Lifting the Fog Over Lobbying Compliance - updated with impact of COVID-19 on NYS lobbying community
[WEBINAR] "Walking the Line" - Public Agencies', Officials' and Employees' Roles in Local Elections
[WEBINAR] Who Does What? Defining Proper Roles for Staff and Elected Officials
Bribery & Corruption in the Military. A Front-Line View (Part II)
Ethics Laws and the Importance of Transparency for Public Officials
Blogging for Lawyers
Lindke v. Freed, 2024 U.S. LEXIS 1214 (2024) (A public official who blocks someone from commenting on the official’s social-media page engages in state action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 only if the official both 1) possessed...more
On March 15, 2024, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decisions in Lindke v. Freed and O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, two similar cases which broadly asked when public officials may be liable for their use of...more
Penncrest School District. v. Cagle, 293 A.3d 783 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2023). The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania establishes a three-part test that must be used to determine if an individual’s social media post is a record of an...more
The May 10, 2021 post The Donald Trump Twitter Case: Vacated and Dismissed as Moot by the Supreme Court reported how the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Knight First Amendment Inst. at Columbia University v. Trump, in which the...more
In a closely watched case, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held on July 8, 2019 that President Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking disfavored users on his @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account. This important...more
Social media has transformed the ways legislators and their staff interact with constituents. Through social media platforms, our elected officials share insights into the legislative process, communicate with constituents,...more
On July 9, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from blocking social media users from accessing the Twitter account @realDonaldTrump. See Knight First...more
The Fourth Circuit has held that a Virginia politician who temporarily barred a constituent from her Facebook page violated the First Amendment. The ruling is the first appellate guidance analyzing the knotty issue of whether...more
Social media is the modern-day public square. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have effectively harnessed technology to turn communication into an interactive dialogue — fundamentally shifting the way...more
Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter typically allow users to delete unwanted commentary or block others with whom they disagree from posting on the user’s page or post. The subject matter of the offending...more