Strange allies. A University of Minnesota media ethics and law professor says the FBI raid on Project Veritas leader James O’Keefe’s home has triggered an unusual demonstration of support from the establishment media O’Keefe has spent his career trashing.
■ Vanity Fair: Project Veritas muzzled The New York Times …
■ … through a court ruling that the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press says violates the First Amendment.
■ Jacob Sullom at Reason: The Times’ protest of that ruling “wrongly implies that press freedom is limited to ‘real’ journalists.”
‘Clearly an effort to silence people with legitimate grievances.’ A Columbus Dispatch editorial sounds an alarm about an Ohio “anti-riot” bill.”
■ Massachusetts lawmakers face a similar choice.
■ A prosecutor has dropped a felonious assault charge against a woman accused of damaging a Cleveland restaurant employee’s hearing as she used a bullhorn to accuse the establishment of sexist and racist practices.
‘The defendant was not convicted … for simply exercising his First Amendment rights.’ A judge has sentenced a Donald Trump supporter from New York to 19 months in prison for threatening to “slaughter” members of Congress shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
■ An Arizona man’s been convicted of communicating an interstate threat to kill or harm House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
‘Boston’s Religious-Flag War.’ The New Republic says the Supreme Court will decide whether the rotation of flags on poles in front of City Hall can exclude religious symbols.
Rap on trial. Two New York state senators are pushing a bill that would block prosecutors from using rap artists’ lyrics against them in court …
■ … a practice they contend contributes to racial bias.
■ Waukesha, Wis., SUV massacre suspect Darrell Brooks is a rapper who posted an anti-Trump and anti-police song to SoundCloud.
You’re gonna wanna diagram this one. In a case that pits the free-speech-oriented Electronic Frontier Foundation against the pro-gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety Action, the EFF is asking a federal appeals court to reverse a lower-court order requiring disclosure of the identities of people who mockingly used Everytown’s trademarked logo in plans for 3D-printed gun parts.
■ The EFF says it’s worried that if the order stands, it could bar the anonymous use of a trademark for political or satirical purposes.
■ The ACLU and the Knight First Amendment Institute are petitioning the Supreme Court to review U.S. intelligence agencies’ system of “prepublication review,” which forbids ex-public servants from writing or speaking publicly without first winning the government’s OK.
On campus …
‘We’ll put your mother[*]*cking ass in the hospital, n*gga.’ A federal court says the First Amendment doesn’t protect a Texas high school football team captain who conveyed that message to a rival school’s student in a Snapchat video.
■ A new book condemns Koch Industries for an attempt to control “free speech” on college campuses.
■ Congress has launched an investigation into whether the University of Florida is violating professors’ free-speech rights by requiring “all employees to seek approval from the university before engaging in outside activities.”
■ Under pressure from the National Coalition Against Censorship, among others, North Kansas City Schools have returned a couple of award-winning books to school shelves …
