Religion and free speech: it’s complicated

March 1st, 2013

For centuries, free speech and religion have been cast as opponents. Index looks at the complicated relationship between religion and free speech

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Islam blasphemy riots now self-fulfilling prophecy

September 15th, 2012

The protests against controversial film “Innocence of the Muslims” follow a pattern familiar since the days of the Satanic Verses fatwa, says James Kirchick. And so do the reactions of many western liberals
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USA: Supreme Court to decide on Westboro funeral protests

September 30th, 2010

The Supreme Court is to decide next week whether members of Westboro Baptist Church have the constitutional right to picket military funerals. Al Snyder, the father of a US marine whose funeral was accompanied by the protesters’ anti-gay and anti-Catholic demonstrations is seeking damages for emotional distress. The fundamentalist church, which has said that it plans to protest outside the court, will argue on 6 October that its actions are protected under the First Amendment. Snyder says the decision isn’t a free speech issue but a “case of harrassment“.

United States: Senate committee approves libel tourism legislation

July 14th, 2010

Yesterday (13 July), the Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation to protect US journalists and publishers from “libel tourism”. The SPEECH (Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage) Act will now go before the full senate. The impetus for the bill follows a number of law suits instigated against American writers  in foreign courts in order to exploit their weak libel laws.  For example, New York based academic Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued in London despite only 23 copies of her book, on the financing of terrorism, being sold in the UK. If passed, the proposal will prevent federal courts from recognising foreign libel ruling that are inconsistent with the First Amendment and will allow affected persons to apply for a declaratory judgement confirming that verdicts against them are non-enforceable. The bill, co-sponsored by Democrat Patrick Leahy and Republican Jeff Sessions, is believed to have a high prospect of being enacted because of its broad cross-party support.

US cyberbully bill is ‘threat to free speech’

May 7th, 2009

American bloggers say proposals for a new law, potentially making illegal to criticise or mock people online, will threaten freedom of expression. Read more here

Child Online Protection Act Overturned

July 24th, 2008

Following a ten-year court battle, on 22 July the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2007 lower court decision that the Child Online Protection Act is unconstitutional. The legislation would have forced websites featuring adult material to verify site users’ ages, but was ruled to be ‘substantially overbroad’ in its definition and in violation of the First Amendment. It was also ruled that the Act was not the most effective way to keep children from visiting adult websites; filtering or other methods adopted by parents were said to be more effective. (more…)