■ Remember when President Trump vowed to “bring back free speech?” Well, in 75 judicial rulings he tried to stifle it, Reuters reported.
■ The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected for a
second time a request by President Trump to review the $5 million civil judgment against him after he was found to have sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.
■ Despite being met with shrugs and silence from Republicans, President Trump’s threat to sue a liberal think tank is an affront to the First Amendment, declared the editorial board of The Washington Post.
Plate shift. A Virginia man’s anti-police license plate is in the fast lane of a potential landmark free-speech case that could determine whether a vanity plate constitutes private speech or government speech.
■ West Point has dropped its faculty-speech rule after its longest-serving law professor fought against the policy, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights.
■ A federal appeals court is examining a defamation claim by New England lobster fishermen that has raised First Amendment questions.
■ Convinced that a state cannot mandate education or control what children are taught, parents in Nebraska have filed a lawsuit arguing that school choice is a First Amendment issue.
Blessing in disguise? A little-noticed Supreme Court case, in which an Ohio man was sent a cease-and-desist notice after hosting a prayer session in his home, could have a big impact on where people can gather to pray, according to a CNN report.
■ Street preachers are taking First Amendment battles to court, amplifying a defense of their free-speech rights, USA Today reported.
■ Florida has settled a free-speech lawsuit with a former state wildlife agency employee who claimed she was wrongly fired for a social media post criticizing the late Charlie Kirk.
■ A top editor at Forbes was dismissed from his job after reportedly accepting $6 million from the founder of a company that does business with the magazine in publishing the rankings of wealth advisers.
Harm costs. Meta has been ordered by a New Mexico court to pay $567 million to address perceived harms to young people from its online platforms Instagram and Facebook.
■ In the latest wave of lawsuits against it, Meta is heading back to federal court this week to fend off accusations that its products are designed to hook children.
Plate shift. A Virginia man’s anti-police license plate is in the fast lane of a potential landmark free-speech case that could determine whether a vanity plate constitutes private speech or government speech.
■ West Point has dropped its faculty-speech rule after its longest-serving law professor fought against the policy, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights.
■ A federal appeals court is examining a defamation claim by New England lobster fishermen that has raised First Amendment questions.
■ Convinced that a state cannot mandate education or control what children are taught, parents in Nebraska have filed a lawsuit arguing that school choice is a First Amendment issue.
Blessing in disguise? A little-noticed Supreme Court case, in which an Ohio man was sent a cease-and-desist notice after hosting a prayer session in his home, could have a big impact on where people can gather to pray, according to a CNN report.
■ Street preachers are taking First Amendment battles to court, amplifying a defense of their free-speech rights, USA Today reported.
■ Florida has settled a free-speech lawsuit with a former state wildlife agency employee who claimed she was wrongly fired for a social media post criticizing the late Charlie Kirk.
■ A top editor at Forbes was dismissed from his job after reportedly accepting $6 million from the founder of a company that does business with the magazine in publishing the rankings of wealth advisers.
Harm costs. Meta has been ordered by a New Mexico court to pay $567 million to address perceived harms to young people from its online platforms Instagram and Facebook.
■ In the latest wave of lawsuits against it, Meta is heading back to federal court this week to fend off accusations that its products are designed to hook children.
■ A federal prosecutor has sued the U.S. Justice Department, saying his 2025 firing over a years-old anti-Trump blog post, written when he was a private citizen, violated his First Amendment rights.
■ Florida’s attorney general is leveraging the state retirement fund’s investment in The New York Times to probe the newspaper’s editorial practices, Politico reported.
An active life. Mary Morello, a free-speech activist who defended artists against “enemies of freedom” that included Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), has died at 102.
■ A judge has halted the $800 daily contempt fine levied against journalist Catherine Herridge while she appeals her confidential-source case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
■ Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has asked a federal judge in Minnesota to dismiss the criminal civil rights charges against him, claiming he is being targeted for vindictive prosecution by the Trump administration.
■ The small town of Marion, Kan., agreed to pay $850,000 to a former reporter to end her federal lawsuit stemming from a 2023 raid on her newspaper’s offices.
An active life. Mary Morello, a free-speech activist who defended artists against “enemies of freedom” that included Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), has died at 102.
■ A judge has halted the $800 daily contempt fine levied against journalist Catherine Herridge while she appeals her confidential-source case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
■ Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has asked a federal judge in Minnesota to dismiss the criminal civil rights charges against him, claiming he is being targeted for vindictive prosecution by the Trump administration.
■ The small town of Marion, Kan., agreed to pay $850,000 to a former reporter to end her federal lawsuit stemming from a 2023 raid on her newspaper’s offices.