September 11, 2023

In the News

National Desk: Non-profit leader defends parents against school district's banning process

..... “We have frighteningly over the past several years seen a number of districts attempt to limit constitutionally protected speech because it turns out that a lot of administrators simply dislike criticism, and they'll say anybody who criticizes them and says, “Hey, you're not good at your job,” is threatening them and that's viewed as hateful," [Parents Defending Education President Nicole] Neily said. "That's why there have been a number of other successful lawsuits brought against districts by the Institute for Free Speech in places like Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee that have tried to block parents from the up at school board meetings on spurious grounds. Boards really need to know that the consent of the governed is actually part of the job. It's a feature, not a bug, and if they decide to try and silence families, it is at their peril. They will face federal lawsuits.”

The Courts

Wall Street Journal: Biden Administration’s Policing of Online Content Likely Violated Free-Speech Rights, Court Rules

By Jacob Gershman

.....A federal appeals court ruled the Biden administration’s policing of social-media content during the pandemic likely violated the First Amendment, a decision that bars White House aides and other officials from pressuring online platforms to suppress protected speech.

In a 74-page opinion released late Friday, the New Orleans-based U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said administration officials coerced social-media platforms to censor disfavored views about Covid-19 health policies, the origins of the pandemic and other divisive topics including election security and Hunter Biden.

Politico: Elon Musk’s X sues California over content moderation law

By Eric He

.....Elon Musk’s X Corp. is asking a federal court to overturn a California law that attempts to control toxic online discourse by requiring social media platforms to disclose their content moderation policies.

X Corp., previously known as Twitter, filed the suit Friday in federal court in Sacramento arguing that the law set to take effect next year violates the free speech rights of social media companies under the U.S. and California constitutions.

Reuters: Attorney conduct rule doesn't chill free speech, Connecticut tells US court

By David Thomas

.....A U.S. appeals court on Friday appeared open to reviving a lawsuit that claims Connecticut's two-year-old anti-harassment and discrimination professional rule for lawyers violates the U.S. Constitution.

Lawyers representing Connecticut bar officials and the rule's challengers squared off before a panel of judges on the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, who pressed both sides on what kind of speech the rule would prohibit.

Free Expression

New York Times: D.E.I. Statements Stir Debate on College Campuses

By Michael Powell

.....The debate occurs as D.E.I. officials and programs of all kinds have become a powerful presence on campuses. Universities have hired hundreds of administrators, who monitor compliance with hiring goals and curricular changes, and many departments write a variation on a D.E.I. policy.

The faculty senate at the University of California, San Francisco, urged professors to apply “anti-oppression and antiracism” lenses to courses. The public affairs school at the University of California, Los Angeles, pledged on its website to “decolonize the curriculum and pedagogy,” and the medical school vowed to dismantle systematic racism in its coursework.

The faculty senate of the California Community Colleges, the largest higher-education system in the country, has instructed its teachers on their obligation “to lift the veil of white supremacy” and “colonialism.”

Ed. note: Read about our lawsuit on behalf of Prof. Daymon Johnson against California Community Colleges here.

National Review: The Biden Administration’s Escalating Campaign against Free Speech

By Kenin M. Spivak

.....Steamrolling settled law and core protections, the Biden administration is suppressing free speech and intimidating conservatives, populists, and religiously observant Americans in an effort to silence them. Its wide-ranging attack includes coercing and partnering with social-media companies, attempting to criminalize political speech, allocating government resources to control speech, and targeting concerned parents and faithful Catholics.

Washington Examiner: Education advocates launch speech code tracker for public school districts

By Breccan F. Thies

.....Parents Defending Education has launched a speech code tracker for public school districts, highlighting the "anonymous snitch systems" that "stifle free speech" at the K-12 level.

The tracker already found speech codes in 115 districts operating in 4,565 schools across the country, affecting just under 2.5 million students in 22 states and Washington, D.C.

The Atlantic: Red States Are Rolling Back the Rights Revolution

By Ronald Brownstein

.....The struggle over the sweeping red-state drive to roll back civil rights and liberties has primarily moved to the courts.

Since 2021, Republican-controlled states have passed a swarm of laws to restrict voting rights, increase penalties for public protest, impose new restrictions on transgender youth, ban books, and limit what teachers, college professors, and employers can say about race, gender, and sexual orientation.

The States

Fox News: Gov. Glenn Youngkin pardons Loudoun County dad who protested school board after daughter's sexual assault

By Anders Hagstrom

.....Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has pardoned the Loudoun County father who protested against the sexual assault of his daughter and her public school's attempt to cover up the incident, his office announced Sunday.

Youngkin made the announcement on "Fox News Sunday" with host Shannon Bream, saying he had signed the pardon on Friday. The pardon is for Scott Smith, who was convicted of disorderly conduct in August 2021 after he erupted at school board members over their handling of an investigation into his daughter's attack.