RPJ’s Alice K. Jump was recently featured in an article from HR Brew examining how employers should approach disciplining workers for social media activity in today’s polarized climate. Ms. Jump observed that while many employees mistakenly believe their online speech is fully shielded by the First Amendment, private employers (unlike...
by Hannah R. Brefeld To say the last few weeks’ news cycle contained endless amounts of discourse regarding Charlie Kirk’s September 10, 2025 assassination would be an understatement. We have seen differing responses from both ends of the political spectrum, with some calling for gun reform and highlighting Kirk’s more...
By Jill Kahn Marshall and Anna Beckelman In a recent bright spot for defenders of reproductive rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled in CompassCare et al. v. Hochul that employers in New York State must still provide notice to their employees regarding New...
The role that politics should or should not play in the workplace has long been debated, and we are currently seeing a renewed focus on appropriate norms in light of the Israel-Hamas war and Americans’ impassioned feelings on the topic. Many employers find themselves caught in the middle, with employees...
Over the past weeks and months, you may have found yourself asking (or dreading to ask): what aspect of free speech will Florida target next? It started with the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, followed by the “Stop W.O.K.E.” Act’s efforts to ban books (including “woke” math text books), and the...
I was on my way down to New Orleans for Realscreen Summit 2020 when the woman in front of me announced to the plane that Kobe Bryant was dead. By the time we landed, the rumor was confirmed and the breaking news splashed across every smartphone in sight. In this...
Did you know that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade? Apparently many are upset because, in the words of Chief Justice Roberts, this leak is an “egregious breach of trust” and a “betrayal of the confidences of the court” which seems to be eclipsing the bigger...
This is the question raised by a recent lawsuit filed in the Northern District of New York by religious anti-abortion organizations against New York State. In the case, Compasscare et al. v. Cuomo et al., 19-cv-01409, the organizational plaintiffs argued that their First Amendment rights were violated by a New...
The FCC won’t let me be or let me be me so let me see…they wouldn’t let Will use profanity, but it felt so empty on live TV. Watching TV with people who make TV (or at least know how the sausage is made, in my case) is either a...
As I reported previously, following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that the Lanham Act’s statutory bar to registration of “disparaging” trademarks ran afoul of the First Amendment, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down a companion portion of the federal trademark law that precluded registration...