Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Nico Perrino

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression @thefireorg.bsky.social · Sep 11

“Free speech is what we do instead of violence. Civilization started the day man first cast a word instead of a stone.”

We must not lose sight of this civilization-defining distinction.

🎙️: @nicoperrino.bsky.social
📺: @cnn.com

2 5 19

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 16

The judge expresses some frustration with the government for not backing up Rubio's earlier pubic suggestion that there was more to this story than an op-ed:

1 1 2

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 16

"To date, the government has neither rebutted the argument that retaliation for Ms. Ozturk’s op-ed was the motivation for her detention nor identified another specific reason for Ms. Ozturk’s detention … “

1 1 2

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 16

BREAKING: The judge in the Rümeysa Öztürk case just issued his written opinion after ordering her release from the bench last week.

1 1 1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 16

The photo doesn't come close to the legal standard for a true threat.

Even still, the government will surely make Comey's life miserable for the foreseeable future.

As former FBI Director, he will be familiar with all the ways it can do so.

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression @thefireorg.bsky.social · May 16

Former FBI Director James Comey’s now-deleted “86 47” social media post is political speech protected by the First Amendment. It neither constitutes a true threat nor merits federal investigation.

There is SCOTUS precedent to prove it.

Comey under investigation for ‘threat’ to Trump on social media, officials say

The Trump administration accused the former FBI director of insinuating a call to violence in his Instagram post, which he denied.

www.washingtonpost.com

2 5

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 15

In short, the government still hasn't "put up" anything to suggest this case is about anything more than Khalil's protected speech.

2

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 15

Instead, it cites cases involving true threats and fighting words, which Khalil isn't alleged to have engaged in.

Maybe the government knows Khalil didn't do anything that would meet the Supreme Court's "Davis" standard for peer-on-peer discriminatory harassment?

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 15

No evidence. Nothing. The government just demands we assume its conclusion.

But, even if we assume the government's conclusion, the DOJ doesn't actually cite any legal standard for discriminatory harassment.

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 15

Thus far the government hasn't "reported" any unlawful conduct in the case, so I was hopeful there might finally be some concrete evidence introduced.

Alas, I was disappointed.

The government simply alleges Khalil "fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students."

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 15

The DOJ filed another revealing brief in the Mahmoud Khalil case late yesterday.

I was naturally interested in the section titled "Khalil’s As-Applied Challenged Does Not Account for His Reported Conduct."

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 14

Perverting language is endemic to politics.

Here, the feds are weaponizing government in the name of opposing its weaponization.

It is not DOJ's proper role to play a modern day Joseph McCarthy and use the power of the state to engage in cancel culture.

DOJ 'weaponization' group will shame individuals it can't charge with crimes, new head says

As Jeanine Pirro prepares to become U.S. attorney in D.C., Trump loyalist Ed Martin is taking over the Justice Department's effort to investigate Trump's investigators.

www.nbcnews.com

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

Local Chicago guy calls for free speech during first press conference in new gig.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · May 12

Pope Leo XIV expressed solidarity with imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.” He spoke in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.

Pope Leo XIV urges release of imprisoned journalists, affirms gift of free speech and press

Pope Leo XIV has called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press.”

bit.ly

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

I was asked about this article by Michael Moynihan during a discussion at the Comedy Cellar.

Here was my response:

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

“Freedom has its risks,” he said. “Suppression of freedom is a prescription for disaster.”

So, are we obligated to defend someone else's rights? No.

Should we? Yes.

As Thomas More famously said in A Man for All Seasons — "I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

2

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

Because he knew that minority groups like his own depend on a robust protection of individual rights for all.

Neier believed that “the chances are best for preventing a repetition of the Holocaust in a society where every incursion on freedom is resisted.”

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

Our rights are inextricably tied to the rights of others.

Nobody understood this better than former ACLU Executive Director Aryeh Neier.

He fled the Holocaust at age two and would later defend the rights of neo-Nazis to rally in Skokie, Illinois, then home to 6,000 Holocaust survivors.

Why?

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

In researching my forthcoming book on 20th century civil libertarianism, it's amazing how many of the advances for individual rights were led by Jewish men and women: Floyd Abrams, Ira Glasser, Nadine Strossen, David Goldberger, Norman Siegel, Harvey Silverglate, Nat Hentoff, the list goes on ...

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

There's an old saying, "If you call the ACLU with a free speech problem and a Jewish man with a Brooklyn accent answers the phone, you know you're in good hands."

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 12

Nobody is obligated to defend anybody else's rights.

Nevertheless, there is a proud tradition within the Jewish civil libertarian community of defending free speech rights for all speakers.

2 2

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 9

Some will argue that Rümeysa Öztürk has no free speech rights the government is bound to respect.

On the contrary, the whole premise of America is that certain rights are "unalienable" and that we establish governments to preserve these rights.

1 1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 9

The court just ordered the government to provide an update at 5 p.m. today as it "continues to review its database and files for any other invocations."

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 9

It came up with three examples. And the Khalil rationale is low on evidence and high on vague allusions (incl. to clearly protected speech).

1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 9

The court in the Khalil case ordered the gov't to report every instance where a Secretary of State invoked the "serious adverse foreign policy consequences" statute for a deportation action.

1 1

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 5

But as Cato's Will Duffield points out, the IEEPA was amended in 1988 and 94 to prohibit regulating "informational materials" under the IEEPA.

So Trump's tariff on foreign films is likely prohibited by the Constitution and federal statute.

Nico Perrino @nicoperrino.bsky.social · May 5

President Trump's "national security" claim suggests he's assuming authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which he used to justify his earlier tariffs (even though the IEEPA doesn't explicitly mention a tariff power).

1 1