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Free Speech blog
Eight Myths About the Bill of Rights That Civics Classes Keep Repeating It did not come first, it did not bind the states, Congress sent twelve, and its loudest critics loved liberty. Eight claims tested against the record. The Heckler's Veto on Campus and What the First Amendment Says About It When a crowd shouts down a speaker or a college cancels an event over threatened disruption, the mob wins a veto the First Amendment does not allow. Matal v. Tam and the Government's Lost Power to Ban Offensive Trademarks The Court held that Washington cannot refuse a trademark for giving offence, and the reasoning protects every viewpoint, left and right. Structure Protects Minorities Before the Bill of Rights Ever Does Separation of powers, bicameralism and federalism stop oppression before it becomes law. Written rights step in only after structure fails. Snyder v. Phelps and the Hardest Free Speech Case Conservatives Ever Defended The Court ruled 8-1 that a hateful picket near a Marine's funeral was protected speech. Conservatives split, and here is who was right. John Peter Zenger and the Jury That Defended American Press Freedom in 1735 A New York printer was jailed for mocking a royal governor, and twelve jurors defied the bench to set him free. Here is how it happened. Frederick Douglass's Plea for Free Speech in Boston, Read Passage by Passage A mob broke up an abolitionist meeting in Boston in 1860, and Douglass answered with the best defence of free speech in the language. Tinker's Black Armbands and the Rights Students Carry Through the School Gate In 1969 the Court said Des Moines schools could not punish students for wearing black armbands, and conservative students rely on that ruling today. Brandenburg v. Ohio Protected a Klansman's Speech, and It Protects Yours Too The 1969 ruling that a Klan leader's speech could not be punished set the modern incitement test, and it shields every unpopular speaker, conservatives too. A thought experiment where the First Amendment is regulated like the Second Labelled satire: a made-up country regulates speech the way some states regulate guns, to show that no other right is treated like that. The Sedition Act of 1798 Jailed a Congressman Who Won Reelection From His Cell Seven years after the First Amendment, Congress made it a crime to criticise the government, and the voters turned the party that passed it out of office. Rights Are Not Social Constructs, and Here Is the Answer to That Claim Bentham called natural rights nonsense on stilts. The positivist case at its best, then four answers: the Declaration, Nuremberg, the abolitionists, the stakes. Milton's Areopagitica of 1644 Is Still the Best Case Against Licensing Speech The blind poet's 1644 speech to Parliament made the first great English argument that truth wins in a free encounter. We read its key passages, and its limits. Brown v. Entertainment Merchants and Why Conservatives Split on Video Games In 2011 the Court struck down California's ban on selling violent games to minors, with Thomas dissenting on parents' authority. Both views get a hearing. A thought experiment where the IRS fact-checks every Sunday sermon A labelled satire of a federal sermon-review office, anchored in the real Johnson Amendment, to show why government must never police the pulpit. Bias Response Teams and the Quiet Machinery of Campus Speech Policing Many colleges invite students to report each other's speech. How bias response teams work, what courts have said, and what to do if you get the email. Barnette's Fixed Star, Reading the 1943 Opinion on the Pledge Passage by Passage Justice Jackson's 1943 Flag Day opinion in Barnette explains why a free country does not compel patriotism. Its key passages, read closely. Texas v. Johnson Protected Flag Burning, and Conservatives Still Argue It The 5-4 flag-burning ruling of 1989 split conservative justices and still splits conservatives. Both positions get a fair hearing before one is argued. Freedom of the Press Meant No Prior Restraint, and Then It Meant More Blackstone's free press banned censorship in advance but allowed punishment after. How American law moved past him, from Zenger to Sullivan. Speech, Pronouns and Compelled Words, Where the First Amendment Draws the Line A rule that the government may not compel speech protects everyone. Four cases show where courtesy ends and an order from the state begins. The Right to Petition Is the Forgotten Fifth Freedom of the First Amendment The right to petition is older than the Constitution and is your direct line to power. How it grew, how the House once gagged it, and how to use it. California told pro-life pregnancy centers what to say, and the Court said no NIFLA v. Becerra (2018) struck California's forced notices for pregnancy centers as compelled speech. The facts, the opinions, and why it protects all sides. Hamilton Argued in Federalist 84 That a Bill of Rights Could Be Dangerous Hamilton warned that listing rights would invite claims to powers never granted. Read Federalist 84 closely and test his warning against history. Madison Changed His Mind on a Bill of Rights, and His Reasons Still Teach Madison called bills of rights parchment barriers, then wrote one and forced it through a reluctant First Congress. Why he changed still matters. FCC v. Pacifica and the Seven Dirty Words That Still Shape Broadcast Rules A 1978 ruling over a comedian's monologue still sets the rules for the airwaves. Conservatives split on it, and this post weighs both sides and picks one. Hustler v. Falwell Protected Parody, and Conservatives Benefit From It Now A unanimous 1988 ruling began with a vile ad aimed at a minister, and it now shields every satirist who mocks the powerful, including us. The Hollywood Blacklist Was Wrong, and Conservatives Should Say So Plainly The 1947 blacklist punished people for their beliefs, and conservatives argue against cancel culture with more credibility when they say so. Can Your Boss Fire You for Your Politics? Answers State by State The First Amendment binds government, not private bosses, so protection for your political views at work depends on state law; here are eleven plain answers. 303 Creative Was About Compelled Speech, Not a License to Refuse Customers 303 Creative v. Elenis held that Colorado cannot force a designer to write messages she rejects, a rule that protects speakers of every view. Seven Myths About Cancel Culture, Starting With the One That Says It Isn't Real Seven comforting claims defenders of online mobs rely on, from it does not exist to only the powerful suffer, tested against the record with a verdict on each. Cancel Culture Has No Judge, No Jury and No Statute of Limitations Public shaming campaigns punish without the notice, hearing and proportionality the common law built, and those protections exist for good reasons. Misinformation Is Not a Legal Category, and Government Should Stop Pretending Government cannot police misinformation because false speech is generally protected, and the narrow exceptions and the record of official error explain why. Five Myths About Citizens United That Still Show Up in Stump Speeches Corporate personhood, foreign money, unlimited gifts and the end of disclosure: five common claims about Citizens United tested against the opinion. Publisher or Platform, Eight Myths About Big Tech and the Law Eight popular claims about Section 230, the First Amendment and the tech companies, tested against the statute and the cases, with a verdict on each. NRA v. Vullo and the Unanimous Rule Against Government Jawboning Nine justices agreed that an official may not use regulatory leverage to make businesses shun a disfavored group, and the rule protects every viewpoint. Murthy v. Missouri Lost on Standing, Yet the Record It Built Still Stands The Court ruled on who may sue, not on whether federal pressure on platforms is lawful, and the record the case built still matters. Tinker v. Des Moines and the Armbands That Protect Conservative Students Too Tinker was a Vietnam protest case, but its rule that students keep their speech rights at school also shields the pro-life shirt and the flag.