Today, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down portions of the Lanham Act, and supported an Asian-American band’s right to an “offensive” trademark. When the activist Asian-American rock band decided on a name that both affirms their racial identity and reclaims a racist…
Category: Legal
Tell DHS Not to Require Social Media Passwords from Foreign Travelers
A coalition of 29 advocacy organizations called Fly Don’t Spy has launched a new online petition urging Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to reject a proposal requiring refugees, visa holders and other foreign visitors to relinquish information about…
Judge Hears Arguments Over Removal of Student Painting from Capitol
A federal judge heard arguments this week in a lawsuit over the removal of a painting by a St. Louis teen from the hallway of an office building in the U.S. Capitol complex. The painting by David Pulphus on the…
CBLDF Leads Defense of Stuck in the Middle
CBLDF has taken the lead in defending Ariel Schrag’s Stuck in the Middle, a comics anthology that has been challenged in an Oklahoma school library. Today, we signed a letter from the Kids’ Right to Read Project in support of the…
CBLDF Joins Condemnation of Proposed DHS Password Policy
CBLDF has joined a statement condemning a Department of Homeland Security proposal that would require non-citizens to provide their social media passwords as a condition of entering the United States. The statement warns, “Freedom of expression and press rights, access…
Free Speech Arguments Prevail in Tobinick v. Novella
Free speech prevailed in a case alleging that any speech published on a website with advertising should be treated as “commercial speech,” a category afforded less First Amendment protection. CBLDF and other members of the Media Coalition filed an amicus…
CBLDF Joins Opposition to South Dakota Science Education Bill
Late last week, CBLDF joined a coalition of free-speech advocates objecting to a bill in the South Dakota legislature that attempts to weaken science education standards in the state by allowing teachers to advance their own views on topics such…
CBLDF Joins Protest of Revived ‘Beloved Bill’ in Virginia
Virginia’s ‘Beloved bill’ has returned to the commonwealth’s General Assembly for the second year in a row, and CBLDF last week signed on to an opposition letter from the National Coalition Against Censorship. The legislation would require school districts to…
CBLDF Joins Statement Opposing U.S. Immigration Ban
This week, CBLDF joined more than thirty cultural institutions and human rights organizations around the world in issuing a joint statement opposing United States President Donald J. Trump’s immigration ban on nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ban is…
Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Lee v. Tam
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Lee v. Tam this week, with most justices who spoke evincing at least some skepticism of the federal government’s argument that it may deny trademarks deemed to be “disparaging.” CBLDF last…