A real drag / Truth be told / Spit-take

A real drag. In a commentary for The Guardian, the CEO of Pen America called the breadth of drag-show bans spreading across the country “staggering” and an attack on free speech.
■ Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature generated the latest headlines about press freedoms by sponsoring a bill that could undo legal protections for journalists.
■ Republican presidential candidates and the Fox News defense team are on opposite sides of a 60-year-old landmark Supreme Court ruling.
■ A Connecticut man’s arrest for holding a sign warning drivers of a police checkpoint was a violation of his First Amendment rights, a federal appeals court ruled.
 
Tinker, tailor, TikTok spy? Fearing that a Chinese social media platform is harvesting information about U.S. citizens, a group of 12 senators pledged to create legislation to restrict or ban TikTok in this country.
■ Tucker Carlson “utterly failed” when he tried to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, a senior staff member of the House Select Committee contended in a Politico commentary.
■ House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to give away access to Jan. 6 insurrection footage was not only a security risk but a violation of the First Amendment, argued law professor Michael Meyerson in a recent commentary.
■ The Free Speech Center has laid out what the First Amendment really says about free speech.
 
Truth be told. Should Fox News lose its defamation case, it could “hinder the ultimate objective of the First Amendment – getting to the truth,” a member of its defense team told NPR.
■ Constitutional law professor Catherine Ross suggested that Fox has no First Amendment defense because the network “satisfied the actual malice standard” used in such cases.
■ FIRE has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to define First Amendment exceptions for “true threats” in criminal charges.
■ The author of ‘Campus Misinformation’ does a thoughtful job of documenting the nonexistence of the problem of restricted free speech on college campuses, contends Free Speech Center Director Ken Paulson in a review of the book.

■ A University of Pennsylvania professor’s alleged racist or xenophobic comments in conversations with students has stirred questions about academic tenure and free-speech protections. 
 
Spit-take. Joe Rogan’s newly opened anti-cancel culture comedy club is no laughing matter for some, but a welcomed laughing matter for others, including Roseanne Barr.
■ A ‘Twitter Files’ debate got contentious at a recent hearing hosted by the bipartisan House Judiciary Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government.
■ New York City EMS workers settled their lawsuit after being punished for speaking to the news media during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Indivisible? The parents of a ninth-grade South Carolina honor student who was confronted by a teacher for failing to stop and recite the Pledge of Allegiance have filed a federal lawsuit.
■ Atheists got handed a win of sorts when the Supreme Court declined to hear a case that concerns the group’s lawsuit over a 2014 public prayer vigil in Ocala, Fla. 
■ West Virginia’s governor signed a religious-freedom law that was labeled a “license to discriminate” by LGBTQ+ rights advocates. 

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Toe the lie / Social change? / Worn out

Toe the lie. Fox News’ untruths about the last presidential election likely are not protected under the First Amendment, maintained Harry Litman in the Los Angeles Times.
■ “Weak ratings make good journalists do bad things,” is one of the notable findings in unearthed communications brought to light in the Fox News/Dominion voting case.
■ In the internal details of Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit, the future of Fox News reveals itself, Columbia Journalism School’s Bill Grueskin, a former editor, has concluded.
■ Employees who expose wrongdoing by gathering data in the workplace are protected by the First Amendment, an appeals court has ruled.
■ Musician Tom Morello raged against censorship in his teens, and now is standing up for the First Amendment more than ever.

Ron presses on. The Florida governor’s shattered relationship with the news media showed no sign of reconciliation with the state’s latest bill making it easier to sue journalists.
■ A journalist has won a $1.7 million settlement in her First Amendment case over her 2016 arrest during a protest over a Baton Rouge, La., police killing.

■ Twitter failed to publish its biannual takedown-request reports, putting transparency and free speech at risk, Rolling Stone has reported.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by an Ohio man, arrested after spoofing local police on Facebook, who claimed that his constitutional rights were violated.

Social change? Supreme Court justices are weighing the argument that social media platforms assist in supplying the seeds that grow terrorist attacks.
■ Section 230 is the rule that helped shape the internet as we know it, but do we know it?
■ CNBC reported that a legal standard that could undercut Section 230 may also change free speech on the internet.

■ A Linfield University professor who was terminated after complaining publicly about incidents of harassment there has won a $1 million settlement with the Oregon college.

