Immigrants Arrested During Federal Takeover of D.C. Police Are Suing ICE and Other Federal Agencies
Five plaintiffs are arguing that several mass immigration arrests in the nation’s capital were made without probable cause.
Civil Liberties
DHS Collected DNA from 2,000 U.S. Citizens Without Due Process. It's Now in a Law Enforcement Database.
By expanding federal agents' authority to collect the DNA of immigrant detainees, the government has risked violating Americans’ rights.
California Got This One Right: ICE Agents Shouldn't Be Allowed To Wear Masks
Masked agents are the unmistakable sign of a police state.
Second Circuit Allows Claim That "Implicit Bias Trainings" Constituted Racial Harassment
The court concluded that the plaintiff, a former New York City educator and administrator, presented enough of a case to go to the jury.
Democrats to Trump: Stop Jawboning, That's Our Job!
Democrats are vowing to break up media companies that kowtowed to Trump if they take back power.
The 9th Circuit Overturns a Man's Conviction for Holding a Shotgun on the Sidewalk in Front of His House
The decision, which hinges on an exception to the Gun-Free School Zones Act, does not say whether that law is consistent with the Second Amendment.
FCC Threats Against Jimmy Kimmel Echo a Century of Speech Control
From the Fairness Doctrine to Nixon’s “raised eyebrow,” government licensing power has long chilled broadcast speech—proving the First Amendment should apply fully to the airwaves.
Why Did a Florida Sheriff Accuse a Group of Fishing Guides of Inciting Threats Against Public Officials?
The Hendry County Sheriff accused Captains for Clean Water of "fuel[ing] hostility and provok[ng] violent rhetoric," but a free speech advocacy group says they were well within the First Amendment.
Donald Trump and Peter Thiel Are Using AI To Supercharge the Surveillance State
Peter Thiel warns of a pending one-world totalitarian government—while himself pushing to supercharge the surveillance state.
Google Says Biden Admin Pressured Company To Remove Content
Plus: ICE helps arrest sex workers, the SIM farm "security threat," Waymo car crashes caused by human error, and more...
The Forced Sale of TikTok Is Crony Capitalist at the Core
Forcing the sale of a social media company for political reasons was always going to be a power grab for the White House—whether its occupant was Democratic or Republican.
Trump's Vision of Broadcast Regulation Is a Threat to Conservatives
History suggests that Republicans will regret letting the FCC police TV programming.
Free Speech Unmuted: Kimmel, the FCC, and the Government's Power Over Broadcast Speech, with Prof. Ash Bhagwat (UC Davis)
Ash Bhagwat is an expert on federal communications law, as well as on the First Amendment; he is also Jane Bambauer's and my co-Executive-Editor on the Journal of Free Speech Law.
Refereeing the Debate over the 2021 National Firearms Survey
Critics of Prof. William English's survey sometimes miss the mark, but also raise valid questions.
From Prison to Helping the FBI to an Apple TV Miniseries … to Google-Hallucinated Libel?
Jimmy Keene, on whom the Apple TV miniseries Black Bird was based, sues Google alleging its AI hallucinated accusations that he's a convicted murderer serving a life sentence.
60 Years Ago, Ayn Rand Denounced FCC Censorship. Brendan Carr Should Listen.
In her 1962 essay "Have Gun, Will Nudge," Rand explained exactly how the public interest standard would lead to censorship.
Free Speech Means You Can Criticize Anyone
Plus: Fallout from the Tom Homan bribery probe, U.S. forces strike Venezuelan drug boats, and Trump considers sending troops back to Afghanistan
Michigan Anti-Porn Bill Would Criminalize ASMR, Written Erotica, and Even Nonsexual Depictions of Trans People
Under the law, transgender people writing about their gender identity online could face 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
America's Free Speech Culture Is Under Attack From Within
The First Amendment still stands, but the culture that supports it is eroding.
The FCC's Involvement in Canceling Jimmy Kimmel Was 'Unbelievably Dangerous,' Ted Cruz Says
Rand Paul concurs that the threats preceding the comedian's suspension were "absolutely inappropriate" because the agency has "no business weighing in on this."
The FCC Chair's Unprecedented, and Constitutionally Problematic, Response to Jimmy Kimmel
And Trump's much more extreme one. [EV writes: I bumped this post from yesterday, because it struck me as especially timely and substantively valuable.]
Should Elected Officials Censor Americans? Trump's Administration Says Yes.
Vice President J.D. Vance and Sen. Cynthia Lummis are among the latest conservatives to turn their backs on free speech when it comes to their ideological opponents.
Judge Strikes Trump's Complaint in Libel Lawsuit Against N.Y. Times
"The complaint continues ... with much more, persistently alleged in abundant, florid, and enervating detail." "[A] complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective—not a protected platform to rage against an adversary. A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers' Corner."
Americans Like Drugs. Killing Drug Traffickers Won't Change That.
Most U.S. drug traffickers are Americans, but the president is ordering extrajudicial maritime killings while ignoring the domestic demand that drives the market.
The U.N. Pullout
Plus: Eric Adams pursues trans bathroom policy change, SCOTUS to rule on Lisa Cook firing, and more...
Abolish the FCC
The Trump Administration's recent abuses of the agency's powers lend weight to longstanding libertarian arguments for abolishing it, going back to Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase's classic 1959 article.
Florida's State-Run Immigration Detention Centers Omit Hundreds of Detainees from Federal Tracking
Individuals housed at state-run immigration detention centers frequently don’t show up in the online detainee locator system, making it hard for their family and their lawyer to find them.
Freddie deBoer: Charlie Kirk's Murder Reveals a Cultural Sickness
Writer Freddie deBoer discusses the assassination of Charlie Kirk and his theory of "spectacular acts of public violence" on the final episode of Just Asking Questions.
The FCC Should Let Jimmy Kimmel Be
What the Trump administration is doing to late-night comedy is clearly jawboning.
David Cole Said It Would Be Like This: The ACLU's Smart Move in Representing the NRA in NRA v. Vullo
The right would likewise be smart in protecting speech on the left today.
