Supreme Court Says Public Employee Off-Duty Speech Detrimental to City Not Protected by 1^st Amendment: San Diego terminated a police officer for selling on E-Bay videos showing himself engaging in sexually explicit acts while dressed in a police uniform. The officer claimed 1^st Amendment protection. The court of appeals held that the officer’s off-duty speech was not related to his employment and was therefore a matter of "public concern" entitling him to First Amendment protection. In City of San Diego v. Roe, US Supreme Court reversed, saying the lower court "seriously" misread precedent in so broadly reading the public concern doctrine. Here, the Court said, the speech, though not related to his employment "was detrimental to the mission and functions of the employer." http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/06dec20041100/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04pdf/03-1669.pdf

Redevelopment Contract Fee Can Exceed Tax Limit: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that an urban redevelopment contract is enforceable against a developer even though the fee to be paid in lieu of property taxes may exceed what the developer would pay if not exempt. Anderson Street Associates v. City of Boston, 2004 WL 2591474 (11-17-04)

http://www.socialaw.com/slip.htm?cid=14136&sid=120

Streamlining (and Dismantling?) the Community Reinvestment Act: The Office of Thrift Supervision is seeking comments to its proposed changes to "streamline" the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. See http://www.ots.treas.gov/docs/7/77449.html

For some, the effort will gut the act that helps low income communities, urban and rural, obtain banking services. See concerns of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition: http://www.ncrc.org/pressandpubs/featureStory.php

Land in Farmland Trust Unprotected from Development, a Disincentive to Participate? A Calvert County, Maryland farmer who put his farm in the county’s farmland preservation program now faces having his farm condemned for a natural gas pipeline. The County will not oppose the pipeline and the farmer feels he "has been had" in that it is the undeveloped nature of his land that makes him a target for the pipeline company. See "Pipeline Plan Severs Farmer’s Faith," Washington Post, Nov. 9. 2004, p B04. A farmer who had granted a conservation easement suffered the same fate in Indiana recently. "Pipeline to cross farmland despite protected status," Louisville Courier-Journal, June 24, 2004. For other information on farmland preservation, see the American Farmland Trust site. http://www.farmland.org/

Federalism Working? Federal Inaction Leads to State Action: State Attorneys General are suing drug companies, mortgage lenders, mutual funds, power plants and others who have until recently been targets of federal agencies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says states are overreaching. Brooke A. Masters, "States Flex Prosecutorial Muscle," Washington Post, Jan.12, 2005, Page A01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2107-2005Jan11?language=printer

Websites of Interest: Most federal and many state court opinions are available online without charge. For federal courts: Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, Districts Courts, and Bankruptcy Courts, go to http://www.uscourts.gov/

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