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ACLU sues Knox, Nashville school systems over blocking access to Web sites about gay/lesbian issues : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel. Photo by Michael Patrick // Buy this photo Fulton High librarian Karyn Storts-Brinks is a plaintiff in the lawsuit by the ACLU against Knox County and Nashville’s school systems, accusing them of unconstitutionally blocking student access to educational LGBT sites.

ACLU sues Knox, Nashville school systems over blocking access to Web sites about gay/lesbian issues : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

Knox County and Nashville's school systems were sued Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which accuses the systems of unconstitutionally blocking student access to educational Web sites about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Middle Tennessee on behalf of Fulton High School freshman Bryanna Shelton, Fulton librarian Karyn Storts-Brinks and Nashville high school students Keila Franks and Emily Logan.

A Knox County schools' spokesman declined comment. 1st Amendment in History. The First Amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

1st Amendment in History

" -- Amendment One, Bill of Rights, United States Constitution. Blogger Sued For Defamation Can't Invoke Shield Law, Says N.J. Judge. WikiLeaks Nearly Immune to Takedown, Says Researcher - PCWorld. News December 8, 2010 07:12 AM ET Computerworld - Massive network attacks and other punitive actions taken against WikiLeaks over the past few days only appear to have made the site and its contents far more resilient to takedown attempts, a security researcher said.

WikiLeaks Nearly Immune to Takedown, Says Researcher - PCWorld

Noonan v. Staples: “The most dangerous libel decision in decades” A long-established principle of libel law — truth is an absolute defense — has been called into question by a decision handed down last week by a federal appeals court in Boston.

Noonan v. Staples: “The most dangerous libel decision in decades”

The court ruled in the case of Noonan v. Staples that truth published with “actual malice” gleaned from the context of the statement can give rise to a libel lawsuit. The case threatens to muzzle both news and entertainment media, and could be particularly dangerous to independent bloggers and small startup news organizations — neither of which is likely to have the legal resources a traditional established news organization has to battle libel suits. The case rose not from anything published in news media, but from a mass e-mail sent by Staples to about 1500 employees informing them, within the context of a reminder about policy compliance, that Alan S.

Noonan, a Staples manager, had been fired for violating the office-supplies firm’s travel and expense policy. In a 1998 case, Shaari v. Supreme Court backs FCC: fleeting f-bombs can be punished - Ars Technica. The Supreme Court ruled today on its first indecency case in 30 years.

Supreme Court backs FCC: fleeting f-bombs can be punished - Ars Technica

In a 5-4 decision (PDF), the justices supported the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sanctions against Fox for a pair of live Billboard Music Award broadcasts containing some, err, "colorful metaphors. " The ruling supports the FCC's ability not only to ban floods of offensive words, but also to sanction broadcasters for "fleeting expletives" uttered at live events. What fleeting expletives were involved in this case? The court itself is too squeamish to actually use the words upon which it is ruling hinges (Justice Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion, refers to them as the "S-Word" and the "F-Word"), but neither Cher nor Nicole Richie showed the same sensitivity during their respective time at the mic in 2002 and 2003. The FCC has long regulated dirty words on broadcast networks, especially during hours when children are likely to be listening.

Scalia and company disagreed. Congressional Democrats prepare another assault on the First Amendment. US court rejects FCC broadcast decency limit. Oops!

US court rejects FCC broadcast decency limit

Apologies but the page you requested either doesn't exist or isn't available right now. Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo! , try visiting the Yahoo! Homepage or look through a list of Yahoo! ' Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance. Today on Yahoo! Federal case may redefine child porn. First Amendment Trumps Sharia in Dearborn. Citizens United Decision: ‘A Rejection Of The Common Sense Of The American People’ By Ian Millhiser on January 21, 2010 at 3:34 pm.

Is It A First Amendment Violation For Public Universities To Tell Athletes They Can't Tweet? Eric P.

Is It A First Amendment Violation For Public Universities To Tell Athletes They Can't Tweet?

Robinson, from the Citizen Media Law Project has a fascinating post analyzing whether or not it's a First Amendment violation when public universities put in place policies forbidding athletes from Tweeting or using Facebook: It turns out that a number of public and private universities -- including Boise State, Indiana University, New Mexico State, Texas Tech, the University of Miami (private), and the University of North Carolina -- have followed the lead of the National Football League, which imposes limits on players' use of social media.

