News & Media
Lemon Party! Las Cruces, New Mexico Prevails in Establishment Clause Case
While I am a rabid Atheist, and I despise government sponsorship of or entanglement with religion, I think that some of my fellow humanists take things a bit too far. Paul Weinbaum and Martin Boyd in Weinbaum v. Las Cruces, __F.3d__(10th Cir. 2008) went a little too far. When the government endorses religion, that violates the Establishment Clause and should be prohibited. Displays of crucifixes, especially in a city seal, could very well be construed as a governmental endorsement of the christian faith. When government uses a religious symbol to try and cram that religion down the citizens’ throats, that violates the Establishment Clause. However, when there is a legitimate historical reason for a religious display, that doesn’t offend the
Auto Admit Motion to Quash Granted
In the latest chapter in the AutoAdmit case follies, Anthony Ciolli filed a pro se motion to quash a subpoena filed in the Western District of Virginia. The response is here. As they say, this is TTT. Apparently the Court agreed. Motion to quash granted.
Public Citizen Jumps into Jones Day Trademark Fray
A follow up to Jones Day – Big Law Firm, Tiny Pink Ethics Jones Day, a national law firm, found it objectionable when BlockShopper.com, a web site that reports on real estate transactions in tony neighborhoods in several cities, published artilces on condo purchases by two associates in its Chicago office. It sued BlockShopper claiming that by mentioning the firm name in headlines in the articles, and by linking to the associates’ bio pages on the Jones Day web site, BlockShopper infringed and diluted its trademark. In a brief co-authored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen argued that the trademark claims were preposterous and, in any event, were barred by the First Amendment which protects the right to publish
Yeah, I Want My Money Back Too
Scott Greenfield has a point over at Simple Justice. if my government wants to use my tax dollars to save the American banking and investment banking system from collapse, to provide liquidity to the markets, to maintain business infrastructure, I understand. But I have something to ask in return. (source)
Don't Learn Internet Law from Bill O'Reilly
The analyst has it dead-on correct. Bill O’Reilly is, as usual, dead wrong. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSaF4KC3eE] The analyst does gloss over one detail in 18 U.S.C. s 1030 — that the hacker needs to have done $5,000 worth of damage to be subject to the statute. However, I don’t think that she should be criticized for that — when you are on a sound bite program, you need to do away with some details. She knows her stuff.
Grisham Libel Suit Tossed
Dennis Fritz and Ronald Keith Williamson were convicted of the murder of Debra Sue Carter. Fritz got life in prison, and Williamson received a death penalty sentence. Four days before Williamson was to be put to death, he was exonerated by DNA testing. Both men spent 11 years in prison for a crime that they did not commit. Stay with me here, because now the world turns upside-down. After the exoneration, two books were published on that case by the defendants in this case: Journey Toward Justice by Dennis Fritz, and The Innocent Man by John Grisham. Additionally, Robert Mayer published The Dreams of Ada, about the investigation and prosecution of Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot for the 1984 murder
Palin Email Hacked
Wired reports that Anonymous (the group that has been PWNING Scientology for years) hacked Sarah Palin’s personal email account and posted some messages online — messages that prove that she’s been using it to circumvent public records laws that apply to her official email address. Some screen shots are here, at Wikileaks. Naturally, the FBI is incensed and investigating. The intrusion was a violation of 18 U.S.C. s 1030, so they probably should. However, try calling them if your email gets hacked. Yeah, good luck with that one, bub. Quick review: When the government wants to snoop on private citizens without a warrant, it is a matter of national security. When private citizens want to snoop on government officials to
Ed Stross Case Reversed
A few months ago I posted on the Ed Stross mural case. In that posting, I discussed a positive First Amendment decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals regarding a mural artist who put the word “LOVE” on his mural — something his town’s elders found to be a violation of a local ordinance. The Michigan Court of Appeals tossed out the conviction since the ordinance was held to be an unconstitutional infringement upon Stross’ free speech rights. The Michigan Supreme Court reversed, holding that Mr. Stross missed his opportunity to raise a challenge to the ordinance. The Court of Appeals erroneously reached this conclusion, in our judgment. At the time defendant’s variance was granted, then-current MCL 125.585(11) required a
Virginia Spam Case Reversed on First Amendment Grounds!
One of the new Satyriconistas will be commenting on the case in depth, but the prior decision by the Virginia Supreme Court affirming a nine year prison sentence for a spammer has been reversed. The original decision is here, but the Supreme Court of Virginia appears to have removed it from their website. The new decision is here.
