News & Commentary

Our legal director, Zach Heiden, was in Augusta today to respond to proposed rules from the Department of Corrections that would ban several First Amendment-protected activities, such as writing to a pen pal. We are urging the Department to withdraw the proposed rules, or to substantially modify them before putting them into effect.

Did you know? In the 2014-15 school year alone, there were 311 reported attempts to remove or restrict certain books in school curricula and libraries across the United States. From Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, more than 11,000 books have been challenged over the last 30 years. 

In a victory for free speech that will have nationwide implications, a federal appeals court ruled that the City of Portland’s ban on being in medians is unconstitutional. The ruling came Friday in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Maine and the law firm Goodwin Procter LLP on behalf of three Portland residents. The lawsuit challenged an ordinance enacted by Portland that prohibited being in any median for any reason other than crossing the street.

The October 2014 Supreme Court term has officially ended, and what a way to end. There is a term in bridge for when a player runs the table, whether they have the best cards or not; it is called a "finesse." That is what it was like watching the decisions come down in the last days of the term: a total finesse game, with civil liberties coming out the winner.

Taking photographs of things that are plainly visible from public spaces is a constitutional right — and that includes recording police and other government officials as they carry out their duties. Read my blog post about this right, and our lawsuit to protect it, over at the New England First Amendment Coalition.

On the most recent edition of “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver explored the depths of the government’s surveillance capabilities with his typical brand of satire. In an unexpected twist, Oliver actually traveled to Russia for a face-to-face interview with Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed many of the programs that now inform our larger understanding of how expansively the National Security Agency operates.

The police carry guns, and we carry cellphones. Today, we settled a case against a Portland police officer, who arrested our clients after they attempted to peacefully record and observe police activity on a Portland public street. You can read about the settlement here and here and here.

Recently, two stories have brought renewed attention to the Pledge of Allegiance and students’ rights to choose whether not to recite the pledge in school. 

Yesterday, I had my first public hearing of the session, fittingly on a First Amendment issue. And, because the bill creates a new crime, I found myself in front of the Criminal Justice committee - which may turn out to be my home away from home for the next few months. The bill, LD 43, was modeled after the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2013 and would create a new class E crime for false claims of military service.