Blogs about: 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.”

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US upholds the right to search your laptop at the border without warrant
Naked Security

Here’s a riddle: Why did the US customs agents search your laptop at the airport? Answer: Oh, well, it’s hard to say. They just kind of had a hunch that you were suspicious, you know? It sounds like a hyperbolically offhand rationale to justify disregarding travelers’ constitutional rights against unreasonable searches (at least, the rights of US citizens, supposedly guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment), but the glibness is barely exaggerated. Here’s the actual wording used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to explain why it can’t change its electronic device search policies: ...we have been presented with some noteworthy [Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] success stories based on hard-to-articulate intuitions or hunches based on officer experience and judgment. Under a reasonable suspicion requirement, officers might hesitate to search an individual's device without the presence of articulable f

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IRS employees testify that the order to target conservative groups came from Washington D.C.
America's Watchtower

 When the IRS outed itself last month–with a planted question at a lawyers’ conference–in the scandal it is now embroiled in the agency made the claim that this was the action of a couple of rogue agents from one office in Cincinnati.   Much like the Fast and Furious scandal that excuse was laughable on its face; the only people who believed it were people who wanted to believe it, and today on ‘State of the Union’ Darrell Issa confirmed that at least two of the lower level employees in that office testified before the Oversight Committee that the order did indeed come from Washington DC.   The Oversight Committee has released some of the transcripts from this testimony, and here are a couple of excerpts: Q: Okay.  Now, was there a point around this time period when [your supervisor] asked you to do a search for similar applications?  A: Yes. Q: To the best of your recollection, when was this request made? A: Sometime in early March of 2010 Q: Did [your su

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Rockin’ Da’ Boat through Discourse
World Evolution in KDM's View

I’m starting out with a poem that I have shared with you all because it really applies for what has set me off. The Box Brown and Big no light coming in Air around me getting damn thin Wondering why trapped in this thing Only voice I hear is mine trying to sing When I try to breakthrough it only causes pain People wanting me to be like them, that’s fucking insane. I don’t fit in this container I am in I fight to many others chagrin My ideas of question and discovery is not quite the same, But for some reason these bitches want me to play the game. I keep kicking and punching making a hole Ooohh there’s the light on the grassy knoll Once I get out I’m going to burn this bitch down Leaving nothing but ashes on the ground. Go ahead and keep making these boxes of brown, Just remember there are others like me who will burn them down. The next poem? You come up with a title after you’ve read it. She stands awaiting her fate, Tears streaming down her face,

Mike Huckabee is Wrong About Churches and Tax Exemption
CITIZENS MILITIA of MISSISSIPPI

by Gary DeMar via: GodfatherPolitics.com Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), presidential candidate, and now political commentator for the Fox News channel recommend to Baptist pastors that they should consider rejecting tax exempt status for their churches because of concerns of not being able to speak freely about social and political issues. He told a group of Southern Baptist pastors the following as reported by the Associated Baptist Press: “The recent revelations that the Internal Revenue Service has been targeting people of faith — people who are conservative, people who are pro-Israel — and have been picking out the parts of belief and speech and faith that government seems to approve and that which it doesn’t approve has brought up a very important reality that I think, sooner or later, as believers, we need to confront.” mike Huckabee isn’t the only person misleading pastors about their tax-exempt status. IRS regional manager Peter Lorenzetti told the Faith Leaders

Do Google and Others Have First Amendment Rights to Publish FISA Stats?
Mootus Blog

Yesterday with great fanfare (and accompanying press coverage), Google took the unusual step of asking the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to declare that Google has a First Amendment right to publish aggregate statistics about its receipt of FISA orders. You can read Google’s motion here. Kudos to Google for pushing for greater transparency, but to our disappointment as law nerds, Google’s six-page motion doesn’t cite a single authority in support of its position. No cases. No treatises. Not even a law review article. The motion rests on nothing but the say-so of Google’s lawyer. With ordinary motions filed in ordinary courts, the failure to cite authority would be taken to mean you (a) can’t find anything supportive or (b) don’t care enough to look. Either way, it almost always would earn a quick, unceremonious denial. Let’s see if we can do just a little better on this important issue. Do Google and the other recipients of these orde

Iterum Cum Hac Merda …
Crimes Against Divinity
SCOTUS Bans Demonstrations on Grounds
Blogging Censorship
In Texas, Valedictorian Threatened, Graduation Speech Censored.
DALLAS LEX
Public Opinion of Media Still Sour, Newspapers Drop
Richard D. Baris
The Nuts & Bolts Of My Atheism
Fish Of Gold
You Probably Agreed to NSA Snooping When You Accepted That Website’s Terms of Service
the Net economy
Google Files First Amendment Court Case Against NSA Surveillance Secrecy
Sheeple: People unable to think for themselves

Google filed a court petition Tuesday demanding it be allowed to share information about government surveillance programs with the public. In a First Amendment plea lodged with the secretive U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, Google asked that the court let it disclose the scope of the newly discovered “Prism” program. Google also asked for the ability to share the number of user accounts associated with those secret data requests. The company argued that a gag order barring such disclosure is a violation of its right to free speech. The petition comes less than two weeks after The Guardian and The Washington Post revealed a National Security Agency surveillance program known as Prism. Leaked documents said the NSA has been monitoring data from nine major U.S. companies, including Google, Apple and Microsoft, in an effort to gather data on foreign intelligence targets. Google claims that those and other reports about Prism were “misleading” and

