The Arkansas capitol building in Little Rock.
ST. LOUIS (CN) An Arkansas law requiring businesses that contract with the state to pledge not to boycott Israel is unconstitutional, a split three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit ruled on Friday.
The Arkansas Times is challenging the 2017 law, which it claims forces businesses to take a political stance in violation of the First and 14th Amendments. In 2018, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of the paper, which for years has contracted with a state public college to publish ads for the school.
The 2-1 decision sent the issue back to federal court, where it was dismissed previously, prompting the appeal.
Big news today from the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The
Arkansas Times, and the First Amendment, have prevailed in a lawsuit challenging the state law that prevents state business with those who won’t pledge not to boycott Israel.
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A federal district court had dismissed our challenge, but the 8th Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, sent the case back to the district court.
The Times, represented by the ACLU, asked for an injunction against the law. We had never editorialized about Israel or the boycott but objected to being forced to sign a pledge about editorial content as a condition of doing business The case was over an advertising contract with the Pulaski Tech branch of the University of Arkansas. We lost an existing contract because we refused to sign a pledge.
8th Circuit denies state appeal of decision in South Arkansas school transfer case
In a 2-1 decision today, the
8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
federal Judge Susan Hickey’s order that
four South Arkansas school districts could not be compelled to approve interdistrict student transfers because they operate under desegregation rulings.
The state has gradually made school district transfers all but automatic and has eliminated segregation impact as a reason to deny transfers unless a district is under a federal court order. The state Board of Education went to court to force
Hope, Lafayette County, Camden Fairview and Junction City districts to allow interdistrict transfers. They are among a handful of districts still operating under past desegregation rulings, but the state argued their orders didn’t specifically prohibit transfers and said it would allow them. The districts went back to court for protection from forced transfers, which statewide have been sough