Censorship & The First Amendment

 

    The 1st Amendment has recently become a hot topic for discussion in the United States as media organizations have begun to censor individuals who disagree with them politically. Though this form of censorship does not fall to one of the six unique freedoms ensured in the 1st Amendment (Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press, Freedom to Petition, Freedom to Assemble, Freedom of Religion, and Freedom From Religion), it does bring forth a unique argument about the validity behind the censorship of private citizens and the, now former, President of the United States. The most egregious case of censorship comes with Twitter removing former President Donald Trump from their platform while he was still the President of the United States. This silencing of the a world leader that started with Twitter began a domino effect with other social media platforms following suit and banning the former president and even some of his supporters; the average Joe. This is not a 1st Amendment issue though. Since the government is not censoring or silencing individuals, a breach of 1st Amendment liberties cannot be argued. Rather, this is a dangerous attempt by big tech to silence individuals they perceives as a threat to their liberal agenda. 

    The censorship of President Donald Trump should scare everyone from every political identity. While this censorship is not relevant to 1st Amendment arguments, I think Manny of the concepts taught about the 1st Amendment should be considered when evaluating this type of blatant censorship. The State-Action Doctrine perfectly dissects the 1st Amendment from tech censorship as big tech is not the state, therefore, a claim that constitutional rights were violated cannot be made. One could argue though that public accommodation rights could have been violated. Twitter is a private company that has opened their platform to private individuals. With that, individuals are to be afforded the same rights across the board regardless of identities such as race, sex, ethnicity, and yes political beliefs. By bringing in this claim that Twitter, a public company, that gives access to private citizens, like Donald Trump, then Donald Trump is afforded the same protections as the billions of other Twitter users. 

    Another egregious example of censorship is the removal of Parler from the Amazon Cloud Services. With Amazon's removal of Parler from their cloud services, millions of Americans-  mostly those on the political right- were silenced. This once again is not directly correlated with the 1st Amendment as Amazon is not a government entity. BUT it can be argued, like with Twitter, that public accommodation was violated as a private company discriminated against private citizens. The censorship of the political right is one more step by the elite to silence political "dissidents." 

    Many of Donald Trump's political opponents argue that his speech to the protestors on January 6th incited the violence that occurred at the United States Capital that eventually led to President Trump's permanent censorship from social media companies. Incitement is a tricky concept and one that is very hard to prove. Incitement is speech that imminent lawless actions where lawless actions must occur. To prove this is very tricky but President Trump's opponents believe it occurred and this is why Donald Trump is going through a second impeachment trial despite being a private citizen. 

    Recently, because of the actions by big tech companies, state legislatures are beginning to take actions to protect individuals from social media censorship. Like the continuous passing of shield laws at the state level to protect confidential sources, state legislatures are beginning to take steps to protect private citizens from censorship. Two legislators in Kentucky are proposing this legislation. Opponents to this say that this is more of a constitutional violation than censorship. Whatever the arguments may be, the issue of the 1st Amendment is one that has been relevant since the foundation of this country and it is clearly one that will be here for.a long time. 

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2021/01/19/stop-social-media-censorship-act-co-sponsored-robby-mills-phillip-wheeler/4215693001/

The Supreme Court

        The Supreme Court is one of the United States' three branches of government serving as a check and balance for both the legislative and executive branch of government. The bedrock of the Supreme Court is preserving the union, safeguarding American liberty, and upholding the rule of law. Dating back to its conception, the Supreme Court has ruled on many bedrock cases that permanently shifted American discourse. Handing down decisions on key issues such as race Dred Scott and Brown even as recently as 2015 with the decisions to grant marriage rights to individuals of the LGTBQ+ community. The Supreme Court is not perfect, no institution or body of government is. Cases like Dred Scott are considered "stains" on the reputation of the Supreme Court as they echo prejudices of the American majority rather their supposed commitment to the United States Constitution. 

       Established in Article III of the 1789 draft of the United States Constitution, the Supreme Court is like the middle child of the American government; often ignored, neglected, and overlooked despite their unique role in protecting the American republic. With just more than 110 justices having the ability to serve lifetime appointments, the Supreme Court has transformed itself from an undesirable branch of government to being one of the most influential and transformational institutions in the world. The man responsible for this transformation is the 4th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall. Justice Marshall brought the case Marbury v. Madison to the court's docket which brought the stature and influence of the court at equal level to the legislative and executive branches. 

