Commentary: Here’s what diversity is about, Justice Thomas | Albany Times Union

Dear Justice Thomas, I am a professor at Syracuse University. I teach argumentation, advocacy, and First Amendment theory. During oral arguments in the affirmative action cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions against the University of North Carolina and Harvard University you are quoted saying, “I’ve heard the word ‘diversity’ quite a few times, but…

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A Battle for the Soul of Our Schools | Medium

The current debates about appropriate curriculum and constitutional boundaries inside the classroom are nothing less than a fight for the soul of the educational system in the United States. As Anya Kamenetz, explained in her New York Times essay, the public school system as we know it today was designed as a public good, an inclusive and diverse…

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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…

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Depp 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.…

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A 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…

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Freedom Speaks Over the Howl of Anti-Protest Legislation | Medium

Since 2017, 36 states have enacted legislation that restricts the right to protest on public streets and rights of way. Such legislation has taken on new life in the aftermath of growing civil rights protests and current Covid-19 vaccination mandates. However, such bills often wrongly conflate the right to engage in sometimes hyperbolic, discordant, or anger-inducing speech with conduct…

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Are 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…

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Unpacking Trumps lawsuit against social media giants: Facebook, Twitter and YouTube | Medium

How can former President Trump, through his attorneys, argue that even though Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are private (albeit publicly traded) companies, they none-the-less must abide by the First Amendment? Mr. Trump’s frames his class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as a clarion call for First Amendment protection against censorship. Censorship is an…

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