Dropping Dilbert. Racist comments prompt several newspapers to discontinue running Scott Adams’ long-running comic strip.
■ A group of Stanford University professors push to eliminate a system that allows students to file bias claims anonymously.
■ More books have been taken off the shelves of school libraries, the latest at the direction of a North Carolina school board.
■ Mama Bears, a parental-rights group, won its federal First Amendment case over the exposure of “highly sexualized pornographic books” in schools.

Worn out. The National Archives and Smithsonian, home to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, issued a public apology after its museums instructed March of Life participants to remove or cover up clothing containing anti-abortion messages.
■ A bill that would give residents the right to challenge government rules that interfere with their religious rights has advanced in the West Virginia legislature. 
■ “I couldn’t be a Christian and a teacher,” remarked a woman who lost her job over California school districts’ gender policies.
■ A Tennessee lawmaker, recently sworn in wearing a West African dashiki, sparked criticism from colleagues in the General Assembly concerning free expression.

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Rights wronged / Pants on fire / Fighting words

Rights wronged. Nearly a third of Americans could not name a single freedom protected by the First Amendment, and another 40 percent knew just one, according to a recent Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) poll.
■ Issues raised by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campus crusade to make changes to course content have been blown way out of proportion, contends a Penn State University professor in a new book.
■ The 10 worst colleges for free speech on large and small campuses have been “named and shamed” by FIRE.

Social calendar. Many legal dockets show 2023 as the year when the U.S. justice system will tackle complicated free-speech cases that should determine the bounds of free expression on the internet.
■ If the U.S. Supreme Court defends the editorial rights of social media entities, it is defending the First Amendment, argues former law professor Clay Calvert.
■ Free-speech advocates need to root for Google, concludes Center for Business and Human Rights deputy director Paul Barrett.
■ Alan Dershowitz, a defender of the First Amendment, is doing an about-face in suggesting that the government go after journalists, asserts a former New York prosecutor.

Pants on fire. Everyone seems to be screaming “liar, liar” at first-time U.S. congressman George Santos, but the bulk of his misrepresentations may be protected by the First Amendment.
■ Laredo citizen journalist Priscilla Villarreal has asked a federal appeals court to revive her lawsuit against officers and prosecutors who arrested her after she posted a story and video of police actions on Facebook.
■ Republican legislators in Arizona identified a legal loophole in state law and voted to exempt themselves from open-records rules.
■ Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey ordered state agencies to follow new procedures meant to strengthen a weak open-records law in her state.
■ Last year was a deadly one for journalists as killings worldwide jumped by 50 percent over 2021. 

Fighting words. Public libraries are becoming First Amendment battlefields, where printed ideas bound in rows on shelves are under attack by ever-growing book censors.
■ The cancellation of a 13-page Stanford University “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative,” where IT-committee authors proposed the elimination of 161 words and phrases, prompted cheers from columnist Pamela Paul in The New York Times.
■ During Black History Month, the Free Speech Center’s David L. Hudson Jr. reflects on how the First Amendment proved to be a crucial tool for the Civil Rights Movement.

Higher order. A Madison, Wis., ordinance that limited digital billboards does not violate the First Amendment, a federal appeals court has ruled.
■ An Arizona judge has found that Phoenix’s Super Bowl sign ordinance that prevented a business owner from posting commercial signs in a downtown ‘NFL Experience’ zone violated free-speech rights.
■ An Iowa judge has decided that a resident arrested at a city council meeting last year for public comments critical of local government had a First Amendment right to criticize city employees. 

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Dragged down / C-SPAN run / Monster mash

Dragged down. The Republican push to restrict drag shows in several states is “legislative overreach that is at odds with freedom of speech,” The Atlantic noted.

■ “Insistence” on using preferred pronouns in a Montana State University sorority has led to a student’s free-speech lawsuit against the school.

■ Oklahoma State University is being sued over its policies that a free-speech advocacy group, Speech First, claims are designed to silence student speech.
■ In a Boston Globe commentary, a philosophy professor argues that there is a peaceful way out of campus free-speech wars.
 
