1st Amendment
Can Congress Ban TikTok?
When James Madison set about to draft the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution — he was articulating what lawyers and philosophers and judges call “negative rights.” A positive right grants a privilege, like a driver’s...
Taking Free Speech Seriously
Can the government prevent Big Tech from censoring political and cultural voices on their platforms? Can the government regulate these platforms to compel speech the government wants to hear and to prevent speech it believes may harm innocents? If you believe — as I...
In Defense of Free Speech and Free Silence
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he included in it a list of the colonists’ grievances with the British government. Notably absent were any complaints that the British government infringed upon the freedom of speech. In those days,...
The War on Free Speech is Really a War on the Right to Criticize the Government
Absolutely, there is a war on free speech. To be more accurate, however, the war on free speech is really a war on the right to criticize the government. Although the right to speak out against government wrongdoing is the quintessential freedom, every day in this...