Speak Freely, as an American

For John, BLUF:  The Babylon Bee headline:  Ketanji Brown Jackson Warns Right To Free Speech Could Lead To People Speaking Freely.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ketanji Brown Jackson ‘concerned’ First Amendment is ‘hamstringing’ government from censorship

From The Washington Examiner, by Reporter Annabella Rosciglione, 18 March 2024, 5:00 pm.

Here is the lede plus six:

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson raised concerns that the First Amendment may stand in the way of government censorship in unique times.

In Monday’s oral arguments for Murthy v. Missouri, Jackson appeared to be skeptical that the government could not censor social media posts in “the most important time periods.”

“My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods,” Jackson said to Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga.

“You seem to be suggesting that that duty cannot manifest itself in the government encouraging or even pressuring platforms to take down harmful information,” Jackson said. “So, can you help me? Because I’m really worried about that because you’ve got the First Amendment operating in an environment of threatening circumstances, from the government’s perspective, and you’re saying that the government can’t interact with the source of those problems.”

Aguiñaga said his view was that the government should intervene in certain situations, but it has to do so by following the First Amendment.

“Our position is not that the government can’t interact with the platforms there. They can and they should in certain circumstances like that, that present such dangerous issues for society and especially young people,” Aguiñaga said in response. “But the way they do that has to be in compliance with the First Amendment. And I think that means they can give them all the true information that the platform needs and ask to amplify that.”

Jackson said a “once-in-a-lifetime pandemic” or other emergencies would provide grounds for the government to censor social media posts that are misinformative.

I am not a lawyer, just a graduate of Grade School, but I thought the Founders gave us the First Amendment for the purpose of allowing People to speak out against the Government, when the Government would rather they didn’t.

For example, The Great Barrington Declaration.

Is it that Justice Jackson not only doesn’t know what a woman is, but also doesn’t know the role of free speech in our federal Government?  If the federal Government drifts into tyranny, how else do the People give it correction, except by speaking out against the tyranny they see.  As Delegate Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1776, "let Facts be submitted to a candid world."  This requires free speech.

Sadly, we are still seeing reverberations from the Federal Government suppressing information on COVID-19. To quote Wikipedia, "In March 2024, Kulldorff announced that Harvard had dismissed him."  Dr Kulldorff was one of the signatories of the Grest Barrington Declaration.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 we embarked on a path that damaged the lives of Citizens and harmed our economy.  Decisions were taken without a larger debate.  Mistakes were made and the average Citizen, and dissenting experts, were made to kowtow to the dictates of the Federal Government.  There was no larger debate.  There was no Congressional Declaration of War, in any form.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff