February 4, 2026

In the News

SCOTUSblog (Morning Reads): SCOTUStoday for Monday, February 2

By Kelsey Dallas & Alex Rivenbark

To Buckley v. Valeo: The Decision that Saved Democracy (Bradley A. Smith, Institute for Free Speech, The Volokh Conspiracy, Reason) — Reason’s Volokh Conspiracy blog cross-posted Bradley A. Smith’s essay for the Institute for Free Speech on Buckley v. Valeo, a case in which the court held that certain limits on political campaign contributions violate free speech. Smith argued that the decision “saved American democracy.” He wrote, “Americans understandably chafe at the ability of the rich to buy a bigger megaphone than anyone else. But the alternative, the Court understood, is not political equality, but rather leaving it to the central government to decide just who had too much influence, and who not enough.” Smith’s essay was part of the Institute’s symposium marking 50 years since the Buckley ruling was handed down.

Maine Wire: Blanchard Files Second Federal Lawsuit, Accusing Augusta School Board of Silencing Critics During Public Comment

By Jon Fetherston

.....Maine political activist Nicholas Blanchard has filed a second federal lawsuit, this time targeting the Augusta Board of Education over a public-comment policy he says has been used to cut him off mid-sentence, threaten removal, and shut down criticism while allowing supportive speakers to continue uninterrupted.

Blanchard, represented by the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel, filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Maine challenging the school board’s “Policy BEDH” and related meeting practices. The lawsuit argues that the board’s restrictions on public comment are both overly broad and selectively enforced, allegedly punishing speech that is critical of school officials and board decisions.

Supreme Court

Montgomery Advertiser: Does the Constitution protect begging? Supreme Court asked to decide

By Maureen Groppe

.....Two years after the Supreme Court said cities can punish homeless people for sleeping in public places, Alabama wants the high court to end protections for public begging.

The constitutional issues are different. In 2024, the court said fining or jailing someone for sleeping outside when there are no available shelter beds doesn’t violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

In Alabama’s pending appeal, the state argues begging was widely criminalized at the start of the nation and so it should not be protected speech under the First Amendment.

The Courts

Federal Election Commission: District Court issues opinion and order in Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (23-3163)

.....The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order in Campaign Legal Center, et al. v. FEC (Case No. 23-3163). The court concluded that the Commission’s delay in acting on Plaintiffs’ Petition for Rulemaking was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and granted Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment and denied the Commission’s Motion for Summary Judgment.

Judicial Watch: Judicial Watch Sues FEC for Records on ActBlue Donor Fraud Allegations

.....Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for records related to alleged fraudulent donor activities by the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue (Judicial Watch Inc. v Federal Election Commission (No. 1:26-cv-00149)).

Washington Post: Policy on trans students’ pronouns didn’t violate teacher’s rights, court says

By Nicole Asbury

.....In a 2-1 decision released Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that dismissed a majority of the teacher’s claims that the Maryland school system’s policy violated her free speech and religious rights under the Constitution, and rejected her request for an injunction that could have upended the school board’s policy.

The decision could affect other cases in which teachers argue that their First Amendment rights preclude policies that accommodate transgender students’ pronouns. The 4th Circuit’s rulings can be applied across Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Writing for the majority, Judge Robert B. King said the teacher had not convinced the court that a school board policy instructing educators to use transgender students’ pronouns was hostile toward religious views. King also wrote that the teacher’s free speech protections were not violated because following the policy was a part of her official duties as a public school teacher.

Center Square (North Carolina): Monroe citizen gets First Amendment victory in settlement

By Alan Wooten

.....First Amendment rights for a resident in a North Carolina community just outside of Charlotte have been won in litigation.

The city of Monroe has agreed to a settlement with Lisa Metzger. At issue was a requirement for public comments made at city council meetings to be preceded with a pronouncement of primary home address.

That step has been ended, as has rules related to decorum. The previous rule forbid language described as “insulting,” “rude,” “abusive,” “personal” and “public ridicule” when speaking of town officials.

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): The Second Amendment at Protests and Demonstrations

By Eugene Volokh

.....There's been some debate recently about whether laws banning carrying weapons at political protests and demonstrations (either by the protests and demonstrators or others) are consistent with the Second Amendment. I thought I'd pass along what federal appellate judges have said about this recently.

Congress

House Judiciary Committee: New Report Exposes European Commission Decade-Long Campaign to Censor American Speech

.....Today, the House Judiciary Committee released a interim staff report titled "The Foreign Censorship Threat, Part II: Europe's Decade-Long Campaign to Censor the Global Internet and How it Harms American Speech in the United States." Nonpublic Big Tech documents produced to the Committee under subpoena reveal that the European Commission successfully pressured major social media platforms to change their global content moderation rules, directly harming American online speech in the United States. 

In more than 100 closed-door meetings since at least 2020, the European Commission—the executive arm of the European Union—repeatedly pressured platforms to change their globally applicable content moderation rules to more aggressively censor content and directly infringe on Americans' online speech in the United States.

Free Expression

New York Times: N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Seeks Whistle-Blower Protection

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg

.....The National Institutes of Health employee behind The Bethesda Declaration, a scathing public critique of the Trump administration’s cuts to biomedical research, sought federal whistle-blower protections on Monday, saying her superiors had retaliated against her by putting her on “nondisciplinary administrative leave.”

The employee, Jenna Norton, a program director at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, was put on paid leave after the 43-day government shutdown ended in November. The complaint asks for “appropriate compensatory damages,” and for Dr. Norton to be reinstated.

Online Speech Platforms

Wall Street Journal: X’s Paris Office Raided by Prosecutors, Musk Summoned for Interview

By Sam Schechner and Kim Mackrael

.....French authorities raided the Paris office of Elon Musk’s X and summoned the billionaire for an interview, a major escalation of European regulators’ battles with the social-media platform.

Cybercrime prosecutors said Tuesday that they were searching X’s office as part of a sprawling investigation first opened early last year. The probe initially focused on alleged bias in X’s content algorithm but has since expanded to examine the platform’s responsibility for sexualized deepfake images produced by its Grok chatbot.

French officials are also investigating other potential charges against X, including dissemination of child pornography and Holocaust denial, which is illegal in France, prosecutors said. 

Fox News: Conservative group blasts LinkedIn for removing pro-ICE post, labeling it 'hateful'

By Andrew Mark Miller and Alexandra Koch

.....A conservative advocacy group is slamming the social media platform LinkedIn, and conservatives online are threatening to ditch the site after the group’s post supporting President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown was temporarily removed in what the company called an error. 

The States

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): San Jose City Council Member's Request for Restraining Order Against Critic Denied on Appeal

By Eugene Volokh

.....From Ortiz v. Saenz, decided Friday by the California Court of Appeal (San Diego County Superior Court Judge Victor Rodriguez sitting by designation, joined by Judges Mary Greenwood and Cynthia Lie):

Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Ban on AI-Generated "Biased, Offensive, or Harmful Content" in Law Practice Passes California Senate, 39-0

By Eugene Volokh

.....The proposal would add a new Business and Professions Code section that would say, in relevant part (emphasis added):