Rebel yell? The latest seditious-conspiracy trial hinges on whether Proud Boys used hateful words protected by the First Amendment or gave actual plans for a rebellion.
■ In the growing battle over how to handle harmful speech online, the U.S. Supreme Court has delayed hearing challenges to current social-media rules.
■ High court justices will consider whether a nasty Facebook message qualifies as an illegal “true threat” of violence.

 
C-SPAN run. A coalition has asked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to allow C-SPAN to control its own cameras during political coverage.

■ A coalition of news organizations filed a court motion in San Francisco seeking access to evidence against the suspect accused of attacking the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
■ News organizations oppose a gag order in the University of Idaho murder case, and have asked a judge to intervene.

■ Acknowledging “freedom of the press is part of the bedrock of American democracy,” the White House blasted Donald Trump, who had called for the jailing of journalists.
 

Monster mash. Social media has created a monster in the name of the First Amendment where carte blanche is given to the sender of disinformation and lies, a law professor Robert C. Fellmeth contends.
■ A lawsuit challenging Title IX exemptions for religious colleges was dismissed by a U.S. district judge in Oregon.
■ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the First Amendment with state attorney’s suspension, a federal judge ruled.

Doc’s diagnosis. Dr. Ben Carson declared in the Washington Examiner that speaking freely and making our voices heard powers the country’s democratic process and must be defended.

■ Medford, Ore., gets another newspaper just days after the century-old Mail-Tribune shuttered operations.

■ A University of Iowa professor’s criticism of a doctor in the press was not grounds for a defamation case, multiple federal courts have ruled.

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'Crazy' scene / Holy moly / Look it up

‘Crazy’ scene. Federal appeals court judges will decide if the arrest of Laredo’s “big crazy lady,” the freelance journalist who reported on local issues using Facebook Live, was a violation of her First Amendment rights.

■ The Washington state science teacher who wore a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat to school functions was utilizing protected speech under the First Amendment, the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. 

■ On the two-year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Meta announced that it was considering allowing Donald Trump to return to Facebook.
■ Journalist Gil Duran was banned from Elon Musk’s Twitter, and now he thinks you should get banned too.
■ A former Tennessee police officer had no First Amendment right to make social media posts critical of the local sheriff, a federal appeals court ruled.

 
Holy moly. In its annual religious-freedom index, assessing what Americans know and believe about the First Amendment, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty reported that less than half were aware freedom of religion was protected.
■ Tennessee’s governor used a controversial exemption to deny more than 60 open-record requests from journalists.
■ Another reporter handcuffed while doing his job, this time in Phoenix, illustrates potential hostility from law enforcement toward journalists, according to press freedom advocates.
■ Families of newspaper employees killed in the deadly 2018 shooting in Maryland have dropped a negligence lawsuit and settled their case.
 
Slight as a feather. A judge ruled that an Arizona high school’s decision to deny a student’s request to wear an eagle feather in her graduation cap violated her religious-liberty and free-speech rights.
■ A California school district’s disciplinary actions against two high school students over racist imagery and offensive comments in an off-campus Instagram account were upheld by an appeals court panel.

■ A new Florida law prohibiting lobbyists from holding public office has prompted a First Amendment challenge from five elected officials.

■ Law schools in 2022 served as the backdrop for the dramatic debates over cancel culture and the limits of free speech on many U.S. campuses.

 
Under fire. Free Speech was under fire in 2022, asserted FIRE vice president, and censorship is the kindling.
■ U.S. Supreme Court justices will debate the constitutionality of Florida and Texas social media laws and whether they do harm to free speech.
■ Is encouraging unauthorized immigration free speech or a potential felony? Justices are set to decide.
■ An opinion: When setting out to regulate social media companies, think of pipelines, not utilities.
 
Look it up. As misconceptions about free speech continue to run wild, another senator worked to justify censorship by making erroneous statements about First Amendment protections.
■ In a Time magazine editorial, a retired U.S. admiral writes that America is lost in a dark forest but shows there is a path out using the freedoms found in the Constitution.
■ Author and professor Lynn Greenky contends that there is no First Amendment right to violence.

