“The high school cheerleader relegated to the JV squad for another year responded with a fleeting fit of frustration: a photo of her upraised middle finger and another word that begins with F.
‘F--- school, f--- softball, f--- cheer, f--- everything,’ 14-year-old Brandi Levy typed into Snapchat one spring Saturday. Like all ‘snaps’ posted to a Snapchat ‘story,’ this one sent to about 250 ‘friends’ was to disappear within 24 hours, before everyone returned to Pennsylvania’s Mahanoy Area High School on Monday.
Instead, an adolescent outburst and the adult reaction to it has arrived at the Supreme Court, where it could determine how the First Amendment’s protection of free speech applies to the off-campus activities of the nation’s 50 million public school students.
‘This is the most momentous case in more than five decades involving student speech,’ said Justin Driver, a Yale law professor and author of ‘The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind.’
‘Much of the speech from students is off-campus and increasingly online,’ Driver said. ‘When I talk to school administrators, they consistently tell me that off-campus speech bedevils them, and the lower courts desperately need some guidance in this area.’
That shouldn’t be a surprise, as cellphones have become an extension of almost every teenager’s hand and social media a preferred mode of communication. And for the past year, many students have not gone near a school campus, with their ‘speech’ happening in their homes during Zoom classes.
The First Amendment does not ‘force schools to ignore student speech that upends the campus environment simply because that speech originated off campus,’ says a brief filed by Mahanoy Area School District, which upheld the school’s decision to kick Levy off the cheer squad.
‘Wherever student speech originates, schools should be able to treat students alike when their speech is directed at the school and imposes the same disruptive harms on the school environment.’
Supreme Court rules First Amendment protects church’s right to picket funerals
The school board’s brief, as well as Driver’s book title, refers to the foundational Supreme Court case regarding student speech, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. The 1969 decision famously held that students and teachers do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’
But it also held that schools have broader authority over students than the state generally does when restricting speech and that authorities can discipline students for on-campus speech that causes or is likely to cause ‘material and substantial’ disruption of school functions. (The court ruled 7 to 2 for Mary Beth Tinker because, it said, the black armband she wore to protest the Vietnam War was not disruptive.)
In the half-century since, the Supreme Court’s decisions have been few and lean toward school administrators. The justices have upheld school disciplinary action regarding lewd speech by students, a student newspaper that operated at the direction of school officials and a nonsensical sign with a seemingly pro-marijuana message — ‘Bong Hits 4 Jesus’ — held by a student at a school activity.
Levy’s case is different. It concerns speech far beyond the schoolhouse gate, made online and on a weekend, unconnected to a school event.
‘This may seem like a very narrow case about a minor temper tantrum on Snapchat, but it is about speech anywhere and everywhere, by students of all ages,’ said Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida.
Because it is somewhat rare for the justices to take a student speech case, ‘they are writing broadly the standards that will apply for two or three generations,’ LoMonte said. ‘And they are writing the standards for all forms of speech across all media.’” Read more at Washington Post
“The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on disclosure requirements that could make it easier for donors to spend anonymously . At issue is a California mandate that nonprofits disclose their top contributors to state regulators. Two conservative groups say the state's requirement violates the Constitution by subjecting the donors to threats of violence from political opponents. They point to a landmark 1958 civil rights case in which the Supreme Court struck down a request by Alabama that the NAACP reveal its membership. While the appeal has drawn support from many conservative organizations, it has also been joined by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. All of them say they fear the potential for retaliation against donors if their names are disclosed. A decision in the case is expected in June.” Read more at USA Today
Peter Spears, Frances McDormand, Chloé Zhao, Mollye Asher and Dan Janvey, winners of the Oscar for best picture for ‘Nomadland.’ Pool photo by Chris Pizzello
“The weirdest Oscar race ever had one more big surprise in store Sunday night. Director Chloe Zhao's acclaimed drama ‘Nomadland’ took best picture, director and actress (Frances McDormand) at the pandemic-delayed 93rd Academy Awards. But the biggest shock happened in the best actor category, where ‘The Father’ star Anthony Hopkins upset Chadwick Boseman's expected posthumous Oscar win for ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.’ Taking place primarily at L.A.'s historic Union Station, the Oscars also honored Daniel Kaluuya (‘Judas and the Black Messiah’) for best supporting actor and Yuh-Jung Youn (‘Minari’) took home best supporting actress.” Read more at USA Today
•Oscar winners: See the full list of who won at the Academy Awards
“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) continued to defend former president Donald Trump’s response to the Jan. 6 insurrection, claiming in an interview Sunday that Trump was unaware the U.S. Capitol was being stormed until McCarthy called and urged him to tell his supporters to stop.
