I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
A lawsuit filed by the Thomas More Law Center, created by Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan, on behalf of a Christian ministry against a Dearborn Muslim festival is over. A federal district court judge in Detroit handed down a ruling for summary judgment in favor of the city and festival organizers, ruling that the restrictions on leafleting by the Christian group were not a violation of the First Amendment.
It would seem like such a restriction would be a First Amendment problem, but the specific facts of the case show otherwise. In years past, the Christian group had been allowed, along with other groups, to walk around and hand out literature to festival goers. But last year organizers decided to confine such activities to a spot near the entrance, where everyone going in would pass by tables set up for that purpose.
The key legal fact is that this rule applied to all organizations of any kind, regardless of their political or religious message. Under the new rules, such groups could continue to walk around and talk to people while wearing buttons or t-shirts advocating their message, but the actual handing out of literature was confined to the display area where each group would have their own table to lay out their literature.
The court found that this minor restriction was justified under the circumstances:
First of all, this Court reiterates that Plaintiff and his fellow missionaries will be able to mingle throughout the Festival and talk to people. Additionally, while circulating freely, they will be able to wear pins containing a message. The sole issue of contention is leafleting…
Plaintiff and his fellow missionaries will not be denied access to the Festival forum, nor denied the opportunity to interact with their intended audience. Under these circumstances, notwithstanding Plaintiff’s complaints, alternative channels for communication of their message remained sufficiently open.
Ultimately, the court concluded — correctly, I think — that the leafleting rule was a valid time, place and manner restriction that was enforced equally, without regard to the viewpoint being expressed, and therefore passed constitutional muster.
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