Matt suggests that Walker is almost certainly overreaching in his politically selective attacks on the collective bargaining rights of public employees. As the protests continue, the polling data backs this up. However, these observers with their “scientific public opinion surveys” are missing the bigger picture that can be found by “projecting one’s own reactionary authoritarianism […]
Tag: free speech
Not surprisingly but still depressingly, the authoritarian faction of Wisconsin politics is beginning to assert itself over the pro-speech/pro-dissent faction, as Scott Walker has closed the Capitol t
Shorter Ann Althouse: “Political protest should be stamped out by the state if it offends my exceedingly delicate aesthetic sensibilities.” Alas, she makes no attempt to square this positi
Since we seem to be getting some Althouse defenders in comments here, I suppose I should expand on a couple points: There are, indeed, “free speech” principles that go beyond simple government censorship. When people are fired for expressing political views or having political associations that aren’t relevant to their job performance, this is bad […]
Jack Shafer’s column about speech in the wake of the attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords conflates several different claims into a broad argument about free speech. Some of these c
A few points about Michael Lind’s argument here: Even if WikiLeaks is defined as a news organization, American law allows both prior injunctions halting publication of government secrets and pro
In response to Jon Chait and his many other defenders, I think it’s worth making a few points about the Williams firing. Let’s start off by assuming, arguendo, that his comments were objectionable (which they were) but not in and of themselves a firable offense, and also leave aside questions of a double standard. Does […]
Nice to see the Second Circuit rule correctly on the “fleeting expletive” issue the Supreme Court dodged in a sometimes embarrassing opinion by alleged First Amendment absolutist Antonin S
Like any good traitorous socialist lefty, I am supposed to treat European culture and politics as decidedly superior to the American alternative. And I often do! But on the subject of libel laws, it s
The Supreme Court today held — in a 5-4 decisions along predictable ideological lines — that an FCC regulatory change that made broadcasters legally liable for broadcasting even fleeting, isolated swear words was legal. It was an administrative law, not a First Amendment case, as the Court declined to address the free speech issue. (Both […]
I haven’t considered the issue enough to know what I think of the (plausible) commercial speech arguments put forward by 5CA, but I will say that the idea of licensing regimes for interior desig
Ogged, riffing on Adam Liptak’s article about the United States as a (recent) outlier on free speech: It’s dogma in the US that if you give up a strong commitment to the right of free spee