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Fine line / Home for hate / Viral revival

Fine line. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case of a web designer’s refusal to create same-sex couples wedding sites, and whether the Colorado law that prompted her refusal was constitutional.
■ A female protester tear-gassed by St. Louis SWAT team officers can continue her First Amendment civil rights lawsuit, after a federal appeals court decision.
■ The Hunter Biden laptop controversy is back but Twitter’s suppression of the story was not a violation of the First Amendment, Insider’s Kelsey Vlamis has asserted.
■ “Divisive concepts” legislation could have a chilling effect on free expression in schools, explains Free Speech Center’s Ken Paulson.

Home for hate. Slurs posted on Twitter are on the rise since Elon Musk took over the social media service, according to recent findings.
■ “How’s that free speech thing working out?” Nashville’s Jack White rhetorically asks Musk in a scathing Instagram post.
■ The blog posts of a Massachusetts man, convicted of criminal harassment, were “true threats,” an appeals court has ruled.
■ Lachlan Murdoch is the latest Fox News figure to be deposed in the network’s defamation lawsuit brought on by Dominion Voting Machines.

Stand on sidewalks. FIRE has filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold free speech on public walkways everywhere.
■ Supreme Court justices will hear squeaky dog toy trademark complaint brought by Jack Daniel’s.
■ The national religious-liberty law firm that defended Washington football coach Joe Kennedy is weighing in on a similar controversy in Sumner County, Tenn.
■ University of Pennsylvania student activists, facing disciplinary action, said the school administration is suppressing their “right to free speech and peaceful assembly.” 

Pressed to act. A press-freedom advocate has urged Sen. Dick Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to push ahead with legislation to protect working journalists from government intrusion. 
■ Prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act is a threat to press freedom, concluded a Reason senior editor.
■ Opinion: The conviction of Oath Keepers’ Stewart Rhodes follows other high-profile cases that require a new understanding of both militia threats and the limits of free speech. 
■ In a review of historian Christopher M. Finan’s new book, “How Free Speech Saved Democracy,” law professor and author David L. Hudson Jr. called it a compelling look at how freedom of speech has been a positive force for social change.

Viral revival. The COVID pandemic may have helped boost digital subscriptions of news publications, according to Medill School of Journalism data.
■ A San Jose, Calif., church that ignored county COVID rules will not have to pay more than $200,000 in fines, the state’s high court has ruled.
■ Attacking the spread of information about reproductive rights is the latest tactic of abortion foes, a guest essay in the New York Times asserted.
■ Lawsuits challenge a new law that would punish California doctors for spreading medical misinformation.
■ The settlement of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit leads to an audit discovery of millions of dollars in widespread health-care overcharges.

 

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Zombie ordeal / Hawley cow! / Bad dog?

Zombie ordeal. After his arrest for a Facebook post comparing the COVID pandemic to a zombie apocalypse, a Louisiana man has filed a civil lawsuit claiming his First Amendment rights were violated by sheriff’s deputies.
■ “The people have spoken,” is how Elon Musk explained his decision to reinstate Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
■ Twitter CEO maintains he is a free-speech absolutist while lashing out at those who criticize him or make jokes about him or his company.
■ NBA legend Charles Barkley on CNN praised freedom of speech but warned that there are repercussions for saying the wrong things.

Hawley cow! A state agency led by Republican Josh Hawley intentionally broke open-record laws, a Missouri judge has ruled.
■ Citing “First Amendment problems,” a divided 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel protects campaign materials of Kentucky judicial candidates.

■ Police whistleblower in Tennessee can proceed with First Amendment retaliation claim against his former boss after a summary judgment is denied in district court.
■ Law enforcement officers do not have a First Amendment right to record misconduct investigations, a federal appeals court panel ruled.
■ Reason associate editor concludes that Bush and Obama warnings about disinformation are unneeded and hypocritical.

 
Well-wrested. A federal judge in Florida has put Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-‘woke’ law to sleep on college campuses.
■ Reversing a circuit court’s dismissal, the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that a campus free-speech lawsuit can proceed.
■ Auburn’s retaliation against a tenured professor over his speech will cost the university $645,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.
■ Using the “Chicago Statement” as its guide, the University of Texas System Board of Regents adopts a set of principles committing to protected freedom of speech and expression on its campuses.
■ A professor of education policy helps explain just how much public schools can control what students wear as they embrace free expression amid dress codes.

