“Until a journalist is actually able to bring a civil rights lawsuit to trial against the government for violating their First Amendment rights, it’s open season on anyone doing #journalism, and especially those without an in-house lawyer handy.” texasobserver.org/la-gordiloca…
#media #politics #USpol #news #FirstAmendment #SCOTUS #law
‘La Gordiloca’ Lost at the Supreme Court but Won in Laredo
The citizen-journalist and social media provocateur's case against local officials was thrown out in a decision that horrified First Amendment advocates.Jason Buch (The Texas Observer)
volkris
in reply to Texas Observer • • •The quote below is the problem as it gets the story EXACTLY backwards. This is the OPPOSITE of the message that the decision sends.
La Gordiloca sued the wrong people, as in, the civil charges that she filed were against the wrong parties for the suit to be successful. It was right to throw the case out since that's not how the legal system works.
"First Amendment experts say this decision sends the message that if police make a bad-faith or far-fetched interpretation of a law in a way that violates someone’s constitutional rights, including those of journalists or protesters, the courts will protect the cops and prosecutors from consequences."