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Federal contractor Reality Leigh Winner is arrested in Augusta, Georgia for allegedly leaking a classified National Security Agency memo detailing Russian cyberattacks on U.S. voting software to The Intercept. Read more

By David L. Hudson, Jr. The First Amendment protects much more than the spoken or printed word. It also protects various forms of symbolic speech and expressive conduct. The Supreme Court has ruled that the display of a red flag, the wearing of a black armband, the burning of the American flag and yes, even... Read more Read more

Public school students “do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Read more

By David L. Hudson, Jr. The First Amendment demands that government officials generally should not discriminate against speech based on content or viewpoint. Under free speech jurisprudence, content-based laws are viewed with greater suspicion than content-neutral laws. The fear is that government officials may censor speech because they dislike the message. The designation of a... Read more Read more

By Lee Levine In the United States, the government may not prevent the publication of an article (print or electronic) even when there is reason to believe that such a publication would reveal information that will endanger our national security. By the same token, the government cannot: Pass a law that requires the media to... Read more Read more

By David L. Hudson, Jr. Overbreadth is a supremely important concept in First Amendment law and a key tool for constitutional litigators. A law is too broad—or overbroad—when it not only covers speech that ought to be proscribed but also penalizes speech that should be safeguarded.    For example, let’s say that a public school... Read more Read more

By David L. Hudson, Jr. The First Amendment may protect profanity directed against another. Then again, such intemperate speech may fall into a narrow, traditionally unprotected category of expression known as “fighting words.” While many assume that cursing at a police officer would result in a disorderly conduct charge, that is not categorically so. Thus,... Read more Read more

By David L. Hudson, Jr. Defamation refers to false statements of fact that harm another’s reputation. It encompasses both libel and slander. Libel generally refers to written defamation, while slander refers to oral defamation. The hallmark of a defamation claim is reputational harm. Former United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in Rosenblatt v.... Read more Read more

By David L. Hudson, Jr. Chilling effect refers to a phenomenon where individuals or groups refrain from engaging in expression for fear of running afoul of a law or regulation. Chilling effects generally occur when a law is either too broad or too vague. Individuals steer far clear from the reaches of the law for... Read more Read more

By Margaret Talev and John Lauerman at Bloomberg President Donald Trump threatened to take away federal funding from the University of California at Berkeley the morning after violent, fiery protests prompted the cancellation of a speech by a provocative Breitbart News editor… Read more here. Read more