 
Missed the memo. A Trump spokesperson mistakenly declared that networks not showing the former president’s campaign announcement in full were violating his First Amendment rights.
■ Nevada governor-elect promises openness and “full transparency,” then bans members of the news media at his victory speech.
■ A Georgia media law professor is worried that a growing number of lawsuits against journalists for records requests is “dangerous for democracy.”
■ Review: The film “She Said” is as much about courage as it is about the power of journalism.

■ Community activists have settled a lawsuit over an unconstitutional $10,000 bond for holding protest marches in a Louisiana town.

Bad dog? Jack Daniel’s has asked the Supreme Court to hear the distillery’s trademark case over parodied dog toy, Bad Spaniels.
■ Legal expert tells Reuters that a Colorado website designer’s refusal to build a same-sex wedding site has the Supreme Court poised to issue a blockbuster free-speech decision.

■ Opinion: What if retaliatory canceling is the only medicine for curing cancel culture?

■ New Hampshire’s criminal-defamation law does not violate the First Amendment, a federal appeals court has ruled.

■ Pro golfer Patrick Reed’s $750 million defamation lawsuit against the Golf Channel is dismissed by a federal judge in Florida.

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Only natural / Flee-dom / Underage sheep

Only natural. A federal appellate court ruled that an Idaho beauty pageant promoter had a First Amendment right to reject the application of a transgender woman who was not considered a “natural born female.”
■ A group of California doctors filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, claiming a new medical ‘misinformation’ law violates their First Amendment rights.

■ Getting arrested for parody is no laughing matter, attorneys contend in a New York Post opinion piece.

■ First Amendment concerns are raised in Iowa when an activist’s public comments apparently went from orderly to disorderly.

■ The FBI has reached a settlement with a press-freedom agency over a lawsuit where one of its agents posed as an Associated Press reporter and created a fake story.

Speech imperilment. Tech reporter Adi Robertson offers a critical look at how America seems to be turning against the First Amendment.
■ A “Stanford Hates Fun” student group plans to take legal action against the university for allegedly suppressing free speech on campus.

■ Despite complaints, Jacksonville, Fla., authorities state that antisemitic messages displayed in public are protected by the First Amendment.
■ Antisemitism remains the “third rail of prejudice,” writes religion professor Mark Silk, and, with recent comments from Ye, it is “open and obvious.”
■ Former Vice President Mike Pence said the Constitution does not guarantee “freedom from religion,” but clauses in it may prove him wrong.

Flee-dom. Elon Musk claimed activists seek to “destroy free speech” as Twitter advertisers run away from the social media platform.
■ Amid the clamor and chaos of protecting free speech, Twitter is at a crossroads of hate and civility.
■ The CEO of the world’s largest crypto currency exchange said his support of free speech is why he invested $500 million in Musk’s buyout of Twitter.

Boxed in. Judges move to limit vote monitoring outside Arizona drop boxes to hinder intimidation tactics against voters.
■ A South Dakota law to add barriers to ballot measures is partially blocked by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying it violates the First Amendment.
■ Constitutional expert John R. Vile examines Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to limit the DOJ’s ability to seize reporters’ records during investigations.
■ Sen. Dick Durbin wrongly claimed that free speech does not include spreading misinformation, along with other erroneous complaints.

Underage sheep. GOP, Dems see news partiality only in stories that favor the other party, proving media bias is in the eye of the beholder, according to a perspective in The Conversation.
■ Law professors who conducted a study about Supreme Court justices’ attitudes toward press freedoms say freedom of the press is at risk.
■ “Abysmal,” is how Justice Samuel Alito described the state of free speech on college and law school campuses.
■ A new handbook, launched by the ACLU of Delaware, explains how free speech and assembly rights apply to LGBTQ+ students’ expression in schools. 

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Court jesters / Ye-gad! / E tu #MeToo

Court jesters. Supreme Court justices welcomed Prince and Warhol into a lively debate while grappling with a copyright-infringement case.
■ Justice Thomas temporarily blocks Sen. Lindsey Graham’s grand jury testimony in Georgia.

■ Using a “speech or debate” clause in the U.S. Constitution, Sen. Graham hopes to avoid grand jury testimony altogether and wants the Supreme Court to consider his appeal.
■ A California judge has ruled in favor of baker Cathy Miller who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
■ Rejecting a First Amendment defense, an appeals court rules that Rep. Kelli Ward must release phone records to the January 6 Select Committee.

