Sentences with phrase «on matters of public concern»

For years, courts first asked whether a public employee spoke on a matter of public concern or importance.

They also state that «the CBP Summons is unlawful and unenforceable because it violates the First Amendment rights of both Twitter and its users by seeking to unmask the identity of one or more anonymous Twitter users voicing criticism of the government on matters of public concern.»

Quite often a declaration on some matter of public concern is issued with the signature of a thousand scientists or a hundred Nobel Prize Winners.

The court agreed that the teacher's having referred to her students using such terms as «jerk,» «rat - like,» and «dunderheads» was not protected by the First Amendment because her comments were not on matters of public concern.

For teachers, «generally, the First Amendment protects your speech if you are speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern,» according to the ACLU.

To have a lawsuit dismissed, a target of a SLAPP suit must prove on the balance of probabilities that a suit was filed for a malicious purpose such as to silence a person on a matter of public concern or to stop them from demonstrating.

The standard of intent is the higher «actual malice» threshold for statements on matters of public concern, statements by media defendants and statements about public figures.

If the speech touches on matters of public concern, then the court balances the employee's right to free speech against the employer's interests in an efficient, disruption - free workplace.

However, it also gives exceptionally strong protection to the media (and to people in general) to speak on matters of public concern; there are very, very few cases where a US government (federal, state, or local) can legally order someone not to publish something (as opposed to letting it be published and then issuing sanctions).

Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said that teachers were free to express themselves on matters of public concern as private citizens, but not as representatives of the department, and that if they crossed that line they could be disciplined.

The government asked University of Toronto Faculty of Law dean Mayo Moran and lawyers Brian MacLeod Rogers and Peter Downard to prepare the report in response to concerns over the growing use of litigation to silence critics who speak out on matters of public concern, notably in environmental disputes.

This important legislation will protect all people in the province who speak out at public proceedings and on matters of public concern.

The Court of Appeals reversed the trial findings and concluded that Westboro's pickets were entitled to First Amendment protection because the statements were on matters of public concern and were not provably false.

Fair comment is a defense against defamation claims where the statement at issue is an expression of opinion, reasonably based on (preferably disclosed or well - known) true facts, which is on a matter of public concern, and which is the honest opinion of the speaker which was not made specifically to cause harm.

Universities, the media, and the public at large want legal academics to weigh in on matters of public concern — to be «engaged scholars».