Every four years the First Amendment in its majestic beauty and its shameful ugliness is paraded around for all to see. It is in the form of the political speeches, political rhetoric, the political advertisements, the political pungency and…
FCC “Seven Dirty Words” S,P,F,C,CS,MF,T
We all watch television, some of us more than others. Every once in a while we hear or see something on a television show that raises our eyebrows because of the language that is used or the graphics that are…
Taking Sides with the First Amendment
James Benjamin is a Past President of the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association. Daniel Aaronson is the current Vice-President and in July will become President of that esteemed organization. Yet, for both of us the First Amendment is not necessarily absolute,…
First Amendment Lawyers Association 2012
From February 15th through the 18th James S. Benjamin and Daniel Aaronson were in San Diego, California attending the February meeting of the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association. Daniel Aaronson is currently the Vice-President of this organization which now has close…
School First Amendment, we still have a lot to learn
When we were all growing up, at least those of our generation, we had complaints about our teachers, our principals and our schools. Sometimes we would tell them to our friends when speaking in a group, sometimes over the phone,…
Political First Amendment. Put your money where your mouth is.
We hope all of you had a great holiday season and that 2012 brings you and your loved ones a good year. It almost seems like the world is put on hold from Thanksgiving through January 1st and in some…
Grass roots in a field of hypocrisy
We so badly wanted to write this month’s article on some of the comments that have been made during the Republican debates for the Presidential nomination. Our favorite, which apparently also is the media’s favorite, was the comment made by…
Docs v. Glocks NRA shoots to kill Doctor’s First Amendment rights
There are many and various different lobbying groups, both on State and Federal levels. As powerful as any of these lobbying groups are the NRA, the National Rifle Association, and the AMA, the American Medical Association. They yield power in…
FALA First Amendment Lawyers’ Association meeting
Last month the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association (FALA) held its summer meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Expecting the cooler temperatures that the State usually has to offer, we were incredibly surprised by the high 90’s temperatures that we arrived to. It…
The Big Catalyst Theory
For those of you who have read our column over the many years that we have been published, you might note that some cases never really seem to end and that the legal process can take a long time. One…