‘I was the first person to contact him when the riot was going on,’ McCarthy told ‘Fox News Sunday’ host Chris Wallace. ‘He didn’t see it, but he ended the call . . . telling me he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that’s what he did. He put a video out later.’
The statement contradicted McCarthy’s initial response to Trump’s role in the attack and a fellow GOP lawmaker’s recollection of what had been a tense call between McCarthy and Trump. In addition, one Trump adviser told The Washington Post that the then-president had been watching live television coverage of the riot, as multiple people were trying to reach Trump and his aides to beg for help.
Immediately after the insurrection, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) said McCarthy had relayed details of his call with Trump. Trump had ‘initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol,’ Herrera Beutler said, indicating that Trump would have already been aware of the siege when McCarthy spoke to him.
According to Herrera Beutler, after McCarthy told Trump it was his supporters storming the Capitol, Trump responded: ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.’
On Sunday, when Wallace asked whether Trump had said that, McCarthy repeatedly refused to answer directly.
‘Listen, my conversations with the president are my conversations with the president,’ McCarthy told Wallace. ‘I engaged in the idea of making sure we could stop what was going on inside the Capitol at that moment in time. The president said he would help.’
The violent siege by a pro-Trump mob left five people dead, including a police officer. Two other officers on duty that day later died by suicide, and more than 100 officers were injured after being harassed, beaten and sprayed with gas substances by the mob.
Trump released a video statement the day of the attack, but long after the worst of the siege had subsided. The taped message reiterated the lie that the election had been stolen and ended with Trump telling his supporters: ‘We love you. You’re very special.’” Read more at Washington Post
“The research is becoming clearer: People who have had COVID — even some who never had severe infections — are at risk of serious ongoing health problems, Axios Vitals author Caitlin Owens writes.
Why it matters: Long after the majority of Americans are vaccinated, patients and the U.S. health system will likely bear the brunt of millions of people who are struggling to get back to normal.
Some could require lifelong treatment.” Read more at Axios
“Countries are pledging aid to India as it fights a deadly pandemic wave. India today reported 352,991 new cases and 2,812 virus-related deaths, marking the world's highest daily caseload for the fifth straight day. Covid-19 cases have risen astronomically in India since March. In response, the US will deploy supplies and support, including ventilators, PPE and rapid diagnostic test kits. The UK, Germany and neighbor Pakistan, as well as tech giants Microsoft and Google, have also pledged supplies and relief. Meanwhile in the US, the CDC and FDA have lifted the pause on use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after weeks of deliberation amid a handful of reported blood clot cases. The vaccine label is now updated to warn of blood clot risks.” Read more at CNN
“President Biden is preparing to lay out all he’s accomplished in his first 100 days in office. In an address Wednesday to a joint session of Congress, Biden will likely tout his pandemic promises: 100 million administered Covid-19 shots pledged -- and 200 million delivered. With a Democratic-controlled Congress, he also sent out the $1,400 emergency checks that were delayed for months under the previous administration. However, Biden still faces more legislative challenges. There’s the $2 trillion infrastructure bill being debated on both sides of the aisle. And there’s the looming call for federal action on police reform. This week, Biden will also unveil the next phase of his plan to rebuild the American economy, which will bring Democratic demands to include health care improvements in the deal.” Read more at CNN
“Responding to angry voters who echoed former President Donald J. Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, Arizona Republicans promised a detailed review of the vote that showed Mr. Trump to have been the first Republican presidential nominee to lose the state since 1996. “We hold an audit,” State Senator Eddie Farnsworth said at a Judiciary Committee hearing. “And then we can put this to rest.”
