Tennessean jailed for meme, I go to bat for FIRE’s ‘terrible business model,’ FIRE files suit in New Jersey, & more!
Bringing you the latest free speech news (11/23/25)
Story of the week
He spent 37 days in jail for a Facebook post — now FIRE has his back by Daniel Burnett
“A free country does not dispatch police in the dead of night to pull people from their homes because a sheriff objects to their social media posts,” FIRE’s Adam Steinbaugh told The Washington Post. Now, FIRE is representing Larry to defend his rights — and yours.
“I didn’t join the school board to be told to shut up,” said Gail Nazarene, an elected school board member, Navy veteran, and grandma in Alloway Township. “New Jersey officials claim the authority to punish me simply for asking folks questions about important issues, particularly when it affects their wallets. I should be free to communicate with constituents and get their views without being censored by state officials.”
This week in ERI
I would just like to express my profound gratitude to all the new donors who have given in response to this post. Thank you for making our work possible and for understanding free speech either belongs to everyone or it doesn’t truly belong to anyone. You give me so much hope for the future. -Greg
This week in
How Amazon secretly edits art by William Harris
Voting is tied to more tolerance in men — but less in women [Short] [Long] by
UK university censors human rights research on abuses in China by
The NO FAKES Act is a real threat to free expression by John Coleman
This week on
This week in FIRE’s blog
FIRE warnings confirmed again by Michael Hurley
Law professor sues University of Kentucky after suspension over criticizing Israel by
“The University’s suspension of Professor Woodcock violates his First Amendment right of freedom of expression and his right to procedural due process, discriminates against him in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, threatens the democratic principles which sustain this Country’s form of government, and degrades the quality of education at the University of Kentucky,” the lawsuit states.
London Calling: Ronnie’s First Amendment Roundup
Federal Western District of Virginia judge denies student attempt to use court-issued Title IX injunction to disinvite high school TPUSA club’s “Two Genders: One Truth” guest speaker
The federal court in the Western District of Virginia denied a student’s motion for a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction barring the Albemarle County School Board from allowing Western Albemarle High School’s Turning Point USA club to host Victoria Cobb as a speaker at a “Two Genders: One Truth” lunchtime event. The lawsuit and motion claimed the school acted with deliberate indifference to what was reasonably anticipated to be speech discriminatory to transgender and gender diverse students like the nonbinary Doe plaintiff, amounting to a Title IX violation for sexual harassment based on gender. The school initially sought to move the event to the evening but restored it to lunchtime after the club sent a demand letter asserting the move effected unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment and violated the federal Equal Access Act. The court held the school was not clearly unreasonable in reinstating the event as originally planned insofar as the claims in the demand latter “involve nuanced and sometimes unsettled questions of law” and especially given “First Amendment protections for school settings” in cases like Tinker and Mahanoy, “as well as the prohibition on viewpoint discrimination” in cases like Good News Club v. Milford Central School. The court noted the board promptly responded to complaints and community backlash – issuing a message within a week of the reinstatement acknowledging the feelings of those opposed, but also the imperative “to ensure students’ constitutional rights to assemble and hear diverse perspectives” – and that it worked with legal counsel to ensure the event could proceed without disrupting the school or violating any laws, all of which “continued deliberation, debate, consultation with counsel, and communication with the public undermines Doe’s claims that the Board was deliberately indifferent.”
International free speech stories of the week
Parents ‘vindicated’ after police admit unlawful arrest over WhatsApp row (The Guardian) by Kyriakos Petrakos
Rosalind Levine and her partner, Maxie Allen, said they were held at a police station for 11 hours over their complaints about the school.
The pair told the Guardian they had been arrested and detained in January by six uniformed officers on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property.
While Hertfordshire constabulary originally defended the arrest, the pair said the force had now admitted it was unlawful and agreed a £20,000 payout.
Azerbaijan charges exiled critics with ‘coup calls’ (OC Media) by Aytan Farhadova
Vietnam to prosecute journalist for anti-state activities (Reuters)
China underground church pastors arrested, face up to 3 years in jail, NGO head says (Reuters) by Laurie Chen
Video of the week
FIRE COO Alisha Glennon makes the case for you to join the movement we’re building here at FIRE today, and I couldn’t have said it better myself!