The Power of Blogging
Blogging has definitely brought about a change to the way we view news and share information. A glimmer of the power can be seen as an increasing number of blogs are being banned in foreign countries. And when Jean-Renny van Matt, the creator of a multi-million Euro ad campaign to improve the mood of Germans, called us the "bathroom walls of the internet," well, you knew there was some influence there.

But now a blog has been quoted in the dissenting opinion of a case voted not to be re-heard by the ninth-circuit court of appeals. Harper v Poway Unified School District is essentially about free speech in the classroom. In his dissent on page six, Judge O'Scannlain quotes the Volokh Conspiracy, a blog.
A respected First Amendment scholar notes that the panel majority's decision constitutes
a dangerous retreat from our tradition that the First Amendment is viewpoint-neutral. It's an opening to a First Amendment limited by rights to be free from offensive viewpoints. It's a tool for suppression of one side of public debates (about same-sex marriage, about Islam, quite likely about illegal immigration, and more) while the other side reamains constitutionally protected and even encouraged by the government.
Eugene Volokh, Sorry, Your Viewpoint Is Excluded from First Amendment Protection April 20, 2006, http://volokh.com/posts/1145577196.shtml. No Supreme Court decision empowers our public schools to engage in such censorship nor has gone so far in favoring one viewpoint over another.
Hat Tip: Opinions and Legalish Ramblings of a Wannabe Attorney

For another interesting look at the power of blogs, especially in news reporting, take a look here.

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