Hunter v. Town of Mocksville, NC (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-01-0633, 38 pp.) (Wynn, J.) No. 14-1081, June 15, 2015; USDC at Greensboro, N.C. (Eagles, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: Town police officers in North Carolina, who used a disposable cellphone to ...

Tagged with: First Amendment

State v. Bishop (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0610, 27 pp.) (John Tyson, J.) Appealed from Alamance County Superior Court (G. Wayne Abernathy, J.) N.C. App. Holding: North Carolina’s Cyber-bullying Statute is not directed at prohibiting the communication of thoughts or ideas ...

Tagged with: First Amendment

Stuart v. Camnitz (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-001-15, 37 pp.) (Wilkinson, J.) No. 14-1150, Dec. 22, 2014; USDC at Greensboro, N.C. (Eagles, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: The 4th Circuit upholds a district court decision striking a North Carolina law requiring physicians ...

Tagged with: Abortion First Amendment

Seeking to mitigate the negative publicity swirling around his client ahead of a murder trial, defense attorney Charles Grose asked a judge to expand a gag order to include the victim’s mother, other members of her family and all their online supporters.

Tagged with: First Amendment Social Media

A coalition of clergy members is challenging North Carolina's constitutional ban on gay marriage with an unusual approach in a federal lawsuit: They say it violates their religious freedom.

Tagged with: First Amendment gay marriage

ACLU of North Carolina v. Tata (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-01-0163, 28 pp.) (Wynn, J.) No. 13-1030, Feb. 11, 2014; USDC at Raleigh, N.C. (Fox, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: The 4th Circuit upholds a decision striking a North Carolina law that ...

Tagged with: First Amendment

U.S. v. Hassan (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-01-0140, 104 pp.) (King, J.) No. 12-4061, Feb. 4, 2014; USDC at Raleigh, N.C. (Flanagan, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: The 4th Circuit upholds terrorism-related convictions of three defendants who conspired to support violent jihad, ...

Tagged with: First Amendment

The Supreme Court appears likely to strike down a Massachusetts law setting a 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics, with liberal and conservative justices alike expressing misgivings about the law in arguments Wednesday.

Tagged with: Abortion First Amendment SCOTUS

Hunter v. Town of Mocksville Although the plaintiff-police officers have made a sufficient showing that their First Amendment rights were violated when they were fired after reporting suspected corruption in the Mocksville Police Department, they have not shown that their right to make the report was clearly established at the time they were fired

Tagged with: First Amendment

North Carolina owns the license plates it issues to motorists and has the right to use them to convey its preferred anti-abortion message, an assistant state attorney general told a federal appeals court Wednesday.

Tagged with: Abortion First Amendment