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State and Local Government Free Speech

Rumberger | Kirk

Supreme Court Appears Split on Whether to Approve Religious Charter School

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On April 30, 2025, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond. If the...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

State-By-State Guide to Ag-Gag Legislation - April 7 2025

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Several states have made attempts to provide the animal production industry protection against unlawful interference by enacting so-called Ag-Gag laws. A wave of litigation is challenging these laws as unconstitutional,...more

Holland & Hart LLP

New Rules for Public Employers, Courtesy of the Wyoming Legislature

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The Wyoming Legislature has wrapped up its 2025 session, but not before adopting several new laws governing public employers. Three of these laws were not specifically drafted as employment laws, but will have significant...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Recent DEI Executive Orders Temporarily Blocked by Federal Judge

On February 21, Judge Adam B. Abelson of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily bars the Trump administration from implementing major portions of two...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

It’s An Election Year: Understanding Restrictions on Employer Actions Regarding Employee Political Activity

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Seyfarth Synopsis:  In six months, the U.S. presidential election will take place and inevitably employee views on the elections and election issues will make their way into the workplace.  In yesterday’s highly polarized...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Eleventh Circuit Strikes Down Florida Ban on Company’s “Woke” Diversity Training

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: The Eleventh Circuit recently issued an opinion blocking the enforcement of Florida's "anti-woke" law. The Court struck down the law on the grounds that the law impermissibly infringes on employers' free...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Held Captive No More: New York Enacts Legislation Prohibiting Mandatory Meetings Regarding Employers’ Political (But Really Union)...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 6, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law legislation that, effective immediately, prohibits employers from disciplining employees who refuse to participate in meetings concerning...more

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC

What is an Anti-SLAPP Statute?

If you are considering filing a defamation lawsuit or other speech-based claim, you are likely aware that your claim may be challenged based upon free-speech principles or that the defendant may claim that their conduct is...more

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP

Lawyer Discipline for Discriminatory Speech - A Pennsylvania Decision Raises Questions About Maryland Rule 19-308.4(e)

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A federal judge has held that Pennsylvania’s Rule 8.4(g),1 which subjects lawyers to professional discipline for engaging in discriminatory conduct, violates both the free speech clause of the First Amendment and the due...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Ohio Supreme Court Strikes Down Billboard Tax as Unconstitutional

The Ohio Supreme Court recently struck down a billboard tax as unconstitutional in Lamar Advantage GP Co., LLC v. Cincinnati, Slip Opinion No. 2021-Ohio-3155.  The case evaluated an excise tax placed on the installing,...more

Jackson Walker

The 2021 Legislative Session: Texas Broadcasters Taking Victories Where They Can Find Them

Jackson Walker on

Faced with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the February winter storm energy shortages, and redistricting, most observers thought there would be little time left in the 2021 Texas legislative session for bills...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Six Things You Need to Know About CBD and Other Hemp-containing Pet Products

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The trend toward state-level legalization of cannabis has led to a surge in cannabis-derived products and a continually evolving market with many types of cannabis products for people as well as their pets. Analysts predict...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

COVID-19 Update: We’re All in This Together, but Landlords Are About to Take a Bath – SDNY Upholds Constitutionality of NYC’s...

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded upon New York City, policymakers grappled with impossible decisions regarding how to protect public health and stave off economic ruin for individuals, businesses and the economy at large....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Recent Federal Court Decision Upholds the Constitutionality of NYC Pandemic-Related Legislation Affecting Commercial Leases

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The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently found that three laws enacted by the City of New York in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were constitutional, and dismissed a challenge to the...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Federal Court Reviewing Town of Oyster Bay’s Rules of Decorum for Public Meetings

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

In response to a resolution passed by the Oyster Bay Town Board on October 6, 2020, that purports to create rules of decorum at Town Board meetings and seeks to prohibit inappropriate behavior during board meetings, a Town...more

Perkins Coie

Anti-SLAPP Motion May Not Be Based on Speech Activities Merely Incidental to Asserted Claims

Perkins Coie on

An anti-SLAPP motion was properly denied because the claims for damages arose from breach of contract and tort actions, not from any protected First Amendment activity. Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, LLC v City of...more

Gray Reed

Dereliction of Duty: Can Local Governments Be Liable for Not Protecting Property from Protestors?

Gray Reed on

Eager to spark the socialist revolution, left-wing activists seized Ramsett Park and the surrounding area and declared an independent autonomous community dedicated to social and economic justice. While that hypothetical...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

California Court of Appeal Rules that Challenge to Google’s Confidentiality Agreements May Proceed Past the Pleading Stage

On September 21, 2020, in a published 2-1 opinion in Doe v. Google Inc., the California Court of Appeal (Dist. 1, Div. 4), permitted three current and former Google employees to proceed with their challenge of Google’s...more

Fisher Phillips

Speak No Evil – The Right To Limit Employee Speech This Election Season And Beyond

Fisher Phillips on

Following a tragic series of recent events, individuals across the country have started voicing their opinions about social, cultural, and political issues with a passion not seen since the Civil Rights Movement of the...more

Nossaman LLP

Compliance Notes – Vol. 1, Issue 6

Nossaman LLP on

Welcome to Volume 1, Issue 6 of Compliance Notes from Nossaman’s Government Relations & Regulation Group – a periodic digest of the headlines, statutory and regulatory changes, and court cases involving campaign finance,...more

Pullman & Comley, LLC

Speaker at Zoning Commission Hearing Enjoys Same Free Speech Protections as if at Trial Before a Court

Pullman & Comley, LLC on

In Priore v. Haig, AC 41748, the Appellate Court concluded that statements made by one of the plaintiff’s neighbors during a zoning commission hearing on the plaintiff’s application for a special permit to install a sewer...more

Cozen O'Connor

Third Circuit Upholds Philadelphia Wage History Ordinance

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On February 6, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a City of Philadelphia ordinance that prohibits employers from inquiring after and/or relying upon a prospective employee’s wage history in any...more

Payne & Fears

You Can't Ask This: The Spread of Salary History Bans and What It Means for Employers

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A growing number of state and local governments across the country are enacting laws that limit employers’ ability to ask about or consider applicants’ salary history. These laws are part of a nationwide effort to reduce pay...more

Epstein Becker & Green

California Puts a Foot On the Scale to Drive Unionization Higher: AB 1291 Mandates State-Sponsored Assistance in Organizing...

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As private sector unionization rates have continued to fall over recent decades, organized labor has increasingly turned to the state and local politicians it supports for assistance in the form of state legislation and local...more

Epstein Becker & Green

California Freelance Writers and Photographers Challenge the Constitutionality of AB 5

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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

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