‘Stop it’ / Dissed / They’ll drink to that

‘Stop it.’ TechDirt columnist Mike Masnick says that blaming social media for mass shootings is ridiculous.

■ Vice News’ Greg Walters on the investigation of Discord and 4chan in connection with the Buffalo supermarket massacre: “Nothing will happen.”

■ A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that the First Amendment doesn’t protect a woman fired by a health-care company after criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement on Facebook.

Court house hunting? A Washington Post editorial concedes that the right to assemble and speak freely is essential to democracy, but it calls on demonstrators to leave Supreme Court justices alone at home.
■ Veteran D.C. journalist Bill Sternberg: Are the protests legal? “Probably not.”

■ Cornell University Law School professor Michael C. Dorf: Even if they are legal, they risk distracting attention from the real issue.

■ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill forbidding picketing and protesting outside private residences …

■  … which, Post columnist Aaron Blake says, surprisingly puts Republican DeSantis on the side of many Democrats.

‘A fundamental violation of the First Amendment.’ A press-freedom lawyer sees trouble in the Texas law reinstated last week by a federal appeals court, forbidding social media networks from policing users’ submissions.

■ An industry group warns that the law is so broad as to keep platforms from removing the most extreme posts.

■ Even the libertarian Reason condemns the law as “blatantly unconstitutional” and likely to “wreak havoc on the internet as we know it.”

■ In defense of the law, Texas cites Justice Clarence Thomas, who last year compared digital platforms to “common carriers” like phone companies.

‘Pandemic or not, this court cannot look the other way.’ Louisiana’s Supreme Court has ruled that Pastor Tony Spell could not be convicted for violating executive orders limiting in-person gatherings, concluding that such restrictions infringed on his First Amendment religious-liberty rights.

■ Spell to his congregation after the ruling came down: “Devil, you just got dethroned.”

Chief distinction. A U.S. Circuit Court has tossed out claims of First Amendment retaliation against Jellico, Tenn., police chiefs after their dismissal by the town mayor—saying that, as public employees, they weren’t protected.
■ Read the opinion here.

■ A federal appeals court governing Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and parts of Yellowstone National Park in Idaho and Montana is considering whether recording police is a First Amendment right there.

Dissed. The Department of Homeland Security’s plans for a “Disinformation Governance Board” is on life-support after the woman President Biden picked to run it complains she fell victim to … disinformation.

■ U.S. Marine Corps University law professor Jill Goldenziel: “Disinformation is necessary. Governing it might be illegal.”

■ The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel declares the DCB another “Cursed News Story.”

‘The Supreme Court just made it much easier to bribe a member of Congress.’ Vox’s Ian Millhiser says a legal victory for Sen. Ted Cruz is a boon to wealthy candidates.

■ Post deputy editorial page editor Ruth Marcus: “The court’s decision enables blatant political corruption in the supposed service of the First Amendment.”

■ American-British law firm Hogan Lovells: The ruling casts a shadow over future campaign finance restrictions.

News of note. New York State lawmakers have taken a step toward making theirs the first state in the nation to limit rap lyrics’ use as evidence in criminal trials.

■ Culture journalist Evette Dionne: “It’s nearly impossible to prove that a rapper’s content can be directly linked to real-world crime, but that hasn’t stopped prosecutors from attempting to use the strategy to bury them.”

‘We can’t keep f*** you out of books or movies … but we should be able to keep it off license plates.’ Governing Magazine executive editor Alan Ehrenhalt ponders the First Amendment issues surrounding vanity license plates.

■ Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Gehrke: Utah ordinances on political signs violate citizens’ free-speech rights.

They’ll drink to that. Maryland’s Flying Dog Brewery has won a First Amendment federal court fight for the right to label their beer in North Carolina with a silhouette of a naked man.

■ A Wilson Times (N.C.) editorial celebrates the failure of “a tired excuse for government censorship: The ban … is only meant to protect the children.”

Vince Troia contributed mightily to this edition.