First Amendment News

Emma Camp in Reason, December 24, 2022, lists five misconceptions about the First Amendment 1. that you can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater; 2. the belief that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Stop WOKE Act can legitimately restrict speech; 3. there is a First Amendment right to shut down critics; 4. that police can restrict filming them in action; and 5. heckler’s vetoes are protected speech. For related FAC coverage, click here.

The U.S. Congress and state legislators made efforts to regulate online speech in 2022 while the U.S. Supreme Court will consider two cases, Twitter v. Taamneh and Gonzalez v. Google, that could result in rulings that would lead to censorship and restrictions on online speech. (Electronic Frontier Foundation, December 26, 2022, by Aaron Mackey and Joe Mullin) For related FAC coverage, click here, here and here.

The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Eric Dodge, a Washington state teacher, could pursue his First Amendment lawsuit challenging his principal’s disciplining him for wearing a MAGA hat to training sessions in 2019. (Jurist, December 30, 202, by Gwendolyn Devoy) The court said there was no disruption in wearing the hat, and if others felt offended by the hat, that did not override Dodge’s free speech rights. (Reuters, December 29, 2022, by

Jonas Kaiser in NiemanLab, December 15, 2022, makes the point that conservatives have weaponized free speech in attacking speech they don’t like. They falsely portray themselves as the defenders of free speech and the opposition to censorship. “Journalists must understand that ‘freedom of speech’ has been a topic on the right for years, writes Kaiser, “and that claims of censorship have been voiced consistently on- and offline. Journalists need to reject this ‘free speech’ framing

Elon Musk’s declarations about his defense of free speech on Twitter ring hollow as he suspended the accounts of several journalists. The journalists were among those covering Musk in his recent moves as head of Twitter. (Newsweek, August 16, 2022,by Aila Slisco) Steven Vladeck of MSNBC, December 11, 2022, says the problem is that Musk may not have any idea of what it means to uphold free speech on Twitter or he does and is