Steep Rise in Gag Orders, Many Sloppily Drafted
Over the last three weeks, 65 bills have been formally introduced in state legislatures across the country, a rate of roughly three bills per day. More
Scope and Speed of Educational Gag Orders Worsening Across the Country
In the month since the release of our report, educational gag orders have grown more sweeping in scope and become law with increasing speed. More
DARE: Giuliani Says Trump Reimbursed Cohen for Stormy Daniels Payment
Trump attorney Rudolf Giuliani reveals that Trump reimbursed his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, the $130,000 paid to adult movie star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence during the campaign.… More
Overbroad South Carolina “Anti-Semitism” Bill Offends Free Speech, Makes Same Mistake as Federal Legislation
A proposed South Carolina bill that would require the state to adopt a federal definition of anti-Semitism that encompasses criticism of the state of Israel offends the First Amendment. More
Free Expression Digest: Wed., January 20
Swedish activist 'confesses' on Chinese television, Amal Clooney offers to take Azerbaijani journalist's case, Canada says it will not grant citizenship to imprisoned Saudi blogger. More
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Another bit of sound legal judgement this week, from TX, where a judge found that conservative library board members had likely exercised unconstitutional content-based restrictions when banning books from the Llano public library. The books ordered back.
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/31/texas-llano-library-books/
Talking to @AliVelshi, historian @TimothyDSnyder likens book bans in #Florida to Communism: “All this stuff is supposed to be anti-communist but as a historian of communism, that reminds me of some of the basic things that were wrong about communism.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/yale-professor-ron-desantis-book-bans_n_642696c7e4b02a8d518df5a9
Douglass Mackey, also known as “Ricky Vaughn,” was convicted today of the charge of Conspiracy Against Rights. Mackey sent fraudulent messages encouraging supporters of Hillary Clinton to “vote” via text message or social media which was legally invalid. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/social-media-influencer-douglass-mackey-convicted-election-interference-2016