Below is my column in the New York Post on the vicious attacks being directed at Judge Aileen Cannon as she addresses pre-trial motions in the Florida prosecution of former president Donald Trump. The sheer hypocrisy in the media is overwhelming after denouncing any criticism of Judge Juan Merchan in the Manhattan prosecution. For Cannon, it is nothing short of a press pile-on.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Cannon Fodder: The Media Piles on Federal Judge After Lionizing Manhattan Judge”
Below is my column in The Hill on last week’s cases and the sharp contrast to the handling of the Trump case in Manhattan. Two of these cases hold particular resonance with some of us who criticized Bragg’s prosecution.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Land that Law Forgot: The Supreme Court and the New York Legal Wasteland”
Will Rogers once said that “if you ever injected truth into politics, you’d have no politics.” In Wales, it appears that the government is challenging that assessment. However, if the new legislation criminalizing political lies is successful, the Welsh are likely to find themselves with the same abundance of lies but little free speech.
Continue reading “Wales Moves Forward With Plan to Punish Politicians for Telling Lies”
In my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, and a recent academic work, I discuss a new rationale being used by administrators to punish free speech: threatening academic collegiality or campus tranquility. I was discussing the Fourth Circuit case of Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University, which was unfortunately not reviewed by the Supreme Court. Now, as feared, it is being replicated by the Sixth Circuit in Gruber v. Tenn. Tech. Bd. of Trustees. The result is a new and serious threat to free speech in higher education to curtail speech where it would be “likely to cause disruption” or undermine the “fostering [of] a collegial educational environment.”
In my book out this week, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, I write about the anti-free speech movement that has swept over higher education and how administrators and faculty hold a view of free speech as harmful. Now Harvard is again at the heart of a free speech fight after Lawrence Bobo, the Dean of Social Science, rejected views of free speech as a “blank check” and said that criticizing university leaders like himself or school policies are now viewed as “outside the bounds of acceptable professional conduct.” Continue reading “No “Blank Check”: Dean Warns that Criticizing the School or its Leadership is Not Protected at Harvard”
In Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, a court informs the irascible character of Mr. Bumble that it assumes a level of control of his wife’s conduct. Mr. Bumble responds that “if the law supposes that, the law is a ass – a idiot.” The scene came to mind with a decision yesterday when the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted 4-3 in Sojenhomer v. Village of Egg Harbor that a sidewalk is not a “pedestrian way.”
Last night, I had the pleasure of doing the first television interview on Special Report with Bret Baier on the release of my new book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage. Continue reading “Turley Interviewed by Bret Baier on the Release of The Indispensable Right”
There is a controversy in Oregon over a proposed change in the ethics rule from the Oregon Medical Board. At issue is the use of “microaggressions” to discipline doctors and to make reporting such transgressions mandatory for all doctors. It seems before you can give stitches, you have to join snitches under one of the most ambiguous categories of prescribed speech. Continue reading “Snitches Give Stitches: Oregon Moves to Make Reporting Microaggressions Mandatory for Doctors”
The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage is now released! It is available on Amazon and local bookstores. Absent breaking news, I will do my first television interview tonight on Special Report with Bret Baier (6-7 ET). As always, I am deeply appreciative to everyone who has purchased early copies of the first edition of this work.
Continue reading “The Indispensable Right Is Now Available!”
A new poll conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago (commissioned by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) shows that only 28% of Americans have a lot of trust in higher education. Academia has continued to alienate much of the country as an orthodox echo chamber. As with media outlets, the result has been falling interest and trust in these institutions. Continue reading “Poll: Only 28 Percent of the Public Has “High Confidence” in Higher Education”
Below is my column in The Hill on the concerning record of Attorney General Merrick Garland on a variety of recent matters, including a frivolous privilege claim to withhold the audiotape of President Joe Biden during the Hur interview. There is a certain corruption of judgment that is evident from this and other decisions by Garland since he became Attorney General.
Here is the column: Continue reading “The Corruption of Merrick Garland”
I wanted to wish all of the dads on the blog a wonderful Father’s Day. I started my own celebration before dawn on the Billy Goat trail to watch the sun go up while hiking along the river. It was glorious, as always. I have a few pictures from this morning’s hike. Continue reading “Father’s Day on the Billy Goat Trail”
This week, I have received emails from Connecticut bar members over a message posted by President Maggie Castinado, President-Elect James T. (Tim) Shearin, and Vice President Emily A. Gianquinto warning them about criticizing the prosecutions of former President Donald Trump. The message from the bar leadership is chilling for those lawyers who view cases like the one in Manhattan as a raw political prosecution. While the letter does not outright state that such criticism will be considered unethical conduct, it states that the criticism has “no place in the public discourse” and calls on members to speak publicly in support of the integrity of these legal proceedings. Continue reading ““No Place in the Public Discourse”: The Connecticut Bar Association Warns Critics of Trump Prosecutions”
As the first edition goes out this week, the Wall Street Journal has published its review of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage. Tunku Varadarajan takes a deep dive into the book and its historical, philosophical, and cultural exploration of this quintessentially American right. I am profoundly grateful for this thorough and positive review of the book.
