UNITED STATES OF AMERICA et al., Appellants v. PLAYBOY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, INC. BRIEF AMICI CURIAE OF SEXUALITY SCHOLARS, RESEARCHERS, EDUCATORS, AND THERAPISTS IN SUPPORT OF APPELLEE No. 98-1682 In the Supreme Court of the United States October Term, 1998 On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware Marjorie Heins Counsel of Record 170 West [...]
Issue 88, Winter 2002/2003 by Joan E. Bertin New Yorkers learned a lot about the First Amendment from former Mayor Giuliani. He was sued for infringing free speech more than any mayor in memory, and maybe in history. Ironically this became a living civics lesson. Even those who disagreed vehemently with the message supported the KKK's right to demonstrate peaceably [...]
Mayor Jay Lee of Virgin, Utah has a unique view of First Amendment rights. Local residents who want to comment on zoning and planning issues at Town Council meetings must pay $25.
Freedoms that Americans treasure could be gravely endangered by an Orwellian program Vice Admiral John Poindexter has devised for the Defense Department in the fight against terrorism.
In Montgomery County, Texas, the award-winning children's sex-education book, It's Perfectly Normal, and It's So Amazing by Robie Harris, are still off the library shelves.
Michigan's "cussing canoeist" was recently vindicated when the state appeals court struck down a 105-year-old law banning vulgar language in front of women and children. Timothy Boomer was convicted in 1998, after cursing when he fell out of his canoe.
With a stroke of the pen on Nov. 1, President Bush stabbed history in the back and blocked Americans' right to know how presidents (and vice presidents) have made decisions. Executive Order 13223 ended more than 30 years of increasing openness in government.
The outpouring of emotion since September 11th is taking a toll on free expression, in what many describe as the "new McCarthyism."
For applying chaotic thinking to terrorist chaos, Jerry Falwell takes the cake.
12 librarians at the Minneapolis Public Library filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission protesting unfiltered computers where patrons can access pornography.
College campuses erupted recently over a controversial ad that appeared in some student newspapers. The ad, written and paid for by conservative activist David Horowitz, opposes reparations for descendants of slaves.
NCAC Censorship News Issue #81:
by Marjorie Heins
In January, the Supreme Court declined to review a sweeping decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that essentially denied state-employed professors any First Amendment right to academic freedom. The case of Urofsky v. Gilmore was a challenge to a Virginia law that barred state employees (with the exception of state police) from using state-owned or state-leased computers to access any "sexually explicit" Internet content without prior written approval from their "agency head."
The defense of free speech involves increasingly complex and subtle debates which conflate ideas and action, pit free speech against other societal goals, and seek easy answers to intractable problems
Teaching Sex, by Jeffrey Moran, recently published, provides a timely historical overview on the politics of sexuality education.