Free Speech
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Penn State forces faculty to become DEI zealots to get promoted, wine scientist's lawsuit says
University's promotion review committee denied enologist Molly Kelly because she only "checked the box" for DEI by doing outreach to insufficiently diverse groups, showing its unconstitutional "ideological demands," she says.
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State appeals court neuters Arizona ban on forced DEI training, professor appeals to high court
Arizona Supreme Court must affirm that victims of forced training can sue, restoring decades of state precedent on "implied private right of action" that is broader than federal case law, professor says.
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Judge overturns Hawaii's criminalization of 'deceptive' election memes as broad, vague and biased
"The breadth of Act 191’s scope is palpable," covering "political satire, parody, commentary, and content that merely references a candidate 'by implication,'" Biden nominee says in ruling for Babylon Bee and local satirist.
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Democrats opposing gender ideology face prison for registering as 'Democrats' in Illinois: lawsuit
Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender says it's received more interest from Illinois than any other state, but "party name provision" in nonprofit registration law bans soliciting donations without Democratic Party approval.
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Conservatives decry police visit to activist for criticizing mayor, compare to European censorship
Miami Beach mayor, who has history of targeting speech related to Israel-Palestine, reported critic's Facebook post to police but didn't ask them to visit her, chief says. "WTF," Megyn Kelly responds.
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Lame-duck Biden judge greenlights student newspaper lawsuit against pro-Palestine deportations
Stanford Daily and anonymous noncitizen students have "credible, well-founded fear of immigration enforcement" based on "pro-Palestine expression," thus chilling their expression, judge says.
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Fired teacher asks SCOTUS to stop schools from punishing educators for conservative memes
Appeals court said teacher who privately shared views about George Floyd riots on summer vacation caused "disruption" because of media attention. Jury rules against district that suspended student for memes about principal.
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Judge rules against Arizona city that arrested mom for criticizing bureaucrat at public meeting
Just because Surprise, Arizona doesn't have to offer public comment doesn't mean it can censor them based on content, and city could easily resurrect biased comment policy it ditched after getting sued, Clinton nominee says.
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Trump judges blast peers for letting California impose 'state-sanctioned groupthink' in medicine
Sentiments of dissenting 9th Circuit judges appointed by Trump set stage for possible Supreme Court appeal.
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New York adds speed bumps to social media with tobacco-style warning labels, inviting litigation
The Empire State has faced skepticism from judges when it comes to regulating speech online or in the real world, but that hasn't stopped Gov. Kathy Hochul and AG Letitia James from pushing the envelope.
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Shot heard 'round the world: Trump shames Europe anew on censorship with travel sanctions
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday announced sanctions on five European citizens who he alleged were part of an "industrial censorship complex" that infringed the free speech rights of Americans.
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Appeals court rules against university for punishing professor who mocked 'land acknowledgment'
"Student discomfort with a professor’s views can prompt discussion and disapproval," but it's "not grounds for the university retaliating against the professor," 9th Circuit ruling says.
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2025 has already broken record for 'attempts to silence student speech': free speech group
With two weeks left in calendar year, FIRE has already documented 21 more incidents than previous high of 2020, influenced by activism around COVID-19 lockdowns and George Floyd's death.