But when a parade of flatbed trucks last week hauled boxes of voting equipment and 78 pallets containing the 2.1 million ballots of Arizona’s largest county to a decrepit local coliseum, it kicked off a seat-of-the-pants audit process that seemed more likely to amplify Republican grievances than to put them to rest.
Almost half a year after the election Mr. Trump lost, the promised audit has become a snipe hunt for skulduggery that has spanned a court battle, death threats and calls to arrest the elected leadership of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.
The head of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm that Republican senators hired to oversee the audit, has embraced Mr. Trump’s baseless theories of election theft and has suggested, contrary to available evidence, that Mr. Trump actually won Arizona by 200,000 votes. The pro-Trump cable channel One America News Network has started a fund-raiser to finance the venture and has been named one of the nonpartisan observers that will keep the audit on the straight and narrow.
In fact, three previous reviews showed no sign of significant fraud or any reason to doubt President Biden’s victory. But the senators now plan to recount — by hand — all 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, two-thirds of the entire vote statewide.
Critics in both parties charge that an effort that began as a way to placate angry Trump voters has become a political embarrassment and another blow to the once-inviolable democratic norm that losers and winners alike honor the results of elections.
‘You know the dog that caught the car?’ said Steve Gallardo, the lone Democrat on the Republican-dominated Maricopa Board of Supervisors. ‘The dog doesn’t know what to do with it.’
After a brief pause on Friday ordered by a state court judge, the audit continues without clarity on who will do the counting, what it will cost and who will pay for the process, which is expected to last into mid-May. The One America network is livestreaming it, and Mr. Trump is cheering from the sidelines.
In an email statement on Saturday, he praised the ‘brave American Patriots’ behind the effort and demanded that Gov. Doug Ducey, a frequent target of his displeasure, dispatch the state police or National Guard for their protection.” Read more at New York Times
“Leaders of a business masquerading as a church sold a toxic bleach solution as a religious sacrament and marketed it as a ‘miracle’ cure for Covid-19, cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s disease and more, federal prosecutors said.
A federal grand jury in Miami has indicted Mark Grenon, 62, and his three sons, Jonathan Grenon, 34; Jordan Grenon, 26; and Joseph Grenon, 32; all of Bradenton, Fla. Prosecutors said on Friday that they violated court orders and fraudulently produced and sold more than $1 million of their ‘Miracle Mineral Solution,’ a dangerous industrial bleach solution.
The solution contains sodium chlorite and water. When it is ingested orally, it becomes chlorine dioxide, a strong bleach used in industrial water treatments and in bleaching textiles, pulp or paper, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said.” Read more at New York Times
“Four months after Congress approved tens of billions of dollars in emergency rental aid, only a small portion has reached landlords and tenants, and in many places it is impossible even to file an application.
The program requires hundreds of state and local governments to devise and carry out their own plans, and some have been slow to begin. But the pace is hindered mostly by the sheer complexity of the task: starting a huge pop-up program that reaches millions of tenants, verifies their debts and wins over landlords whose interests are not always the same as their renters’.
The money at stake is vast. Congress approved $25 billion in December and added more than $20 billion in March. The sum the federal government now has for emergency rental aid, $46.5 billion, rivals the annual budget of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Experts say careful preparation may improve results; it takes time to find the neediest tenants and ensure payment accuracy. But with 1 in 7 renters reporting that they are behind on payments, the longer it takes to distribute the money, the more landlords suffer destabilizing losses, and tenants risk eviction.” Read more at Washington Post
“Monday marks the 35th anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster in history. At 1:23 a.m. on April 26, 1986, an explosion destroyed reactor No. 4 at Chernobyl's Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Nuclear Power Station in what is now Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. The resulting fire spread airborne radioactive contamination for miles until it was finally contained several days later. Officially, the eventual death toll from cancer from the accident was projected to reach 9,000, although some estimates are far greater. The accident strengthened the growing anti-nuclear movement around the world, which led to the phasing out or slowing down of nuclear energy in some countries. And in a 2006 memoir, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wrote that Chernobyl ‘was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.’” Read more at USA Today
“A North Carolina sheriff says his office could ask a judge as soon as Monday to release body camera footage of his deputies fatally shooting a Black man last week. Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten also said he would first check with the State Bureau of Investigation to ensure that releasing the video would not compromise their probe of the shooting. Andrew Brown Jr., 42, was fatally shot by deputies serving warrants Wednesday in Elizabeth City, where about half of the 18,000 residents are Black. Few details of the shooting have been released. Witness accounts and scanner traffic recordings indicate Brown was shot in the back while fleeing in a vehicle.” Read more at USA Today
“The stock price of government contractor Emergent BioSolutions has fallen sharply since the disclosure at the end of March that production problems at the firm’s plant in Baltimore had ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. Since then, AstraZeneca moved production of its own vaccine out of the facility, and Emergent temporarily halted new production there altogether.
