Censoring Truthful Speech About Judges Violates the First Amendment

Thomas A. BerryCan the government censor you for wishing a judge happy birthday? It may seem absurd, but a bill that would allow exactly that was recentlyadded to theNational Defense Authorization Act. If passed into law, every American would risk facing mandatory takedown orders for posting basic facts about federal judges online, including their birthdates, the colleges attended by their children, and the jobs of their spouses. The bill stifles access to relevant information about public officials, arbitrarily limits its restrictions to the internet but not other media, and allows speech to be suppressed even if it poses no possible security threat. For all these reasons, as I wrote late last year in theWall Street Journal, this law would clearly violate the First Amendment.Here ’s howthe law would work. If you post “covered information” about a federal judge anywhere online, that judge (or a federal official designated by that judge) can send you a written request to take it down. If you don ’t comply within 72 hours, the judge can sue you. If you lose, you not only have to take the information down but also have to pay the judge ’s court costs.What qualifies as “covered information” about a judge? Some facts covered by the bill are the type of personal financial information that none of us would want to make public: bank account numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc. But in addition, the law covers...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs