• Supreme Court enforces ban on straw purchase of guns, upholds challenge to political speech law

    Supreme Court enforces ban on straw purchase of guns, upholds challenge to political speech law

    Jun 17, 2014 12:06 AM EDT

    ... GWEN IFILL: Two Supreme Court decisions today, one on purchasing firearms and the other involving political speech. Jeffrey Brown has that. JEFFREY BROWN: As it happens, both cases involve when the truth must be told. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the federal government can enforce ...

  • At West Point, Obama answers foreign policy criticism with speech on America’s role in the world

    At West Point, Obama answers foreign policy criticism with speech on America’s role in the world

    May 28, 2014 11:58 PM EDT

    ... are saying that is important. Ambassador Pickering, did you hear an explanation? THOMAS PICKERING: I didn't hear an explanation, but this wasn't the speech for the deep explanation of Syrian policy. It was the speech to provide the United States and the rest of the world with a ...

  • Former Justice Stevens: Campaign money isn't speech

    Former Justice Stevens: Campaign money isn't speech

    Apr 30, 2014 08:44 PM EDT

    ... Democratic National Committee is not speech, Stevens argued in a rare appearance of a former justice in the Senate. "While money is used to finance speech, money is not speech. Speech is only one of the activities that are financed by campaign contributions and expenditures. Those financial activities should not ...

  • Dogs have special ability to react to human speech, study shows

    Dogs have special ability to react to human speech, study shows

    Feb 21, 2014 10:17 PM EDT

    A new study concludes that dogs' brains contain a vocal region that functions similarly to the region located in the temporal lobe of human brains. In addition, the researchers found that vocal emotional cues activated a similarly located non-primary auditory region of the brain in both humans and canines.

  • UN Secretary General criticizes discrimination in speech to IOC

    UN Secretary General criticizes discrimination in speech to IOC

    Feb 06, 2014 08:30 PM EDT

    United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the International Olympic Committee in Sochi Thursday, emphasizing the importance of supporting the gay community in the face of discrimination. “Many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice,” said Ban. “We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex...

  • Obama vows to flex his presidential powers in State of the Union speech

    Obama vows to flex his presidential powers in State of the Union speech

    Jan 29, 2014 02:00 AM EDT

    Seeking to energize his sluggish second term, President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday night in his State of the Union address to sidestep Congress "whenever and wherever" necessary to narrow economic disparities between rich and poor. He unveiled an array of modest executive actions to increase the minimum wage for federal contract workers and make it...

  • Rediscovering a Martin Luther King Jr. speech

    Rediscovering a Martin Luther King Jr. speech

    Jan 21, 2014 12:00 AM EDT

    ... GWEN IFILL: Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he died, and during his years on earth, he gave famous and memorable speeches around the world that have been replayed hundreds of times. There is one, however, that, until recently, had not been heard in more than ...

  • Lost speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. surfaces in New York

    Lost speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. surfaces in New York

    Jan 20, 2014 12:00 PM EDT

    ... rights movement. He and his allies had launched an unsuccessful campaign to integrate the city of Albany, Georgia -- and in the three weeks before the speech, three black churches in Georgia had been burned to the ground. Having an audio recording of King's speech offers new perspective on his ...

  • Supreme Court weighs clash between freedom of speech, abortion rights

    Supreme Court weighs clash between freedom of speech, abortion rights

    Jan 15, 2014 11:30 PM EDT

    ... JUDY WOODRUFF: Free speech and abortion rights clashed today at the Supreme Court. NewsHour correspondent Kwame Holman starts with some background. KWAME HOLMAN: The case grew out of complaints by anti-abortion demonstrators at this Planned Parenthood clinic in downtown Boston. MAN: If you look at that yellow line ...

  • Do abortion clinic buffer zones protect public safety or restrict free speech?