For several weeks earlier this year, an odd battle was waged in the halls of the U.S. Capitol over a controversial work of art by a high school student placed there after an art competition in St. Louis. At issue is whether the Architect of the Capitol had the right to direct the permanent removal of the painting, or whether doing so violated the student’s (or his Congressman's) First Amendment Rights. That student, and the Congressman, have now gone to U.S. District Court in Washington, DC to get an answer. As in the past, strong feelings on all sides about police officers in particular have sharpened the debate about how, when, and whether the government can be selective in its displays of expressive visual art. With that said, the ostensibly retroactive application of Capitol rules to disqualify a painting that had previously passed those very same guidelines seems unlikely to pass First Amendment muster.
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Topics:
U.S. House of Representatives,
Richard Serra,
First Amendment,
Tilted Arc,
Ferguson Missouri,
St. Louis,
William Lacy Clay,
Eugene Volokh,
Dave Reichert,
Duncan Hunter,
Capitol,
Michael Brown,
Tip O'Neill
The U.S. House of Representatives passed yesterday H.R. 889, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Clarification Act for the third time in four years. Identical bills passed the house in early 2012 and again last year but failed to win passage in the Senate and signature by the President, thus expiring without becoming a law (and remaining just a bill sitting on Capitol Hill). Will it become law? Probably not, and after a little reflection and evolution, that’s probably for the best.
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Topics:
U.S. House of Representatives,
Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Clarifica,
Second Hickenlooper Amendment,
Russia,
Herrick Feinstein,
Nazi-looted art,
Konowaloff,
Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Association of Art Museum Directors,
Restitution,
World War II,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities,
act of state doctrine,
Senate,
Altmann v. Republic of Austria,
Capitol Hill,
Immunity from Seizure Act,
Chabad,
Federal Republic of Germany,
28 U.S.C. § 1605,
Welfenschatz,
Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity,
Mari-Claudia Jiménez,
Cuba
