Tag Archives: First Amendment

ACLU steps up fight against overzealous school internet filters

The ACLU on Monday filed a federal lawsuit against a public school district in Missouri which blocks school computers from access to LGBT supportive organizations, such as Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. In the lawsuit, filed in the

4th issue erupts in Prop 8 case

The court battle over Proposition 8 has escalated yet another step—now over a First Amendment issue. Two days after attorneys for proponents of California’s ban on same-sex marriage filed a motion seeking to have a videotape of the landmark Proposition 8

First Amendment fights to dominate high court

There are some important First Amendment cases coming before the U.S. Supreme Court in the session that begins today. The most important case for the LGBT community at the moment is Snyder v. Phelps, which the court will hear on

Another Supreme Court victory, amidst ideological hostilities

For the second time in a week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion that delivered a small, indirect, and perhaps unfinished victory to policies that have benefited the LGBT community.

Marriage equality opponents vow rematch over public disclosure case

In a ruling hailed by gay activists, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that requires public disclosure of the names of people who signed a petition to put an anti-gay referendum on the ballot in Washington State. But litigation

Can activists claim right to privacy?

For the second time this month, the U.S. Supreme Court’s most conservative member, Justice Antonin Scalia, on Wednesday took a surprising position—one that is helpful to gay civil rights.

Openly gay man nominated to fed appeals court

In an historic move, President Obama this month nominated an openly gay person, Edward DuMont, to a federal appeals court judgeship—the first such openly gay nomination at that level. He also becomes the first openly gay man to be nominated

High court seems uncertain about beliefs v. bias conflict

By the time a lawsuit reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, the facts of the conflict are rarely in dispute. But Monday’s oral argument at the Supreme Court revealed a great deal of confusion over those very basic facts of the

Back at high court: Religion versus anti-bias laws

When Concerned Women of America, the Boy Scouts, and Evangelical Scholars line up on one side of a legal case, one might naturally assume that gay groups are lined up on the other side. Christian Legal Society v. Martinez is not

Student wins, but prom still off

A lesbian high school senior won a partial victory in a federal court in Mississippi Tuesday. U.S. District Court Judge Glen Davidson, a Reagan appointee, ruled that senior Constance McMillen, 18, had a First Amendment right to