Articles

Victory for the First Amendment! Challenging Florida’s Tone Deaf Hearing Aid Bureaucrats Supreme Court Splits on Salmon Santa Barbara Association of Realtors v. City of Santa Barbara Victory for the First Amendment! Political speech is the most protected type of speech in the country – including in the most restricted space in American civi ...

Over a year ago, I wrote about a pending federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regulation that would remove certain common-sense labeling exceptions for wines sold within a single state. As I explained then, under the proposed rule, if a winemaker chooses to label their wine using an “appellation of origin” from a  ...

We’ve been writing about Simon Tam‘s efforts to trademark his Portland, Oregon-based rock band, The Slants, for over a year now. As you’ll recall, Mr. Tam, an Asian-American, formed his band in 2006 and recruited other Asian-Americans to join in order to provide an interesting and entertaining platform to discuss discriminatio ...

Is communism illegal? Naively, I thought the answer to that question was obvious. But apparently I was wrong. In California, government employees may be fired solely because they are a member of the Communist Party. What if they’re great at their job? Doesn’t matter. What if their ideas are irrelevant to their job? Doesn’t matter. ...

Yesterday, the 11th Circuit issued its en banc opinions in Wollschlaeger v. Gov. of the State of Florida, AKA the “Docs v. Glocks” case. As previously discussed here, here, and here, the case concerns whether Florida can prohibit doctors from asking their patients about their gun ownership or possession unless the question is directly ...

Simon Tam is the frontman of the popular Portland, Oregon, band called The Slants. A few years ago Mr. Tam sought to register The Slants as a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. While the term has traditionally been used as a derogatory slur for persons of Asian descent, Mr. Tam (an … ...

Peggy Fontenot is an award-winning American Indian photographer and artist, specializing in hand-made beaded jewelry and cultural items. For more than 30 years, Ms. Fontenot has traveled the country to show and sell her American Indian art. Because of Oklahoma’s deep connections with American Indian history and culture, Ms. Fontenot has regul ...

There was a small dust-up in the Sacramento press this week. It seems that Sacramento City Councilman Jay Schenirer has grown weary of a watchdog organization (Eye on Sacramento) that routinely challenges proposed ordinances and policies, and generally serves as a vocal check on city government. Councilman Schenirer requested the group provide him ...

In an important victory for economic liberty and property rights, today, a judge in Nashville, Tennessee agreed that the Nashville Metro Council’s regulations of short-term rentals are unconstitutional. Among other things, the ordinance banned any form of advertising short-term rentals with signage on the property, and capped the number of n ...