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.