Monday, April 13, 2020
#FREESPEECH in the News April 13, 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.) East Bay student who made ‘terrorists’ video settles with school district over free speech lawsuit
Three years after a high school student was accused of showing a video some claimed was racist and insensitive when he ran for student body president, the San Ramon Valley Unified School District has settled a $665,000 lawsuit and will issue him an apology.
Nathaniel Yu, had his student body president title stripped away his junior year in May 2017 when he posted a James Bond-style video on his Twitter account. The video caused a stir within the community and on social media as critics said it depicted armed students as “Muslim terrorists” and was insensitive and lewd. Tensions rose when more than 50 people spoke out about the video during a school board meeting at the time.
After Yu sued, school officials reinstated his student body president title. That action triggered hundreds of students at San Ramon Valley High to walk out of class in protest.
2.) ACLU: New panhandling law violates free speech
A new law tightening Indiana’s restrictions on panhandling violates the First Amendment by all but banning solicitation in cities, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana contends in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that seeks to block the law.
The law, set to take effect July 1, would prohibit most forms of financial solicitation by individuals and groups in the downtown areas of Indiana’s cities by expanding the areas where panhandling is barred, the suit alleges. Current Indiana law includes a provision barring people from asking for money within 20 feet (6.1 meters) of an ATM or the entrance to a bank. But the new law's provisions include barring solicitation within 50 feet (15.2 meters) of ATMs, business and restaurant entrances or sites of a financial transaction, including parking meters.
The new restrictions will leave “virtually no sidewalks in downtown Indianapolis or any downtown area in any Indiana city where people can engage in this activity which courts have recognized is protected by the First Amendment,” Ken Falk, the ACLU of Indiana’s legal director, said in a news release.
3.) Judge: ‘Seems probable’ Humboldt County attorney was fired over his free speech
Humboldt County legal counsel Jeff Blanck has been on paid administrative leave for more than a year without being officially fired, a status that won’t change for at least another few months.
The head county attorney was told that a hearing would be held April 30 to determine if he will be terminated over multiple anonymous personnel complaints against him. But on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg ordered that the hearing not be held before June 1, partly because the ongoing coronavirus pandemic would make it difficult for Blanck to track down favorable witnesses.
Seeborg wrote that Blanck has raised “serious questions” about whether the county violated his right to free speech when it placed him on leave right after he began raising issues with the county’s financial conduct.
