First Amendment Watch • January 8 2025

U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s Stephanie Sugars on Protests, Police and the Press

Sugars discussed the considerations that are made in including detainments or arrests in the Tracker and the often tumultuous relationship between police and the press.

First Amendment Watch • December 19 2024

Robbie Parker on His Book ‘A Father’s Fight: Taking on Alex Jones'

Parker discussed his book, his experience dealing with grief, and what he described as a lack of responsibility taken by social media platforms.

First Amendment Watch • December 13 2024

ACLU’s Kia Hamadanchy on the ‘Stop Terror-Financing’ Bill That Could Penalize Non-Profits

Hamadanchy noted the possible reasons for the bill's introduction and expressed concerns over its power in the next presidential administration if enacted.

First Amendment Watch • November 27 2024

ACLU of Florida Attorney Michelle Morton on the Pro-Abortion Ad Controversy

She argued that the state’s actions restricting a pro-abortion television advertisement constituted viewpoint discrimination and unconstitutional coercion.

First Amendment Watch • October 21 2024

GW Law Professor Catherine Ross on Campus Speech and Free Expression

Ross weighs the pros and cons of institutional neutrality and stresses the importance of having well-crafted rules in place before demonstrations begin.

First Amendment Watch • October 15 2024

Two FIRE Attorneys on a Defamation Lawsuit Against an Oklahoma Historian

FIRE attorneys Greg Greubel and Sara Berinhout outline the First Amendment issues in the dispute and highlight the importance of anti-SLAPP legislation.

First Amendment Watch • October 7 2024

Former Columbia J School Dean Nicholas Lemann on Changing the Press Clause

Lemann offers suggestions on how to curb the economic decline of journalism, arguing that credentialing professional journalists may be important to its survival.

First Amendment Watch • September 27 2024

South Carolina ACLU's Legal Director on Alleged ‘Suppression’ of Incarcerated Voices

The organization is challenging a Department of Corrections policy that it claims violates its First Amendment right to receive and publish the speech of incarcerated people.

First Amendment Watch • September 11 2024

Legal Scholar Tim Zick on the First Amendment in the Trump Era

Zick discussed the First Amendment conflicts that arose under Donald Trump and how those disputes might be reanimated if he’s reelected this November.

First Amendment Watch • September 3 2024

FIRE’s Josh Bleisch on Political Expression in Colorado’s Capitol Senate Gallery

Bleisch explained how the vagueness of a Colorado rule restricting political expression in statehouse galleries can lead to viewpoint discriminatory enforcement.

First Amendment Watch • August 27 2024

Attorney Richard Roth on the Defamation Lawsuit Over Netflix’s ‘Baby Reindeer’

In an interview, Richard Roth discussed the allegedly damaging inaccuracies in “Baby Reindeer” and argues his client is a private person.

First Amendment Watch • August 6 2024

Does the First Amendment Protect Political Deepfakes? Scholars Weigh In

Two professors discuss the difficulty of enforcing deepfake legislation aimed at regulating false political speech without running afoul of the First Amendment.

First Amendment Watch • July 31 2024

Center for Democracy and Technology’s Kate Ruane on the Kids Online Safety Act

Ruane, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Free Expression Project, a nonprofit organization that has expressed its opposition to the bill, discussed KOSA and its First Amendment implications.

First Amendment Watch • July 23 2024

Eugene Volokh on Section 230, Generative AI and the First Amendment

Volokh discussed Section 230, whether generative AI outputs are protected under the First Amendment and if AI companies can be held liable for defamation.

First Amendment Watch • July 16 2024

Attorney Jess Miers on the Supreme Court Decision in Moody v. NetChoice

Miers described the decision as a positive one and agreed with the court’s comparison of content moderation by social media companies to journalistic editorial curation.

First Amendment Watch • July 2 2024

FIRE’s JT Morris on Texas Citizen Journalist Priscilla Villarreal’s Lawsuit

First Amendment Watch spoke with Morris about Villarreal’s case, its First Amendment implications, and the status of protections for citizen journalists like Villarreal.

First Amendment Watch • June 25 2024

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of California Berkeley School of Law, on Campus Speech

In an interview, Chemerinsky explained why the protest at his home was not protected expression but other, personal, even anti-Semitic attacks against him were protected under the First Amendment.

First Amendment Watch • June 12 2024

Author Amy Werbel on the Parallels Between the Comstock Era and Modern-Day Censorship

In an interview, Werbel expressed concerns over the threats of librarian prosecution and the importance of children’s access to reading materials.

First Amendment Watch • June 4 2024

BLM Activist DeRay Mckesson on Protecting His Right to Protest

In an interview, Mckesson discussed his nearly eight-year-long legal dispute, the protest that started it, and expressed concern over the impact of his case on the right to protest.

First Amendment Watch • May 28 2024

EFF’s Mario Trujillo on Age-Verification Laws and the First Amendment

Trujillo discussed age-verification laws, the First Amendment issues they raise, and the potential dangers of passing such legislation.

First Amendment Watch • May 21 2024

Rebecca Vincent of Reporters Without Borders on the Prosecution of Julian Assange

Vincent described the U.S. government's handling of the case against Assange as "concerning" and one that "will set a very dangerous precedent for journalism."

First Amendment Watch • May 14 2024

Attorney Mike Laux on Challenging the ‘Indoctrination’ Provision in Arkansas

In an interview, Laux said the law's effect on the AP African American Studies course in the state creates a "lesser product," which he contends is a form of viewpoint discrimination.

First Amendment Watch • April 30 2024

Could Defamation Law Combat the Spread of Political Disinformation?

Attorneys Michael Gottlieb and Meryl Governski spoke about political disinformation, the impact of social media, and the hope that large damage awards will deter future bad actors.

First Amendment Watch • April 16 2024

George Freeman on Trump’s Defamation Lawsuit Against ABC, Stephanopoulos

This suit is different from others filed by the former president against the press, Freeman said, but Trump’s reputation of making derogatory remarks about women poses legal hurdles.