Section 31-51q

Citation: Section 31-51q
Parent Document: Cotto v. United Technologies Corp., 251 Conn. 1 (1999)
Jurisdiction: Connecticut (state)
Effective Date: 1999-10-12
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7898264/cotto-v-united-technologies-corp/ ↗

Full Text

1,210 chars

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has interpreted the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act in just that fashion.4 The United States Court of Appeals for the *31First Circuit has cogently identified the constitutional difficulty in the application of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act where expressive rights are involved. In Redgrave v. Boston Symphony Orchestra, Inc., supra, 855 F.2d 890, the plaintiff brought an action against the defendant under that act for canceling her appearance as a narrator of a performance because of her support of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Court of Appeals stated: “[W]here the issue is the plaintiffs ‘right’ to free speech, the analogy [to the federal statute prohibiting private racial discrimination] is strained. Such a right traditionally has content only in relation to state action — the state must be neutral as to all expression, and must not unreasonably restrain speech or expression. The right is to be free of state regulation, so that all private speech is formally on equal footing as a legal matter. In the traditional context, this means that various private actors can, without state interference, battle it out in the marketplace of ideas.

Other Sections in This Document (143)

Full Text