Featured FEN Organizations
September 7th, 2010
‘California Watch’ on Non-Rehire Case at UCLA
Erica Perez, Higher Education Reporter for California Watch, has drawn further attention to the case of UCLA faculty member James Enstrom, who has faced retaliation at UCLA because of his research and activism in the area of air pollution research. FIRE reported on his case last week after UCLA gave Dr. Enstrom an eight-month reprieve while Enstrom appeals a deeply problematic non-rehire decision against him and pursues a whistleblower retaliation complaint. UCLA repeatedly told him that his research on environmental health does not fit the "mission" of the Environmental Health Sciences department and that he had failed to meet unspecified department "minimums" after 34 productive years at UCLA.
FIRE intervened in the case late last month, reminding UCLA that it is unconstitutional to refuse to rehire a faculty member because of the faculty member's protected expression, whether the faculty member is tenured or not.
The case has drawn the attention of about two dozen California state legislators and a fair amount of press.
This is a complex case, but Perez makes the main story reasonably clear and adds helpful links:
UCLA officials had planned to end epidemiologist James Enstrom's appointment August 30 but extended it until March 2011 after ...
September 7th, 2010
This morning, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia issued its highly anticipated ruling in a hotly contested cell phone location privacy case. EFF filed a friend-of-the-court brief and participated at oral argument in the case, arguing that federal electronic privacy law gives judges the discretion to deny government requests for cell phone location data when the government fails to show probable cause that a crime has been committed.
The Third Circuit today agreed with EFF, holding that federal law allows judges the discretion to require that the government obtain a probable cause search warrant before accessing cell phone location data. The Court further agreed with EFF that location information that can be used to demonstrate or infer that someone or something was in a private space such as the home may be protected by the Fourth Amendment, rejecting the government's argument that the privacy of location records held by phone companies is never constitutionally protected. Although the court did not definitively rule on the Fourth Amendment status of cell phone location information, it made clear that under some circumstances the privacy of such data could be constitutionally protected, and that judges have the discretion to require a warrant ...
September 7th, 2010
Sign the Pledge: Stand for Religious Freedom and Against Intolerance
The past month’s attacks on Muslim Americans have marked a disturbing break from the core American values of religious freedom and tolerance. The National Security Network, a leading foreign policy organization, is calling on Americans to affirm those values by signing a pledge in the week before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks:
We are proud to live in the United States, a country founded on the principles of tolerance and religious freedom as embodied in the U.S. Constitution.
We affirm America's commitment to these principles.
We condemn bigotry and intolerance by any and all, especially those who murder others in the false name of their religion.
We condemn the act of burning the Koran, a sacred text for millions of Americans and others around the world, as we would condemn the burning of all sacred texts.
We pledge to remember Americans and others from around the world, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths, who were murdered on September 11, 2001, American service men and women of all faiths who have lost their lives in the wars since then, and innocent civilians, of all faiths, who have died in those wars, and to honor their sacrifice ...
September 7th, 2010
The student newspapers at George Washington University (GW) and Rutgers University have reported on FIRE's Spotlight ratings for the speech codes at their respective institutions.
A September 2 article in The GW Hatchet, an independent student newspaper at GW, discusses the university's yellow-light rating in Spotlight. As the article points out, there are three policies that earn GW this rating: a "Disorderly Conduct" policy, a policy on "Demonstrations," and a policy on "Poster/Flyer Distribution." With regard to the Disorderly Conduct policy, which in relevant part prohibits "acting in a manner that annoys, disturbs, threatens or harasses others," the article notes:
The University's policy was recently reworded for clarification, Student Association President Jason Lifton said. The old policy prohibited "acting in a manner ... offensive to others," while the new policy omits the word "offensive" and includes "harass" and "threaten."
University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said the disorderly conduct policy was edited to "clarify the wording and emphasize the need for students to conduct themselves in a civil and respectful manner toward others."
"It is not intended to restrict the ability of students to express their opinions, engage in debate or support causes using orderly means that do not disrupt ...
September 7th, 2010
Feds have mixed record on openness, report says
WASHINGTON — A group that opposes secrecy in government says the federal government significantly reduced its backlog of document requests from the public last year but also slowed its pace of opening previously confidential material to public view.
A report today from OpenTheGovernment.org said the government’s record is mixed, but suggested the Obama administration could be less secretive than its predecessor, the Bush administration.
“The record to date is mixed, but some indicators are trending in the right direction,” the report from a coalition of 75 public interest groups said.
The biggest improvement was in the processing of requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act. The backlog of requests declined by 40%, although more than 77,000 cases remained open at the end of the 2009 government spending year on Sept. 30.
At the same time, the rate at which the government declassified documents previously stamped “Top Secret,” “Secret” or “Confidential” declined by 10% from 2008 to 2009. There was, however, a 10% drop in decisions to classify documents initially. The 183,224 decisions to mark new material classified were the fewest since 1999, the group said.
