On September 28, 2016, the First Circuit issued its opinion in Rideout v. Gardner, holding that New Hampshire’s prohibition on sharing photos of marked ballots (or “ballot selfies”) — N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 659:35 (as amended in 2014) — is unconstitutional. The district court had found that that the law was a content-based restriction on speech and that it failed strict scrutiny under the First Amendment. The First Circuit opinion authored by Judge Lynch upheld the district court’s decision on narrower grounds, finding that — whether or not the law was content-based — it could not survive even the lower threshold of intermediate scrutiny. Previous blog posts provide more information about the amicus brief filed by the Cyberlaw Clinic in the case (on behalf of the New England First Amendment Coalition and the Keene Sentinel) and about the oral argument, which took place on September 13th before Judges Lipez, Lynch, and Thompson.
Filed in: Clinical Spotlight
Tags: Cyberlaw Clinic
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