Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Judge: State silenced dissent
He strikes down law banning publication of personal info on police
'A federal judge has struck down a new state law that banned the publication of such personal information about police, corrections and court officers as their home addresses and Social Security numbers without their permission. The law, enacted last year, made it illegal for anyone to disseminate personal information about law enforcement-related employees if it was being done for malicious reasons. But U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, the chief federal judge in Seattle, ruled it unconstitutional Thursday, assailing the state attorney general and King County prosecutor for making such weak arguments in suppressing free speech and finding their positions "troubling."....'
My favorite quote from the decision: "Thought-policing is not a compelling state interest recognized by the First Amendment." Well, at least we have one sane judge in this country.
Full text of article linked below
Judge: State silenced dissent
Also, here's the link to the website that is involved.
And finally, here's a link to one of the pages that really points out why William A. Sheehan built the site in the first place, to keep police accountable for things like this.
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He strikes down law banning publication of personal info on police
'A federal judge has struck down a new state law that banned the publication of such personal information about police, corrections and court officers as their home addresses and Social Security numbers without their permission. The law, enacted last year, made it illegal for anyone to disseminate personal information about law enforcement-related employees if it was being done for malicious reasons. But U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, the chief federal judge in Seattle, ruled it unconstitutional Thursday, assailing the state attorney general and King County prosecutor for making such weak arguments in suppressing free speech and finding their positions "troubling."....'
My favorite quote from the decision: "Thought-policing is not a compelling state interest recognized by the First Amendment." Well, at least we have one sane judge in this country.
Full text of article linked below
Judge: State silenced dissent
Also, here's the link to the website that is involved.
And finally, here's a link to one of the pages that really points out why William A. Sheehan built the site in the first place, to keep police accountable for things like this.
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