Since returning to office in January, President Trump has repeatedly abused his executive power in an attempt to silence those who dare to challenge his administration’s agenda. This spring, the administration issued executive orders imposing sanctions on certain major law firms in retaliation for their advocacy on behalf of clients and issues disfavored by the President. Among other major [...]
Today, NCAC, along with our partners at PEN America, the Rutherford Foundation, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, joined an amicus brief written and filed by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in urging the court to uphold Mohamad Khalil’s First Amendment rights and release him from detention. In an era where political speech and academic freedom [...]
(NEW YORK) – PEN America, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) on Monday jointly filed an amicus brief to support the First Amendment rights of Netflix in a lawsuit over the series 13 Reasons Why, which depicted suicide. Netflix is being sued for damages following a 15-year-old girl’s [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship joined the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union in support of The New York Times’ right to report and publish information related to Project Veritas.
Eighth Circuit ruled in that an Arkansas anti-BDS statute imposed an unconstitutional condition on state contractors' exercise of their First Amendment rights.
NCAC has joined several free speech organizations in supporting Oberlin College’s appeal of a $44 million libel judgment that threatens the free speech rights of its faculty and students. They filed an amicus brief in an Ohio appeals court on June 5. The case grew out of the arrest of three African American students in 2016 for attempted theft [...]
NCAC has filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to hear the case of a combat veteran who was arrested after he swore at a Department of Veterans Affairs employee on the telephone.
NCAC has joined with 17 other organizations in filing a brief with the US Supreme Court in the case of Prison Legal News v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections.
NCAC joins PEN America and 31 other prominent arts organizations in urging the Supreme Court to strike down the third version of the Trump travel ban issued in September 2017. The case will receive a hearing in the Supreme Court on April 25.
(Photo: Masha George/Flickr/cc) NCAC joins PEN America and 31 other prominent arts organizations to jointly file a friend of the court brief in the case of State of Hawaii v. Trump, urging the Supreme Court to strike down the third version of the Trump travel ban issued on September 27, 2017. Executive Order (EO) 13780 bans all immigration from six majority [...]
The university was sued by a group of students for failing to protect them from peer-on-peer harassment by not banning a social media app. NCAC writes in support of the university's commitment to free speech.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and 16 other nonprofits have filed an amicus brief in support of Representative William Lacy Clay of Missouri and his constituent, student artist David Pulphus.
NCAC has joined the Student Press Law Center, the Cato Institute and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in urging the Supreme Court to take the case of Craig Keefe who was expelled from a nursing program for 'unprofessional' remarks.
In a disturbing development that directly threatens the freedom to imagine, rap lyrics are being brought in as evidence in criminal trials (New York Times story). An amicus brief (below) filed by the New Jersey chapter of NCAC participating organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, argues That a rap artist wrote lyrics seemingly embracing the world of violence is [...]
NCAC has partnered with the Freedom To Read Foundation and other library, education, and free speech organizations in filing an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Arce v. Huppenthal, arguing that a statute which led to the disbanding of Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) program violates Arizona students’ First Amendment rights.
Gene Patents A gene patent case now in the Supreme Court is attracting a lot of attention, not only because of its importance to scientific research and health care but also because of its potential free speech implications. Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics challenges the validity of patents held by Myriad on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 [...]
ATLANTA, February 1, 2013-A federal jury today found former Valdosta State University (VSU) President Ronald M. Zaccari personally liable for $50,000 for violating the due process rights of former student Hayden Barnes in the case of Barnes v. Zaccari. In May 2007, Zaccari expelled Barnes for peacefully protesting Zaccari's plan to construct two parking garages on campus, calling a collage posted by Barnes on his personal Facebook page a "threatening document" and labeling Barnes a "clear and present danger" to VSU. Barnes first came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help in October 2007.
"College administrators have been blatantly and willfully violating student rights for decades, but they have far too often dodged personal responsibility. Not so today," said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. "We hope this serves as a much-needed wake up call to college administrators that it's time to start paying close attention to the basic rights of their students."
"After five years, I finally feel vindicated. This is a victory for me but it's also a victory for students everywhere," said Barnes. "I hope that other college administrators take heed and see that violating students' rights can be costly and that they will be held accountable. I thank my legal team and FIRE for making this victory possible and my friends and family for standing by me through this difficult fight."
Barnes' ordeal began in the spring of 2007, when he protested Zaccari's plan to construct two new parking garages on campus at a cost of $30 million. By posting flyers and sending emails to Zaccari, student and faculty governing bodies, and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, Barnes expressed his concerns and proposed what he saw as environmentally friendly alternatives. Barnes also penned a letter to the editor of the VSU student newspaper about the proposed parking garage plans and wrote to Zaccari to ask for an exemption from the mandatory student fee designated for funding the construction.
In response to Barnes' activism, Zaccari personally ordered that he be "administratively withdrawn" from VSU in May of 2007, ignoring the concerns raised by members of his administration. Zaccari absurdly claimed that Barnes presented a "clear and present danger" to both Zaccari and the VSU campus on the basis of a cut-and-paste collage Barnes had posted on his Facebook page that included pictures of Zaccari, a parking deck, and the caption "S.A.V.E.-Zaccari Memorial Parking Garage." Given no notice or opportunity to defend himself, Barnes came to FIRE for help in October 2007.
Today's verdict follows five years of litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels. In January 2008, Barnes filed suit in cooperation with eminent First Amendment attorney and FIRE Legal Network member Robert Corn-Revere of Davis Wright Tremaine in Washington, D.C., and Cary Wiggins of The Wiggins Law Group in Atlanta.
In September of 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia found that because Zaccari expelled Barnes without notice or a hearing, Zaccari violated Barnes' constitutional right to due process. In its opinion (PDF), the district court ruled that because Zaccari ignored "clearly established" law in punishing Barnes, Zaccari could not avail himself of the defense of "qualified immunity," and could be found personally liable for damages.
