Free Republic

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an order barring an anti-abortion protester from coming close to a Planned Parenthood nurse violated his First Amendment free speech rights and must be overturned. The court, controlled 4-3 by liberals, ruled unanimously in ordering that the injunction be dismissed. A Trempealeu County judge in 2020 barred Brian Aish from being near nurse Nancy Kindschy who sometimes worked in a small family planning clinic in the western Wisconsin city of Blair. Kindschy said Aish threatened her by saying bad things would happen to her or her family if she didn't quit her...

I want to make sure this is clear from the get-go—this is a terrible opinion. I am not happy about it. HOWEVER, this opinion had to do with the TEMPORARY INJUNCTION in this case...... The court is making a decision whether, at this stage of the game, after limited (will get to that in a moment) discovery, the Plaintiffs have the right to an injunction that would halt the government from coercing and cooperating with social media platforms to censor speech. The Justices used whether the plaintiffs had STANDING at this stage of the game as their basis for decision....

UPDATE: The Court has issued a 6–3 decision in Murthy v. Missouri, holding that the plaintiffs lack standing. A case pending at the U.S. Supreme Court stems from the efforts a multitude of federal agencies made to remove certain viewpoints from public view. In other words, they sought to abridge freedom of speech—you know, that thing that the First Amendment explicitly bans. The case, Murthy v. Missouri (formerly Missouri v. Biden), may support or overturn the 5th Circuit's ruling that the government violated the First Amendment to reduce the circulation of viewpoints that various agencies believed noxious. This included, the...

Tennessee Star editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy unveiled the Nashville Covenant School mass shooter's personal writings earlier this month, but no mainstream news outlets appear to have reported about the revelations, and only one has reported on the subsequent legal battle that Leahy faces for uncovering the documents. Additionally, while journalists' rights organizations traditionally would have provided counsel to a reporter like Leahy in court, few are willing to comment on the case, and Leahy is being represented by America First Legal and Daniel Horwitz, a Nashville-based attorney who focuses on the First Amendment. Outlets such as Fox News, CNN, The...

A California seventh-grade student, Jimmy Heyward, who recently went viral after his principal censored his patriotic speech, has now been banned from attending the school next year. The Gateway Pundit reported last month that Heyward was a student at Saint Bonaventure Catholic School, where Principal Mary Flock reportedly told him to edit his campaign speech for the role of Commissioner of School Spirit and Patriotism, instructing him to remove “all parts about patriotism.” The incident was first shared by LibsofTiktok, who wrote, “This is Jimmy. A middle schooler in California… His principal allegedly made him change his speech and remove...

Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale reportedly told her therapist that she was fantasizing about killing her family and committing a school shooting, according to a report by 99.7 WTN radio host Brian Wilson. The therapist reportedly did not report these findings to authorities. 99.7 WTN host Brian Wilson: The ongoing investigation apparently focuses on the shooter’s therapist. Metro Nashville Police Department is remaining silent on this, but sources familiar with the investigation confirm that search warrants were run on the home and office of the therapist in an effort to obtain notes of the therapy sessions with the Covenant...

U.S. District Court Judge Aleta A. Trauger sided with the Tennessee Star last month, in seeking all the written documents from shooter Audrey Hale, which resulted in the deaths of three students and three faculty members. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The FBI has turned over writings from the Covenant school shooter to a federal judge, including the killer’s manifesto, which will be read privately by the judge. Star News Digital Media Inc., the parent company of The Tennessee Star, sued the FBI in May claiming the bureau had violated the First Amendment by rejecting multiple Freedom of Information Act requests for the Covenant...

From Justice Sotomayor's opinion today in NRA v. Vullo (the NRA was represented by the ACLU, with David Cole arguing before the Court; by William Brewer, Sarah Rogers & Noah Peters of Brewer Attorneys & Counselors; and by me): "[A.] Six decades ago, this Court held that a government entity's "threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion" against a third party "to achieve the suppression" of disfavored speech violates the First Amendment. Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan (1963). Today, the Court reaffirms what it said then: Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to...

In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously sided with the National Rifle Association (NRA) on Thursday, ruling that the New York State Department of Financial Services violated the NRA’s First Amendment rights by effectively blacklisting the group. The decision, surprisingly authored by far-left Justice Sonia Sotomayor, affirmed that the NRA “plausibly alleged” that its free speech rights were stifled by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) under directives perceived to be politically motivated.

