Frank LoMonte Comments on Pledge of Allegiance Requirements, Media Gag Orders and Courtroom Photos
Frank LoMonte, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Brechner Center for Freedom of Information director, was quoted in “AC Ken Paxton Joins Court Fight in Defense of Texas Law Requiring Schoolkids to Say Pledge” published in The Dallas News on Sept. 25.
The article features Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defending a state law that requires schoolchildren to stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance. The trial is set for April 15 and experts are weighing in on how the outcome could have ripple effects nationwide.
“We’ve only ever seen one case litigated involving the mandate to say the Pledge in modern history,” said LoMonte. “If this one were to go up [to the U.S. Supreme Court], it would be quite influential, not just in Texas but across the country as the first of its kind.”
LoMonte added that punishing a child for refusing to stand flies in the face of the earlier Supreme Court decisions.
“A school cannot impose discipline on somebody who does nothing more than quietly sit down,” he said. “The issue of the parental waiver certainly muddies the law, as there is definitely some strain of legal authority that says parents have a constitutional right to decide how their kids are raised.”
LoMonte was also quoted in “L.A. Judge Orders Media Not to Publish Courtroom Photos of Man Charged with Killing Homeless People” published in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 26.
LoMonte states that judges balance the interest of the public with a defendant’s interest in a fair trial as they decide whether journalists can take photographs of court hearings and once approval has been given and pictures are taken, a judge generally can’t stop a journalist from publishing.
“If you have gathered images legally and without violating any laws, that footage is yours, period,” said LoMonte.
LoMonte and Brechner Legal Fellow Linda Riedermann Norbut co-authored, “Stopping the Presses: Private Universities and Gag Orders on Media Interviews,” published in the American Association of University Professors Journal of Academic Freedom Volume 9.
The article looks at the enforceability of media “gag orders” in the private university setting and offers some grounds for arguing that free-speech protections should extend to employees on private campuses.
Posted: September 28, 2018
Category: College News
Tagged as: AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom, Frank LoMonte, Linda Riedermann Norbut, Los Angeles Times
