American Civil Liberties Union : Free Speech

Free Speech:
Freedom of speech is protected in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and is guaranteed to all Americans. Since 1920, the ACLU has worked to preserve our freedom of speech. Learn more and take action to protect the right to free speech.

Protest and the President
For years, the ACLU has fought the White House policy of shielding the president from dissent. The First Amendment protects the right to free speech, but that right is undermined if protesters can't be heard. More >>
> WV: ACLU Calls Government Settlement in Anti-Bush T-Shirt Case a Victory for Free Speech
> CO: White House Staffers Sued for Ejecting Denver Residents from Bush Event
> NM: Protestors Should be Seen and Heard

FCC v. Fox Television Stations and "Fleeting Expletives"
The ACLU has filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of several creative arts, media and free speech organizations criticizing the Federal Communication Commission's regulation of "indecent speech" as arbitrary, inconsistent, and irreconcilable with core First Amendment values. More >>

Federal Court Upholds Ban on Internet Censorship Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a federal district court decision that the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) violates the First and Fifth Amendments. Read the decision >>

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TSA Officials And JetBlue Pay $240,000 To Settle Discrimination Charges (1/5/2009)
NEW YORK -- In a victory for constitutional rights, two Transportation Security Authority (TSA) officials and JetBlue Airways have paid Raed Jarrar $240,000 to settle charges that they illegally discriminated against the U.S. resident based on his ethnicity and the Arabic writing on his t-shirt. TSA and JetBlue officials prevented Jarrar from boarding his August 2006 flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport until he agreed to cover his shirt, which read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic, and then forced him to sit at the back of the plane. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on Jarrar’s behalf in August 2007.

ACLU-TN Defends Peace Activist's Free Speech Rights (12/17/2008)
Greeneville, TN - The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) today announced that it is representing peace activist Dan Frazier who is being sued for $40 billion for selling anti-war t-shirts over the internet.

Free Speech Groups Challenge Ban on Political Attire at Polls (12/10/2008)
Richmond, VA - Three Virginia-based free speech organizations today filed suit in federal court in Richmond against the Virginia State Board of Elections and the general registrars of Richmond and Fairfax County, challenging the controversial new State Board of Elections policy prohibiting the wearing of buttons, t-shirts and other apparel with political messages in polling places.

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