News & Analysis as of July 23, 2025

First Amendment › Journalism

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The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech... more +

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech or the press, preventing citizens from peacefully assembling, or interfering with citizens' ability to petition the government for redress of their grievances. The First Amendment is one of the most sacred aspects of the American legal tradition and has spawned a vast body of jurisprudence and commentary. less -

AG Permits Journalist Subpoenas in Leak Investigations

Ballard Spahr LLP on 5/5/2025

The U.S. Attorney General has updated the policy governing when the news media can be subject to legal process for their sources. The updated regulations permit the Department of Justice (DOJ) to subpoena the media for leak...more

DOJ Changes Policy To Authorize Compulsory Process For Reporters’ Records In Leak Investigations

WilmerHale on 4/29/2025

On April 25, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum updating Department of Justice (DOJ) policy for “obtaining information from, or records of, members of the news media” (Bondi Memorandum)....more

Patel v. CNN: Public Figures Suing the Media for Defamation Lose Most of the Time

Sands Anderson PC on 2/14/2025

In a case, as they say, ripped from the headlines, the Virginia Court of Appeals has put on a clinic explaining the inter-play between the First Amendment and defamation law. The Court, in Patel v. CNN made clear that...more

Ninth Circuit Upholds Oregon's Ban on Unannounced Audio Recordings, Rejects First Amendment Challenge

Snell & Wilmer on 1/16/2025

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Project Veritas, a conservative activist group that engages in undercover journalism, challenging the constitutionality of an...more

Federal Court Rules Texas Drone Law Not Facially Unconstitutional

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider on 10/27/2023

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a district court’s 2022 ruling on the constitutionality of Texas Chapter 423 law (i.e., the drone law) which restricts the actions of drones. Nat’l Press Photographers...more

Texas Drone Law Unconstitutional

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider on 4/11/2022

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman struck down a Texas drone law (one of the most restrictive in the U.S.), for violating the First Amendment’s protections of freedom of speech and the press. While there have been other cases...more

Texas Federal District Judge: Use of Drones for Newsgathering Protected by First Amendment

Jackson Walker on 4/4/2022

In considering whether a Texas law banning the use of drones for surveillance purposes violates the First Amendment, a federal judge sitting in Austin held the law infringes on the right of journalists to document and...more

Twitter, Facebook, Google Heads Testify on Section 230 and Local Journalism

Mintz - ML Strategies on 10/29/2020

On Wednesday, October 28, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a much-anticipated hearing titled, “Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?” The witness line-up featured...more

Three Point Shot - April 2020

Proskauer Rose LLP on 4/28/2020

Welcome to Three Point Shot, a newsletter brought to you by the Sports Law Group at Proskauer. Three Point Shot brings you the latest in sports law-related news and provides you with links to related materials. A special...more

California Freelance Writers and Photographers Challenge the Constitutionality of AB 5

Epstein Becker & Green on 12/24/2019

We have written previously about California’s new statute, referred to as AB 5, which codifies and expands the “ABC test” for independent contractors set forth in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court....more

The Second Circuit Eliminates Iqbal Hearings

Robins Kaplan LLP on 8/12/2019

The Second Circuit has breathed new life into Sarah Palin’s case against the New York Times by rejecting the use of an unusual “Iqbal” hearing to determine the plausibility of her allegations....more

“...this is my life”: Corporate Biography, Moral Rights & Being Slow To Berne

International Lawyers Network on 12/21/2018

People often do quite well financially selling their life story. But stop and think for a minute what that statement means — “selling their life story.” The complex personal investment each writer makes in his/her craft and...more

Fake News Redux

Jackson Walker on 6/1/2018

As I pointed out in my last (December 2017) VIA column, “Pop Fouls, Russians, Millennium Magazine, The New York Daily Inquirer and Fake News,” fake news has been with us for a long time and while not foreign to the Russians,...more

Understanding The First Amendment

Jackson Walker on 1/30/2018

Hello. The First Amendment here. So many people are talking about me these days, including people in high office, that I thought it was time I spoke for myself. For my intro song as I walk on stage to speak for a minute or...more

Charges of "Fake News" May Bring New Threats from Jury Verdicts

Ballard Spahr LLP on 8/23/2017

Alarmingly high defamation damages—such as Hulk Hogan's $140 million Florida verdict against Gawker and a broadcast network's reported $177 million settlement with a South Dakota beef producer—are disturbing recent...more

Education Newsletter Volume 1, Number 1: Arizona Senator Introduces Bill to Expand the Rights of Student Speech

Dickinson Wright on 5/11/2017

This session, Arizona Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Yee (R-Phoenix) introduced Senate Bill 1384 to expand the rights of student journalists. If passed would grant both high school and college level student journalists the...more

Who’s Responsible for Policing Fake News?

Jackson Walker on 12/20/2016

For many of us, gone are the days of reading the morning newspaper over a cup of coffee. Instead, the majority of U.S. adults now obtain their news via social media. We’ve grown accustomed to having information at our...more

The First Amendment: Without a Friend in the 2016 Election Cycle?

Jackson Walker on 10/28/2016

With Election Day less than two weeks away, it’s an interesting time for the First Amendment. Unlike the Second Amendment where party lines appear strong, the 2016 presidential candidates’ stance on First Amendment issues and...more

Mizzou: A Personal Note on Racism, Firings and a Free Press

Gray Reed on 11/11/2015

I have been watching the events at my alma mater that led to the resignation of MU System President Tim Wolfe and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin from afar. While I had heard inklings of discontent, I had no idea it was at this...more

New York Times Supreme Court Correspondent Adam Liptak Discusses Anthony Lewis’ Iconoclastic First Amendment Views

Foley Hoag LLP - Trademark, Copyright &... on 9/16/2014

This past Friday, the keynote speaker at the Boston Bar Association’s Annual meeting was Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Correspondent for the New York Times. Mr. Liptak focused his remarks on the First Amendment views of his...more

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