Articles
Ninth Circuit sides with PLF in an important free speech decision
The First Amendment doesn't just protect your right to speak, it also protects your right not to speak. So imagine if your municipal government required you to devote 20% of your shirt to "Smith for City Council" or plaster 20% of your car with "remember to recycle" stickers. No matter how laudable (or sinister) the message, you'd be upset. Under t ...
Articles
Country-of-origin-labeling bill fails in South Dakota Senate
On Friday, the South Dakota Senate rejected SB 135, a country-of-origin-labeling bill that raised significant First Amendment concerns. The bill would have compelled South Dakota grocers to disclose the country-of-origin of beef sold in stores across the state. Labeling requirements of this sort come with significant costs. According to one report ...
Articles
San Francisco's "war on big soda" takes a toll on First Amendment rights
San Francisco wants to be the City that takes down big soda. San Francisco's "war on soda" is not itself problematic for free speech rights. Rather, it is the City's tactics that has given rise to all sorts of First Amendment problems. Specifically, San Francisco did not use its own channels to broadcast its disdain for big soda. It has chosen inst ...