The U.S. Supreme Court continues to issue decisions impacting New Jersey municipalities. In Shurtleff v. City of Boston, 596 U. S. ____ (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the city of Boston violated the First Amendment when it rejected an application to fly a Christian flag on one of
In Houston Community College System v. Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an elected trustee who was publicly censured by his board did not have a First Amendment claim. In reaching its decision, the Court explained that the purely verbal censure was itself a form of free speech by
SCOTUS recently held that a school district’s decision to suspend a student for social media posts violates the First Amendment… The U.S. Supreme Court held in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. that the school district’s decision to suspend student B. L. from the cheerleading team, for social media posts
New Jersey’s ban on restaurants advertising “bring your own beer” (BYOB) is unconstitutional, according to a recent federal court decision. In GJJM Enterprises v. City of Atlantic City, Judge Joseph Rodriguez of the District of New Jersey ruled that the ban “places a content-based restriction on speech that fails strict scrutiny
Morris County is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether excluding religious institutions from receiving taxpayer funds as part of a historic preservation program conflicts with the Supreme Court’s decision in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer and the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. Facts of the Case In 2002, the
In Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Carol S. Comer, Director, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the State of Missouri violated the U.S. Constitution when it denied a playground resurfacing grant to the Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia based solely on its status
By a vote of 2-1, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held in Munroe v. Central Bucks School District that a Pennsylvania teacher’s anti-student blog posts were not protected under the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee. According to the appeals court, the teacher’s speech did not rise to the
The implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Reed v. Gilbert are already be felt by municipalities across the country and not just with respect to sign ordinances. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently relied on the Court’s decision to strike down a panhandling ordinance. The Legal Background