Obama Administration ‘Strongly’ Opposes Religious Freedom in the Military
U2SA

By Gina Meeks Retrieved from   http://www.charismanews.com/us/39871-obama-administration-strongly-opposes-religious-freedom-in-the-military In a statement of administration policy from the executive office of the president released Tuesday, the Obama administration stated that it opposes a proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would protect the religious freedom of men and women in the armed forces. In a section titled “Expansion and Implementation of Protection of Rights of Conscience of Members of the Armed Forces and Chaplains of Such Members,” thestatement says, “The administration strongly objects to section 530, which would require the Armed Forces to accommodate, except in cases of military necessity, ‘actions and speech’ reflecting the ‘conscience, moral principles or religious beliefs of the member.’ “By limiting the discretion of commanders to address potentially problematic speech and actions within their units,” it continu

Paris is Burning
frcolinmckenna

Adolf Hitler reportedly asked his General Dietrich von Choltitz, “Is Paris burning?” The general was ordered to destroy Paris before it fell back into the hands of the allies during the 1944 liberation. Famously, and thankfully, the general refused orders, and Paris emerged from the war relatively unscathed. Those who claim that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is a traitor, and should spend his life in jail or worse, may want to consider the paradoxical nature of simply following orders, or upholding an oath (i.e. to keep classified information confidential). A well-formed human being is not a robot. Hitler’s reign may have been shorter and less devastating if more of his minions had abandoned ship and worked to undermine his plans. The penalty for dissension under Hitler included brutal torture and execution, and the probable extermination or internment of one’s immediate family and relatives. The risks of defying Hitler were enormous, as are the risks for Edward Snowden.  If the Uni

Suspension from School and Possible Jail Time for Wearing an NRA Shirt!?
Gratiaetnatura's Blog

National_Rifle_Association (Photo credit: ChrisWaldeck) At the link, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/17/west-virginia-teen-arrested-for-nra-shirt-officially-charged/, is the story of a fourteen-year-old boy suspended from school for wearing a pro-NRA t-shirt. Not only was he suspended, but he was arrested and faces up to a year in jail for “obstructing an officer,” apparently because of something he said that offended the officer. Freedom of expression is dead in the United States except for the politically correct. A student would probably get away with wearing a pro-abortion t-shirt or a shirt promoting every kind of moral perversity, but God forbid the student wear a shirt defending gun rights. The officer claimed that the student’s “refusal to talk” kept him from doing his job as an officer. Now silence is punishable by arrest and a prison sentence. Now I know many police officers personally–the vast majority are not like the arresting officer

Google files free speech challenge to FISA gag orders, renews criticism of Guardian
paidContent

Google(s goog) has asked a secret Washington court to declare that it has a right under the First Amendment to disclose the number of security letters it receives under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Such letters, which the government uses to obtain phone and internet data about foreign nationals, are currently subject to an automatic gag order that forbids companies from disclosing their very existence. On Tuesday, Google said it is filing a petition to the secret court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The petition, embedded below, notes that the search giant has already received information from the FBI to publish the number of so-called National Security Letters it receives — these are similar to FISA letters but cover US citizens. The Google petition comes as a brouhaha continues to rage over the revelation of secret government programs, such as PRISM, that collect meta-data on phone and internet users. The controversy has not only let to que

Google files free speech challenge to FISA gag orders, renews criticism of Guardian
GigaOM

Google(s goog) has asked a secret Washington court to declare that it has a right under the First Amendment to disclose the number of security letters it receives under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Such letters, which the government uses to obtain phone and internet data about foreign nationals, are currently subject to an automatic gag order that forbids companies from disclosing their very existence. On Tuesday, Google said it is filing a petition to the secret court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The petition, embedded below, notes that the search giant has already received information from the FBI to publish the number of so-called National Security Letters it receives — these are similar to FISA letters but cover US citizens. The Google petition comes as a brouhaha continues to rage over the revelation of secret government programs, such as PRISM, that collect meta-data on phone and internet users. The controversy has not only let to que

Legal Buzz June 18, 2013: Google challenges US gag order, citing First Amendment
History Musings

LEGAL BUZZ COURT AND LEGAL NEWS Google challenges US gag order, citing First Amendment Source: Washington Post, 6-18-13 Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it’s forced to give the government….READ MORE

Sharyl Attkisson Hacking Update – Remember, She Watches The Watchers
The Patriot Perspective

For those who’ve missed it, CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson had her computers hacked – and CBS verified this.  She’s been virtually the only journalist in the mainstream media who does her job – and she does it admirably – reporting on stories like Fast and Furious (for which she won an award – even though CBS kept her from receiving it) and Benghazi. Now, she’s noted more irregularities with the hacking: “This suspicious activity has been going on for quite some time – both on my CBS computer and my personal computer,” Attkisson said. “CBS then hired its own independent cyber security firm, which has been conducting a thorough forensic exam … they were able to rule out malware, phishing programs, that sort of thing.” Attkisson described some of the bizarre things that were happening with her computer. “There were just signs of unusual happenings for many months, odd behavior like the computers just turning themselves on at night and then turning

Issue of the Day: NSA’s Spying Program and the First Amendment
Mootus Blog

Within days of the disclosure of the NSA’s efforts to collect U.S. telephone and internet activity data, the ACLU filed suit challenging the program as a violation of the First Amendment, among other claims. It might seem counterintuitive to suggest that the First Amendment prohibits the mere collection of data by the government. But there is authority for the idea that governmental monitoring can have a chilling affect on the freedoms of expression and association that the First Amendment protects. On the other hand, while the First Amendment plainly protects speech and association, does it guarantee the right to maintain the privacy of one’s speech and association? The ACLU’s lawsuit presents a number of important, complicated issues, and this First Amendment issue is one of the most interesting.  We’ve posted the issue on Mootus.  We’ll be watching developments in the case closely, and we invite you to observe or join the legal debate.