A federal judge has declared unconstitutional a little-known law making it a crime to falsely claim to have been awarded a military medal. A Colorado man who was never in the military was arrested for falsely claiming to have won the Purple Heart (.pdf) and other medals as a Marine in Iraq. He challenged the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 , which provides penalties up to a year in prison, on grounds it breached the First Amendment. In the first ruling... 

Welcome to the surveillance society. That’s what the American Civil Liberties Union concluded Tuesday with a report chronicling government spying and the detention of groups and individuals “for doing little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.” The report, Policing Free Speech: Police Surveillance and Obstruction of First Amendment-Protected Activity (.pdf), surveys news accounts and studies of questionable... 

A Florida man arrested and briefly jailed for posting a local police officer’s home address on a cop-rating site said Wednesday his ordeal was “completely crazy.” “Just because I posted it, I got arrested. It wasn’t like it was the Pentagon Papers,” Robert Brayshaw, a 35-year-old Tallahassee man, said in a telephone interview. Brayshaw’s comments came hours after the deadline passed for Florida to appeal... 

A federal judge has struck down a Florida law prohibiting the publication of a police officer’s name, phone number or address, calling the statute an unconstitutional restraint on speech. The decision leaves Arizona, Colorado and Washington state with similar laws on the books. Florida authorities said Wednesday they were mulling whether to appeal. Robert Brayshaw, a 35-year-old apartment manager, brought the challenge to Florida’s... 

A California appeals court ruled this week that threatening posts made by readers of a website are not protected free speech, allowing a case charging the posters with hate crimes and defamation to proceed. The case raises fundamental questions about cyberbullying and the line between online speech and hate crimes. In her dissenting opinion, Judge Frances Rothschild said the appellate court ruling “alters the legal landscape to the severe... 

Deadlocked jurors in the Hal Turner hate blogger case were excused late Wednesday after deliberating two days. It’s the second mistrial in the government’s case to prosecute the New Jersey man for allegedly threatening to kill judges. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan said a new trial was “highly likely .” A third trial was tentatively scheduled April 12 in New York federal court. Turner , of New Jersey, blogged at... 

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to delve into the sensitive question of whether the First Amendment protects anti-gay protesters carrying placards outside military funerals, bearing “America is Doomed,” “Thank God for 9/11″ and other volatile slogans, like “Thank God for dead soldiers.” The messages and picketing are part of a Kansas church’s belief that the United States’ tolerance for homosexuality... 

The score is 2-1 in favor of the First Amendment when it comes to three federal rulings this month on the limits of students’ online, off-campus speech. The latest ruling, which supports the student, concerned a former Florida high senior who was reprimanded for “cyberbullying” a teacher on Facebook. Katherine Evans, now 20, was suspended two years ago after creating a Facebook group devoted to her English teacher. The group... 

Do American students have First Amendment rights beyond the schoolyard gates? The answer is yes and no, according to two conflicting federal appellate decisions Thursday testing student speech in the online world. “Ultimately, the Supreme Court is going to have to decide if there ever is a time students have full-fledged First Amendment rights,” said Frank LoMonte, executive director of Virginia-Based Student Press Law Center. He’s... 

“No More Blood For Oil.” Bumper stickers with that phrase were synonymous with opposition to the Iraq War, during the George W. Bush administration. Simply hosting that message on one’s bumper was cause enough to remove two attendees at Bush’s 2005 speech at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum in Colorado. The White House had a policy of excluding those who did not agree with the president from his public appearances. It’s...