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Homelessness, Free Speech Cases Before U.S. Supreme Court
Today we look at two issues coming before the Supreme Court in its just opened 2023-24 term. First, we’ll discuss two cases whose outcome will determine the future of free speech online, when it considers the constitutionality of laws passed in Texas and Florida that, if allowed to stand, will severely restrict social media companies from removing certain political posts or social media accounts.
We then take up the matter of whether or not the Court agrees to hear a case where California’s Governor Newson, and officials from other states, ask the Supreme Court to overrule Martin-v-Boise, a Federal Appeals Court case protecting the rights of the unhoused to sleep outside on public property if there are no adequate alternatives available.
Guest – Stephen Rohde, a noted constitutional scholar and activist. He is the past chair of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California; the founder and current chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace; the author of American Words of Freedom and the book, Freedom of Assembly. Steve Rohde is also a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books, TruthDig, and a leader in the national campaign to free imprisoned investigative journalist, Julian Assange.
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Right Wing Billionaires Want New US Constitution
Our current Constitution was written in Philadelphia in 1787. It could be replaced by something draconian. We are in eminent danger of the curtailment of the federal government’s ability to protect the environment, consumers and civil rights. This includes barring Congress from delegating rule making to federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and placing caps on federal spending that would trigger massive cuts.
Now right wing billionaires such as Charles Koch, a fossil fuel industry giant, and right wing foundations, think tanks, and organizations have been steadily organizing at the state legislative level to call a new Constitutional convention and replace what we’re living under now with something very bad.
If this happens, such a convention would allow an unelected, unaccountable delegates free reign, to rewrite our Constitution – imposing an extreme right wing agenda on the entire nation, with no recourse or oversight
This could all happen by 2025. All it takes is 2/3 of the states to declare they want a new Constitutional convention. The right wingers are only six states shy at this point.
Guest – David Armiak is research director with the Center for Media and Democracy. David joined CMD in 2015 and has conducted extensive investigations on dark money, corporate corruption, and right-wing networks. He is responsible for filing and analyzing hundreds of public records requests every year.
Hosted by attorneys Michael Smith and Jim Lafferty
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