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Enlarge / Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at gigafactory opening party in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022.

Getty Images | Suzanne Cordeiro

On Wednesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged a judge to reject a request for a gag order that would prevent him from continuing to publicly claim that his infamous "Funding secured" tweet was accurate.

The motion for a temporary restraining order "asks this Court to trample on Elon Musk's First Amendment rights by barring him from publicly discussing this case or its underlying facts. Plaintiff's motion cannot be reconciled with the Constitution's guarantee of free speech and should be denied," Musk's lawyer wrote in a court filing Wednesday.

Musk and Tesla face a class action lawsuit in US District Court for the Northern District of California over Musk's August 2018 claim that he had secured funding to take Tesla private. Musk and Tesla previously agreed to pay $20 million each in penalties and impose controls on Musk's social media statements to settle a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said that "Musk's misleading tweets" about taking Tesla private caused the stock price to jump "and led to significant market disruption."

Musk acknowledged that no financial deal had been completed, but he argued it was close enough to justify his claim that funding was "secured." In a TED conference appearance last week, Musk again claimed that "funding was actually secured" and he called the SEC "bastards."

After Musk's TED appearance, the lead plaintiff in the class action suit sought a temporary restraining order to prohibit Musk "from speaking with the press, media, news, and other public outlets about this case or the underlying facts until the end of trial."

"Musk's extensive pretrial media interviews pose a clear danger and serious risk to a fair trial because they attract pretrial publicity, poison the jury pool, and influence the outcome on the eve of trial," plaintiff Glen Littleton's motion argued. Advertisement

Littleton's filing said the federal judge overseeing the case has already ruled that Musk's tweets about taking Tesla private "were false and misleading and that Musk made these false statements recklessly and with full awareness of the facts that he misrepresented in his tweets." That ruling by District Judge Edward Chen is still under seal.

"The truth of the August 7, 2018 tweets and Musk's state of mind when publishing them are no longer issues to be decided by the jury. Therefore, Musk's continuing public statements about these issues only serve to prejudice the jury pool in this case by potentially influencing their deliberations during trial," the plaintiff's filing said.

Musk countered that "Both the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court have made clear that the extraordinary relief of a prior restraint on litigants' speech is subject to strict scrutiny and permissible only where there is a clear and discernable danger that an entire community will be corrupted by pretrial publicity such that locating twelve objective jurors would be impossible. This is not one of those rare cases."

Musk's court filing defended his comments at the TED conference:

Mr. Musk is in the middle of a public offer to take Twitter private, an undertaking which has led to a debate concerning the improper censorship of speech. In that context, the media has made comparisons with Musk's previous consideration of taking Tesla private. The recent conference Musk attended is a prime example. Chris Anderson of TED asked Mr. Musk if funding was secured for the Twitter deal, an obvious allusion to the events underlying this case. Mr. Musk should be permitted to respond meaningfully and truthfully to inquiries such as this, and not be compelled to remain silent about false insinuations in questions posed to him by the media. Plaintiff's request for a gag order is not designed to limit certain narrow forms of speech to ensure a fair trial; it is instead designed to silence Mr. Musk's statements outside the context of this litigation.

Musk's filing also noted that he is trying to get out of the SEC settlement in a separate court case. Musk claims he was "coerced into signing" the deal with the SEC.

"That agreement involved the same allegations at issue in this case, and Mr. Musk undoubtedly will be called upon by the media and by his shareholders to speak about that ongoing dispute. Imposing a broad and unwarranted gag order in this case would prejudice Musk's rights in connection with that proceeding as well," Musk's filing said.

No hearing has been scheduled on the motion for a restraining order, and it's not clear when the judge will rule.

Continued here:
Musk tells judge that gag order would trample on his First Amendment rights - Ars Technica

An activist group is suing the city of Florence for violating members' freedom of speech and assembly.

"I'm hoping that Florence is a safe space for people to exercise their first amendment rights," said Camille Bennett, the founder of Project Say Something.

PSS is a local nonprofit aimed at fighting racial injustice. The group is suing the city of Florence over the city's response to more than 160 protests that took place in 2020, protesting the death of George Floyd and the Confederate monument in front of the Lauderdale County Courthouse.

"I think our leadership has struggled to accept change and to accept revolution," said Bennett.

In a 30-page lawsuit, PSS claims the city and its police department inconsistently enforced city ordinances, effectively violating the constitutional rights of protestors.

Namely, "a noise ordinance that says whatever is unreasonable you can't do, and then a parade ordinance that requires a permit for parades," explained David Gespass, an attorney representing PSS from the Alabama chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

The lawsuit argues that the unamplified human voice cannot be regulated with a noise ordinance.

"Particularly for people engaging in First Amendment activity, they want to be heard! And they have a right to be heard," said Gespass.

The lawsuit also states stationary protests shouldn't fall under parade guidelines.

"When the chief says, you know, you're gonna have to pay $360 a day for police protection for a permit, people should not have to pay for protection because they're exercising their rights," said Gespass.

The lawsuit argues both the parade permit and noise ordinance are unconstitutionally vague as written, allowing for the city to subjectively enforce guidelines as they see fit.