The NFL prohibits players from using social media during games (and has attempted to extend this to others at the game). But the schools have gone further: Boise State banned players from using any social media during the season, while New Mexico State barred Twitter during the season. Meanwhile, the University of Miami, UNC, and Texas Tech all required football players to cancel their Twitter accounts entirely. Freedom of Expression: The First Amendment. Freedom of Expression ACLU Briefing Paper Number 10 "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Freedom of Expression: The First Amendment

" -- The First Amendment The inhabitants of the North American colonies did not have a legal right to express opposition to the British government that ruled them. Nonetheless, throughout the late 1700s, these early Americans did voice their discontent with the Crown. For example, they strongly denounced the British parliament's enactment of a series of taxes to pay off a large national debt that England had incurred in its Seven Years War with France. In newspaper articles, pamphlets and through boycotts, the colonists raised what would become their battle cry: "No taxation without representation!

" Why Howard Stern's Woes Are Your Woes, Too. Former Wall Street Goldman Sachs executive Nomi Prins is back with a thoroughly documented historical account of how DC and financial barons are locked at the hip.

Why Howard Stern's Woes Are Your Woes, Too

Accessible and compelling: Buy directly from Truthout by clicking here. First Freedom Homepage. "In this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.

First Freedom Homepage

" --George Washington Religious freedom is one of the United States’ founding principles, protected by the First Amendment and other federal laws. The right against religious discrimination is likewise one of our basic civil rights. When Congress enacted the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the height of the civil rights movement, in addition to barring discrimination based on race, national origin, and sex in a wide range of areas, it also barred discrimination based on religion.

Delete Censorship.org. Upside Down Flag Has Vet in Fight for 1st Amendment Rights. WAUSAU, Wis. - An American flag flown upside down as a protest in a northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade and the businessman who flew it - an Iraq war veteran - claims the officers trespassed and stole his property. This photo provided by Susan Willems taken July 5, 2009 shows an American flag being flown upside down, a day after it was removed by local police, in Crivitz, Wis.

The flag being flown upside down as a protest in a small northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade. The businessman flying the flag claims police trespassed and stole his property. (AP Photo/Susan Willems) A day after the parade, police returned the flag and the man's protest - over a liquor license - continued. The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is considering legal action against the village of Crivitz for violating Vito Congine Jr.' "It is not often that you see something this blatant," Ahmuty said. © 2009 Associated Press.

No Law: Intellectual Property in the Image of an Absolute First Amendment. "Overall, I strongly recommend the book. It was a complex and intellectually stimulating read. It clearly describes the field of intellectual property today...The book should be required reading for anyone interested in the area of copyright law and would find a home in any course focused on constitutional law, intellectual property or public policy. "—The Law and Politics Book Review "No Law has everything that makes a book valuable. It is clearly written, makes an original argument based on exhaustive research and challenges conventional thinking.

"I was provoked and engaged by this book! "This will be one of the most important books about intellectual property published this decade. The First Amendment Upside Down. Why We Must...) First Amendment Law (U. S. Constitution: The First Amendment) Judge: Student's Facebook rants about teacher are protected speech - Broward.

The Free Expression Policy Project. A Clear and Present Danger to Free Speech. Future of the First Amendment - Key Findings. Home > Key Findings For quick access to key findings click on the key findings 1-12 listed below. Key Findings- (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) Executive Summary and Key Findings The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's High School Initiative seeks to encourage students to use the news media, including student journalism, and to better understand and appreciate the First Amendment. High school students' attitudes about the First Amendment are important because each generation of citizens helps define what freedom means in our society.

How will America 's high school students affect this balance? Banned Book & Censorship Resources. The Banned Book pages have been retired. They were begun in the mid-1990s when the Web was young and search engines not very reliable. At the time, there seemed to be a place for human-selected and organized indexing. Regrettably, the pages proved to be too time-consuming to keep up to date, and have been left to link-rot for some years now. The First Amendment First Aid Kit. Supreme Court rolls back campaign spending limits - washingtonpost.com. Teach the First Amendment. Flag Burning and Free Speech. What Is the First Amendment For? - Opinionator Blog.

Top News - ACLU sues over blocked web sites. The Roberts Court’s Free Speech Problem. On January 21, in its first decision of this term, Citizens United v. Information on Censorship of the Written Word. U.S. Constitution: First Amendment. A Victory for Recording in Public! J-IDEAS, News and Resources for the First Amendment and Constitution Day. About Banned & Challenged Books. First Amendment Handbook. First Amendment Schools: Resources for Students, Teachers, Administrators and the Community.

Firstamendmentcenter.org: Welcome to the First Amendment Center Online. Photography is Not a Crime — It’s a First Amendment Right.