We’ve talked recently about the similar abuse of the DMCA 512(h) subpoena process to try to identify the critic of a billionaire, but here it looks like The Watch Tower folks have turned it into a systematic part of their effort to attack, intimidate, and silence critics. This long history of litigating to advance First Amendment protections, coupled with the Witnesses’ status as a minority religious sect that has encountered plenty of community prejudice, had always left me with a soft spot for the group.īut now they’re looking to throw all of that away. Village of Stratton in the Supreme Court, arguing for the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses to go door to door spreading their religious messages (and accepting donations) without having to provide their names. I had the good fortune of being able to help them win one of the most recent, when I did a moot court for their in-house counsel, Paul Polidoro, when he was arguing Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society v. City of Griffin, in 1938, the Jehovah’s Witnesses began an admirable string of cases in the Supreme Court that have helped to establish the First Amendment rights that we enjoy today. He starts out by highlighting some of the other important 1st Amendment cases in the Watch Tower’s past:īeginning with Lovell v. Public Citizen Litigation Group’s Paul Levy has all of the unfortunate details. And it’s why it’s so unfortunate that they’re now appearing to throw all of that away by abusing copyright law to try to stifle speech and intimidate critics. It reminded me how frequently the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and their organization, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, have been involved on the right side of important 1st Amendment lawsuits.
#Jehovah witness license#
As part of it, it highlights an important free speech lawsuit, brought by George Maynard, a Jehovah’s Witness, to argue that New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die!” motto on all license plates violated his own 1st Amendment rights in compelling him to advertise a slogan he felt went against his own religious beliefs. It’s very entertaining and worth listening to. Fri, Mar 18th 2022 10:48am - Mike MasnickĪ year ago, the wonderful podcast, 99% Invisible, had a great episode exploring the history of state slogans and other statements ending up on license plates.
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