First Amendment News

Misinformation on Twitter has surged after Elon Musk took over the company, laid off scores of workers and installed a paid verification system that has benefited conspiracy theorists. Musk also restored over 67,00 accounts previously suspended for incitement of violence, harassment and misinformation. (Yahoo News, April 16, 2023, by Anuj Chopra) Brad Plumbo in Newsweek, April 14, 2023, describes how Musk also failed to keep his promise to make Twitter a haven for free speech.

Oliver Darcy in CNN, April 27, 2023, writes that Disney’s lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for retaliation against the company’s stand over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill has a good chance of success. First Amendment attorney Ted Boutrous said that Disney’s case was “extremely strong,” “DeSantis has admitted — indeed bragged about — retaliating against Disney to punish it for its speech on an issue of public concern and importance. That is a classic

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next term to determine if it is constitutional to block social media users from personal pages that government officials use in their official activities. The court dismissed a case as moot concerning President Donald Trump’s blocking Twitter users who criticized him. (CNN, April 24, 2023, by Tierney Sneed) In Trump’s case, a federal appeals court ruled he violated the First Amendment in blocking critics. Parents in one

Brown University President Christina H. Paxson in The New York Times, April 21, 2023, argues states are the real threat to campus free speech. She cites laws in Florida, Idaho and Georgia that restrict what professors can teach and scores of other bills pending that limit what students can learn. A FIRE report shows an alarming increase in attempts to punish higher education scholars in the past three years with 52 percent of the attempts

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a California law outlawing honking your car horn for anything other than warning of danger. A woman honked her horn 14 times to support a protest at Representative Darrell Issa’s offices and after she was cited filed a lawsuit claiming the citation violated her free speech rights. FAC’s David Loy said the California Highway Patrol failed to present facts showing the dangers of unauthorized horn honking. Loy