Military Dress and the First Amendment

The application of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the armed services is not nearly as broad as it is in the civilian context. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the military can prohibit the wearing of yarmulkes by Jewish soldiers when in uniform. The armed forces no longer give religious waivers for uniform and grooming rules.

The Proposed Flag Protection Amendment

Despite this recent history, some members of Congress are attempting to pass the Flag Protection Amendment to the Constitution. Critics say that if the amendment passes, it would be the first amendment to limit, rather than protect, the freedom of speech.

Internet and Telephone Surveillance After September 11, 2001

A federal court has ruled that the Internet and telephone surveillance provisions of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) were unconstitutionally broad. Specifically, the federal court rejected the provision that permitted the Federal Bureau of Investigation to demand Internet usage records from Internet Service Providers and other communications firms, without first obtaining a warrant issued by a court. The Security and Freedom Ensured Act (SAFE Act) has been proposed as a bipartisan measure to restrict some of the surveillance and monitoring powers granted to the federal government by the USA PATRIOT Act.

Feeding Tube Law Declared Unconstitutional

A Florida woman died nearly two weeks after doctors, under court order, removed her feeding tube for the third and final time. The woman's parents suffered a string of legal settbacks after the removal of the tube, both in state and federal courts, trying to get her feeding tube reconnected.

The Right to Privacy and Screen Scrapers

A "screen scraper" is a program that automatically picks up data on one page or website and copies or moves it into another. Also known as "screen grabbers," these types of software record a computer user's activities, including keystrokes, websites visited, and desktop applications used. Privacy advocates and many consumers have expressed concern that the collection and sharing of data and computer usage habits can be readily and quickly abused, without a consumer's consent or knowledge. A federal court has approached a screen scraping case by looking to the provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, while a state court has looked to the law of trespass.