Prattle, a Shakespearean Version of Wordle, Won't Let You Guess 'Slave'
"This anti-free speech, anti-intellectual, anti-common-sense action deserves all the scorn it can get," says Roy Thomas, former editor in chief of Marvel Comics.
Free Speech
Don't Let the House Hunter Biden Investigation Become a Russiagate-Style Search for Election Excuses
Plus: Lab-grown meat, the allure of raw milk, and more...
Forget Russia's Twitter Trolls—America's Censorious Officials Are a Bigger Threat
Researchers: Moscow’s social media meddling had little impact on the 2016 election.
Harvard Kennedy School Dean Rejects Proposed Fellowship, Allegedly Based on the Person's "Anti-Israel Bias"
The proposed fellow would have been Kenneth Roth, former head of Human Rights Watch, and apparently a highly prominent expert on the subject.
House Republicans To Probe White House Pressure on Social Media Companies
Plus: House votes to rescind IRS funding, the FDA is putting unnecessary strings on pharmacies filling abortion pill prescriptions, and more...
Did 'Every Conspiracy Theory' About Twitter Turn Out To Be True?
The internal company documents offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the federal agencies distorted the public debate on one of the world's largest social media platforms.
With Jordan Peterson, Occupational Licensing Becomes a Way To Censor
New mechanisms to threaten liberty are brought to bear on those who need the government's permission to do their jobs.
Jen Psaki Was "Apex" Official Who Should Generally Not Be Subject to a Deposition
This is in Missouri's and Louisiana's suit alleging various government officials "are infringing the First Amendment by coercing social media platforms to censor speech."
Dismissing Volunteer City Advisory Board Appointee for Alleged Antifa Links Doesn't Violate First Amendment
The same would apply for other speech or political association, because "political affiliation [was] an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved."
A College Fired a Professor for Showing a Painting of Muhammad. Now, It Could Lose Its Accreditation.
"If Hamline won't listen to free speech advocates or faculty across the country, they'll have to listen to their accreditor," said FIRE attorney Alex Morey, who filed the complaint.
'The Hypocrisy Hurts': Enes Kanter Freedom on Standing Up to China in the NBA
"When it comes to problems happening in America, [the NBA is] the first organization saying, 'This is wrong,'" says the former professional basketball player. But then they're silent for victims of torture.
A Surly Showdown for Speaker
Plus: Would Adam Smith be a libertarian if he were alive today?
Submit Your Articles to the Journal of Free Speech Law, Before You Circulate Them to the Law Reviews
We'll give you an answer within 14 days, and we can publish them within several weeks, if you'd like.
Defaming Like a Rockstar? No, Said Court in Lawsuit Against DaBaby
An interesting illustration of the defamation per se / per quod distinction, recognized in some states.
Under Government Pressure, Twitter Suppressed Truthful Speech About COVID-19
The company's broad definition of "misleading information" and its deference to authority invited censorship by proxy.
Twitter Files Reveal Politicians, Officials Evading the Constitution's Restrictions
People in power lean on private businesses to impose authoritarian policies forbidden to the government.
Chinese Protesters Use Their Bodies as Weapons Against the State
Standing with blank pages in hand, the protesters' goal is to make manifest the implied violence that authoritarian states use to keep order.
Yet Another Senator Bungles the First Amendment To Justify Censorship
This week, a clip of Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin claiming that speech that espouses "hate" and "violence" is not protected by the First Amendment made the rounds on Twitter, sparking sharp backlash.
Prof. Amna Khalid (Carleton) on the Hamline Muhammad Painting Controversy
"On Hamline University's shocking imposition of narrow religious orthodoxy in the classroom."
Doing Pickering Balancing Right
It is not a workplace "disruption" that co-workers objected to a MAGA hat
Court Refuses to Block California Ban on COVID "Treatment or Advice" That's "Contrary to the Standard of Care"
The law bans doctors from providing "treatment or advice" "to a patient" "related to COVID-19" when that treatment or advice includes (1) "false information" (2) "that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus" (3) "contrary to the standard of care." The law regulates only speech to patients, not to the public at large.
Teacher Can Proceed With First Amendment Lawsuit Over Threatened Punishment for Wearing MAGA Hat to Training
A defendant had argued that she could allow Black Lives Matters posters but forbid MAGA hats on the theory that, "While the Black Lives Matter poster is a symbol of cultural acceptance and inclusivity ... Mr. Dodge's MAGA hat is a symbol commonly associated with white supremacy and other anti-immigrant sentiments." No, says a Ninth Circuit panel.
Ninth Circuit Judge Urges Supreme Court "Not to Give Any First Amendment Protection for Racist Hate Speech"
“[G]overnment officials ... should not be unduly constrained in their attempts to regulate hate speech for the purpose of protecting the intended targets of said speech. This may require some refining of the Supreme Court’s prior guidance in its precedents.... For example, the Court could consider modifying the Brandenburg test to require only a probable and emerging threat of violence rather than imminent lawless action as a result of speech in order to regulate it.”
Ninth Circuit Upholds Expulsions for Off-Campus Abusive Speech That Targets Particular Students
“Students ... remain free to express offensive and other unpopular viewpoints [at least outside school], but that does not include a license to disseminate severely harassing invective targeted at particular classmates in a manner that is readily and foreseeably transmissible to those students.”
Beyoncé, Lizzo, and Taylor Swift Give In To the Speech Police
"It's stories and songs and films cut apart and written over, leaving no trace and no remnant of whatever used to be," writes novelist and cultural critic Kat Rosenfield.
Illinois Appellate Court Overturns a Stop-Posting-About-Plaintiff Order
Trial court: "I understand that you have a first amendment privilege, but sometimes the first amendment privilege contravenes certain statutes that are enacted by the State ...." Appellate court: That's "a misunderstanding of the relationship between statutes and constitutions."
Hamline Student Newspaper (the Oracle) Removed Published Defense of Lecturer Who Showed Painting of Muhammad
"[T]rauma and lived experiences," the newspaper says, "are not open for debate."
5 Infuriating Ways People Got the First Amendment Wrong in 2022
As free speech becomes an increasingly important part of the culture war, people won't stop misinterpreting—and outright violating—the First Amendment.
Don't Count on Criminal Prosecution To Hold Trump Accountable for His Egregious Post-Election Behavior
The final report from the January 6 select committee falls short of proving the elements required to convict the former president.
University of Idaho Murders Yield Libel Lawsuit Against "Internet Sleuth"
According to the Complaint, "Ashley Guillard promotes herself on Amazon and TikTok as an Internet sleuth that solves high-profile unsolved murders by consulting Tarot cards, and performing other readings, to obtain information about the murders."
Judge Agrees Consumers Can Sue Over Misleading Movie Trailers
The weird judge-invented "commercial speech" exception to our right to free expression breeds strange results in suit against distributors of the 2019 movie Yesterday.
