TikTok clocked / Free wave / Silent night

TikTok clocked. A U.S. ban on TikTok could happen next month after a federal appeals court upheld a law requiring the social media platform to break ties with China-based parent company ByteDance.
■ Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Communications Commission poses a threat to free speech, a commentary in The Hill argued.
■ Canadian news organizations have sued tech firm OpenAI, alleging its ChatGPT software is “strip-mining journalism.”
■ The rise of artificial intelligence has generated a new question: Are deepfakes protected by the First Amendment?

Crushed it. A Salon commentary asserted that Congress is largely responsible for press freedom’s downward spiral in 2024.
■ President-elect Donald Trump’s call for a pollster investigation puts the First Amendment at risk, claimed David Voldzko of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
■ Lawmakers have introduced an anti-SLAPP act allowing federal judges to quickly dismiss lawsuits that target free speech.
■ A documentary film on the First Amendment wins an Anthem Award for the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Free wave. The wave of hateful texts and emails that targeted minorities after the presidential election are being investigated but likely were protected free speech, opined a Miami University professor.
■ Protected speech is at the heart of Idaho’s abortion trafficking law, which was given partial enforcement permission by a federal appeals court.
■ A Jan. 6 participant, who said he received death threats after a “60 Minutes” interview, had his defamation lawsuit dismissed by a federal judge.

Proper form? A New Jersey township council’s decision to bar people from using props, including U.S. flags and pocket Constitutions, has drawn criticism from free-speech advocates.
■ A federal judge is set to hear arguments challenging Louisiana’s police buffer law that targets reporters.
■ News groups in Idaho have sued the state’s top prison official to have increased access to lethal-injection executions, contending the public has a First Amendment right to witness the process.
■ Tennessee and Texas organizations that solicit donations to aid Israeli settlers in the West Bank have put a spotlight on the First Amendment rights of nonprofits.

Silent night. Author Stephen King’s raucous rock radio stations in Maine will sign off on New Year’s Eve.
■ Workers at London’s oldest Sunday newspaper staged an open revolt after the sale to a start-up company was approved.
■ A reporter for Mother Jones got an inside look at the fall of the Scripps News national television platform.
■ The Biden administration said it believed that journalist Austin Tice, missing since 2012, is alive and has vowed to “get him back.”

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Feeling blue / Maybe later /'Kill' bill

Feeling blue. In a post-election uptick, millions of disgruntled X users, including journalists and left-leaning politicians, have flocked to Bluesky, a social media platform that resembles the original Twitter service. Among new content providers: The Free Speech Center.

■ A fifth of Americans get their news from social media influencers, most of whom don’t abide by professional editorial standards, according to a new Pew Research Center report.
■ Some 11th-hour court filings have created chaos in The Onion’s bid to acquire Alex Jones’ conspiratorial website Infowars.

■ State laws that target AI-generated media deepfakes have raised serious First Amendment concerns.

Maybe later. Many people disappointed in the results of this last election have tuned out the news media and tuned in to their mental health, The Washington Post reported.
■ Working to reduce its workforce, The Associated Press notified employees that layoffs and buyouts are forthcoming.
■ Saying it is positioning itself for growth in the streaming era, Comcast announced it was spinning off its cable TV networks, which includes MSNBC.
■ Chuck Woolery, the well-known television game-show host turned right-wing podcaster, has died. 

Shaky book case. Florida government has again made a legal argument that book removals in public schools are ‘government speech,’ and therefore protected by the First Amendment.
■ More than 100 books have been pulled from the library shelves of Florida schools, according to a list compiled by the state’s Department of Education.

■ A Tennessee librarian recalled the pulling of 150 book titles as ‘literally heartbreaking.’

‘Kill’ bill. President-elect Donald Trump has directed congressional Republicans to block passage of the reporter shield bill known as the PRESS Act.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a Jan. 6 defendant who claimed that a law banning picketing or demonstrating at the U.S. Capitol was a First Amendment violation.

