Occupy the Courts: The Irony of Protesting Against Free Speech

Morning Edition on NPR ran a segment on the many protests today against free speech held in honor of the second anniversary of Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court. The protests are organized by the Occupy the Courts movement which aims to amend the Constitution in order to gut the First Amendment's protection of free speech. Amusingly, the NPR segment does include this great line about today's anti-free speech demonstrations from Institute for Justice attorney Steve Simpson:

"People banding together in groups and exercising their right to free speech, to protest a court decision that held that people should be able to band together in groups and exercise their right to free speech — that's a little bit ironic."

Ironic? Well, yes. 

For more background, read my colleague Jacob Sullum's brilliant article on the Citizens United case, You Are Now Free to Speak About Politics.