Those developments came after Emergent’s stock price had tumbled on Feb. 19, following the company’s published financial results. Emergent stock has fallen since mid-February to about $62 a share from $125 a share, or just more than 50 percent.
But the decline has had less of an impact than it might have on the personal finances of Emergent’s chief executive, Robert G. Kramer, who sold more than $10 million worth of his stock in the company in January and early February, securities filings show. Based on the market price, the stocks that Kramer sold would now fetch about $5.5 million.” Read more at Washington Post
“Indonesian submarine found. The 53 Indonesian sailors aboard a missing submarine have been confirmed dead after authorities found the vessel’s wreckage of at the bottom of the Bali Sea. The submarine had gone missing last Wednesday during military drills. Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said ‘forces of nature’ were responsible for the tragedy, believed to have been caused when the 44-year old ship cracked, breaking it into pieces.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The anonymous jury in the Derek Chauvin trial is part of a growing trend that has some legal experts worried.” Read more at USA Today
“Lives Lived: Bob Fass hosted an anarchic and influential radio show in New York for more than 50 years, with guests including Bob Dylan and Abbie Hoffman. Fass died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
“Turkey and Armenia react to U.S. genocide declaration.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he ‘entirely rejects’ U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to recognize the 1915 Armenian genocide in a speech over the weekend, as Ankara summoned the U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield to express official displeasure. A Turkish foreign ministry statement called Biden’s announcement a ‘grave mistake’ that ‘undermines our mutual trust and friendship.’ Armenia’s foreign affairs ministry welcomed the U.S. statement, saying it continued the ‘strong American tradition of standing by truth and justice.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“ASEAN’s Myanmar summit. Myanmar’s pro-democracy activists have criticized a consensus statement delivered by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) following the group’s weekend summit as they continue months-long protests. The gathering was the first foreign travel by Myanmar coup leader Gen. Ming Aung Hlaing since the junta’s Feb. 1 seizure of power.
ASEAN countries agreed on five points on Myanmar: An end to violence, appointing a special ASEAN envoy, supplying humanitarian assistance, allowing a delegation to visit the country, and asking that ‘all parties’ be involved in dialogue. According to a Reuters report, an original draft statement had called for the release of political prisoners, however that demand was watered down in the published version.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Global defense spending. Global defense spending increased in 2020, despite a sharp downturn in the global economy, according to an annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Overall spending reached nearly $2 trillion, a 2.6 percent increase from the 2019 figure. Defense budgets in the Middle East fell by 6.5 percent, helped by a 10 percent cut by Saudi Arabia. The five biggest spenders—the United States, China, India, Russia, and the United Kingdom—all increased their defense spending in 2020.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“The Biden-Putin summit. U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 15-16, according to Russian daily Kommersant. The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the summit would be held in a European country. Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to Putin, told the Russian news agency RIA that the government had yet to reach a firm decision on whether the summit would go ahead.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Taxi and limousine services near the U.S.-Canada border are seeing a spike in business as travelers seek to circumvent Canada’s strict quarantine requirements. Under current regulations, those flying into Canada must spend up to three days out of a 14-day quarantine period at a hotel. No such restrictions apply to overland travelers, prompting budget-conscious travelers to return to North America via U.S. airports and book a car for the final leg. The Canadian Border Services Agency appears to have measured the phenomenon; border crossings jumped 60 percent in the last week in March compared to 2020.
‘They call from six in the morning to 12 at night,’ John Arnet, general manager of 716 Limousine in Buffalo, New York, told Reuters. ‘We’ve had so many requests for border crossings that we’re turning them down.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
No posts