{"id":1905287,"date":"2023-03-27T07:11:29","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T11:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-duncans-struggle-session-shows-why-we-need-fiercer-protection-of-free-speech\/"},"modified":"2023-03-27T07:15:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T11:15:23","slug":"judge-duncans-struggle-session-shows-why-we-need-fiercer-protection-of-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-duncans-struggle-session-shows-why-we-need-fiercer-protection-of-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Duncan\u2019s Struggle Session Shows Why We Need Fiercer Protection Of Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-duncans-struggle-session-shows-why-we-need-fiercer-protection-of-free-speech%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1905287&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The culture of free speech that for so long characterized American academia is dead. Increasingly, struggle sessions and violent eruptions are how the nation\u2019s best and brightest choose to handle the ideas, individuals, and situations that make them uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kyle Duncan was invited by the Stanford Federalist Society to their law school to give a talk titled \u201cCovid, Guns, and Twitter.\u201d What ensued is what has become the norm. A coalition of the dysgenic and well-dressed filled a lecture hall to shout down and demean a <em>federal judge<\/em> while a school diversity administrator chastised him with prepared remarks.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-521130287\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-150d4a5c2d1ee39449f4fcc5256620bf fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-150d4a5c2d1ee39449f4fcc5256620bf\"><\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <span class=\"omYphntM\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ratio ratio-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Judge Duncan event at Stanford\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/806801455?h=16c79baa14&#038;dnt=1&#038;app_id=122963\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Disagreement is OK and clearly would have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/struggle-session-at-stanford-law-school-federalist-society-kyle-duncan-circuit-court-judge-steinbach-4f8da19e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">welcomed<\/a> by Duncan, but when students feel emboldened to tell a federal judge, \u201cWe hope your daughters get raped,\u201d as one individual allegedly <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/campus\/stanford-puts-diversity-dean-who-berated-federal-judge-on-leave\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">did<\/a>, a course correction is desperately needed.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Duncan addressed this very topic in a talk titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/constudies.nd.edu\/events-news\/events\/2023\/03\/24\/lecture-by-5th-circuit-judge-kyle-duncan-free-speech-and-legal-education-in-our-liberal-democracy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Free Speech and Legal Education In Our Liberal Democracy<\/a>\u201d at the University of Notre Dame\u2019s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a talk about another talk,\u201d Duncan quipped to inform those in the audience who were unaware that he would be, in part, discussing the incident at Stanford.<\/p>\n<p>In a general defense of student protests, Duncan stated, \u201cIt\u2019s a great country where you can harshly criticize federal judges and nothing bad will happen to you. \u2026 The students at Stanford and other elite law schools swim in an ocean of free speech. \u2026 Has any group of people ever been so privileged?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-99f59c2c6f9e235585d6b79e6f686ed9 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-99f59c2c6f9e235585d6b79e6f686ed9\"><\/div>\n<p>Continuing, the judge referenced a <a href=\"https:\/\/law.stanford.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Next-Steps-on-Protests-and-Free-Speech.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memo<\/a> published on March 22 by the dean of Stanford Law, Jenny Martinez, in which she condemned the disruptions and \u201cthreatening messages directed at members of [the Stanford Law] community\u201d and pledged to adopt stricter policies regarding event disruption.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez\u2019s memo specifically contrasts student protests with malicious disruptions, noting that universities, as institutions, have unique obligations to curtail the latter in the pursuit of academic freedom through the enforcement of conduct codes and administrative policies. And as Duncan noted, a rigid commitment to the cause of academic freedom is absolutely vital to both the preservation of the university system and American society.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The universities that, at one point in time, were renowned for their unyielding commitment to free speech and the relentless pursuit of excellence in all things, to this day \u2014 despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2023\/feb\/27\/recent-college-grads-unprepared-9-5-jobs-experts-w\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">diminishing<\/a> quality of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/08\/15\/study-students-graduating-college-gotten-easier\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">graduates<\/a> \u2014 still churn out leaders in every single sector.<\/p>\n<p>Noting the undeniable trend of <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/17\/woke-effectively-describes-the-lefts-insanity-and-thats-why-they-hate-when-you-say-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">woke<\/a> radicalization among young people in elite universities and the threat it poses to the maintenance of civil order and liberal democracy, Duncan asked, \u201cWhat would happen if the cast of mind in that Stanford classroom becomes the norm in legislatures, in courts, in universities, in boardrooms, in business, in churches?\u201d<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0095b3fab42fe64fd7752e9ee6ab67ee fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0095b3fab42fe64fd7752e9ee6ab67ee\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe must resist this at all costs,\u201d Duncan continued. \u201cOtherwise, we will cease to have [the] rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Toward the end of her memo, Martinez also ruled out disciplining the individuals who disrupted Duncan\u2019s lecture at Stanford Law, as it would be onerous to discern which students \u201ccrossed the line into disruptive heckling while others engaged in constitutionally protected non-disruptive protest\u201d and that university administrators sent \u201cconflicting signals about whether what was happening was acceptable or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the offending students \u2014 along with the rest of the law school\u2019s student body \u2014 will be required to attend a \u201cmandatory half-day session in spring quarter for all students on the topic of freedom of speech and the norms of the legal profession.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the final moments of his speech at Notre Dame, Duncan mentioned he was \u201ccautiously encouraged\u201d by this measure as it indicated Stanford Law\u2019s leadership was in some form committed to fighting for the foundational principles of American academia. He also noted that the point of the struggle session wasn\u2019t <em>purely <\/em>to intimidate or dissuade him. After all, he\u2019s a federal judge \u2014 he has life tenure; his future is secure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The point of heckling Duncan, denying him a chance to make his case, and even wishing rape upon his children was to make an example out of him and to intimidate the students who invited him to speak. The disruptors want to destroy what is left of American civil society and replace it with an even more omnipresent <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/17\/woke-effectively-describes-the-lefts-insanity-and-thats-why-they-hate-when-you-say-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">woke<\/a> authoritarianism, further preventing the dissemination of dissent. In order to accomplish this, they need future generations of leaders \u2014 their classmates \u2014 to be afraid, so they jeer and they threaten.