■ Supreme Court justices will not hear a legal challenge to a federal requirement that cigarette packaging include graphic images showing the effects of smoking.

Old-time religion? Elementary schools in Texas will be allowed to teach Bible-infused lessons in classrooms after the state’s board of education voted to approve the curriculum.
■ Oklahoma has established an Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism at the state’s Department of Education.
■ Court rulings have temporarily blocked a Louisiana requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in classrooms as appeals persist.

■ Opponents have called the use of taxpayer money for Christian schools in Ohio unconstitutional.

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Legal age / Alarm set / 'Garbage' strike

Legal age. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case involving age verification on websites providing material potentially harmful to minors.

■ As exposure to social media has shown to be isolating for some young people, Middle Tennessee State University professor and dean John R. Vile does a deep dive into the Kids Online Safety Act.

■ Elon Musk’s social media company X marks its spot on the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

■ The police department in Philadelphia did not violate the First Amendment rights of officers who were fired or suspended for racist or violent social-media posts, a U.S. district judge ruled.

Seemed like old times. Despite concerns about a potentially tumultuous and lengthy ballot-counting process, news outlets experienced traditional election night coverage.
■ A legal showdown looms after Maine voters approved a referendum to limit PAC donations.

■ A former Denver elections worker has filed a lawsuit alleging that her firing for speaking out about safety concerns on television, violating her First Amendment rights.
■ Gannett’s presidential endorsement ban was a gag order on local journalism and an abandonment of the company’s longtime commitment to local newsroom autonomy, maintained Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University and a former Gannett editor.
■ A federal judge has rejected a gag-order request from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team in the entertainer’s sex-trafficking case.

Alarm set. Donald Trump’s threats on the news media have press-freedom groups sounding the alarm on potential dangers journalists may face after Inauguration Day.

■ NBC News examined if or when freedom of speech can cross the line into breaking anti-terrorism laws.
■ In his new book, a Texas law professor makes a solid case for classifying academic freedom as a subset of First Amendment rights.

■ The history of U.S. blasphemy laws reflects a complex fight for the freedom of religion and speech, asserted a University of South Dakota scholar.

‘Garbage’ strike. White House press officials reportedly altered an official transcript of something President Joe Biden said that appeared to take a swipe at Donald Trump supporters.
■ Here’s how President Biden became a photojournalist and a TikTok influencer after being gifted a camera.

■ Media giants are testing First Amendment defenses in court to escape claims of workplace discrimination.

■ College administrations across the country need to respect and protect the right to protest in support of Palestinian rights, the ACLU and human-rights groups urged in an open letter.
■ The Knight First Amendment Institute has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to obtain a document that provides written guidance on Title VI obligations regarding discrimination on college campuses.

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Cast away / Vetted vet / Paper money

Cast away. Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have turned away from legacy media by taking their messages to podcasts.

■ Donald Trump has voiced threats of darker days for news media and the First Amendment if he wins the November election.

■ A nation that cannot support free expression cannot generate free and independent thinking, declared professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall in a commentary for The Hill.
■ Two out of three Americans rated free speech as “very important” to their vote in 2024, according to findings in new poll from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

■ The decision by owner Jeff Bezos to halt presidential endorsements has drawn criticism inside and outside the newsroom of The Washington Post.

PAC rat? Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC awarded $1 million prizes in a petition-signing contest despite a Justice Department warning that it could be illegal.
■ Tesla has won its challenge against a National Labor Relations Board decision over a Musk tweet concerning workers’ unionization. 

■ A California state appeals court upheld a restraining order concerning a woman’s “school shooter” texts despite constitutional objections.
■ A New York law that requires food-delivery companies to provide customer data to restaurants violates the First Amendment, a federal district court ruled.

