Monday, February 24, 2020
#FREESPEECH in the News February 24, 2020
As the Citadel of Free Speech here in Cleveland, we work to protect and promote the basis of our democracy by sharing related stories, commentary, and opinions on free speech in the 21st century. Here's what's making the news – and what you should know about – in the past week.
1.) Federal judge orders city to cease enforcing free speech restrictions at Millennium Park
People who want to pass out literature or evangelize in Millennium Park will now be able to do so after a federal judge has temporarily barred the city of Chicago from restricting free speech privileges there.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey granted a preliminary injunction Thursday that allows people to evangelize and campaign in the park. Blakey called the city’s rules about visitors exercising their First Amendment rights in limited areas of the park “constitutionally flawed in several respects.”
The ruling comes six months after a group of Wheaton College students filed a lawsuit against the city, saying Millennium Park rules unconstitutionally restricted their freedom of speech and their free exercise of religion in a public space.
2.) US: Free speech no excuse for crimes of WikiLeaks' Assange
The U.S. government has began outlining its extradition case against Julian Assange in a London court.
The U.S. argues that the WikiLeaks founder is not a free-speech champion but an “ordinary” criminal who put many lives at risk with his secret-spilling.
Supporters of Assange gathered Monday outside the high-security courthouse. American authorities want to try Assange on espionage charges that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. They say he conspired with army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret files about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange has been indicted on 18 charges.
3.) Student wearing gun rights t-shirt sparks free speech lawsuit
A high school in Wisconsin has a dress code that students have to follow, and it says the mere picture of a gun is not allowed. Some say this violates their free speech rights. Robert Newhouse isn’t old enough to own a gun, but he said he is a gun rights supporter.
When he was told he couldn’t wear his shirt - on which is a rifle with the words “Pew Professional” written underneath - he and his family were confused. A classmate of Robert’s faced similar discipline for wearing a shirt featuring a Wisconsin Carry, Inc. logo. The organization is a gun rights organization.
Nik Clark is the group’s CEO.
"It doesn't matter what your dress code says,” Clark said. “The Constitution of the United States and the First Amendment trumps your dress code. If a school sanctions a walkout for gun control and to call for gun control, to call for universal background checks, to call for red flag laws, certainly they should at least allow students to wear a non-violent, non-threatening shirt as they go about their daily business."