Semafor signals. A new digital media company sends out its intentions to bring clarity to a polarized news business.

■ A Maryland judge rules that the first U.S. tax on digital advertising is unconstitutional.
■ When Artificial Intelligence programs blur the line between reality and free expression, First Amendment protections and the relationship between speech and technology will be questioned.
■ MTSU’s Free Speech Center and NYU’s First Amendment Watch are working together to present a video series that explores vital First Amendment issues.

Ye-gad! For the conservative social media platform Parler, jubilation over its acquisition by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West has transitioned into problems.
■ Christian nationalism is incompatible with the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, but that is not slowing down the slew of candidates running under that banner.
■ A racial-injustice group that spent more than 100 days protesting in the summer of 2020, enduring alleged excessive force by Detroit police, accepts $1 million settlement, drops lawsuit.

‘They knew the truth.’ Dominion CEO tells 60 Minutes that Fox News was aware that allegations against his company were untrue. 
■ Alleged collusion prompts a federal judge to depose Dr. Anthony Fauci as part of free-speech censorship lawsuit.
■ Sarah Palin’s long-running defamation feud with The New York Times is growing lengthier and threatens the safety of a free press.
■ After a 12-year legal battle, video recordings of a landmark same-sex marriage trial are released to the press.

E tu #MeToo? Human rights lawyers examine whether courts are failing to protect women’s free-speech rights in gender-based violence cases. 

■ Ahead of midterm elections, the cancer of disinformation has metastasized despite efforts by media and academics to find a cure.
■ Despite the billion-dollar Alex Jones verdict, conspiracy theories will continue to thrive, writes the Associated Press’ David Bauder.

■ Social media’s deep disinformation pool has U.S. security officials concerned about election interference, both from homegrown and foreign threats.

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Killer riffs / No joke / Scent of Musk

Killer riffs. “If you don’t believe in freedom of speech for those people you don’t agree with, you don’t believe in freedom of speech at all,” rapper Killer Mike tells TV audience, extolling the importance of free speech and the power of voting.

■ Free-speech controversies on campus are prompting judges to boycott Yale law students from clerkships.
■ Furman University is investigating one of its professors who says he was exercising free speech when attending 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.
■ A commentary examines why Jewish groups failed to defend Yeshiva University in its battle between religious freedom and gay rights.

■ Antisemitic posts by Kanye West (legally known as Ye) get him locked out of his Twitter, Instagram accounts.

 

Letting her f*** flag fly. A New Jersey woman defies a local obscenity order and takes her First Amendment right to display "F-Biden" banners to court.
■ Federal jury rejects Tennessee teacher’s free-speech claims after his profanity-laced social media posts led to his suspension.
■ U.S. Supreme Court will hear cases this session that attempt to hold social media companies financially liable for terrorist attacks.
■ An Oregon BLM protester, shot in the eye with rubber bullets fired by police, wins $1 million lawsuit.
 
No joke. The Onion, an online satirical news site, gets serious with the Supreme Court in defense of parody.
■ While newsprint itself may be passé, the “news” must be embraced now more than ever, writes Free Speech Center Director Ken Paulson.
■ American activist Chelsea Manning pens a guest essay for The New York Times on the “two conflicting realities” that prompted the leaking of secret military documents.

■ “Lessons in Liberty” provides classroom resources for learning about the importance of First Amendment freedoms.

 
Expression suppression. Universities, once fortresses of rational thinking, are “now surrendering the field of truth to forces of suppression, relativism, and nonsense,” says The Hill’s Jeffrey McCall.
■ Las Vegas reporter’s killing creates a new challenge to Nevada shield law.
■ Judd family wins latest round in court to keep police records of country star Naomi Judd’s death investigation private.
 
Scent of Musk. If and when Elon Musk takes control of Twitter, The Guardian offers a whiff of all the things the self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” could attempt to do. 
■ Jonathan Turley maintains in his USA Today opinion piece that a Musk-owned Twitter could be a win for free speech.
■ A Jacksonville, Fla., pastor, who was silenced during an invocation at a city council meeting, has had his free-speech lawsuit rejected a second time.
■ John R. Vile, dean of MTSU's Honors College, explores how U.S. Constitution framers avoided mentioning God in the document but why public leaders now reference God constantly.

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