Dozier Does it Again
By Christopher Harbin and Marc J. Randazza Dozier Law Firm, P.C. recently escalated its war of words and attrition with cyber-critic Ronald Riley by suing him for trademark infringement. A bit of background: Dozier became entangled with Riley after sending Riley a cease and desist letter on behalf of their client Inventor-Link. Riley retaliated by registering domains containing various combinations of Dozier’s domain names and sucks. The thrust of Dozier’s argument is that Riley infringed on their trademark by placing misleading anchor text in the hyperlinks on their web page. Take for example, Naked-Pictures-Of-Palin.com. See what I did there? Dozier claims that hyperlinks purported to link to Dozier’s law firm were in some cases linked to various other Dozier attack
NYT Editorial on Libel Tourism
This Sunday’s New York Times ran an editorial, ‘Libel Tourism’: When Freedom of Speech Takes a Holiday. When plaintiffs file defamation suits in U.S. courts, they always have the First Amendment looking over their shoulders. Defamation suits in the U.K. have no such encumbrances. Accordingly, a few sleazy defamation plaintiffs learned that they may as well file in the U.K. As a result, New York passed a state law that prohibits libel tourism judgments from being enforced in that state. See New York steps up to the plate – passes “Libel Terrorism Protection Act” Congress is working on a similar measure. The editorial notes: “Libel tourism” is a threat to America’s robust free-speech traditions, which protect authors here. If foreign
Palin and Clinton on Saturday Night Live (and word for the day – "Flurge")
Funniest SNL intro ever.
Flight Attendants Freak Over In-Flight Porn
Bloomberg.com reports: American Airlines flight attendants are urging the world’s largest carrier to filter its in-flight Internet service to block access to pornography and other Web sites the workers said were inappropriate. (source) What I would like to know is this: Why we would let a union of uneducated bitter prison matrons decide what is “appropriate” for the rest of us to view? I hate flight attendants enough as it is. Do I really want them looking over my shoulder to make sure that I’m not breaking some morality rule on their plane?
Jones Day – Big Law Firm, Tiny Pink Ethics
Jones Day is the latest big law firm that seems to believe that its size and money give it a free pass with respect to ethcis. See Trademark Abuse by Jones Day to Suppress Free Speech. BlockShopper is a website that reports on home purchases in various markets. When BlockShopper reported that two Jones Day associates bought a pair of expensive condos, Jones Day threw a hissy fit. Jones Day claims that using their name in that article, along with a link to their website, is trademark infringement. Jones Day seems to have taken leave of its ethics by filing this complaint. (link courtesy of CMLP) While they may not appreciate the fact that an independent real estate website is
God, I Love Camille Paglia
Writing about Sarah Palin: Palin has made the biggest step forward in feminism since Madonna channeled the dominatrix persona of high-glam Marlene Dietrich and rammed pro-sex, pro-beauty feminism down the throats of the prissy, victim-mongering, philistine feminist establishment. That’s not the entire thesis of her article, which is brilliant from drop cap to the final period.
Florida Gay Adoption Ban Struck Down
A Circuit Court judge in Monroe County, Florida, has determined that the Florida’s ban on gay adoptions violates the state constitution. (source) The judge wrote that the bigoted law violates the state Constitution “because it singles out a group for punishment.” (source) “Contrary to every child welfare principle the gay adoption ban operates as a conclusive or irrebuttable presumption that … it is never in the best interest of any adoptee to be adopted by a homosexual.”(source) Although this is a bright day for equal rights, I wouldn’t expect this decision to have far-reaching effects. This is only a Circuit Court opinion, so it is of no precedential value outside of Key West. I wouldn’t expect it to survive an
New Satyriconista, Christopher Harbin
Christopher Harbin is a second-year law student at the University of Michigan. His interests include anonymous internet defamation, net neutrality, John Doe lawsuits, obscenity law, video game law, and corrupting the English language through the use of L33tSp34k. Welcome to the revolution, Mr. Harbin!
Auto Admit Plaintiffs Respond to Mariner's Motion to Dismiss
It seems that the Auto Admit plaintiffs and their attorneys are getting desperate. In response to Ryan Mariner’s motion to dismiss, the Plaintiffs filed this. The Plaintiffs claim that Mr. Mariner’s postings (“get in line” and something about an ice cream sundae) lowered their standing in the community. Unfortunately, it seems that they and their attorneys have taken this way too far. They may have valid claims against some of the defendants, but the case against Mr. Mariner is clearly frivolous. I would have turned in my law license before signing on to some of these arguments. Pleading here. And the supporting affidavit here.
I Miss Earl Weaver
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YKxf3OkpJc] HT: Janelle
JK Rowling Case (I told you so)
Back in November, I wrote about the Harry Potter Compendium lawsuit in J.K. Rowling – Worst British Export Since Rick Astley. At the time, it seemed like I was the only one who thought that JK Rowling would prevail (even though I didn’t think she should). Looks like I was right, unfortunately. The S.D.N.Y., following the Second Circuit’s decision in Castle Rock, held that the Compendium was not fair use. Opinion here. This is not a good day for fair use.