Vetted vet. A retired, disabled veterinarian has a First Amendment right to give online pet advice without an animal examination, a federal appeals court has ruled.
■ A federal judge ordered the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop issuing threats of criminal prosecution to television stations for airing an abortion-rights political ad.
■ Free-speech experts criticized a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that they say weakens anti-SLAPP suit protections.

■ Visitors can trace the history of free speech from its roots to the present day at a new exhibit at the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.

Sign of faith. Requiring a South Carolina man to obtain a permit to hold a religious sign on public sidewalks may be a violation of his constitutional rights.
■ In Louisiana, a federal judge heard arguments on whether he should block a new law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in every public-school classroom in the state.
■ A Missouri requirement for sex-offender yard signs on Halloween is a step too far, a U.S. district judge has ruled.

Paper money. Florida billionaire David Hoffmann is buying up local newspapers, declaring the industry is not dead yet.
■ A group of journalism funders will give $20 million in grants to more than 200 small local news outlets across the country.
■ While newspapers continued to close at a rate of two per week last year, digital news sites grew, the Associated Press reported.
■ Think you know what is the nation’s third-largest magazine? Well, guess again.

■ Richard N. Winfield, a leading First Amendment lawyer who championed freedom of expression for journalists, has died at 91.

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First alert / Speech-less / Job review

First alert. Ramping up his campaign rhetoric, former president Donald Trump has developed a tendency to claim that speech he disapproves of is illegal, even if it is protected by the First Amendment.
■ FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel condemned Donald Trump’s call for CBS to have local broadcast licenses pulled, labeling it a threat against free speech.
■ California’s new law cracking down on election deepfakes was blocked by a federal judge who ruled it likely violates the First Amendment.
■ Elon Musk’s pro-Trump America PAC has offered $47 to people who can successfully get a swing-state voter to sign a petition supporting constitutional amendments.

Air concerns. Florida’s health department threatened to prosecute two local television stations for airing ads about the state’s abortion law.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Elon Musk’s X Corp. over claims that special counsel Jack Smith violated the First Amendment in obtaining messages from Donald Trump.
■ Supreme Court justices without comment declined to hear several First Amendment-related appeals.
■ A Texas book ban has prevented prisoners from reading a collection of their own letters.

Speech-less. Students say campus speech has been chilled a year into the Israel-Hamas war.
■ The revoking of “Oct. 7” license plates by the Illinois secretary of state prompted a debate about protected speech.
■ A federal judge rejected an order to allow New Hampshire parents to wear pink wristbands at a high school soccer game to protest a transgender girl playing in a match.
■ A second lawsuit against a Denver-area baker that pitted LGBTQ+ civil rights against First Amendment rights was dismissed by the Colorado Supreme Court.

Solemnly swear? Using history alone to define First Amendment freedoms is a very bad idea, contended a pair of law professors in a New York Times guest editorial.
■ Internal communications at TikTok describe a company unconcerned with the harms its app posed for teens.
■ A Georgetown University technology law professor examined whether childproofing the internet is constitutional.

■ After the hurricane devastation, tackling the lies, misinformation, and hoaxes is taking time away from recovery efforts.

Job review. Besmirched “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil delivered good journalism and gripping television, argued associate editor Ruth Marcus in a Washington Post commentary.
■ The editor of the controversial Scoop Nashville, who relied on public records and internet rumor to produce often-sensational stories, has died at 44. 

■ A shield law for reporters is vital against abuses of power, contended the editorial board of The New York Times.
■ Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre has lost in federal appeals court his defamation suit brought against Shannon Sharpe, a former NFL star turned commentator.

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Section off? / Conduct code / WhatsNews

Section off? The Freedom of the Press Foundation has examined how a federal appeals court used the First Amendment to undermine a law meant to protect free speech.
■ Perhaps Americans do have a better understanding of the First Amendment, two recent studies show.
■ Analysis: A hometown jury hands Boise State University a resounding rebuke.

Thought for food. A federal judge has served up a ruling that reinforced food-delivery app companies’ claim that a 2021 New York City data-sharing law is unconstitutional.
■ As artists continue to object to their songs being used at political events, it is not the First Amendment that governs their use, explained Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.