Zaccari and the Board of Regents appealed the district court's ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in October 2010, and oral arguments in the case were heard in Montgomery, Alabama, in November 2011. The Eleventh Circuit upheld the district court's denial of qualified immunity to Zaccari, finding that Barnes "had a clearly established constitutional right to notice and a hearing before being removed from VSU." Joined by 14 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum concerned about student rights on public campuses, FIRE had authored and filed an amici curiae brief with the Eleventh Circuit in April 2011 urging that result.
Following the Eleventh Circuit's ruling, the case returned to federal district court. The trial began on Monday, January 28, 2013, before the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Valdosta Division, and ended today with a verdict in Barnes' favor. In addition to the $50,000 judgment, attorneys' fees still remain to be assessed against the losing party. Barnes' separate breach of contract claim against the Board of Regents remains pending in state court.
"We are very pleased to have secured a just outcome for Hayden," said Corn-Revere.
FIRE has aided Barnes since learning of his case in October 2007. FIRE wrote repeatedly to Board of Regents officials, urging them to undo VSU's unlawful actions and uphold the Constitution within the university system. Under pressure from FIRE and the federal lawsuit against Zaccari and other VSU administrators, the Board of Regents finally reversed Barnes' expulsion early in 2008, and Zaccari retired months earlier than planned. Under further pressure from FIRE, former VSU President Patrick J. Schloss dismantled VSU's unconstitutional free speech zone in September 2008.
FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation's colleges and universities. FIRE's efforts to preserve liberty at Valdosta State University and on campuses across America can be viewed at thefire.org.
CONTACT: Will Creeley, Director of Legal and Public Advocacy, FIRE: 215-717-3473; [email protected]
Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association et al: The brief challenges a California law designed to prevent minors from purchasing "violent video games." The law requires that any violent video game "that is imported into or distributed in California for retail sale" be labeled with a two inch by two inch label marked "18."
In July, 2010, NCAC joins The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, The Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, and The Pennsylvania Center for The First Amendment in a friend of the court brief in the Supreme Court in support of the right to protest.
This week, in a decision that is likely to limit what theaters decide to produce, Colorado's Supreme Court upheld the state's ban on theatrical smoking. The 2006 Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking inside public buildings. This is something we welcome! However, contrary to the situation in other states where smoking on stage is exempt, Colorado performers are [...]
NCAC and the College Art Association recently filed an amici curiae brief in United States .v Stevens in the Supreme Court, heard October 6. Although the subject matter - images of animal cruelty - is extremely distasteful - the case raises critical First Amendment questions that would affect a wide variety of valuable expression and undermine fundamental constitutional principles.
Even though a jury has now determined that Ward Churchill, a tenured professor at the University of Colorado, was fired as a result of his controversial views and in violation of his constitutional rights, his case remains controversial.
On Tuesday April 28, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in the matter of FCC v. Fox Television Stations, which on its face appears to be hostile to free speech interests. In a 5-4 decision, the Court sided with the FCC, finding that the agency had not been arbitrary or capricious in its sanctioning of Fox Television Stations, Inc. over two instances of live broadcasts where the F- and S- words were uttered. The FCC had determined that these instances of “fleeting expletives” were indecent, but not protected by the First Amendment--- despite a long standing tradition of fleeting instances of indecent content being immune from FCC sanctions. Every cloud has its silver lining, however. This case’s silver lining is that it will ultimately be fantastic for free expression, in that Justice Antonin Scalia, in writing for the majority, declined to make a decision regarding the constitutionality of the FCC’s new policy regarding fleeting expletives, instead sending the case back to the lower court for further deliberation on this issue.
A short picture book for children ages 4-8 has been getting a lot of attention recently. Vamos a Cuba by Alta Schreier and its English counterpart, A Visit to Cuba, were banned from school libraries in 2006 by the Miami-Dade School Board. The book was removed based on complaints that it painted to favorable a [...]
Free speech organizations joined in criticizing a decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Miami-Dade County School Board’s banning of the children’s picture book Vamos a Cuba.
On March 4, 2009, the US Supreme Court ruled that Diana Levine could sue the parmaceutical company Wyeth for risks Wyeth knew but did not disclose. Because the label had been approved by the FDA, Wyeth claimed her suit should be barred. The Supreme Court disagreed.
NCAC and nine other academic and free expression groups filed an amicus brief in an important free speech and academic ...
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and of U.S. government efforts to combat terrorism by often secretive or constitutionally dubious means, questions have arisen about the scope of First Amendment protection for political protest and dissent. This Fact Sheet, originally prepared for a November 2006 conference on "Civil Liberties in a Paranoid Society," outlines [...]
NCAC is concerned that in its efforts to curb child pornography, the government is pursuing a course that will apply overly broad restrictions to speech and images that are not obscene or pornographic, potentially criminalizing legitimate, constitutionally-protected forms of art and speech.
In the now-infamous "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case – Morse v. Frederick – the Supreme Court ruled this week that school principal Deborah Morse did not violate Joseph Frederick's First Amendment rights. Below, we've collected commentary on how this landmark case (the first time the Court has weighed students' free speech rights in over 20 years) could affect free speech in the future.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Supreme Court is poised to address the free speech rights of students. The Court is considering a case, Morse v. Frederick, involving a high school senior from Juneau, Alaska, who was suspended for displaying a banner that his principal did not approve of.
The Miami-Dade School Board voted in June 2006 to remove the book Vamos A Cuba and A Visit to Cuba (the English translation) from school libraries. The ACLU challenged the decision in court. NCAC joined five other groups in filing an amicus brief in support of the ACLU's position.
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 [...]