"We're asking that we have clear boundaries and that any- and everyone who wants to protest especially if you want to protest for racial justice that you're able to do so peacefully," said Bennett.

WAAY 31 reached out to Florence city officials for comment and received this statement late Tuesday from the office of Mayor Andy Betterton: "With regard to your request for a statement, the city has not been served with a lawsuit like the one you described but typically doesnt discuss pending litigation anyway."

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City of Florence sued over First Amendment violation - WAAY

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange supporters hold placards as they gather outside Westminster Magistrates court in London on Wednesday. Alastair Grant/AP hide caption

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange supporters hold placards as they gather outside Westminster Magistrates court in London on Wednesday.

LONDON A British judge on Wednesday formally approved the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States to face spying charges. The case will now go to Britain's interior minister for a decision, though the WikiLeaks founder still has legal avenues of appeal.

The order, which brings and end to the years'-long extradition battle closer, comes after the U.K. Supreme Court last month refused Assange permission to appeal against a lower court's ruling that he could be extradited.

District Judge Paul Goldspring issued the order in a brief hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court, as Assange watched by video link from Belmarsh Prison and his supporters rallied outside the courthouse, demanding he be freed.

Home Secretary Priti Patel will now decide whether to grant the extradition.

The move doesn't exhaust the legal options for Assange, who has sought for years to avoid a trial in the U.S. on charges related to WikiLeaks' publication of a huge trove of classified documents more than a decade ago.

His lawyers have four weeks to make submissions to Patel, and can also seek to appeal to the High Court.

Assange lawyer Mark Summers told the court that the legal team had "serious submissions" to make.

The U.S. has asked British authorities to extradite Assange so he can stand trial on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. American prosecutors say Assange unlawfully helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

Supporters and lawyers for Assange, 50, argue that he was acting as a journalist and is entitled to First Amendment protections of freedom of speech for publishing documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argue that his case is politically motivated.

A British district court judge had initially rejected a U.S. extradition request on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. U.S. authorities later provided assurances that the WikiLeaks founder wouldn't face the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk.

In December, the High Court overturned the lower court's decision, saying that the U.S. promises were enough to guarantee that Assange would be treated humanely. The Supreme Court in March rejected Assange's attempt to challenge that ruling.

Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in jail if he is convicted in the U.S., though American authorities have said the sentence was likely to be much lower than that.

Assange has been held at Britain's high-security Belmarsh Prison in London since 2019, when he was arrested for skipping bail during a separate legal battle. Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed.

Last month, Assange and his partner Stella Moris married in a prison ceremony.

Original post:
Julian Assange is one major step closer to extradition to the U.S. - NPR

Big Walnut Local Schools and a parent suing the district for allegedly violating her First Amendment rights filed a joint motion in U.S. District Court asking a judge to stay upcoming deadlines as they may be close to a resolution in the case.

The lawsuit was filed on March 7 by Big Walnut parent Ashley Ryder after she was told to zip it at a meeting by Board President Doug Crowl on Feb. 17. Ryder claimed in her lawsuit that her First Amendment right to free speech was violated when she was told to stop talking and when her public participation was cut short by Crowl, who was presiding over the meeting.

(Crowl) retaliated against Ryder when (Crowl) silenced her criticisms, would not let her finish her statements, and ordered her to leave the lectern, the complaint said. Defendant further intended to chill Ryders future speech and others speech when President Crowl told the audience that he would not permit further criticisms of Defendants Board members. Thus, the Defendant has threatened and intimidated Plaintiff and other members of the public from exercising their First Amendment rights.

The first hearing in the case was scheduled for 9 a.m. May 4, but on April 5, the parties filed a joint motion asking for the hearing to be stayed because a resolution to the case may be near.

The parties have reached a tentative resolution and are working on finalizing the details of the resolution, the joint motion said. To give the parties time to finalize the resolution, the parties seek a 30-day stay of these current deadlines and dates, such that the parties will file their stipulated injunction and dismissal entry by May 20, 2022, or will provide the Court with an update by that date.

The motion was granted the next day by Chief Judge Algenon L. Marbley, who ordered that a stipulated injunction, a dismissal entry or a joint status report be filed by May 20.

There have been no filings in the case since the motion was approved.

At a special board meeting on March 15, the Big Walnut Board of Education reviewed its meeting policy and suspended enforcement of part of the policy that restricts abusive, personally directed or antagonistic speech until such time that the policy can be reviewed and amended and for no less than 60 days.

The board meets next at 6:30 p.m. April 21.

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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Ryder, Big Walnut reach 'tentative resolution' - Delaware Gazette

Good morning.

Russia has increased the intensity of its eastern offensive but has been repeatedly repelled by Ukrainian forces, the UKs Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said, as western governments pledged to send more artillery, and a new deadline for surrender in Mariupol approached.

The MoD said late on Tuesday that shelling and strikes were increasing over the line of control in Donbas but that Russian forces continued to be hampered by logistical and technological problems. It also noted an inability to stamp out resistance in Mariupol as a sign of failure to achieve Moscows objectives.

