Case Updates

Victory! California Attorney General Agrees to Protect Free Speech

The Center for Individual Rights reached a settlement with the Attorney General of California this week that guarantees the Attorney General will not use California Code section 8195 to stifle legitimate First Amendment speech. The state of California previously attempted to use section 8195 to ban artist Timothy Desmond from

CIR Files Motion for Preliminary Injunction Against Massachusetts Stun-gun Ban

Yesterday the Center for Individual Rights filed a motion for preliminary injunction in the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts that asks the court to suspend Massachusetts’s ban on electric weapons as our case proceeds.

The motion asks Federal Judge Douglas Woodlock to bar Massachusetts authorities from enforcing the

Victory: Federal Court Declares Guam’s Race Restrictive Plebiscite Unconstitutional

On March 8th, Judge Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood of the District Court of Guam issued a decision in favor of CIR client Arnold Davis. Judge Tydingco-Gatewood’s opinion granted Davis’ Motion for Summary Judgment and held Guam’s race exclusive plebiscite unconstitutional in light of the Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution.

CIR Files Complaint Against Massachusetts Stun Gun Ban

The Center for Individual rights, in cooperation with McCarter & English, has filed a complaint challenging the state of Massachusetts’s ban on stun-guns in the U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CIR is representing three clients who want the option of non-lethal means of self-defense but are threatened with

Artist Allowed to Compete at Big Fresno Fair

In response to CIR’s recently filed suit on behalf of artist Timothy Desmond, the state of California reversed course and agreed to let Desmond display his civil war painting at the 2016 Big Fresno Fair, which opens on October 5th.  State officials previously barred Desmond from displaying his work because

CIR Defends Public Servant Demoted for Political Views

On September 13th, CIR filed suit against the state of New York on behalf of New York civil servant Salvatore Davi. Davi, who worked as an Administrative Law Judge in New York’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, was suspended and demoted from his position because he expressed his political

CIR Moves for Immediate Relief for Censored California Artist

On August 30, CIR filed a Motion to enjoin the state of California from enforcing its ban on the display of the Confederate Flag on state property against artist Timothy Desmond.  If granted, the injunction would allow Desmond to enter his painting, The Attack, in the 2016 Big Fresno Fair.