Posts Tagged ‘Free Speech’
The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Attempt to Criminalize Abortion Speech | Ms. Magazine
Censorship is a dirty word in America, and so it should be. It imposes silence upon speech, creating an empty void which instead should be filled with debate and discussion. As anti-abortion lawmakers continue to draft legislation to limit abortion access, opponents of new bans are horrified by the sweeping prohibitions lurking within—such as proposals that…
Read MoreDepp v Heard: The jury’s burden | The Hill
Millions of dollars were at stake in the voyeuristic defamation case between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. But if either of them believed this action was going to salvage their reputations and vindicate them, they were sadly mistaken. They were also mistaken if they believed this was going to be a cake walk for either of them.…
Read MoreWhat many on the right get wrong about the First Amendment | Washington Post, Made by Histroy
Free speech — and the First Amendment — are major topics of debate in 2022. From former president Barack Obama labeling himself “pretty close to a First Amendment absolutist,” to debates over whether Florida’s legislature punished Disney for exercising free speech by revoking the company’s special improvement district, to conservative howls about censorship on social media, it…
Read MoreAmerica Has a Free Speech Problem — Response to New York Times Editorial | Medium
Suzanne Nossel, chief executive of PEN America, hit the nail on the head when she described the free speech problem in America: “There’s a crisis around the freedom of speech now because many people don’t understand it, they weren’t taught what it means and why it matters.” As a professor at Syracuse University who…
Read MoreViolent Politics and Social Media: A First Amendment Conundrum | Medium
Many are justifiably angry at the January 6, 2021 insurrectionists who defiled the US Capitol. Their message, their anger at the perceived unfairness of the election, is not being debated here. Their right to peacefully protest and to express their views, whether those views were based on facts or falsehoods, was undeniably protected by the…
Read MoreCensorship of the News in the News | Medium
Project Veritas has largely won the first two rounds in a lawsuit against the New York Times that goes to the very heart of our First Amendment freedoms of speech and press. Project Veritas promotes itself as a “non-profit journalism enterprise …[that] investigates and exposes corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private…
Read MoreA Group of School Board Threats and the First Amendment | Medium
Let’s start here: since the middle of the last century, the constitutionally accepted default option is to protect speech. And one more thing, the First Amendment does not provide any guidelines for civility. Boisterous, angry, offensive speech is shielded from silence by the power of the First Amendment. It provides cover for us to annoy…
Read MoreAre Mask Mandates a First Amendment Issue? | Medium
The politics of mask wearing appears to be adding to the growing celebrity of the First Amendment. Is the choice to wear a mask a statement of patriotism, or more cynically, is it virtue signaling? More plainly, in terms of the First Amendment, is wearing a mask an element of communication or is it behavior with little…
Read MoreTrump once demanded we “open up” libel laws — it seems some Justices on the Supreme Court agree | Medium
In the current media environment, anyone can gain access to a keyboard and an internet connection and state their claim. Debate in the digital age is large and robust. It is also often dishonest and manipulative. Conspiracy theories run rampant, and words are weaponized, particularly against the most visible members of our population: public officials…
Read MoreCheering for a student’s right to speak out | Medium
Fourteen-year-old Brandi Levy characterized her somewhat crude snap as venting. Perhaps so, but according to the Supreme Court, her snap was also constitutionally significant speech, worthy of the protection offered by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In 2017, Levy was a freshman in high school who had earned a spot on the junior varsity…
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