A 32-year-old Maryland law requiring state residents to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement violates the free-speech rights of Marylanders, a defense attorney has argued in appealing a first-degree murder conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. In papers filed ...

Tagged with: child abuse first amendment free speech Supreme Court

La Plata High School did not violate a Christian student’s constitutional First Amendment rights to freedom of religion and speech by providing lessons in Islam as part of a required world history class, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. In ...

Tagged with: establishment clause first amendment free exercise of religion free speech islam

Maryland prison officials violate the First Amendment rights of prisoners by severely limiting their access to books, including literary classics that explore the human condition and would assist in the convicts’ rehabilitation, the ACLU of Maryland stated in a letter Thursday urging the state’s head of corrections to end the restrictions.

Tagged with: ACLU first amendment free speech prison security prisoner's rights

A free-speech challenge to a Maryland state agency’s ban on financial solicitations on Lawyers’ Mall could come down to whether the site – at the foot of the State House and the feet of Thurgood Marshall’s statue – is an ...

Tagged with: ACLU Department of General Services first amendment free speech public forum

ANNAPOLIS – A bill to expand Maryland’s law against cyberbullying of youngsters died amid constitutional concerns in the House Judiciary Committee this General Assembly session but will be resurrected next year, the measure’s chief sponsor said Tuesday. “We are going ...

Tagged with: cyberbullying first amendment free speech Grace's Law

ANNAPOLIS – The ACLU of Maryland filed suit Thursday against the Department of General Services, saying DGS’s ban on financial solicitations on Lawyers’ Mall – a popular site for political protest at the foot of the State House – violates ...

Tagged with: ACLU Department of General Services first amendment free speech lawyer's mall

ANNAPOLIS – Legislation to expand Maryland’s law against cyberbullying of youngsters drew praise Tuesday from the mother of a child driven to suicide but scorn from a First Amendment advocate who said the statutory expansion would violate free speech. Appearing ...

Tagged with: cyberbullying first amendment free speech Grace's Law protected speech teen suicide

ANNAPOLIS – Citing freedom of speech, a civil rights group on Tuesday threatened to sue a Maryland agency if it fails by Feb. 1 to lift a prohibition on solicitations for funds on Lawyers’ Mall, a popular site for political ...

Tagged with: constitution first amendment free speech solicitations

A Baltimore city ordinance requiring pro-life “pregnancy centers” to post a sign in their waiting rooms stating they do not provide abortion- or birth-control-related services violates the centers’ First Amendment rights, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. In its 3-0 ...

Tagged with: abortion first amendment free speech

Baltimore’s practice of barring alleged victims in police brutality cases from disparaging officers as a condition of settlement agreements does not violate the accusers’ constitutional free-speech rights so long as they knowingly and voluntarily signed the accords, a federal judge ...

Tagged with: confidentiality agreements first amendment free speech freedom of the press police brutality