Free Speech & Peace

Defenders of free speech from across the ideological spectrum packed the Newseum in Washington, DC, earlier this week for an advance screening of the documentary Can We Take a Joke? The screening, hosted by Stand Together Trust in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union-National Capital Area (ACLU-NCA), the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education […]

Writing for the Hoover Institution’s Defining Ideas, Richard Epstein examines the state of religious liberty protections after the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision. He focuses on a recent house bill in Mississippi, stalled by a judicial injunction, which would have attempted to legally refute “the notion that people who are opposed to same-sex marriages […]

Stand Together Trust, ACLU-NCA, FIRE, and National Coalition Against Censorship, along with Flying Dog Brewery, host screening and panel discussion. WASHINGTON — Stand Together Trust, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the ACLU-National Capital Area (ACLU-NCA), and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) are co-sponsoring a VIP advance screening of Can We Take a Joke?, a new […]

Widespread use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter by groups like ISIS has led to Facebook being sued for “providing material support for terrorism,” according to Mike Wereschagin at Triblive.com. This raises interesting questions about the responsibility such platform providers have for their users’ speech. Additionally, aside from the question of Facebook’s […]

Donnie O’Sullivan, writing for CNN, reports on the recent controversy surrounding Bryton Mellot, a 22-year old Illinois resident who burned an American flag. Mellot was arrested on Sunday, July 3, by police in Urbana, Illinois. Arresting officers claimed that they had received complaints from social media users who were offended by content  Mellot posted which […]

After Facebook Live was used to publicly stream the aftermath of the shooting of Philando Castile, Facebook commented on what type of content their community standards allow. Rachel Ranosa reports in Tech Times that a Facebook spokesperson indicated that while the video of the shooting was marked with a warning, it did not violate any […]

The Chinese government recently passed a law banning news organizations from publishing stories sourced on social media. According to Edward Wong and Vanessa Piao of The New York Times,  this law is an attempt to diminish the power of online social networks, making it harder for protestors or dissidents to organize and publicize information deemed […]

The Los Angeles Times editorial board writes about the increasing presence of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the United States,  a controversial effort to boycott the nation of Israel until it ends its involvement in Palestine. Some BDS supporters accept the possibility of a “two-state solution,” but others do not. In response […]

In The Washington Post, Robert Barnes writes about the Supreme Court’s recent decision not to review Washington State’s regulations on pharmacies, which mandate that every pharmacy in the state, private or otherwise, must have a pharmacist on hand willing to dispense emergency contraception. The owners of private pharmacy Ralph’s Thriftway in Olympia, Washington, initially challenged […]

Last week marked the 45th anniversary of New York Times Company v. United States, also known as the “Pentagon Papers” case. Writing for Just Security, David McCraw, assistant general counsel for The New York Times, reflected on the decision. The case revolved around an attempt by the Nixon administration to stop the press from releasing […]