"What a Company Decides to Put on Their Vehicle Is a Matter of Free Speech and the Market"
A tiny free speech victory.
Civil Liberties
Telling Trump to Stop Blocking Critics on Twitter Doesn't Affect the Platform's Rules
The First Amendment constrains speech regulation by the government, not by private parties.
Our Amicus Brief in Major Property Rights Case Currently Before the Supreme Court
I coauthored an amicus brief in an important takings case, on behalf of the Cato Institute, The National Federation of Independent Business, and several other organizations.
Sealed Case with Sealed Emergency Speech-Restrictive Injunction
How much do you trust judges to make such decisions without public scrutiny?
5 Years After Snowden, Has Anything Changed?
The government still snoops on its own citizens, but we're more aware of it-and we can push back.
Criminal Libel Laws Are Constitutional If They're Limited to Deliberate Lies
There's a New Hampshire prosecution for criminal libel of a police chief -- and it may well be legally viable, at least if the defendant's statement is seen as a knowingly false factual claim. [UPDATE, June 8, 2018: Charges have now been dropped.]
SCOTUS May Yet Approve Gay Wedding Cake Demands
Despite its ruling in favor of a Colorado baker, the Court remains hostile to religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.
President Trump Apparently Unblocking Twitter Critics, Even While Appealing the Decision
The court decision was just a declaratory judgment, and thus not strictly legally binding.
First Amendment and Off-the-Job Political Speech Criticizing Black Lives Matter Movement and "Thugs"
An interesting opinion from three Georgia Supreme Court Justices.
After Stanford's Niall Ferguson Controversy, Free Speech Conservatives Need to Practice What They Preach
"Slowly, we will continue to crush the Left's will to resist, as they will crack under pressure."
Candidate for Oklahoma Legislature Sues Over Sealed Mystery Libel
A libel lawsuit in which the alleged libel is sealed is like Hamlet without the Prince -- or maybe like Othello with Iago's slanders redacted.
What Does the Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Say About the Free Speech Claim?
Four Justices opined on this issue, with Justices Thomas and Gorsuch saying that requiring bakers to make cakes for same-sex weddings is an unconstitutional speech compulsion, and Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor saying the opposite.
Supreme Court Rules for Baker in Gay Wedding Cake Case But Carefully Avoids Central Debate
This 7-2 ruling is more about Colorado's biased enforcement of discrimination law than freedom of expression.
Chelsea Manning Loses Wikileaks First Amendment Appeal
"[A] soldier who willfully communicates information relating to the national defense 'is not entitled to invoke the First Amendment as a shield to immunize his act of thievery.'"
Minister Has Sex with Married Parishioner -- Can Church Be Liable for Saying the Parishioner Committed Adultery?
No, says the Iowa Supreme Court, rejecting the claim that such statements (labeled "counterculture practices" by the plaintiffs) were libelous or negligent.
Trump Wants to Control Planned Parenthood, Not Defund It
His sneak attack on the reproductive rights of women.
Samantha Bee Apologizes for Insulting Ivanka Trump After Right and Left Play 'We're Offended' Tit-for-Tat
Conservatives want to hold the left to the Roseanne standard.
How the Right Abandoned Free Speech in Europe
The center-right Danish government, whose members defended the Mohammed cartoons, has passed more laws restricting free speech than any government since World War II, says free-speech podcaster Jacob Mchangama.
Liberty Comes to Liberty High School -- "Trump Border Wall" T-Shirt Allowed
But it took a federal court order.
YouTube Won't Host Our Homemade Gun Video. So We Posted It on PornHub Instead.
Our video is awesome. But nothing in the First Amendment says YouTube has to run it.
When You're Done Reading This Issue of Reason, You Might Want to Burn It
We offer how-tos, personal stories, and guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen right at the borders of legally permissible behavior.
How to (Legally) Make Your Own Off-the-Books Handgun
Build a Glock 17 using parts from the internet
Personal Encryption 101
A beginner's guide to protecting your messages, masking online movements, and steering clear of digital snoops
U.K. Arrests Anti-Muslim Activist Tommy Robinson for Livestreaming Outside a Trial
The very fact that Robinson got 13 months in jail was also initially illegal to report.
Roseanne's Racist Tweet Leads Almost Immediately to Show's Cancellation
The show navigated a fascinating complicated world of ideological diversity. Its star was not so adept.
Why Can't Anyone Get Their Immigration Facts Straight?: Podcast
The president and his detractors both bungle scare stories in the outrage-politics contest that passes for our immigration policy debate.
Is the FBI Trying to Bolster Its War on Cryptography?
Was their miscount of unlockable phones truly a mistake or part of an agenda?
An English Teacher's Incorrect Correction of a Trump Letter Illustrates His Critics' Reflexive Condescension
Let's argue about the president's policies instead of his "grammar & style."
At University of Virginia the White Supremacists Have Already Won
College limits protest, suppressing everybody's free expression.
Sexual Assault Allegation Against George Takei Collapses Under Scrutiny
Star Trek actor is a victim of #MeToo overreach.
10 Years After Heller, Does 'Normalizing' the Second Amendment Mean Ignoring It?
The Supreme Court has been almost completely silent on the subject of gun rights, leaving important issues unresolved.
James Clapper Thinks Americans Are Dumb Enough to Vote for Trump Because of Facebook Ads
The former head of our intelligence agencies thinks we're all easily manipulated rubes. Is that why he lied to the Senate?
When the Censors Came for Jack Johnson's Fight Films
Friday A/V Club: The boxer who just got a posthumous presidential pardon was a central figure in one of the first battles over movie censorship.
Why Judy Gold Doesn't Play Colleges: 'You Don't Tell a Comic What Topics They Can Discuss on Stage'
A new Vice feature by Michael Moynihan highlights not just disillusioned comics but campus bookers ready to "pull the microphone" from performers who use language deemed intolerant.
4 Tips for Politicians With Social Media Accounts Who Don't Want to Be Sued
The ruling against Donald Trump's blocking of Twitter critics provides guidelines for staying on the right side of the First Amendment.
NFL's National Anthem Policy Exposes Free Speech Hypocrisy of Right, Left, and Trump
"You have to stand proudly for the national anthem," Trump says, "or you shouldn't be playing."
Is It Really Illegal for Trump to Block People on Twitter Now?
Federal judge rules that the First Amendment prohibits the president from blocking followers based on their political views.
Blocking of Twitter Users from @RealDonaldTrump Violates First Amendment
So holds a federal district court today, in Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump.
NFL Players WILL Respect the Flag's Authoritah, Says Commissioner
Teams will now be fined if their employees don't show sufficient on-field respect during the National Anthem, because we live in a very serious country.
SUNY Binghamton Tries to Suppress Students' Flyers Because They "Offended" Other Students
[UPDATE: The university is now reported (as of Friday, May 25) to be saying that no investigation is taking place, and that the original student newspaper account saying that there was such an investigation was mistaken; but the university hadn't responded to FIRE's earlier queries about the matter, and it hadn't responded to my query before I had to put up my post.]
A Nation of Narcs
Americans have developed a nasty habit of inviting the state into people's lives for tiny offenses. Here are three ways to turn back the tide.
High School Trump Fan Sues Over School Discipline for Border Wall T-Shirt
"If people are offended by his shirt-that's their right to be offended," said the student's attorney, state Rep. Mike McLane. "But it's also his right to have his opinion."
