Ryan Jerz :: Reno Blogger, Reno Blog

Fun, conversations, and occasional journalism from Reno, Nevada
Also, a small-town hick just looking for his five minutes


Misc: Homeowner uses that pesky First Amendment to state his case. The nerve!

an image froom asynconhome.infoA prevailing image: from the site mentioned. I shamelessly stole it and hope that it’s covered under Fair Use, as it demonstrates what the site is about.Scott from Around Carson points out a site run by a seemingly pretty angry guy. He’s angry because his house is having some major problems and the builder isn’t really doing much to help him out.

It’s classic. From my quick perusing of the site, I see that he has been very careful to post only things that have happened and offer his opinion on those things and of the builder as a result of the things that have happened. Sound familiar?

Awesomely, the footer of the page has a disclaimer that all content is covered by two important things:

Article 1, Section 9 of the Nevada Constitution:

Liberty of speech and the press. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions and civil actions for libels, the truth may be given in evidence to the Jury; and if it shall appear to the Jury that the matter charged as libelous is true and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted or exonerated.

(I really, really hope the Nevada Constitution isn’t copyrighted.)

and, of course, the First Amendment of the US Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I largely scoff at those types of sites, but I’ve never questioned their legality. For the site owner’s sake, I hope no one does. Perhaps some of my new anonymous friends can offer up their opinions on whether what he is doing is considered defamation. That ought to make for a thoughtful, productive discussion.


tags: first amendment, nevada constitution, us constitution
posted by Ryan Jerz on 04/13/2008

Comments

Marissa, Apr 14, 07:37 PM #:

It’s hard not to admire former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black with a comment like this one on the books: “The only sure way to protect speech and press against these threats is to recognize that libel laws are abridgments of speech and press and therefore are barred in both federal and state courts by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. I repeat what I said in the New York Times case that ‘An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the First Amendment.’ “

Rob Woods, Apr 24, 07:10 PM #:

Hmm. 1st amendment issues do sound familiar…

This is such a great idea. It’s kind of like Yelp! but without all the web 2.0 fluff. This must have been what reviews were like before the web.

You must preview before commenting. So make sure you've hit both the preview and submit buttons before you leave. It's tricky because your comment will look like it's already been posted, but it hasn't. So, if you want your comment to count, make sure you hit the button.