Tag: First Amendment

A Vincennes University policy restricting uninvited “solicitations” to a walkway outside the student union and banning such solicitations from the school’s library lawn does not violate the uninvited speaker’s constitutional rights. The policy was initiated after an incident by Brother Jim in 2001 who, uninvited, began preaching on the library lawn of the public university […]

Prohibiting nude and seminude dancing in establishments that serve alcoholic beverages does not violate the dancer’s First Amendment rights of expression, the Illinois Supreme Court said. The court upheld the validity of a City of Chicago ordinance that bans nude and semi-nude dancing in licensed establishments selling liquor by the drink. If dancers want to […]

A Vermont middle school was wrong to force a student to cover up part of an anti-drug and anti-Bush message on a T-shirt he wore to school because such action interfered with his First Amendment rights to engage in political speech. The front of the T-shirt had the words “George W. Bush, Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief” with a […]

A Missouri statute that regulated advertising for businesses that offer sexually explicit entertainment and material–prohibiting such advertising within one mile of a highway– unconstitutionally restricts commercial speech, a federal appeals court ruled. The court found that the statute as written, as well as interpreted by the trial court, violated the First Amendment. The statute prohibited […]

It’s OK again to heckle a referee in Georgia-thanks to the Georgia Supreme Court. The Georgia Supreme Court struck down a law that made it a misdemeanor if a person “recklessly or knowingly commits any act which may reasonably be expected to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting, gathering, or procession.” The court found that […]

A high school can ban a t-shirt that displays a purportedly religious message against homosexuality in response to a day intended to “teach tolerance of others, particularly those of a different sexual orientation.” The t-shirt read “BE ASHAMED, OUR SCHOOL EMBRACED WHAT GOD HAS CONDEMNED” on the front and “HOMOSEXUALITY IS SHAMEFUL” on the back. […]

It may not be another bowl loss, but Notre Dame lost its bid to stop a taxpayer from pursuing the university for funds it received for training teachers for Catholic schools in violation of the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Seventh Circuit found that a taxpayer can continue its lawsuit to have Notre […]