The Russian defence ministry has said it will offer the besieged port city a ceasefire today to allow Ukrainian defenders holed up in the Azovstal steelworks to lay down their arms. About 1,000 civilians are reportedly hiding in underground shelters beneath the steel plant in Mariupol, according to the city council. Most of the civilians are believed to be women with children and elderly people.

How are Ukrainian troops faring in Mariupol? A commander for the Ukrainian marines in Mariupol said his forces were maybe facing our last days, if not hours and appealed for extraction, in a Facebook post published early this morning.

What is happening with the diplomatic effort? Western nations are preparing to stage coordinated walkouts and other diplomatic snubs in protest at Russias invasion of Ukraine at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Washington. Janet Yellen, the US treasury secretary, is planning to avoid sessions attended by Russian officials.

What else is happening? Heres what we know on day 56 of the invasion.

Donald Trump attempted a coup on 6 January 2021 as he tried to salvage his doomed presidency, and that will be a central focus of forthcoming public hearings of the special House panel investigating events surrounding the insurrection at the US Capitol, the congressman Jamie Raskin has said.

Raskin is a prominent Democrat on the committee and also led the House efforts when Trump was impeached for a historic second time, in 2021, accused of inciting the storming of the US Capitol by his extremist supporters who were trying to stop the certification of Joe Bidens victory.

This was a coup organized by the president against the vice-president and against the Congress in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Raskin said in an interview with the Guardian, Reuters news agency and the Climate One radio program.

Public hearings by the bipartisan special committee investigating January 6 and related actions by Trump and his White House team and other allies, chaired by the Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, are expected next month.

Reproductive rights advocates in Texas have filed a new legal challenge to halt a near total abortion ban that has been in effect for more than half a year.

Senate bill 8 bars abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected typically as early as six week of pregnancy, which is before most people are aware they are pregnant and offers no exception for rape or incest. The lawsuit, filed yesterday, asks a federal court to rule the extreme law unconstitutional. It cites public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activists against Texas abortion funds, groups that have been instrumental in helping patients travel out of state for care, arguing that this conduct has chilled their first amendment rights.

Plaintiffs urgently need this court to stop Texass brazen defiance of the rule of law, uphold the federal constitutional rights of pregnant Texans, and restore the ability of abortion funds and their donors, employees and volunteers to fully serve Texas abortion patients, the federal court filing reads.

Wendy Davis, a former Texas senator who famously led an 11-hour filibuster against an anti-abortion bill in 2013, said: We are asking the courts today to stop the unconstitutional harassment of abortion funds by confirming SB 8 cannot be used to silence donors with bogus threats.

Prince Harry has said the Queen was on great form during their recent meeting, and he wanted to make sure she had the right people around her. Speaking to NBC about his meeting with the monarch, Harry said: Being with her it was great, it was just so nice to see her, shes on great form.

In a 59-page opinion on Monday, the US district judge Kathryn Mizelle of Tampa, Florida, overturned the federal requirement that people wear masks on planes and public transportation. She has become an instant heroine of the Republican right hailed for courage and common sense.

The Fantastic Beasts star Ezra Miller has been arrested on suspicion of assault in Hawaii. Miller already faces charges of harassment and disorderly conduct after an incident last month at a karaoke bar on the island.

A growing number of cities and states have restricted the information that local law enforcement departments can exchange with immigration authorities. But new documents reveal that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has tapped private technology companies to skirt such sanctuary policies.

Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in 10 years at the start of the year and said it expects to lose even more in the spring, sending its share price crashing again yesterday. The streaming giants share price initially fell close to 20% on news that it had lost 200,000 subscribers globally during the first quarter.

Some of the largest, most profitable companies in retail and food services are still paying most of their workers less than $15 an hour, and many staff still make less than $10 an hour, according to a company wage tracker developed by the Economic Policy Institute and the Shift Project. According to a 2021 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a worker needs to make at least $20.40 an hour to afford the rent of the average one-bedroom apartment in the US.

Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. She also happens to have had a front-row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family, writes Radheyan Simonpillai. Her father is the abduction victim turned hero Steven Stayner, the subject of the two-part television movie I Know My First Name is Steven, which aired in 1989. Her uncle is Carey Stayner, the serial killer sitting on death row for the Yosemite murders, which have been covered on numerous true crime programs such as American Justice, FBI: Criminal Pursuit and more.

The Biden administration is launching a $6bn effort to rescue nuclear power plants at risk of closing, citing the need to retain nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of power that helps to combat climate change. US nuclear power plants contribute more than half of our carbon-free electricity, and President Biden is committed to keeping these plants active to reach our clean energy goals, said the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm. Were using every tool available to get this country powered by clean energy by 2035.

An aggressive humpback whale appeared to turn the tables on a pod of orcas off the Canadian coast, stalking and then ambushing the group that more usually would have been attacking it. The rare occurrence took place in the Salish Sea between British Columbia and Washington state and was witnessed by tourists on a whale-watching trip. Theres something happening in front of us that hasnt been seen before, Olivia Esqueda told CHEK News. Its hard not to just kind of be like a kid at Disney World.

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First Thing: Ukraine repelling intense Russian offensive in east - The Guardian