free speech

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal charges against three alleged members of a violent white supremacist group accused of inciting violence at California political rallies were dismissed by a judge who found their actions amounted to constitutionally protected free speech. Prosecutors said members of the Rise Above Movement conspired to riot by using the internet to […]

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday requiring U.S. colleges to protect free speech on their campuses or risk losing federal research funding. The new order directs federal agencies to ensure that any college or university receiving research grants agrees to promote free speech and the exchange of ideas, and to follow federal rules […]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A federal jury said Monday night that the former sheriff in Milwaukee, David Clarke, did not violate a man’s free speech with taunting Facebook posts after detaining him at an airport last year for shaking his head at the sheriff. The civil lawsuit from Daniel Black argued he received hateful messages and […]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court will decide whether a Pittsburgh man’s anti-police rap lyrics are protected free expression or amount to witness intimidation and making terroristic threats. The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in the case of Jamal Knox, who served state prison time for the song he recorded […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Faced with an angry backlash for defending white supremacists’ right to march in Charlottesville, the American Civil Liberties Union is confronting a feeling among some of its members that was once considered heresy: Maybe some speech isn’t worth defending. Cracks in the ACLU’s strict defense of the First Amendment no matter […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Faced with an angry backlash for defending white supremacists’ right to march in Charlottesville, the American Civil Liberties Union is confronting a feeling among some of its members that was once considered heresy: Maybe some speech isn’t worth defending. Cracks in the ACLU’s strict defense of the First Amendment no matter […]

Oberlin College placed professor on leave over alleged anti-Semitic comments. Her comments outraged the college's board of trustees.

The Georgia Supreme Court sided with the KKK in its battle to adopt a stretch of a pubic highway. It's a key victory in the hate group's demand for free speech rights.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court struggled Monday in a dispute over a proposed Confederate battle flag license plate to balance worries about government censorship and concerns that offensive messages could, at worst, incite violence. Nearly 150 years after the end of the Civil War, the justices heard arguments in a case over Texas’ refusal […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Anthony Elonis claimed he was just kidding when he posted a series of graphically violent rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent. But his wife didn’t see it that way. Neither did a federal jury. Elonis, who’s from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, […]

DETROIT (AP) — The Insane Clown Posse sued the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday over a 2011 FBI report that describes the rap-metal duo’s devoted fans, the Juggalos, as a dangerous gang, saying the designation has tarnished their fans’ reputations and hurt business. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit in Detroit federal court […]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A street preacher sued on Thursday to block a city ordinance that restricts religious or political speech on Bourbon Street after dark. In his federal lawsuit, New Orleans pastor Paul Gros claimed the city's "aggressive solicitation" ordinance sets unconstitutional limits on free speech. Gros said he was preaching on Bourbon Street […]