An eighth pro-life activist was sentenced on Wednesday under the Freedom of Access the Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and “conspiracy against rights” for an abortion clinic protest in Washington, DC, in October 2020. Heather Idoni, 59, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, with credit for the nine months she has already served since being found guilty in August 2023, the Department of Justice announced. Seven other pro-life activists were sentenced to years in federal prison last week for protesting at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, DC, an abortion clinic infamous for late-term abortions. Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) activist Lauren...

David Brock is so outraged at Rush Limbaugh’s words of three weeks ago that he started organizing a protest — almost 3 years ago. It was planned ahead and activated at the first moment Brock could manipulate a media frenzy. Make no mistake, Brock’s “marketplace of ideas” offers only one brand: Brand Brock. All others will be forced off the shelves with intimidation and lies. Media Matters for America stands for censorship, and nothing more than that. Their ginned-up election year anger is directed at the words of their media political opposition — similar expressions are ignored when used by...

Media Matters followed suit with several liberal outlets by laying off at least a dozen staffers following a federal probe and lawsuit by “X” chief executive officer Elon Musk.Staffers, some of whom have been with Media Matters for years, took to social media announcing their sudden departure from the outlet. The layoffs followed federal probes filed by Republican Attorneys General Ken Paxton of Texas and Andrew Bailey of Missouri into the outlet for possible fraudulent activity by allegedly manipulating data on “X,” formerly known as Twitter.

When Hunter Biden's laptop, with all its crazy photographs and incriminating emails, came to light before the 2020 presidential election, the media colluded to ignore the story completely, dubbing the laptop Russian disinformation. If you dared to speak of it on social media, you were lucky if your posts would just be suppressed or censored instead of having your account disabled. The laptop was, of course, completely genuine, and the mainstream media conveniently (and quietly) only admitted so after the election.Another incriminating Biden family artifact that was made public during the campaign was the Ashley Biden diary, which, like the...

In a letter dated April 8, 2024, addressed to Chief Judge Swain of New York, Ashley Biden, daughter of Joe Biden, confirmed the authenticity of her previously ‘stolen’ diary. The diary, which has sparked considerable public and media attention due to Joe Biden’s perverted acts, became a subject of controversy when excerpts were leaked online. Ashley Biden’s letter, obtained by the New York Times, was submitted as part of a judicial proceeding against Aimee Harris, one of the individuals convicted of ‘stealing’ and selling her personal journal. In her correspondence, Ashely Biden expressed profound distress over the theft and subsequent...

President Trump spoke with reporters following another wasted day sitting in court before corrupt New York Judge Juan Merchan for crimes that have yet to be defined. President Trump was threatened earlier today by far-left Judge Merchan with jail if he continued to defend himself in public. This is blatantly unconstitutional but Democrats get away with a lot of unlawful acts these days. Republicans like to look the other way. President Trump told reporters he would gladly go to jail to defend the US Constitution. President Trump: Because this judge is giving me a gag order. And said you’ll go...

U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa acquitted three former Backpage executives of myriad counts against them last week—more evidence of how empty so much of the federal case against them is. Humetewa ruled that there was insufficient evidence to uphold 50 of the counts* against journalist and Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey, 10 of the counts against former Executive Vice President Scott Spear, and 18 of the counts against former Chief Financial Officer Jed Brunst. From the beginning, this prosecution has been premised on a bogus rationale (authorities yammer on about sex trafficking though none of the defendants are charged with sex...

@elonmusk Given the relentless attacks on free speech, I am going to fund a national signature campaign in support of the First Amendment

An unpublished op-ed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer discovered through a public records request reveals that he believes the First Amendment is “the biggest threat to elections and Democracy,” Americans ‘ opinions are “disturbing,” and that “it may be time to revisit our First Amendment jurisprudence.” The election official in Arizona’s largest county also refers to his constituents and Trump supporters who know that Joe Biden didn’t legitimately win 81 million votes as “gullible,” “crazies,” and “idiots.” He even suggests that suing citizens for defamation would be a remedy to his problems if it weren’t for the First Amendment....

A recently retired schoolteacher is suing his Pennsylvania borough over a local ordinance after he was found guilty of putting a "for sale" sign on his legally parked car. "We put you in office as judges and state representatives to protect our rights," Will Cramer told Fox News Digital. "And when we see things like giving people tickets for putting a for-sale sign in their car – violating our First Amendment right – it's sad."

"So my biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods."-Ketanji Brown Jackson