Free Speech Roundup: Week of May 27th, 2018

A summary of the top free speech related news and events from the past week. This week we have news on campus speech regulations, a couple ACLU lawsuits, and proposed legislation in Congress.

Freedom of speech is the right from which all other human rights follow because it allows people to address grievances and protest for their other rights. It is therefore of the utmost importance to protect the right to express oneself freely from those who seek to restrict it.

University Of Virginia Imposes Speech Restrictions

https://reason.com/archives/2018/05/28/at-university-of-virginia-the-white-supr
The University of Virginia has implemented new rules restricting speech by people or groups not affiliated with the university. The changes come in response to the clashes last year between white supremacist groups and counter-protestors. Under the new policy, people need to apply to reserve a speaking slot at one of nine designated outdoor locations. Locations can be reserved for only one 2 hour block each week. The same location cannot be used by more than one group at a time. This restriction effectively bans counter-protests. The policy is ideologically neutral with only “time, place, and manner” restrictions, but severely limits expressive speech in general.

ACLU Sues Public School District

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article212263714.html
The ACLU is suing the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas for violating students’ First Amendment rights. Students complained of their treatment by school officials during the National Student Walkout Day on April 20 protesting gun violence. The school district permitted the 17 minute walkout, but cut it short and prevented debate and documentation by student journalists. One student was threatened with discipline for mentioning gun violence and suspended for protesting the cancellation of the middle school event and one had a district-owned camera confiscated for photographing the protest after the 17 minute timeframe. The lawsuit claims that district officials "made behind-the-scenes plans to impose their own content-based restriction on the protests out of an abstract desire to avoid controversy."

ACLU Sues U.S. Courts Agency

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-31/u-s-courts-agency-sued-for-violating-free-speech-rights
The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for new restrictions on its administrative employees. The new rules prohibit hundreds of support staff from expressing political opinions on social media, donating to political parties, displaying political yard signs at home, and wearing political buttons when not at work. Judges must maintain impartiality to avoid even the perception of impropriety, but the new rules apply to support staff as well, which the ACLU says goes too far. The ACLU says that the “vague rationale” of a “unity of purpose” between the administrative office and the courts doesn’t justify restrictions on free speech.

New Anti-Semitism Bill Poses First Amendment Problem

https://www.thefire.org/new-federal-anti-semitism-act-same-first-amendment-problem/
The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018, proposed by a bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives, seeks to codify a definition of anti-Semitism for the enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws concerning education. The bill considers the definition put forth by the State Department which vaguely targets “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” A similar piece of legislation failed to be passed in 2016. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, it threatens First Amendment rights through the “problematically vague” definition which is “broad enough to allow for the investigation and punishment of core political speech, such as the criticism of Israeli policy.” The 2016 legislation was even opposed by the author of the State Department definition, Kenneth Stern, who wrote, “The definition was intended for data collectors writing reports about anti-Semitism in Europe. It was never supposed to curtail speech on campus.”

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Recent Free Speech Roundups:

Free Speech Roundup: Week of May 20th, 2018
Free Speech Roundup: Week of May 13th, 2018
Free Speech Roundup: Week of May 6th, 2018
Free Speech Roundup: Week of Apr. 29th, 2018
Free Speech Roundup: Week of Apr. 22nd, 2018

Other Free Speech Posts:

Count Dankula Sentenced
UK Speech Police Offended Again
Lèse-majesté: Archaic Anti-Speech Law
California Bill Threatens Online Press and Speech
UK Parliament Report on Campus Free Speech
Thoughtcrime in the UK?
New Study Shows College Students Conflicted on Free Speech
Who is most supportive of free speech?
Campus Free Speech Zones
Hitchens on Free Speech - Must Watch

Free Speech Resources:

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
The American Civil Liberties Union
Notable 1st Amendment Cases – ALA
Milton’s Areopagitica – Modern English Translation
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill – Audiobook

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
~ First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States