■ The impact of book bans hits hardest on the U.S. prison population, activists declare.
■ Banned Books Week was launched with mixed reports on the number of challenges to books stocked and the pulling of titles from library shelves.
■ A California district attorney has charged 10 protesters for failing to leave the UC Irvine campus when police cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment in May.

Conduct code. A federal judge has blocked an 1895 San Diego law that bans offensive and disorderly conduct in public places after a First Amendment legal challenge.
■ A Virginia law that prohibits inmates from encouraging other inmates to participate in demonstrations or work stoppages does not violate the First Amendments, a federal appeals court panel has ruled.
■ A new Tennessee law that makes it a felony to transport a minor without parental consent to an abortion appointment out of state was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
■ Newsmax has settled its defamation lawsuit brought by voting-technology company Smartmatic over 2020 false election claims.
■ Citing an attempt to have his free-speech rights curtailed, an Oklahoma historian being sued for defamation by a Pennsylvania legislator seeks to have the suit dismissed.

Fakes crackdown gets real. California’s tough laws on AI deepfakes ahead of the 2024 election face a pair of court challenges to their constitutionality.
■ Russia’s state-owned broadcast network, RT, has moved beyond propaganda to covertly destabilize democracies, declared U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
■ An Indiana law to create a 25-foot buffer zone around law enforcement officers responding to certain activities was blocked by a U.S. district judge.

WhatsNews. To help draw traffic to online news sites, some digital news publications are turning to WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app.
■ Penn State University administrators removed racks stocked with the college newspaper and sparked a free-speech debate.
■ A letter from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to the U.S. House of Representatives seeks to generate opposition to a bill that threatens nonprofit news outlets.
■ As an American and a Christian, a Southern California pastor declared freedom of religion to be central to the meaning of democracy in a recent commentary.

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Pet peeve / Epic fail / Oh, nyet!

Pet peeve. Pointing out right-wing lies and outlandish claims is necessary journalism, but the weaponization of misinformation calls for media to do more, contended Parker Molloy in the New Republic.
■ The Springfield, Ohio, woman whose social media post that sparked baseless rumors about Haitians eating pets told NBC News that she regrets spreading misinformation online.
■ Brazil’s ban on Elon Musk’s X has moved supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro to take to the streets in a free-speech protest.
■ A federal judge in South Carolina has rejected an ACLU lawsuit trying to overturn the state prison system’s ban of on-camera, in-person interviews with inmates.

Epic fail. Few Americans can name even three First Amendment rights, and two-thirds cannot list the three branches of government, a latest Annenberg civics survey has revealed.
■ The First Amendment battle over the U.S. effort to ban or rein in TikTok began today as a three-judge panel examines whether government action is constitutional.
■ A new Utah law that would require social media companies to verify the ages of their users has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
■ The yard signs decrying hate and racism posted by Jewish family members after a neighbor hurled an antisemitic slur at them were protected free speech, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled.

FIRE alarms. The more elite the college, the more chilled its on-campus environment for open discourse, suggested Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), in a New York Post commentary.
■ University of Virginia students expressed disbelief over FIRE’s survey that labeled their school tops in the nation for free speech and open inquiry.
■ A Florida school district must reshelve books containing LGBTQ+ content as part of a settlement reached between parents and the school board.
■ A Michigan State University law professor has tackled the question: Can public schools stop students from praying?

■ A federal judge in Michigan has upheld a public school’s ban on wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” shirts.

Oh, nyet! Right-wing influencers worked unknowingly for a Tennessee-based content-creation company that served as a front for a Russian media influence operation, U.S. prosecutors said.
■ Even news outlets perceived to be politically neutral can profit in the current polarized media environment, but a George Mason professor has argued that doing so may be bad for democracy.
■ The future of Fox News likely will be determined when media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his children face off in court.
■ Where have all the First Amendment absolutists gone? Constitutional scholar Ronald K.L. Collins can answer that.

