American unions look headed for another legal beating in the US Supreme Court. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to drop all pretense and just advocate beatings until the morale–of American workers–improves. The Supreme Court is about to hand their overseers a slightly thicker, more knotted, whip. Ten Californian teachers have sued their union–on First AmendmentContinue reading “Step This Way For The Deunionized American Workplace”
Tag Archives: First Amendment
On Not Celebrating Steven Salaita’s Settlement With UIUC
I cannot bring myself to celebrate the news of Steven Salaita‘s settlement with the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). The reasons for this are fairly straightforward–as noted in a petition now circulating: the crucial legal issues at the heart of his dismissal remain unresolved, and his job has not been reinstated. Shortly afterContinue reading “On Not Celebrating Steven Salaita’s Settlement With UIUC”
NYPD: In New York, Protests Are A Terror Threat
There truly can be no police department more tone-deaf, more insensitive, more colossally, thickly stupid and offensive than the New York Police Department. Consider, for instance, its latest announcement, that of the formation of a special anti-terror unit: A brand new unit of 350 NYPD officers will roam the city with riot gear and machineContinue reading “NYPD: In New York, Protests Are A Terror Threat”
Mark Bennett Is A Sexist Tool
Over at the blog Defending People, Mark Bennett, a Houston-based criminal defense lawyer, writes a long, technical, closely argued post critiquing Danielle Citron‘s putative rebuttals of arguments–based on First Amendment concerns–against her proposals for ‘revenge porn’ laws. Bennett titles his post ‘F**ing Danielle Citron’ and at the end signs off thusly: P.S. “F**king” is fisking.Continue reading “Mark Bennett Is A Sexist Tool”
Steven Salaita, Palestinians, And Autobiography
Last night, along with many Brooklyn College students, faculty (and some external visitors) I attended ‘Silencing Dissent: A Conversation with Steven Salaita, Katherine Franke and Corey Robin‘, organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine. (My previous posts on this event can be found here and here.) As Robin has noted over at his blog,Continue reading “Steven Salaita, Palestinians, And Autobiography”
Standing By Sponsoring ‘Steven Salaita At Brooklyn College’
Last week, I made note here of the philosophy department at Brooklyn College co-sponsoring ‘Silencing Dissent: A Conversation with Steven Salaita, Katherine Franke and Corey Robin‘, an event organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine and scheduled for Thursday, November 20th. As you will notice, on the link for the event above, there is aContinue reading “Standing By Sponsoring ‘Steven Salaita At Brooklyn College’”
Sponsoring ‘Steven Salaita At Brooklyn College’
Last Tuesday, the philosophy department of Brooklyn College voted to co-sponsor ‘Silencing Dissent: A Conversation with Steven Salaita, Katherine Franke and Corey Robin‘, an event organized by the Students for Justice in Palestine and scheduled for Thursday, November 20th. (In so doing, we joined the ranks of the departments of political science and sociology, asContinue reading “Sponsoring ‘Steven Salaita At Brooklyn College’”
Ferguson And The Tale Of Two Wars
A nation at war–an indefinite, borderless one, conducted against a faceless enemy, with little legal or moral restraint, with an endless wallet to be dipped into–will find, sooner or later, that the same inchoateness, the same vagueness, the same productive lack of definition of that conflict, which permitted its waging to be conducted secretly withoutContinue reading “Ferguson And The Tale Of Two Wars”
Not So Fast With The Private Surveillance
A revealing–no pun intended–reaction to news of Steven Salaita’s troubles at the University of Illinois was that he was only paying the price for having his social media speech monitored (or surveilled) by his employer. As the argument goes, all employers monitor social media; we should all accept the consequences–in our places and zones ofContinue reading “Not So Fast With The Private Surveillance”
Guns and Speech, Gunslingers and Writers
Patrick Blanchfield examines some of the troubling constitutional questions raised by the gun-toting folks who showed up to protect Cliven Bundy in Nevada: According to open carry advocates, their presence in public space represents more than just an expression of their Second Amendment rights, it’s a statement, an “educational,” communicative act — in short, anContinue reading “Guns and Speech, Gunslingers and Writers”
Samir Chopra 