#Popehat twitter legal free
We're told that free speech is in decline, under siege, subjected to constant threats. Yet gloom and despair dominate public discourse about free speech. But we've witnessed an explosion of First Amendment advocacy groups from every part of the political spectrum willing to vindicate Americans' rights- including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Access to justice is inconsistent, and the litigation process is hideously expensive and burdensome. Of course, rights are enforced by courts, which can make them more theoretical than actual. The SPEECH Act, enacted in 2010, protects us from libel tourism by making foreign defamation judgments unenforceable in the United States unless they comply with our robust free speech protections. For decades, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 has made online discourse feasible by protecting websites from lawsuits based on the speech of visiting commenters and users. Moreover, Congress-typically not a reliable defender of rights-has contributed meaningfully to our freedom to speak without fear of legal retaliation. The Court's defense of free speech is not perfect-students and public employees have seen some narrowing of rights-but it is unprecedented in American history, and in sharp contrast to the Court's halfhearted defense of Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights. Instead, it has adhered to a select, narrowly defined list of historical exceptions, rejecting efforts to create a general "balancing test" that would determine whether speech is protected by an ad hoc weighing of its value and harm.
The Court has protected scatological and humiliating ridicule of public figures and overturned laws purporting to bar "disparaging" or "immoral or scandalous" trademarks, firmly establishing that offensive speech is free speech.Ĭrucially, the Court has repeatedly rebuked demands that it create new First Amendment exceptions based on the tastes of the moment. Years later, in upholding the right of Westboro Baptist Church to picket the funerals of servicemen with vile homophobic insults, the Court aggrieved both the left and the right, permitting violation of norms of veneration of the military and against hate speech. In overturning flag burning laws, the Court protected (literally) incendiary speech that remains intolerable to many Americans. The Court's staunch defense of the First Amendment is remarkable because it has transcended political partisanship and upheld speech that offends everyone, including the powerful.
#Popehat twitter legal for free
This is a golden age for free speech in America.įor more than a generation, the United States Supreme Court has reliably protected unpopular speech from government sanction.
#Popehat twitter legal pro
PRO Ken White: Protect Free Speech Norms With Free Speech Rights Greg Lukianoff is the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit whose mission is to "defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America's colleges and universities." In the following exchange, the pair debate the resolution: Free speech law is the best defense against cancel culture. In many ways, these disagreements represent differences of opinion about how best to protect and uphold true freedom of speech.Īnd what better way to deal with questions about free speech than with a debate? Ken White is an attorney, a co-host of All the President's Lawyers, and a frequent commenter on issues of speech and law. Even as debates over cancel culture have swept the nation, free speech defenders have disagreed about what, exactly, cancel culture is, and what it means for freedom of speech.
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