FIRE

Join me for a midday Washington, DC jaunt as I discuss perhaps the most consequential, but least appreciated of Trump’s First Amendment threats.

A multitude of flags in office windows isn’t a sign of a divided campus. It’s a sign of a vibrant community where people can express their views. FIRE demands @BU_tweets stop ordering faculty to remove their flags. fire.org/research-learn…

BU’s President defended the decision, saying faculty with campus-facing windows “don’t get the privilege of speaking for the university.” Though private, BU has committed to free expression and passersby are unlikely to see office flags as the university’s official message.

Boston University administrators are ordering faculty to remove flags from their office windows. One professor came to campus to find a university employee had entered her office and taken down her LGBT Pride flags, with a note saying outward-facing displays aren’t allowed.

Nobody likes lying politicians. But a new law in Wales could let the government criminalize “false” or “misleading” campaign statements. Letting those in power decide what’s true in politics is a risky move. 🎥: @sarahemclaugh

As @WillatFIRE wrote back in October, “talk therapy is speech. And when the government prohibits speech because it doesn’t like the views being expressed, it violates the First Amendment.” fire.org/news/supreme-c…

In a free speech victory, the Supreme Court held 8-1 that Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for minors violates the First Amendment. “The First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech.” FIRE couldn’t agree more.

Join us tomorrow at 12 pm EST for a free webinar discussing the biggest threats to academic freedom in 2026 and what new national data reveal about faculty expressive rights on campus. This session will also include a live audience Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask FIRE’s legal and research experts their questions. 🔥

As America approaches its 250th birthday, the courage to speak freely remains one of our most important traditions. Progress begins when people share the truth within them.

Catholic University blocked a student group’s event on antisemitism unless it included opposing viewpoints. Now, the school says it is “re-evaluating” its event and speaker approval process. But @CatholicUniv still won’t address the real issue: requiring student groups to host speakers they didn’t choose is compelled speech and blatantly contradicts its stated commitment to free expression. @theFIREorg is awaiting a response.

The decision: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

BREAKING: Judge blocks Pentagon’s effort to label Anthropic as a supply chain risk. “Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government.” As we noted in our amicus brief, government officials didn’t try to hide the fact that they wanted to put Anthropic out of business for its dissent — and the court saw what was obvious to anyone who was looking.

The City of Cape Coral, Florida, threatened a local watchdog group with fines and jail times for including images of the city seal and logo in a blog post criticizing city officials and policies. FIRE is calling on the city to back down and revise its unconstitutional policies.

Filed a cert petition in SCOTUS this morning on behalf of two students barred from wearing “Let’s Go Brandon” hoodies to school. It asks the Court to resolve a circuit split over the scope of public school students’ First Amendment rights. So proud of this @TheFIREorg team

7/ “The school district insists that it may censor a student’s political speech if it might make a classmate think of a swearword,” says @CTFitzpatrick. “But America’s next generation is not so fragile, and the First Amendment is not so brittle.” fire.org/news/students-…

6/ FIRE is asking the Court to clarify what kinds of student expression, including apparel, school districts can censor without disruption. As our brief explains, “If a student’s political expression is not disruptive, the government must meet a high bar to justify censorship.”

With FIRE’s help, two Michigan students forced to remove sweatshirts with the anti-Biden slogan “Let’s Go Brandon” are appealing their case to the Supreme Court. At issue: Can schools ban a sanitized political expression if a single teacher considers it vulgar?