First Amendment News

State legislators are filing laws to require schools to post teacher lesson plans online including books, articles and videos. In a fight to eliminate progressive agendas from schools, conservatives are harnessing “transparency,” a liberal value. Teachers fear that the laws would result in censorship and intimidation. (NBC News, January 20, 2022, by Tyler Kingkade) The Daily Wire, January 21, 2022, quotes a number of critics of the NBC article, including Charles Fain Lehman of the

Immigration judges are appealing to the Fourth Circuit to scuttle a Trump-era prior restraint rule that requires the judges to obtain permission to express views on immigration policies through publication or speeches. The judges claim the rule is vague and a violation of their First Amendment rights. (Courthouse News Service, January 25, 2022, by Erika Williams) The judges said in filing the lawsuit last year that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that government employees retain

The annual Transparency International report for 2021, January 25, 2022, shows that corruption is rife world-wide and that those countries with strong free speech and press and supportive legal systems are better equipped to fight it. The top performers in checking corruption are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand. The bottom are South Sudan, Syria and Somalia. And while Denmark has a score of 88, the U.S. weighs in at 67, below Canada and Uruguay. For

In reference to the state of free speech on college campuses during an appearance on The Megan Kelly show, FIRE President Greg Lukianoff gave an impassioned defense of free speech. He said being offended is a vital part of a student’s education. “There is a humility to being in favor of freedom of speech, which is that you always take seriously the possibility you might be wrong,” Lukianoff said. (Washington Examiner, January 24, 2022, by

The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to rule in Shurtleff v. Boston that Boston established a public forum in allowing third parties to fly flags at city hall and therefore could not prevent a Christian group from flying their flag. Banning the Christian flag would constitute viewpoint discrimination. The justices suggested that the city could ban all flags and stay within their constitutional rights. (Bloomberg Law, January 18, 2022, by Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson) When the