A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit in Arkansas by a local newspaper to block an anti-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) law against Israel, ruling that such boycotts are not protected by the First Amendment since denying a purchase on account of perceived injustices relating to Israeli policies has nothing to do with free speech.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller ruled that the case brought by the Arkansas Times did not demonstrate “that a refusal to deal, or its purchasing decisions, fall[s] under the First Amendment.”