News & Analysis as of October 13, 2024

First Amendment › Hate Speech

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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech or the press, preventing citizens from peacefully assembling, or interfering with citizens' ability to petition the government for redress of their grievances. The First Amendment is one of the most sacred aspects of the American legal tradition and has spawned a vast body of jurisprudence and commentary. less -

Free Speech – Where Do We Draw the Line

Segal McCambridge on 2/6/2024

In recent times, headlines have been dominated by instances where students, professors, and professionals engaged in inflammatory, anti-Semitic, racist, sexist, and offensive language. The fallout has led institutions to...more

School District’s Discipline of Students for Off-Campus Speech Affirmed by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Franczek P.C. on 1/18/2023

A recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision held that school officials did not violate students’ First Amendment rights when disciplining them for off-campus social media posts that amounted to severe harassment...more

Political Speech in the Workplace: Navigating a Rocky Political Climate in a Private Workplace

Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP on 1/18/2021

Recent events in Washington D.C. and elsewhere have heightened tensions across the United States and led to renewed questions from employees and employers regarding how to respond to political speech inside (and outside) the...more

Can Employers Fire Rioters? Employers’ Rights in Policing Employee Off-Duty Conduct and Employment Law Consequences of the Capitol...

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 1/18/2021

Within days of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, employees who were observed as part of the mob entering the Capitol were discharged by their employers. Some of the individuals involved in the events at the...more

Sixth Circuit Backs Termination of Public Employee for Racially Derogatory Social Media Post on 2016 Presidential Election

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 11/11/2020

On October 6, 2020, in Bennett v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, No. 19-5818, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a district court’s decision in favor of a public employee who claimed that the city...more

Twitter, Facebook, Google Heads Testify on Section 230 and Local Journalism

Mintz - ML Strategies on 10/29/2020

On Wednesday, October 28, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a much-anticipated hearing titled, “Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?” The witness line-up featured...more

The Communication Decency Act and the DOJ’s Proposed Solution: No Easy Answers

Proskauer - New Media & Technology on 6/22/2020

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”), 47 U.S.C. §230, enacted in 1996, is often cited as the most important law supporting the Internet, e-commerce and the online economy. Yet, it continues to be subject to...more

Courts Uphold Law Enforcement Officer’s Discharge For Racially Insensitive Posts

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP on 10/10/2017

The freedom of speech afforded by the First Amendment is remarkably broad. Several categories of speech, including even “hate speech,” are afforded varying degrees of protection. However, the freedom of speech guaranteed...more

Racism in Your Spare Time: What Are The Legal Limits for Employers?

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP on 9/13/2017

On Saturday, August 12, as the nation watched, protests in Charlottesville, Virginia regarding the anticipated removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee turned deadly. In the days and weeks after, both the...more

Google and Charlottesville Events Raise Questions for Companies Regarding Employee Political Views

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 8/23/2017

Two recent major news stories again involve the intersection of politics with employment law. In the first matter, Google fired a programmer after he posted an internal document criticizing the company’s diversity...more

Social Links: SCOTUS strikes down law banning sex offenders from social media, denies cert in “dancing baby” case; Germany may...

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Social Media on 6/26/2017

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a North Carolina law that the state has used to prosecute more than 1,000 sex offenders for posting on social media is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment....more

Social Links: Court disallows firing over Facebook page rant; Ether threatens Bitcoin’s reign as top digital currency; NBA slam...

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Social Media on 6/12/2017

One year since agreeing with the European Commission to remove hate speech within 24 hours of receiving a complaint about it, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube are removing flagged content an average of 59% of the...more

Status Updates - October 2014 #12

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Social Media on 10/28/2014

..Unfree speech? In the United States, the First Amendment would likely prevent the prosecution of someone who posted racist or anti-Semitic messages on a social media platform. But social media platforms operate worldwide,...more

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First Amendment › Hate Speech

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