Category «Free Speech»

Trump Takes Aim at Democrats’ Online Fundraising Platforms

Gizmodo: “President Trump has decided to target the online fundraising websites that power a majority of Democrats’ political campaigns. In an executive order on Thursday, the Trump administration initiated a plan to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s primary grassroots fundraising tool.The executive order, which was published on the White House website on Thursday, claims that …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Meta silenced a whistleblower. Now she’s talking to Congress.

Washington Post [no paywall]: “Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the Senate Judiciary Committee that Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow executives were willing to “betray American values” to secure a foothold in China. A former global policy director at Meta told a Senate committee Wednesday that top executives at the social media giant were willing to undermine national …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Free Speech, Recommended Books, Search Engines, Social Media

Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans

Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans – Benjamin I. Page, Larry M. Bartels, and Jason Seawright. doi:10.1017/S153759271200360X. 2013 [important perspective on how we came to be where we are in 2025] “It is important to know what wealthy Americans seek from politics and how (if at all) their policy preferences differ from those …

Subjects: Economy, Free Speech, Legal Research

Tell Your Representative to Vote NO on H.R. 22

Indivisible: “House Republicans are once again pushing H.R. 22 (what we’re referring to as the “Silencing Americans Act”), a dangerous bill that would create unnecessary obstacles for millions of eligible Americans trying to register to vote. The House passed it last session, but it never made it to the Senate—now they’re bringing it back in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Records, Free Speech, Government Documents, Legal Research

Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice

Law Forward, April 4, 2025 – Perkins Coie LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice. No. 25-716 (BAH) “Today, we joined 507 firms across the country in urgently asking a federal court to act to cease an unprecedented abuse of executive power. In filing this amicus brief, we supported Perkins Coie’s motion for a permanent injunction of …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Trump Is Asking the Supreme Court To Let Him Have Black Sites

Slate – “The Trump administration inadvertently revealed on Monday that it is attempting to trap Venezuelan migrants in a catch-22 that would effectively block them from challenging their deportation and detention in an El Salvador prison. In a court filing, the government acknowledged that it had deported at least one migrant to El Salvador due …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Defense, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

LLRX March 2025 Issue – 8 new articles 7 new columns

LLRX.com March 2025 Issue Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities – Professor of Operational Research Christina Pagel Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired, Colleges Erase Programs, Law Firms Blackballed, Holocaust Denied – This March 27, 2025 update by Sabrina I. Pacifici chronicles Trump’s …

Subjects: AI, Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Cybersecurity, E-Government, E-Records, Economy, Education, Environmental Law, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Medicine, Privacy

Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities

Via LLRX – Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities – Professor of Operational Research Christian Pagel has mapped 35 of the Trump administration’s attacks on science and universities to the authoritarian playbook – and considers what it means for attacks still to come. Pagel states that the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, E-Records, Education, Food and Nutrition, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Health Care, Knowledge Management, Medicine

How to leak to a journalist

Nieman Lab – “Planning to leak? Read these tips first. There’s a lot out there to leak. The second Trump administration, historically unfriendly to the press, has thrown Washington into chaos. Tens of thousands of federal employees have been placed on leave or fired as billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE tries to gut the government. And …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Inside Elite Law Firms, Protests and Quitting After Trump Deals

The New York Times [no paywall] – The discontent does not appear to be resonating with leaders at Paul Weiss and Skadden, but it could hamstring their recruitment efforts. Ever since the elite law firms Paul Weiss and Skadden reached deals with President Trump to scuttle executive orders that could have crippled their businesses, the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Marketing

Llano County settles librarian’s wrongful termination suit over book removals

Austin American Statesman – “Former librarian Suzette Baker will receive $225,000 in a settlement of her wrongful termination lawsuit against Llano County… [She] accused them of firing her in 2022 because she refused to pull library materials that a group of conservative activists had deemed inappropriate for children.” The settlement marks the end to a …

Subjects: Censorship, Courts, Free Speech, Legal Research, Libraries