The Washington Post continues its coverage of the Google Books settlement.  It reports that library associations have asked the Department of Justice to oversee the creation of Google Books.  The associations argue that regulation is necessary because there will be inadequate competition to ensure fair prices.

Arkansas Online reports that, after intervention by the ACLU, a judge has ordered the state to allow the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers to erect their disply at the state Capitol.

The New York Times editorial page weighs in on the free speech controversy involving Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo.  Davis was let go from his position at the Congressional Research Service because he wrote about the Guantanamo detainees.  The ACLU now represents Davis, maintains he was let go in unlawful retaliation for his speech, and has threatened to sue if he is not reinstated.  The Times takes the position that Davis ought to be reinstated.

FIRE, whose mission is to “sustain individual rights at America’s colleges and universities,” has released its annual report on free speech rights on college campuses.  According to FIRE , “FIRE found that while the percentage of public campuses that unconstitutionally restrict student speech dropped from 77 percent to 71 percent, the percentage of private campuses that similarly restrict freedom of speech has risen by 3 points from 67 to 70 percent.”

The Charlottesville Daily Progress reports on a speech controversy regarding the right to protest in front of the office of a member of Congress.  According to the article, protesters used to protest near U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello’s office.  When a neighboring business owner complained that the protesters were hurting her business, the police required them to move to a nearby sidewalk. John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute has asked the Representative to move his office.  The Representative has offered to make a variety of other accommodations.  Given that Rep. Perriello was not the person who required the protesters to move, it does not seem that there is any claim that he violated the First Amendment.

The First Amendment Center reports on a district court judge’s dismissal of a defamation lawsuit against the Dixie Chicks.  The court held that there was insufficient evidence of actual malice on the part of the Dixie Chicks for the lawsuit to proceed.  The article also discusses some other pending defamation cases.

Inside Higher Education discusses a number of recent cases in which courts have been figuring out how to apply the Supreme Court’s decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos to faculty speech.  In Garcetti, the Court held if an employee’s speech is part of his or her official duties, there is no First Amendment claim if he or she is punished for that speech.  There has been some question about how to apply this rule to faculty speech, because a broad reading might encompass all of a faculty member’s academic work.

Adam Thierer of Tech Liberation Front has an interesting if snarky blog post on an FCC workshop on net neutrality.  Let’s just say he was unimpressed.

Law.com reports that a federal judge has sentenced two Muslim Americans to jail for conspiring to aid and abet terrorist organizations.  The men had raised a First Amendment defense.  The judge rejected that argument, saying they were being sentenced for their conduct, not their speech or religious faith.

The New York Times reports that two groups have sued the City of Pittsburgh for its treatment of them when they showed up to demonstrate at the G-20 meeting in September.  The groups are Seeds of Peace Collective and Three Rivers Climate Convergence.  The suit alleges the city intentionally interfered with the groups’ ability to exercise their First Amendment right to protest.  The groups are represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Business Times also covers the story.

The Washington Post reports that the Congressional Research Service has declined to reinstate an assistant director it recently terminated.  According to the article, the assistant director used to be the chief military prosecutor at Guantanamo, and was terminated after writing critically about the Obama adminstration’s handling of detention issues.  He alleges he was terminated in violation of his First Amendment right to free speech.

Jurist reports that the Ninth Circuit has denied same-sex marriage supporters access to the internal campaign emails of those working for passage of California’s proposition 8.  The Court held that disclosure of these emails in discovery in the ongong lawsuit challenging the proposition would impermissibly chill the First Amendment-protected freedom of association.  Jurist reports that the  Ninth Circuit established the rule that “the party seeking discovery must demonstrate a need for the information sufficiently compelling to oughtweigh the impact on” associational rights.