The Free Speech Center
@freespeechcenter.bsky.social
Non-profit and non-partisan public policy center based at Middle Tennessee State University. Our mission is to support First Amendment freedoms through education and information. freespeech.center
The families of four teenagers who died by suicide are suing Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube over what they describe as “years of escalating harms” from using their platforms that eventually resulted in their deaths. tinyurl.com/yc2r7k93
Social media companies sued over deaths of 4 teens as pressure, lawsuits over child safety mount
The complaint alleges the social media companies knew they were causing harm to young users.
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In the latest newsletter … ABC vs. FCC … new media ecosystem … “nidification” technology … Anthropic to pay authors … Gorsuch on religion … and much more First Amendment and journalism news. tinyurl.com/msnk3ea2
Seashelled / Justice serves / Post hole
Seashelled. Former FBI Director James Comey wants a judge to dismiss federal charges against him for posting “86 47” in a photo of seashell...
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“At a public university, the Constitution has the final say,” attorney Greg Greubel said. “The First Amendment protects professors from being punished simply because administrators disagree with the ideas they teach. President Hawkins cannot dictate which viewpoints belong in the classroom.”
She was fired for teaching English literature in an English class. Now she’s suing
The chair of the English department, the dean of arts and sciences, and the college vice president backed her explanation, but Hawkins expressed his personal dislike of the story and demanded she stop...
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“[The FCC] had not called for license-renewal applications ahead of schedule for more than fifty years,” ABC said. “The Commission’s departure from those norms lays bare what is really going on: the Administration is retaliating against ABC for the exercise of its First Amendment rights.”
FCC chairman defends actions against ABC, says broadcasters must operate 'in the public interest'
ABC accuses the FCC of retaliating against it simply because it doesn't like the political content of ABC's shows.
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Elon Musk’s company xAI has sued Minnesota over the state’s first-in-the-nation law that bans “nudification” technology on websites and apps, potentially providing a test for how far states can go in constitutionally regulating the use of artificial intelligence. tinyurl.com/4x57udcd
Elon Musk's xAI sues Minn. over first-in-the-nation law banning 'nudification' technology
State laws over election deepfakes have had mixed results in courts. California's law was blocked over First Amendment speech protections. Minnesota's law has thus far survived a 2025 court challenge ...
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“The government now singles out Mr. Comey to prosecute one of the President’s most prominent critics for publishing another person’s statement of political opposition,” Comey's attorneys wrote. tinyurl.com/5chy4sb4
Comey says '86 47' seashells post was political speech, not a threat, as he presses to dismiss charges
Comey's lawyers argue the government cannot prove the Instagram photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of "86 47" constituted a "true threat" against Trump.
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"The depositions made it clear how flimsy the university’s position was so administrators abandoned a sinking ship, leaving Tennessee taxpayers to foot the bill for the constitutional ignorance of university leaders," writes Bruce Barry, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University.
Speechless in Knoxville: The cost to taxpayers of the University of Tennessee’s constitutional ignorance
Public-college professors are winning lawsuits because government employees have First Amendment rights to speak their minds on their own time about matters of public interest.
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A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit July 27 from an interfaith group that challenged the legitimacy of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, dismissing claims that its overwhelmingly conservative-Christian makeup lacked a legally required balance of viewpoints. tinyurl.com/ycyd4nde
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit over makeup of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission
The judge wrote that the commission was diverse in other ways, such as including both clergy and lay people.
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“As I said three months ago, the show must go on,” the president said to begin his remarks, hailing the decision to reschedule the dinner. He referred to “the attempted mass murder” that could have happened that night in April, but then moved largely to humor — and, increasingly, insults.
Trump returns to correspondents' dinner for rambling, insult-filled speech 3 months after shooting
Among the audience members were reporters President Trump had denounced and barred from news events.
