free speech

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Anti-Gay Church Ordered to Pay Dead Marine's Family $11M

Jury says protests violate privacy

(Newser) - A fundamentalist Kansas church has been ordered to pay $11 million to the father of a Marine killed in Iraq after a jury decided that anti-gay church protesters violated the family's privacy. Members of Westboro Baptist Church routinely wave anti-gay posters at soldiers' funerals because they claim the war is...

How to Shut Protesters Up: A White House Guidebook

ACLU lawsuit forces release of manual

(Newser) - A lawsuit sparked by two protesters wearing anti-Bush T-shirts has forced the White House to reveal its guidebook on dealing with dissenters, the Washington Post reports. The manual calls for a "protest area" separate from event sites and roaming "rally squads" to drown out demonstrators who infiltrate the...

Judge Scissors Out Parts of Plame Memoir

Court rules ex-agent can't reveal dates of CIA employment

(Newser) - Valerie Plame won't be allowed to disclose the dates she worked for the CIA in her upcoming memoir because it's classified information, a federal judge ruled today. The outed agent and publisher Simon & Schuster sued to keep the CIA from quashing info in her book, Fair Game: My Life ...

Food Critic Grilled Over Steak Review

Steamed chef may force Philly writer to reveal identity in court

(Newser) - A miffed chef is suing the restaurant critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer after he reviewed a $15 slab of steak as "miserably tough and fatty." But the suit could be even more of a raw deal than expected for writer Craig LaBan, who was ordered to give a...

Court Limits Student Speech
Court Limits Student Speech
Jun 25, 2007 10:41 AM CDT

Court Limits Student Speech

High Court decides 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case in favor of buzz-kill principal

(Newser) - Schools may limit student speech that advocates criminal activity, even off campus, the Supreme Court ruled today. The case centers on a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" displayed across the street from a school; writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice Roberts said the school principal's understanding of...

High Court Raises Bar for Investors' Suits

Companies trump shareholders for second time in a week

(Newser) - Investors who accuse companies of fraud based on executives' misdeeds must show that they acted intentionally, the Supreme Court ruled today, making it easier for corporations to have shareholder lawsuits dismissed. The decision helps protect companies against frivolous suits by clarifying a 1995 law, the Times reports, but critics say...

Protesting Vet Faces General Discharge

Marine board acts after antiwar rally; corporal vows to appeal

(Newser) - In a decision that may hold implications for veterans' free-speech rights, a disciplinary panel has recommended that a decorated Marine who appeared at an antiwar protest in desert fatigues receive a general discharge. Adam Kokesh, who had been honorably discharged from active duty, says the military is using "tactics...

Turkish Band Faces Jail in YouTube Flap

Fan's video of 7-year-old song dissing entrance exams runs afoul of officials

(Newser) - A seven-year-old song resurrected on YouTube has five punk rockers facing time in a Turkish prison. The song, an anti-authoritarian rant against the Turkish college entrance exam by the band Deli, was the sound track to a video posted by a fan, who lip-synched the lyrics while jumping around frantically...

Bloggers Urge More Civility
Bloggers Urge More Civility
Apr 9, 2007 7:53 AM CDT

Bloggers Urge More Civility

Epidemic of nastiness has techies mulling a Web 2.0 code of conduct

(Newser) - Prominent techies are calling for a code of conduct for the Web 2.0 blogosphere.  The group, which includes Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, urges that bloggers  purge their sites of anonymous comments and delete libelous or menacing ones. “If it’s a carefully constructed set of principles, it...

Obama as Jesus Stirs Some Ire
Obama as Jesus
Stirs Some Ire
Apr 3, 2007 9:04 AM CDT

Obama as Jesus Stirs Some Ire

Christ sculpture draws protest, but Barack turns the other cheek

(Newser) - Another sculpture of Jesus is stirring protest this Holy Week—this time a work portraying Barack Obama as the savior. The Art Institute of Chicago has gotten a flood of angry calls over the piece in an exhibition of student work, close on the heels of the chocolate Christ brouhaha...

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