VOL. I · OCT. 17, 2026 ● NO. 07 ● FREE SPEECH & THE FIRST AMENDMENT
The North Star
“Right is of no Sex — Truth is of no Color.”
After Frederick Douglass, 1847
The free-speech desk — the First Amendment, censorship, and the right to be heard, tracked ruling by ruling across the fifty states.
First Amendment
Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Drag Ban for the Second Time
A Houston federal judge again held that Texas Senate Bill 12 is overbroad and unconstitutional, finding the drag-performance restrictions sweep in ordinary protected expression.
Protest Rights
Dissenting Judges Urge Supreme Court to Shield Protest Leaders
After the Fifth Circuit let a negligence suit against activist DeRay Mckesson proceed, six dissenting judges pressed the Supreme Court to decide whether the First Amendment bars such protest-leader liability.
Press Freedom
Court Blocks Trump Order Cutting Funding to NPR and PBS
A federal judge permanently enjoined an executive order stripping federal support from public broadcasters, holding the government cannot wield funding to punish disfavored coverage.
Book Bans
Judge Guts Florida Book-Ban Law, Rejecting Government-Speech Defense
A federal court struck down key parts of Florida's HB 1069, holding that rapid, viewpoint-driven removals of school library books violate students' First Amendment right of access to ideas.
First Amendment
Supreme Court Upholds Texas Age-Verification Law for Adult Sites
In a 6-3 ruling, the Court held that Texas's HB 1181, requiring age verification to access sexual material online, survives intermediate scrutiny under the First Amendment.
No dispatches have been published yet.
On the Docket
TX
Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Drag Ban for the Second Time
CA5
Dissenting Judges Urge Supreme Court to Shield Protest Leaders
DC
Court Blocks Trump Order Cutting Funding to NPR and PBS
FL
Judge Guts Florida Book-Ban Law, Rejecting Government-Speech Defense
US
Supreme Court Upholds Texas Age-Verification Law for Adult Sites
From the Wire
8/25
Federal Judge Strikes Down Texas Drag Ban for the Second Time
8/1
Dissenting Judges Urge Supreme Court to Shield Protest Leaders
3/31
Court Blocks Trump Order Cutting Funding to NPR and PBS
8/13
Judge Guts Florida Book-Ban Law, Rejecting Government-Speech Defense
Beats we track
First Amendment
Retaliation
Age Verification
Drag
Texas
Overbreadth
SB 12
More from the desk
Updated daily by the morning brief
Compelled Speech
Justices Back Parents Opting Out of LGBTQ Storybook Lessons
First Amendment
Judge Voids Executive Order Punishing Law Firm Perkins Coie
Platform Speech
Fifth Circuit Revives Mississippi Social-Media Age-Check Law
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