        Recently politicized with accusations of being "advocate" justices who make decisions based on political persuasions, today's court is tainted with the idea that our justices are no longer an independent check on the legislative and executive branch, but rather the court is submissive to the other branches wants and desires. These accusations are thrown around by both political parties and can be seen in the two most recent confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. The Supreme Court is still an institution of prestige and justice. The line between republicanism and tyranny. The power of the Supreme Court rests not upon elections or the will of the people, but rather the power of the Supreme Court rests upon the faith of the people, not the power of the people.

Five Top Sources of News and Information

 As a political science major, understanding current events is something that is necessary for my future career and my academic pursuits. Every morning while I workout, I peruse these different sources for my daily dose of news and events.

1. The Wall Street Journal

    This my favorite news and information source. Though it requires a hefty subscription fee, I find The Wall Street Journal to provide the most benefits and most insightful look at politics, the Stockmarket, and opinion pieces. Each morning I get an email with the day's top stories with brief summaries of each article and it allows for me to understand what is happening inn the world while not be inundated with thousands of stories that are not relatively important. I recommend the journal because it is a moderately conservative news source that provides an unbiased- in comparison to other media outlets- look into news. The Wall Street Journal reports news stories while highlighting the occasional opinion piece. 

https://www.wsj.com 

2. The New York Times

    The New York Times is my liberal counterbalance to The Wall Street Journal. For me, The New York Times offers more opinionated articles that will allow me to understand the way of thinking of the American left. Like The Wall Street Journal, each morning I get an email with the editor's picks that summarizes the day's top news stories. This allows me to sift through the news and pick out stories that most interest me. I like The New York Times because of how universal it is. I can read a story in the morning and by the afternoon, odds are, I will have talked to a friend who read the same story and walked away with a different perspective than I did. To me, this is what media is about; presenting information, often times new information, and allowing people to walk away with their own interpretations.

https://www.nytimes.com

3. Fox News

    Fox News is my nightly news source. Yes, I understand many of Fox News' broadcasts are opinions shows (think Sean Hannity) but they also have 'Special Report' with Bret Baier and 'Fox News Tonight' with Shannon Bream provide a look at the day's breaking news. Many of Fox News' opinion shows are leading cable news ratings because they offer a conservative look on policy and news compared to their more liberal competition at organizations like ABC and CNN. I watch Fox News at night because, as a conservative political science major, it helps me articulate my own arguments while allowing for me to get new perspectives as well. 

https://www.foxnews.com

4. Twitter

    I know, I know, social media is not the best place to get your news because it creates echo chambers and one sided rhetoric. I don't use Facebook that much so for me, Twitter is where I find all of my news. They are going down a very dangerous road by censuring the President of the United States, but they do allow for news organizations from around the world the ability to broadcast their stories. For me, Twitter is the melting pot that brings me news stories that I normally would not see or even think I would find interesting. Their trending topics often times include many sources spread across news platforms which allows for the ability to broaden my scope for news. I don't use Twitter as a source of news stories, per se  but I use Twitter as a source for news sources.

https://www.twitter.com

5. Newsweek Magazine

    Newsweek, for me, is what my parents read. When I am at home during breaks, my father references articles from Newsweek. This magazine is catered to older generations and is a more conservative source of opinion articles and information. While Newsweek tends to align more conservative politically, Newsweek published research articles and opinion pieces from individuals on both sides of the aisle. A more research based source, Newsweek tends to be for individuals with a hobby of politics, not simply a passion for certain issues. I use this source as a bond between my parents and I because they prefer intellectual conservations on political issues rather than opinionated rhetoric- as do I.

https://www.newsweek.com

As a political science major, I look for news sources that will broaden my perspective while at the same time allowing me to sharpen my own arguments. Unlike journalism or strat. comm. majors, I am looking for politically driven and motivated sources. This is not necessarily the best way to understand pressing political issues, but this has allowed me to articulate my point of view in a way that many people may find convincing.