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District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said in a ruling July 20 that the class-action settlement provides “meaningful relief” to affected authors and publishers. tinyurl.com/nhc88bcw
Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement over pirated books used to train chatbot
Plaintiff attorney Justin Nelson said in a statement that the settlement was "the largest known copyright recovery in history.
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Hundreds of former or retired journalists and 8 press-freedom groups are asking the WHCA to “forcefully stand up for freedom of the press in front of the President, publicly defend the journalists he attacks, and vow to resist his administration’s concerted effort to undermine the First Amendment.”
Journalists urge correspondents' association to stand up to Trump at rescheduled press dinner
Press groups say it is hypocritical for journalists not to speak out forcefully against president's attacks on the news media.
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Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center, makes the case for newspaper editorials in the face of their decline. tinyurl.com/ypppdznv
How America's newspapers lost their voice
Editorials and endorsements have largely been jettisoned, along with the men and women who used their institutional knowledge to look out for their communities.
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In the latest newsletter … Paramount takeover paused … ‘Stop WOKE’ blocked … to air, or not to air, Trump’s speech … New York Times subpoenas … newspapers lose their editorial voices … and much more First Amendment and journalism news. tinyurl.com/56cefwcc
Blockbuster / Push to pull / To a whisper
Blockbuster. A U.S. district judge has temporarily paused Paramount’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, after a dozen states...
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“Two of the subpoenas seek records beginning on January 1, 2026, long before the events that are purportedly the basis for the Department’s investigation,” lawyers for the Times wrote in the letter. tinyurl.com/bdfc34td
Officials sought phone records of NYT journalists, relatives in effort to unmask sources
The additional subpoenas included a request for phone records of one reporter's mother and two of the journalists' spouses.
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"[The leaders of the American Revolution] decided ... that a durable republic could best survive if politics and religion inhabited different spheres. This recognition contradicted almost two centuries of Colonial practice," writes Peter C. Mancall, professor at USC. tinyurl.com/4t3edn2x
The founders' other revolutionary choice: Separating religion and government
While many founders were religious, as a group they concluded that the national government should not support any particular faith.
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Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, said coverage of the 24- minute address made for “a weird evening, where the reporters quote and describe the speech but show little of what they’re quoting.” firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/to-air-...
To air or not to air? TV networks struggle to find right balance for Trump speech
The dilemma took place against a backdrop of deep tension between the news media and a president working to exert control over it.
firstamendment.mtsu.edu
"For nearly four decades, students in America’s public schools have experienced a straightjacketed version of the First Amendment," Marie McMullan writes for FIRE. "That’s due to the Supreme Court’s Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier decision." tinyurl.com/yck8hbne
Hazelwood is the training-wheels version of free speech. It's past time the Court revisited it.
School administrators — who are government officials — have used Hazelwood to censor student expression.
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“This motion asks the court to punish OpenAI for hiding and destroying evidence showing how ChatGPT was trained on stolen journalism,” said attorney Steven Lieberman, who represents the Daily News and seven of its sister papers. tinyurl.com/4uhvjkxh
News outlets urge judge to sanction OpenAI in high-stakes AI copyright fight
Newspapers allege the ChatGPT maker is hiding evidence important to what could be a landmark copyright-infringement trial.
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“Every American should understand what is at stake,” said the president of the National Press Club. “When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement. It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press.” tinyurl.com/46hckuay
Subpoenas issued to New York Times reporters seen as 'unprecedented' threat to press freedom
Journalism world expresses profound dismay at latest Trump administration attack on independent news reporting.
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The New York Times said its filing that “the EEOC’s case rests entirely on the false premise that, because The Times selected a multiracial woman for a position over a white male applicant ... the selection must have been motivated by race and/or sex.” tinyurl.com/2vkp2arr
EEOC accused of political retaliation in New York Times countersuit over discrimination case
The Times said the EEOC "prematurely and abruptly" ended conciliation efforts and filed the lawsuit a week after the newspaper published its story.
