FW: University of Alabama?s Faculty Senate Seeks to Revoke the Fi rst Ame...

[David Bernstein]

The Ninth Circuit held a couple of years ago that HUD and the Justice
Deparment's Fair Housing Act investigation of neighborhood activists who
opposed placement of a halfway house in their neighborhood was a First
Amendment violation (Lead plaintiff's name was White).  Not only that, but
the court awarded damages personally against the officials involved, because
they should have realized that their investigation impinged on the First
Amendment.  This makes sense to me, though I'm open to persuasion.  An
investigation of First Amendment-protected behavior constitutes a tax on that
behavior, as the investigatees need to appear at hearings, hire attorneys,
worry, etc.  The government could easily stifle dissent if it simply
"investigated" all the "troublemakers."

In a message dated 4/4/2002 11:52:35 AM Eastern Standard Time,
VOLOKH at MAIL.LAW.UCLA.EDU writes:


>         Another item from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education;
> in my experience, their accounts are generally factually accurate, though
> sometimes a bit overwrought in tone.  Any thoughts on this?  My general
> view is that investigation of a group is not a First Amendment violation,
> though it may be bad in other ways under some circumstances -- but I'd love
> to hear others' thoughts.
>
>         Eugene
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>


David E. Bernstein
Associate Professor
George Mason University
School of Law
http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste
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