Free Speech Project
5/20/19 - Nothing Like the Threat of Litigation to Focus the Mind
From a Champions of the Constitution Grassroots Network member -
Ken Ham from the Creation Museum in Kentucky was under contract to speak at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond in 2018, sponsored by a Baptist Student group. They went through all the channels at UCO and it was approved. LGTBQ activists decided they did not want to hear what Mr. Ham had to say. The office at the University that approved Mr. Ham speaking, under admitted pressure from the LGTB community, withdrew their permission for him to speak just days prior to his arrival. Mr. Ham, local ministers, and others stood up and said either he gets to speak or UCO et al. would be sued in court for damages, interference with a legal contract, Constitutional grounds, etc. The University surrendered, and Mr. Ham spoke on campus in March 2018. Time will tell if the lesson has been learned by this University. A simple rule for all Universities: don't talk out of both sides of your mouth, claiming that you embrace diversity while you shut down other points of view and expression. Maybe this will be helpful in CCGN’s campaign to protect the 1st Amendment.
From a Champions of the Constitution Grassroots Network member -
Ken Ham from the Creation Museum in Kentucky was under contract to speak at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond in 2018, sponsored by a Baptist Student group. They went through all the channels at UCO and it was approved. LGTBQ activists decided they did not want to hear what Mr. Ham had to say. The office at the University that approved Mr. Ham speaking, under admitted pressure from the LGTB community, withdrew their permission for him to speak just days prior to his arrival. Mr. Ham, local ministers, and others stood up and said either he gets to speak or UCO et al. would be sued in court for damages, interference with a legal contract, Constitutional grounds, etc. The University surrendered, and Mr. Ham spoke on campus in March 2018. Time will tell if the lesson has been learned by this University. A simple rule for all Universities: don't talk out of both sides of your mouth, claiming that you embrace diversity while you shut down other points of view and expression. Maybe this will be helpful in CCGN’s campaign to protect the 1st Amendment.
5/15/19 - Campus Free Speech Petition
The National Association of Scholars has circulated a petition promoting free speech on campus citing, among other things, the disinviting of speakers, unconstitutional speech codes, and discrimination against certain student groups. More than 500 scholars, groups, and individuals have signed the petition. The Champions of the Constitution Grassroots Network supports the petition and a number of our members are signatories (e.g., from Virginia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina). We urge you to sign the petition, too!
The National Association of Scholars has circulated a petition promoting free speech on campus citing, among other things, the disinviting of speakers, unconstitutional speech codes, and discrimination against certain student groups. More than 500 scholars, groups, and individuals have signed the petition. The Champions of the Constitution Grassroots Network supports the petition and a number of our members are signatories (e.g., from Virginia, Oklahoma, and South Carolina). We urge you to sign the petition, too!
5/14/19 - News Round-Up
Tommy Robinson will be retried for contempt for live-streaming about Muslim child grooming gangs
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/breaking-tommy-robinson-to-face-new-contempt-trial-for-livestreaming/
Middlebury College and Yale Law School among campuses disinviting speakers this year (searchable FIRE database)
https://www.thefire.org/resources/disinvitation-database/#home/?view_2_sort=field_6|desc&view_2_page=1&view_2_per_page=50
Far-Left Antifa protester attacks and pepper sprays conservative reporter
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/shock-video-portland-conservative-reporter-andy-ngo-assaulted-at-24-hour-fitness-phone-stolen-by-antifa-goon/
Tommy Robinson will be retried for contempt for live-streaming about Muslim child grooming gangs
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/breaking-tommy-robinson-to-face-new-contempt-trial-for-livestreaming/
Middlebury College and Yale Law School among campuses disinviting speakers this year (searchable FIRE database)
https://www.thefire.org/resources/disinvitation-database/#home/?view_2_sort=field_6|desc&view_2_page=1&view_2_per_page=50
Far-Left Antifa protester attacks and pepper sprays conservative reporter
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/shock-video-portland-conservative-reporter-andy-ngo-assaulted-at-24-hour-fitness-phone-stolen-by-antifa-goon/
5/5/19 - Michigan Hate Speech Database
In April, Germany ratcheted up enforcement against so-called ‘hate speech’ online and new hate speech initiatives from the Attorneys General in Michigan and Minnesota moved in the same direction. The Michigan initiative includes a hate speech database to be maintained by the state civil rights agency that will collect remarks from individuals and groups for later use. This is a direct threat to free speech because hate speech, whether you like it or not, is protected under the First Amendment. Just think of the chilling effect on free expression in Michigan because now you have to worry about whether state bureaucrats will decide what you say is offensive and put you in the database.
The Michigan Attorney General’s office testified before a state legislative committee that they would not access the database in criminal cases. But sharp legislators pointed out that enhanced hate crime penalties are a matter of proving intent and the database of prior remarks would most surely be accessed to provide evidence of intent in criminal cases. The database will affect hate crimes cases from the charging decision all the way through to the sentencing, the legislators pointed out. The fact that the Attorney General’s office would be so coy about this does not inspire confidence about the whole exercise, especially when you consider the Attorney General herself led off her testimony with the correct but misleading statement her office did not have such a database. This was misleading because the database is at the civil rights agency, which she knows darn well. She also tried to square the circle that hate crime penalties do not punish people for what they think. Sure, and I’m the tooth fairy.
In April, Germany ratcheted up enforcement against so-called ‘hate speech’ online and new hate speech initiatives from the Attorneys General in Michigan and Minnesota moved in the same direction. The Michigan initiative includes a hate speech database to be maintained by the state civil rights agency that will collect remarks from individuals and groups for later use. This is a direct threat to free speech because hate speech, whether you like it or not, is protected under the First Amendment. Just think of the chilling effect on free expression in Michigan because now you have to worry about whether state bureaucrats will decide what you say is offensive and put you in the database.
The Michigan Attorney General’s office testified before a state legislative committee that they would not access the database in criminal cases. But sharp legislators pointed out that enhanced hate crime penalties are a matter of proving intent and the database of prior remarks would most surely be accessed to provide evidence of intent in criminal cases. The database will affect hate crimes cases from the charging decision all the way through to the sentencing, the legislators pointed out. The fact that the Attorney General’s office would be so coy about this does not inspire confidence about the whole exercise, especially when you consider the Attorney General herself led off her testimony with the correct but misleading statement her office did not have such a database. This was misleading because the database is at the civil rights agency, which she knows darn well. She also tried to square the circle that hate crime penalties do not punish people for what they think. Sure, and I’m the tooth fairy.