Justices reject appeal from man arrested for spoofing police
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal, backed by the satirical site The Onion, from a man who was arrested and prosecuted for making fun of police on social media.
The justices on Tuesday left in place a lower court ruling against Anthony Novak, who was arrested after he spoofed the Parma, Ohio, police force in Facebook posts.
After his acquittal on criminal charges, Novak sued the police for violating his constitutional rights. But a federal appeals court ruled the officers have "qualified immunity" and threw out the lawsuit.
The Onion filed its brief in defense of parody. Its lawyers wrote that the First Amendment protects people from prosecution when they make fun of others.
"The Onion's writers also have a self-serving interest in preventing political authorities from imprisoning humorists," the site's lawyers wrote in a brief filed in October. "This brief is submitted in the interest of at least mitigating their future punishment."
Court won't upset Arkansas anti-Israel boycott law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to step into a legal fight over state laws that require contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel.
The justices rejected an appeal on behalf of an alternative weekly newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, that objected to a state law that reduces fees paid to contractors that refuse to sign the pledge.
The full federal appeals court in St. Louis upheld the law, overturning a three-judge panel's finding that it violated constitutional free speech rights.
Similar measures in Arizona, Kansas and Texas were initially blocked by courts, prompting lawmakers to focus only on larger contracts. Arkansas' law applies to contracts worth $1,000 or more.
Republican legislators in Arkansas who drafted the 2017 law have said it wasn't prompted by a specific incident in the state. It followed similar restrictions enacted by other states in response to a movement promoting boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israeli institutions and businesses over the country's treatment of Palestinians. Israeli officials said the campaign masked a deeper goal of delegitimizing and even destroying their country.
Justices won't revive lawsuit over NSA surveillance
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to revive an ACLU lawsuit challenging a portion of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance of Americans' international email and phone communications.
The justices left in place an appeals court ruling against the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia. The organization said that the National Security Agency's "Upstream" surveillance program violates free-speech rights and protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Details of the Upstream program are classified, but it collects data from transmissions over high-speed cables that carry electronic communications into and out of the country.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, had ruled that the lawsuit must be dismissed after the government invoked the "state secrets privilege" against the possible damage to national security that might result from a court case.
