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We defend and promote free speech for all Americans in our courtrooms, on our campuses, and in our culture.
Philadelphia and Washington
Joined December 2008
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LAWSUIT: Eight officers raided his home before dawn.
His offense? He filmed an officer speeding, criticized him when he got to a drive-thru, and embarrassed the department.
In a free country, criticizing police shouldn’t end in handcuffs.
In 2022, Joshua Gibbons filmed a Kingsport, Tennessee police SUV speeding without lights or sirens, violating state law.
He caught up with the officer at a drive-thru and had salty words about his disregard for the law.
That exchange lasted all of one minute. The consequences for Joshua lasted four years.
After someone complained about a different video — an officer flipping Gibbons off — police scoured Gibbons’ YouTube channel for ammunition.
Before dawn the next morning, while Gibbons was still in bed, eight armed officers raided his mother’s home to arrest him — for speeding using a cellphone while driving, and disorderly conduct.
A judge dismissed the speeding and cellphone charges but convicted him of disorderly conduct, saying he was “offended by the way” Gibbons was “talking to that officer.” Gibbons appealed. At a second trial, a jury again found him guilty.
In June, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously reversed that conviction and dismissed the charge.
The court found “no evidence” that Gibbons’ criticism prevented anyone from doing anything lawful.
The court recognized — as many courts had held — that even “profane and insulting” words alone aren’t a crime, especially when directed at police officers, who are trained to exercise restraint.
With FIRE’s help, Gibbons is suing to vindicate his First Amendment rights.
The First Amendment protects your right to film and criticize police. Kingsport PD needs to hear that message loud and clear.
BREAKING: An Iowa state court has dismissed President Donald Trump’s frivolous lawsuit against veteran pollster and FIRE client J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register newspaper, a victory for First Amendment rights.
More to come.
"This lawsuit was laughable from the beginning and never should have been brought," said FIRE Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere. "The First Amendment does not allow anyone in government, least of all the president, to punish people under the banner of 'fake news.' That may work for him as a campaign slogan, but it is not a thing in the law."
FULL PR: fire.org/news/victory-iowa-j…
The Trump White House media ban has raised lots of questions. Thankfully, FIRE is here with the answers.
Join us tomorrow as we break down what happened, why it matters, and what the First Amendment has to say about it!
REGISTER ➡️ thefire-org.zoom.us/webinar/…
"The government isn't supposed to like the press. The press isn't there to make the government happy. . . . It is not there to be a mouthpiece of the government.
"This isn't Russia. This isn't China. This is America."
🎙️: @CTFitzpatrick
📺: @ThisWeekABC @jonkarl
Mizzou is investigating professor Wayne Brekhus over comments he made about the university’s DEI changes in a video recorded several months ago.
But the First Amendment protects professors’ rights to discuss scholarship and teaching. Negative attention from the public doesn’t make that speech punishable.
If this viral video is the crux of Mizzou’s investigation, then it must end the investigation and clear Brekhus of wrongdoing. fire.org/news/mizzou-investi…
Incredibly disappointing. Discouraged by the student senate’s flagrant viewpoint discrimination this month, @whitmancollege Republican Club members have decided not to resubmit the club for official recognition. Chilled into silence.
This is what happens when the censors win.
The @whitmancollege Republican Club was unanimously denied recognition after student senators pressed club members to criticize the GOP and President Trump — all while recognizing Planned Parenthood and climate change groups.
This is viewpoint discrimination, pure and simple.
"The government isn't supposed to like the press. The press isn't there to make the government happy. . . . It is not there to be a mouthpiece of the government.
"This isn't Russia. This isn't China. This is America."
🎙️: @CTFitzpatrick
📺: @ThisWeekABC @jonkarl
It makes a First Amendment lawyer’s job easy when the president announces that he’s engaging in viewpoint discrimination.
🎙️: @glukianoff
📺: @smerconish @CNN
"How terrible would it be to live in a country where every newspaper and every reporter has to parrot what the government says?
That may be fine in China and Russia, but it is not how we do things here in America."
🎙️: @CTFitzpatrick
📺: @TheLeadCNN
When the White House opens its doors to the press, it must comply with the First Amendment. The president is as free as any other person to criticize media coverage. But he can’t ban outlets from the White House just because he doesn’t like their reporting or commentary. Press credentials aren’t a reward for loyalty to the government. A free, even adversarial, press is a sign of our country’s strength. The public deserves to hear about its government from independent voices, not just its leader’s loyalists and allies.
When the White House opens its doors to the press, it must comply with the First Amendment. The president is as free as any other person to criticize media coverage. But he can’t ban outlets from the White House just because he doesn’t like their reporting or commentary. Press credentials aren’t a reward for loyalty to the government. A free, even adversarial, press is a sign of our country’s strength. The public deserves to hear about its government from independent voices, not just its leader’s loyalists and allies.
The Whitman Republican Club applied for recognition from @whitmancollege, but after grilling members about national GOP positions, the student senate rejected its bid 25-0.
One senator even suggested they “scrub the title and make a debate club.”
WRC needs your support NOW. ⬇️
The @whitmancollege Republican Club was unanimously denied recognition after student senators pressed club members to criticize the GOP and President Trump — all while recognizing Planned Parenthood and climate change groups.
This is viewpoint discrimination, pure and simple.
Whitman already recognizes advocacy groups supporting Planned Parenthood and Climate Justice, so why was the Republican Club held to a different standard?
Tell Whitman: Uphold its promise to students’ freedom to associate, regardless of viewpoint.👇
fire.org/get-involved/take-a…
We just filed a friend-of-the-court brief with 11 other groups and scholars supporting ABC in its lawsuit against the FCC.
We’re urging the court to halt the FCC’s early license-renewal proceeding and stop the government from using it to chill broadcasters’ speech.
4/ And context matters.
The accelerated proceeding is part of a broader campaign to punish ABC for speech and editorial decisions the administration doesn’t agree with.
The government cannot do indirectly what the First Amendment bars it from doing.
5/ If the government can use broadcast licenses as leverage over speech it dislikes, every broadcaster gets the same message: Stay in line or face punishment.
That’s exactly what the First Amendment guards against. We’ll keep holding the line.
fire.org/research-learn/abc-…
