At Columbia, Yale, University of Southern California, University of Texas, University of California Los Angeles, and elsewhere one has seen tent city campus landscapes, and students gathered for delivery of impassioned chants before cameras, sitting quietly with protest signs against walkways, or alternating turns to speak publicly to gathered crowds. Many times, however, news cameras
For practicing Muslims, Ramadan began on March 10, 2024, and concludes on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Ramadan is a month in the Islamic calendar devoted to fasting and prayer. Although not all Muslim students participate in fasting during this month, many schools throughout California do serve students who are abstaining from food and drink from
On March 15, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited decision in Lindke v. Freed an important case concerning state action, the First Amendment, government officials, and social media. The decision provides clarity on how First Amendment free speech standards apply to government officials in curating public comments on their social media pages.
In
This article was originally published in July 2016. The information has been reviewed and is up-to-date as of February 2024.
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism are typically cited as the major religions of the world, although there are many others that have tens of millions of adherents or more. The United States has no
In a much-publicized congressional hearing on December 5, 2023, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania faced pointed questions by the House Education and Workforce Committee regarding antisemitism on college campuses. Several exchanges—and public debate thereafter—focused on whether certain violent or politically-charged speech would violate the universities’ Code of Conduct, particularly the
With the approaching election year, we can anticipate a high level of political activity from the public to support their views of what should be the country’s future. No doubt, at times this political activity will encroach on the workplace, and for public agency employers, this can create unique problems. State statutes and agency rules
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliffe that public officials violated their constituents’ First Amendment rights by blocking them from the public officials’ social media accounts that were used for official duties.
School District Trustees Block Two Parents on Social Media
In Garnier, Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane,
When does a City create a public forum for speech under the First Amendment? When can a City restrict which flags fly on a City flagpoles? When can a City limit religious speech under the First Amendment? The United States Supreme Court addressed these questions in its unanimous decision in Shurtleff v. City of Boston
This post appeared in April 2018. It has been reviewed and is up to date.
Social media and the First Amendment is a fascinating and quickly-developing area of the law. All types of business organizations have a social media presence, for example, a Twitter page or Facebook account, and often on their own websites
