10-11-2017 ACLU launches first major challenge of anti-BDS legislation - Samer Badawi + 972

https://972mag.com/aclu-launches-first-major-challenge-of-anti-bds-legislation/130140/

 

The American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that it had filed suit on behalf of a Kansas public school educator who was asked to disavow a boycott of Israel as a condition for payment. The case comes amid growing concerns that recent state-level legislation across the United States is chilling free speech among proponents of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

The Kansas law, which came into effect on July 1 of this year, directs the state to "require written certification from all individuals and companies with which it enters into contracts" that they are "not engaged in a boycott of Israel." "The First Amendment prohibits the government from using its financial leverage to impose an ideological litmus test," said ACLU attorney Brian Hauss…

Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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