First Amendment Watch

Project of New York University. We cover threats to the First Amendment freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and petition.

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

We've released a first-of-its-kind database tracking strategic lawsuits against public participation, potentially meritless or malicious legal actions that chill speech and deter scrutiny. Check out The SLAPP Back Initiative: https://t.co/0fCtlHXcxD

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on oversight of artificial intelligence Tuesday, less than two weeks after postponing a White House ceremony over his concerns that a similar policy could dull America’s technological edge.

https://t.co/Ag1WDZa23P

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

Tina Peters, the former county clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Trump, was released from state prison Monday. https://t.co/eA2J2KsFpy

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

In another of a series of moves restricting media access at the Pentagon, the Defense Department has declared that its press office is now a classified space inaccessible to journalists.

https://t.co/MffKGu3t8a

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

New Jersey state police set up designated protest zones and vehicle checkpoints outside an immigration detention center in Newark on Friday, relieving federal immigration enforcement agents who have been clashing with protesters for days.https://t.co/ibIU6qVABq

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

Spotlight PA and two other news organizations are suing leaders of the Penn State Board of Trustees in federal court, accusing them of violating the First Amendment by controlling what individual trustees can say to the public and the press.

https://t.co/kZgdyfudSd

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

Local TV stations owned by ABC across the U.S. blasted the FCC on Thursday for launching an “unlawful, arbitrary and unconstitutional” early review of their broadcast licenses as a dispute between the network and the Trump-controlled agency intensifies.https://t.co/6ftnU9HiWi

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether E. Jean Carroll lied during the course of civil litigation against the Republican president, according to a person familiar with the matter.https://t.co/ULBuntcv50

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

Blocking someone from entering a house of worship, or acting in a way that makes worshippers entering the building fear for their safety, is now a crime in New York under a law approved after a series of raucous demonstrations outside synagogues.https://t.co/T60ysI7Rhe

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with President Donald Trump’s administration in a lawsuit over speech restrictions for immigration judges that touched on the rights of federal workers.https://t.co/cyxpGKLjYU

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

A woman fired by an Indiana university over her Facebook post criticizing Charlie Kirk after he was killed will receive $225,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused her former employer of violating her free-speech rights, the woman’s attorneys said Tuesday.

https://t.co/s2lhIX0BCh

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

Her immediate focus is Disney, the parent of ABC. It is the subject of investigations launched by the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump ally.

https://t.co/JP5SEWVBWN

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

At least four states have adopted laws this year making it a crime to disrupt worship services, a reaction to a high-profile protest inside a Minnesota church that prompted outrage from faith leaders.https://t.co/2HuSoFDvn4

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

A judge threw out author Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against first lady Melania Trump, ruling that his “contorted” attempt to prevent her from suing him for $1 billion over his statements about her and Jeffrey Epstein “is not how the federal courts work.”https://t.co/lTQhY2FjYv

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on May 15 commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Donald Trump. https://t.co/XjaCk57wAO

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

The bitter divorce between an Ohio congressman and his former wife, the daughter of one of the state’s U.S. senators, has escalated into new legal action.https://t.co/ZlQkUE8vQb

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

President Donald Trump’s efforts to sanction some of the nation’s most prestigious law firms “strike at the heart of the rule of law” and must remain blocked by the courts, an attorney for law firms told a panel of appellate judges on Thursday.

https://t.co/Iljowruudn

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

4 Memphis residents are suing U.S. and Tennessee officials, saying they have been harassed, arrested and physically mistreated for engaging in activities protected by the First Amendment such as observing and recording law enforcement agents in their city.https://t.co/DrcBE4IsOa

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

President Donald Trump won’t have to pay an $83 million defamation award to a longtime advice columnist until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal, according to a court entry Tuesday.https://t.co/EaoA90LIMN

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

@TEDxTalks "Stand up to the bullies, because when we defend free speech, we defend each other, and we defend democracy itself," Prather (@1stAmLawyer) said.

[First Amendment Watch @FirstAmendWatch]

"Bullies use the courts to silence, intimidate and harass people whose voices they don't like, and whose message they don't want heard." -Laura Prather, The SLAPP Back Initiative advisor, in @TEDxTalks about strategic lawsuits against public participation. https://t.co/EffvqUpcv3