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“The commenters are right to be concerned,” the new filing argued. “The First Amendment does not permit the government to sit in an editor’s chair. Yet that is the seat the Commission now proposes to take … deciding which broadcast programs qualify as legitimate news.” tinyurl.com/y9uu768a
ABC battles FCC regulators in dispute over 'The View,' equal-time rule
ABC cited a 2002 FCC decision qualifying "The View" as such, which would mean it's exempt from the equal-time rule. The rule requires granting equal airtime to competing candidates for office.
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“Today’s important decision means that college remains a place where professors and students are allowed to debate controversial topics — even if politicians disagree with them,” said FIRE senior attorney Greg H. Greubel. tinyurl.com/5cmpd5pe
Federal appeals court rejects Fla. ‘Stop WOKE Act’
FIRE said the ruling by the 11th Circuit (which covers Florida, Alabama, and Georgia) was a crucial victory for academic freedom and free inquiry on public campuses.
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An upstate New York resident has sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for sending federal officers to his house with a warning over an email he sent to the agency’s one-time head. tinyurl.com/hf4z9zx5
ICE sent officers to a man's home over an email. Now he's suing
David Streever is one of at least two residents of upstate New York who was served with a federal warning in June in the wake of criticizing ICE online.
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In the latest newsletter … Anthropic’s free speech? … reporter stuck paying $800 a day … Pentagon escorts overruled … Texas Bible readings … and much more First Amendment and journalism news. tinyurl.com/4fftsu25
First question / Limitless / Escorted out
First question. The decision by President Donald Trump to restrict access to “expressive” artificial-intelligence models, such as Anthropic...
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The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday (July 6) declined to block Texas from enforcing a state law that requires apps stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors seeking to download apps or make in-app purchases on mobile phones. tinyurl.com/5b58wzrh
Supreme Court won't block Texas from enforcing law requiring age verification for app downloads
Plaintiffs' lawyers argued that the law impermissibly seeks to limit access to content protected by the First Amendment, including news and educational material.
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"In a nation of heroes spanning 250 years of our history, it would be difficult to top the courage shown by the 56 men who signed the declaration," writes Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center. tinyurl.com/2f6mhcsn
Declaring independence: Courage of the signers
The Declaration of Independene is the true spirit of America – a determination to fight for what is right regardless of the odds and consequences.
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“Journalists facing contempt should not have to muster large payments to the court while they seek to vindicate First Amendment rights,” said Bruce Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. tinyurl.com/72xjbyw3
Supreme Court refuses to halt $800-a-day fine for ex-Fox News reporter refusing to divulge sources
The case has been closely watched by news-media advocates, who say forcing journalists to betray a promise of confidentiality could make sources think twice before providing information to reporters t...
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The District of Columbia agrees to $50,000 settlement w/resident who was detained for following National Guard unit while playing Darth Vader’s theme song on cellphone, according to a document. Via @freespeechcenter.bsky.social #FirstAmendment firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/d-c-wil...
D.C. will pay $50k to man detained while protesting guard patrol with 'Star Wars' song
Sam O'Hara sued the district in October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.
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The St. Croix Central School Board in Hammond, Wis., backs off public comments at its meetings after @thefireorg.bsky.social reminded them what the #FirstAmendment says. A win for #FreeSpeech. Via @freespeechcenter.bsky.social firstamendment.mtsu.edu/post/wis-sch...
Wis. school board backs away from ban on criticism during public comment
Government officials may set reasonable rules to keep meetings running, but they cannot turn public comment into a criticism-free zone.
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The U.S. Supreme Court won’t take a student-speech case involving an Indiana high school that stopped a student pro-life club from putting up flyers that included the words, “Defund Planned Parenthood,” reported CBS News and other news outlets. tinyurl.com/bddku4jx
High court won't hear Ind. pro-life students' free-speech case
“The dispute involved the scope of students' free-speech rights and schools' ability to restrict expression that could be viewed as reflecting their endorsement,” CBS News reported.
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