in 2007 by a wide bipartisan supermajority.

ACLU Introduces First Amendment Argument In Key Patent Law Case (04/04/2008)
WASHINGTON - Introducing a rare argument applying the First Amendment to patent law, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend of the court brief today urging a federal court to uphold the denial of a patent that would, if awarded, violate freedom of speech. In the brief, the ACLU argues that Bernard L. Bilski is seeking a patent for an abstract idea, and that abstract ideas are not patentable under the First Amendment.

Protect Mourners' Rights, But Not at Expense of First Amendment (04/04/2008)
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The quiet reverence of a funeral service held in honor of a fallen soldier is punctuated by the jarring retort of a 21-gun salute. A folded American flag, once draping the coffin of the deceased, is handed respectfully to the surviving spouse. A few short words "from a grateful nation" are uttered, followed by a crisp salute and the solemn playing of "Taps." A few yards away mulls a group of protesters holding signs and chanting "Thank God for dead soldiers." It's the juxtaposition of these two rituals that is at the heart of one University of Missouri professor's examination of the legal issues surrounding privacy and free speech.

ACLU Wants Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule Reversed (04/02/2008)
Washington, DC -- In a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Vice Chairman Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the American Civil Liberties Union urged support of a resolution (S. J. Res 28) disapproving of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on broadcast media cross-ownership.

ACLU Seeks Repeal of Botetourt County Ordinance Placing Time Limits on Campaign Signs (03/20/2008)
Botetourt County, VA -- The ACLU of Virginia today urged Botetourt County government officials to immediately suspend -- then repeal -- an ordinance that prohibits residents from having campaign signs in their yards more than 60 days in advance of an election or more than 15 days afterwards. The ACLU is prepared to go to court to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional.

Department of Transportation Completes Investigation of JetBlue (03/19/2008)

Fired Art Teacher Wins $65,000 Settlement from Chesterfield County School Board (03/07/2008)
Chesterfield County, VA — The ACLU of Virginia today announced that it has reached an agreement with the Chesterfield County School Board in the case of former Monacan High School art teacher Stephen Murmer. Murmer was fired in January 2007 for creating paintings rendered by transferring paint from his body onto canvasses. The paintings were produced at Murmer’s own expense and during his private time away from work.

ACLU And EFF File To Intervene In Internet Free Speech Lawsuit (02/27/2008)
SAN FRANCISCO - The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Northern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) last night filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit that led a federal district judge to order the domain name Wikileaks.org shut down. The motion is on behalf of organizations and individuals that have accessed and used documents on the Wikileaks.org website in their work and want to continue to be able to do so.

Free Market Foundation, ACLU, Texas Eagle Forum PAC (02/13/2008)
AUSTIN, Texas – A broad-based coalition of plaintiffs today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Austin that challenges a state law blocking individuals and organizations in Texas from engaging in true public debate over the election of the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

ACLU Says NY Times Reporter Subpoena Is Assault On Free Press (02/01/2008)
Washington, DC – After reports that a federal grand jury issued a subpoena to New York Times reporter James Risen last week in an attempt to force disclosure of a confidential source, the American Civil Liberties Union today strongly objected to the subpoena, saying that basic First Amendment principles are at stake when reporters are called into the courtroom against their will. According to reports, a chapter in Mr. Risen’s book on the Central Intelligence Agency, "State of War," piqued the interest of the Justice Department and consequently he has been ordered to appear before the grand jury next week.

ACLU Files Court Brief In Support Of Attorney General's Right To Speak Out in Lead Paint Case (02/01/2008)
PROVIDENCE, RI - Supporting the public’s right to know, the Rhode Island ACLU has today filed a brief urging the R.I. Supreme Court to reverse the imposition of $15,000 in fines against Attorney General Patrick Lynch for public comments he made during the “lead paint public nuisance” case. The brief argues that the fines violated not only Lynch’s First Amendment right to free speech, but also the public’s right to hear the “views of attorneys concerning pending litigation in which the attorneys are involved.”

ACLU Statement In Support Of Senator Larry Craig’s Efforts To Withdraw His Guilty Plea (01/16/2008)
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union supports Senator Larry Craig’s attempt to have his guilty plea withdrawn because the Minnesota law under which he was arrested is unconstitutionally broad. The statute punishes “offensive, obscene or abusive language” which tends to arouse “alarm, anger or resentment” in others. Clearly, this law has the potential to ensnare and criminalize legal, constitutionally protected free speech, including solicitation for private sex.

Massachusetts Education Department Drops Appeal of Adverse First Amendment Ruling (12/19/2007)
BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) has agreed to drop its appeal of a lower state court’s ruling that DOE officials violated the First Amendment when they coerced education conference organizers into cancelling the keynote speech of Alfie Kohn, a well-known critic of high stakes exams like the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) testing program. In dropping the appeal, the DOE issued a statement acknowledging that a former DOE official “violated the First Amendment rights of Alfie Kohn to be heard and to communicate information and of people to hear and receive information, at a conference in western Massachusetts in 2001.” The DOE said, “The DOE’s position is that vigorous debate about education issues is healthy and welcome.”

Information Even More Free with Passage of Bill to Strengthen FOIA (12/18/2007)
Washington, DC – The ACLU applauds Congress for passing a bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the law that allows Americans to find out what their government is up to. The Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National (OPEN) Government Act will impose strict, meaningful deadlines on FOIA requests and punish federal agencies if they miss the 20-day deadline the law demands. The bill also ensures requesters will have timely information on the status of their requests, creates real oversight with a FOIA ombudsman and clarifies that government records held by private contractors can be obtained through FOIA.

New Plaintiffs Join ACLU Illegal Arrests Lawsuit, Call on City Police to Finally End Unconstitutional Practices (12/18/2007)
BALTIMORE ­ Charging that Baltimore City police continue to arrest thousands of people without just cause each year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland today added new plaintiffs to its lawsuit against the Baltimore City Police Department ­ amending the case to challenge wrongful arrests that took place since the filing of the lawsuit in 2006. The legal filing includes an original plaintiff in the lawsuit who was wrongfully arrested for a second time, a young man who was illegally arrested twice in the same summer, and four plaintiffs who were wrongfully arrested while engaged in protected First Amendment activity.

Maine Civil Liberties Union Applauds Federal Court Decision Striking Down Portions of Unconstitutional Parade Ordinance (12/14/2007)
PORTLAND – Today the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that advance notice and meeting requirements associated with the city of Augusta’s parade ordinance are unconstitutional. The decision upholds an earlier decision by the district court in Bangor to strike down Augusta’s restrictions on free speech because they improperly limited the rights of citizens to march and protest in the state’s capital.