Free Speech and Civil Liberties

At a Glance

The United States has a strictly limited federal government, with a robust Bill of Rights, yet our freedom of speech and civil liberties remain in question as government seeks new authority over citizens. The federal government today limits our political speech, subjects us to more wiretapping than ever before, criminalizes more activities every year, regulates and sometimes interferes with the content of broadcasting, and assumes unprecedented police and prosecutorial powers. The best way to protect civil liberties is to rein in the scope and power of the federal government and begin to return the federal government to its constitutional limits.

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New Poll: 74% Worry Americans Could Lose Our Freedoms If We’re Not Careful

By Emily Ekins

A new forthcoming Cato Institute national survey finds 76% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the founding of the United States and 59% feel “gratitude” about what the Declaration eventually secured. But Americans fear the freedoms made possible by the American founding are at risk.

Cato Daily Podcast

‘Jawboning’ and Murthy v. Missouri

Featuring Brent Skorup, Walter Olson, and Caleb O. Brown

In Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court clarified the evidence that would be required to prove government coercion with respect to online speech platforms. Cato’s Walter Olson and Brent Skorup discuss the case.

Commentary

Why the Netchoice Ruling Is a Win for Free Speech

By Jennifer Huddleston

While the decision did not fully reach conclusions about the underlying constitutionality of the laws in Texas and Florida, the majority seemed to indicate strong skepticism that such laws would pass the appropriate degrees of legal scrutiny.

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The Government Can’t Target TikTok Because of the Speech It Carries

By Thomas A. Berry

The government can’t target a speech platform for allegedly carrying “propaganda” or “misinformation.”

Study

A Guide to Content Moderation for Policymakers

By David Inserra

While prominent social media platforms may be biased and imperfect, the government cannot solve these problems and will only make them worse.

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Will Duffield

Adjunct Scholar

Patrick G. Eddington

Senior Fellow

Robert A. Levy

Chairman Emeritus

John Samples

Vice President

Free Speech and Liberal Education: A Plea for Intellectual Diversity and Tolerance dissects the nature, extent, and causes of the speech suppression that exists, emphasizing the need for intellectual diversity and how repression often coexists with counterforces that need to be energized and mobilized in what author Donald Alexander Downs portrays as the “embattled” status of academic free speech; the character of the harms that the new policies and actions pose to liberal education; broader “structural and societal threats” to academic freedom; how to mobilize to protect campus freedom using resources inside and outside the campus; and most importantly, why robust free speech and academic freedom are so important to both liberal education and the prospects of liberal democracy.

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