Defend Speech Even When Your Side Hates It
Civil liberties attorney Jenin Younes recounts her role in Murthy v. Missouri, her opposition to pandemic mandates, and why she believes Trump poses an even greater threat to free speech than Biden.
This week's guest host on The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie is Billy Binion, who talks with Jenin Younes, a civil liberties attorney who first gained national attention when she sued the Biden administration for pressuring social media companies to censor content it didn't like. That case, Murthy v. Missouri, ultimately reached the Supreme Court.
A former New York City public defender, Younes is now national legal director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, where she is preparing to sue the Trump administration. She and Binion discuss her path to civil liberties advocacy, the threats to free speech coming from both the left and the right, and why defending the First Amendment should be a universal cause—even when that speech is offensive.
0:00—Introduction
1:00—Younes' commitment to civil liberties
3:38—The state of free speech in America
7:34—Opposing COVID restrictions
12:33—Jimmy Kimmel, the FCC, and Murthy v. Missouri
27:39—Donald Trump's record on free speech
39:41—Noncitizens and constitutional rights
42:23—Censorship in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination
48:33—Pam Bondi and "hate speech"
57:52—How can we protect free speech?
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