Sky files. A North Carolina drone reporter has filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to acknowledge that providing clients with data and images from aerial photography is protected speech.
■ The state of Tennessee has been getting away with delaying access to public records, declared Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, and a partner to the Free Speech Center.
■ Former BBC news presenter Huw Edwards has been given a suspended sentence for accessing indecent images of children.

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Free love / Pronouncement / Plugged leak

Free love. Americans love free speech until they realize opponents have it as well, a Vanderbilt University survey has found.
■ One key provision in California’s online safety law violates the First Amendment, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
■ A Republican state senator from Chattanooga is set to appeal a public-records ruling that kept a school shooter’s writings from being released.
■ After a long free-speech battle, a conservative California professor is awarded a $2.4 million settlement.

Back to school. Colleges across the country have revised campus-speech rules while bracing for a resurgence in activism as students return.
■ Constitutional scholar John R. Vile has offered a closer look at a ruling protecting Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian campus protests.

■ Nashville’s mayor has announced legislation aimed at protecting First Amendment rights while boosting public safety.

■ The Arkansas Supreme Court continued to reject signed petitions for an abortion-rights ballot initiative.

Pronouncement. A Wisconsin teacher has claimed in a discrimination lawsuit that his refusal to use preferred names of two transgender students led to his contract not being renewed.
■ A group of pastors sent an email to a Texas school district superintendent asking for the removal from school libraries of 676 books that they deemed “filthy and evil.” 
■ A Kansas school principal who helped hand out Bibles to students violated the First Amendment, the ACLU has claimed.
■ An Oklahoma board has officially voided a contract with what would have been the state’s first Catholic charter school.

Access point. A law that shields technology companies from liability is now being used against them in a unique lawsuit, The New York Times reported.
■ Meta has halted its CrowdTangle tool used to fight disinformation despite more than 50,000 requests to keep it active.
■ Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, a messaging app with 900 million users, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into criminal activity on the platform.

■ The state of California announced it will commit $250 million to work with tech companies to help fund journalism and artificial-intelligence research.
■ X has become a haven for the type of free speech Elon Musk has come to champion – his right-wing political views.

Plugged leak. News outlets were leaked confidential material from the Donald Trump campaign but chose not to publish it, reported David Bauder of the Associated Press.
■ Three journalists were among the more than 70 people arrested outside last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
■ Preeminent First Amendment attorney Bruce Johnson has died after a short battle with ALS.

■ The last 12 months has been a hazardous time for First Amendment rights with the impact of social media commanding most of the headlines.
■ President Biden has called on Syria for the immediate release of another U.S. journalist.

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Climbing on Walz / Oh, hell / Shredded

Climbing on Walz. While media coverage of Tim Walz has been “fawning thus far,” it should be noted that the vice-presidential candidate was wrong about misinformation and free speech, concluded Robby Soave, a Reason senior editor.

■ College students embrace campus speech but are concerned about how others use that right, a Knight Foundation-Ipsos study has found.
■ Think you know what freedom of speech means? Test your knowledge with an NPR history quiz.

Stripped of their titles. Under a new law, Utah has become the first state to implement a statewide prohibition of 13 books from all public-school libraries and classrooms.

■ Author mocks state ban of her book with a social media threat to “hit Utah with my cane.”
■ A Chicago-based policy institute has sued the Illinois Department of Labor claiming a new state law, Worker Freedom of Speech Act, violates employers’ First Amendment rights.
■ Louisiana became the latest state to establish a police-buffer law to limit the distance journalists must maintain when covering police actions.

Oh, hell. Boston’s city council did not discriminate against the Satanic Temple when it rejected the group’s offer to give an invocation before a public meeting, a Massachusetts appeals court has ruled.
■ A U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals judicial panel rejected a First Amendment challenge to an Ohio school’s transgender student pronoun policy.
■ The Securities and Exchange Commission’s “gag rule” is a violation of the First Amendment and hinders the work of journalists, argued Seth Stern, a freedom of the press advocate.