September 7th, 2010
Under pressure, Craigslist nixes adult-services ads
Craigslist appears to have surrendered in a legal fight over erotic ads posted on its website, shutting down its adult-services section Sept. 4 and replacing it with a black bar that simply says “censored.”
The move came just over a week after a group of state attorneys general said there weren’t enough protections against potentially illegal ads promoting prostitution. It’s not clear if the closure is permanent, and it appears to only affect ads in the United States.
The listings came under new scrutiny after the jailhouse suicide last month of a former medical student who was awaiting trial in the killing of a masseuse he met through Craigslist, a popular site that lets users post classified ads, often for free.
Craigslist’s adult-services section carried ads for everything from personal massages to a night’s companionship, which critics say veered into prostitution.
Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said in a May blog posting that the company’s ads were no worse than those published by the alternative newspaper chain Village Voice Media. He cited one explicit ad which included the phrase: “anything goes $90.”
Craigslist has been caught for years in a murky legal fight that centers on how much responsibility the company ...
September 7th, 2010
Tenn. police mulling plans to enforce anti-gang law
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nashville police are trying to protect a relatively new law that allows them to ban gang members from certain areas.
In response to growing concerns that gangs were disrupting the safety and quality of life of Tennessee’s citizens, the state enacted a nuisance law in 2009 that would allow police to file civil suits against gang members. Those suits would ban known gang members from hanging out in certain areas, patronizing certain businesses or associating with certain people.
Violating those civil orders could then become a criminal charge.
But police said recent flooding, a major racketeering case and, in what has been the biggest factor, concerns about legal challenges, have delayed efforts to file civil injunctions against gang members.
“We don’t want to be the ones to go out and do a half-attempt at it and ruin it,” Lt. Gordon Howey, head of Metro police’s Gang Unit, told The Tennessean. “There’s going to be a lot of scrutiny.”
Howey said his unit has consulted with other police departments so they can bulletproof cases from legal challenges.
“We just want to make sure that we have all of our information, all the documentation that we’re going to need,” ...
September 6th, 2010
Newspaper gets records detailing remote Idaho shootout
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Public records recently obtained by the Post Register detail a strange incident in which four Idaho State Police officers were left scrambling for safety when they were shot at by an unknown assailant at a remote mining claim.
No one was hit by the gunfire and no arrests were made, but the Jan. 14, 2009, incident was shrouded in secrecy until the Idaho Falls newspaper won a nine-month court battle to unseal the Idaho State Police documents.
The documents, ordered released by 7th District Judge Gregory S. Anderson, say that the police were responding to a citizen’s report of possible illegal drug activity when they rode snowmobiles to a shed on a mining claim at the remote central Idaho ghost town of Gilmore. The ghost town, made up of about two dozen buildings, was once at the heart of Idaho’s largest silver-lead mining district outside of the Coeur d’Alene region.
The officers’ pace was leisurely, according to the reports. Before going to the shed’s door, they ate their lunches while sitting atop their snowmobiles.
Though they knew who owned the building, the officers didn’t have a search warrant and didn’t announce their presence before trying to ...
September 5th, 2010
Federal judge won’t dismiss KKK suit
ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in St. Louis has rejected a state request to dismiss the lawsuit filed by a Ku Klux Klan group.
Frank Ancona, imperial wizard of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, is seeking to rent a pavilion at the Fort Davidson Historic Site in southeast Missouri.
The group filed a lawsuit as it sought to use the site for an April 14 gathering. The KKK group was unable to meet the insurance requirements imposed by the Department of Natural Resources and held the picnic on private property.
Ancona alleges that the requirements violated his right to free speech.
Judge Rodney Sippel in St. Louis wrote in his ruling Aug. 31 that the issue isn’t moot although the April 14 event has passed. He noted that the KKK group is now seeking to use the pavilion on Oct. 3.
September 4th, 2010
Breast-cancer bracelets cause stir in schools
BALTIC, S.D. — Rubber bracelets aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer and emblazoned with "I love boobies" are raising eyebrows among school officials in South Dakota.
This week, Baltic High School joined several schools nationwide to ban the popular bracelets with a message some say is in poor taste.
"I do think there are more proper ways to bring this plight to the attention of people, and I don't think this is a proper way," Principal Jim Aisenbrey told the Argus Leader.
Officials at O'Gorman High School in Sioux Falls have also told students not to wear the bracelets in school.
"Our concern is that the issue the wristbands are meant to address is a serious one, but the language used on the bracelets trivializes the issue," said Principal Kyle Groos.
The bracelets that sell for about $4 in stores were created by the nonprofit Keep A Breast Foundation of Carlsbad, Calif. Proceeds go to the foundation's programs.
Schools from Florida to California have banned the bracelets following objections from some students and parents.
Baltic resident Ann Aberson said cancer has affected several of her relatives, and she doesn't have a problem with her two teenage daughters wearing the ...