On March 18, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the landmark First Amendment case, Murthy v. Missouri (formerly known as Missouri v. Biden). At the heart of this case is the burning question: Can governments use non-governmental organizations to silence them?millions ofRestricting Americans’ freedom of speech on the basis of preventing “misinformation”?
of plaintiff In addition to Louisiana and Missouri, they include epidemiologists, consumer and human rights advocates, academics, and media executives, as well as the White House, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Surgeon General, and FBI. claims to be targeted. The censorship targeted conservative-leaning speech, from the COVID-19 lab leak theory to the effectiveness of masks and vaccines to talk about Hunter Biden’s laptop. (Related: Unearthed emails reveal extent of DHS involvement in censoring 2020 election posts)
The thought crime of publicly scrutinizing and questioning the Biden administration’s pandemic policies was clearly unacceptable to government officials. The administration has therefore asked social media companies to deplatform individuals and limit or completely remove their online content.
However, the diversity of professions represented in this case makes these public concerns less likely to be subject to rigorous debate, especially at a time when Americans are demanding transparency and accountability from their elected officials. This highlights the ripeness of the opportunity.
Government censorship suppresses individual freedom while endangering the health of democratic governance. The Biden campaign ironically claims that this is their campaign issue, that they want to protect themselves from existential threats. In the area of public health policy, the impact of censorship is particularly pronounced as American schoolchildren continue to suffer significant learning losses as they are forced from in-person learning to online classes.
moreover, nurse, doctor, police officer and Firefighter People from Seattle to New York City have been forced out or fired entirely for not getting vaccinated. That’s despite the fact that that mandate, now lifted, was based on the false premise that vaccinated people cannot contract or transmit the virus. Yet many of these heroes have not returned to work.
When legitimate concerns are silenced, the policy-making process becomes susceptible to group think and undue influence by special interest groups, which can lead to harsh measures.
ben franklin In his “Apology to Printers” he taught us: “Printers are educated in the belief that when people disagree, each side should have the advantage of having the public’s voice heard equally. And when truth and error are fair play, The former can always trump the latter.”
Unfortunately, it is a thing of the past for governments, directly or through their agents, to persecute or attempt to silence those who ask tough questions or seek to expose corrupt practices. The antidote to this violation of our rights is to provide more information through quality research and persuasive arguments.
The Yankee Institute participated as an interested party in an amicus brief filed by American Advancement for Freedom (AAF) to challenge this unconstitutional government intervention. “The Constitution protects free speech from government abridgement, but the Biden administration has sought to circumvent the First Amendment by engaging private entities, namely social media companies, as speech police.” said J. Mark Wheat. (Related: Biden administration may have made a big mistake asking SCOTUS to take on government censorship cases)
America’s Founding It was premised on the ability to restrain government and protect people’s rights. The right to free speech, even voices we personally dislike, is the foundation of a democratic republic.
Individual freedom should never be sacrificed on the altar of collectivism. The Biden administration’s alleged blatant misconduct aimed at suppressing free speech is having a chilling effect on Americans’ confidence and ability to participate in the virtual town square.
America no longer allows the government to violate our precious First Amendment rights by acting as a de facto speech police or by having others do the “dirty work.” I can’t go there.
Frank Rich is a researcher at the Yankee Institute.He was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano and the author of the book Existence of command.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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