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This ethos, one that is undeniably a well-established, if not the dominant, worldview on American campuses, cannot be remedied through scolding. Half-day sessions \u201con the topic of freedom of speech and the norms of the legal profession\u201d might knock some sense into a couple of dozen Stanford Law students, but what about every other campus in the U.S.?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Days after the incident at Stanford Law, militant Antifa groups descended upon the University of California, Davis, in an attempt to prevent Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA, from speaking on campus. Prior to the event, Gary May, the chancellor of UC Davis, circulated a <a href=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/v2d5dfo-uc-davis-chancellor-gary-may-talking-about-tpusas-live-free-tour-stop-at-th.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">video<\/a> claiming Kirk \u201cadvocated for violence against transgender individuals.\u201d Ultimately, the militants were unsuccessful in their attempts, but unlike at Stanford, the disruptors attempted <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RebsBrannon\/status\/1635804738406199296\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">violence<\/a> and destroyed public property in the pursuit of denying an individual\u2019s right to free speech.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <span class=\"CDoQr2zB0feYPnbk\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW VIDEO: Violent leftwing agitators just smashed through windows outside of the event venue here at UC Davis. Reports are that some of this group made their way into the building before police successfully removed them. Pray for peace and safety for all involved. \ud83d\ude4f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IbZd2v9pRn\">pic.twitter.com\/IbZd2v9pRn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/charliekirk11\/status\/1635821908964036609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 15, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>How much longer can we continue to delude ourselves about free speech? There are, to be sure, legal protections for speech, but the leftists who control the institutions where these protections are most needed (academia, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/21\/grants-reveal-federal-governments-horrific-plans-to-censor-all-americans-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Big Tech<\/a>, et al.)\u00a0 actively eschew and chip away at them in collaboration with the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/02\/03\/by-exposing-hamilton-68-the-twitter-files-proved-the-deep-state-is-a-weapon-aimed-directly-at-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal government<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A more muscular approach to protect the speech of Americans is needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, President Donald Trump issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov\/presidential-actions\/executive-order-improving-free-inquiry-transparency-accountability-colleges-universities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executive order<\/a> requiring American universities \u201cto foster environments that promote open, intellectually engaging, and diverse debate [ ] through compliance with the First Amendment\u201d in order to access specific <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/trump-to-sign-executive-order-requiring-colleges-universities-to-support-free-speech-on-campus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal funds<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But even this, as we can see, didn\u2019t \u2014 rather, it couldn\u2019t \u2014 address the underlying ideological issues at play.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sure, threatening to cut off federal grants might encourage university administrators to be more vigilant in their defense of (or less hostile in their attacks on) free speech. But, at the end of the day, the left controls these institutions and interprets \u201cfree speech\u201d in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the American founding and the First Amendment; speech must be contained within their preferred paradigm, or else it and anything descending from it is an affront to their very existence and must be eradicated.<\/p>\n<p>Back at Stanford Law, Tirien Steinbach, the diversity administrator who chastised Duncan, has been put on leave, and per Martinez\u2019s memo, an explicit role of other Stanford Law administrators moving forward \u201cwill be to ensure that university rules on disruption of events will be followed, and all staff will receive additional training in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So perhaps Duncan is right to be <em>somewhat <\/em>optimistic.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7986be87215a1d6c16e59c9266374430 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7986be87215a1d6c16e59c9266374430\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Samuel Mangold-Lenett is a staff editor at The Federalist. His writing has been featured in the Daily Wire, Townhall, The American Spectator, and other outlets. He is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. Follow him on Twitter @Mangold_Lenett.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/academia\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Academia<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/antifa\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">antifa<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/campus-insanity\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">campus insanity<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/campus-protests\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Campus protests<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/first-amendment\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">First Amendment<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/free-speech\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">free speech<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/free-speech-on-campus\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Free Speech on Campus<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/judge-duncan\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Judge Duncan<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/notre-dame\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Notre Dame<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/riots\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">riots<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/stanford-law-school\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Stanford Law School<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/stanford-university\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Stanford University<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The culture of free speech that for so long characterized American academia is dead. Increasingly, struggle sessions and violent eruptions are how the nation\u2019s best and brightest choose to handle the ideas, individuals, and situations that make them uncomfortable. Earlier this month, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Kyle Duncan was invited by the Stanford<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1185,"featured_media":1905288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[22827,22828,5387,4140,9041,4554,4908],"class_list":["post-1905287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-duncans","tag-fiercer","tag-judge","tag-protection","tag-session","tag-speech","tag-struggle"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1905288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}