Parroting parody. X’s Elon Musk made a Kamala Harris deepfake ad go viral when he reposted it, sparking a debate about parody and free speech.
■ Mark Cuban, the “Shark Tank” star and business magnate, challenged Musk on his suppression and amplification of posted “truths.”

■ Social media companies say they have First Amendment rights that protect their speech.

■ Susan Wojcicki, a Silicon Valley visionary who helped shape Google and YouTube, has died at 56.

Shredded. A year after the raid on a Marion County newspaper, Kansas officials still do not care about constitutional freedoms, declared the opinion editor of the Kansas Reflector.
■ Prosecutors in Topeka announced they will charge the former police chief involved in a raid on the Marion County Record with obstruction of justice.
■ A New York City journalist who documented pro-Palestinian vandalism by protesters has been arrested on felony hate-crime charges.
■ University of New Mexico police have dismissed charges against two journalists who were arrested during a sweep of a protest encampment in May.

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Threat Tok / Eagle soars / Shalt not yet

Threat Tok. The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a federal appeals court to uphold the potential ban on TikTok, arguing that the social media app is a “serious national-security threat.”
■ A federal judge has permanently shut down a significant piece of Florida’s Stop WOKE Act citing First Amendment violations pertaining to free speech.
■ Texas State has changed its campus free-speech policy as a way of defining antisemitism while complying with a mandate from Gov. Greg Abbott.
■ Former President Donald Trump’s vow to criminalize flag-burning is un-American, explained a scholar at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in an MSNBC opinion piece. 
■ An appeals case has raised the question: How much freedom of speech does a first-grade student have? Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, offered his perspective.

Cost of winning. The Denver-area web designer who won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling following her refusal to provide services for same-sex couples has asked a Colorado judge to award her $2 million to cover legal fees.
■ Elon Musk shared a manipulated video of Vice President Kamala Harris that is raising concerns about AI in politics.
■ A federal appeals court has dismissed a challenge to a Tennessee law that restricts public drag shows.
■ Employees are now banned from posting political statements on college website home pages after a vote by the University of California Board of Regents.
■ The Associated Press examined questions about the Kids Online Safety Act, including whether it can pass, and whether it violates the First Amendment.

Eagle soars. When the nation’s biggest news story came to the small town of Butler, Pa., its local newspaper’s staff rose to the occasion.
■ Rupert Murdoch’s children are fighting a secret battle for the future of his media empire.
■ Donald Trump’s libel lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize board can continue, a Florida state judge has ruled.
■ Fox News is “pleased” with a judge’s decision to dismiss a defamation suit brought by the head of the now-dissolved Disinformation Governance Board.
■ Journalists have continued to utilize the free legal hotline of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press when policymakers make veiled threats or block access to information.

Latest chapter. A new book-ban legal battle in Florida has both the prosecutors and the plaintiffs using protections of the First Amendment to make their cases.
■ NBC News has documented one law enforcement officer’s crusade to bring charges against school librarians in Texas over books he deemed obscene.
■ A new book has prompted an investigation into three unsolved Civil Rights-era bombings in Nashville.
■ A Massachusetts dad who recorded school officials and subsequently posted the interactions online has won his First Amendment appeal.

Shalt not yet. Louisiana public schools cannot display the Ten Commandments while the controversial new law to post them is being challenged in court, a U.S. district judge has ruled.
■ Constitutional scholar John R. Vile discussed First Amendment implications of Louisiana’s Ten Commandments mandate in public schools during an interview with the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.
■ Memphis Shelby County Schools will pay more than $15,000 to settle a suit with The Satanic Temple over potential First Amendment violations pertaining to its After School Satan Club.
■ A small town in Colorado has a protected right to provide shelter to unhoused people on church property, a federal judge has decreed.

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