{"id":2201246,"date":"2024-03-18T15:02:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-government-claims-once-in-a-lifetime-pandemic-excuses-first-amendment-violations\/"},"modified":"2024-03-18T15:08:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:08:52","slug":"federal-government-claims-once-in-a-lifetime-pandemic-excuses-first-amendment-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-government-claims-once-in-a-lifetime-pandemic-excuses-first-amendment-violations\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Authorities Argue Exceptional Pandemic Justifies First Amendment Infringements"},"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\">18<\/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%2Ffederal-government-claims-once-in-a-lifetime-pandemic-excuses-first-amendment-violations%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=2201246&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>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure>\n      <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>An \u2063unprecedented legal debate unfolded at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?534283-1\/murthy-v-missouri-supreme-court-oral-argument&#038;vod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Supreme Court<\/strong><\/a>  as\u2063 an attorney \u200bsupported the stance that <strong>federal emergencies could \u2064mitigate \u2064First Amendment rights<\/strong>. This argument fuelled \u2062a contentious discussion on the balance between public safety and free speech.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Justice \u2064Samuel Alito<\/strong> \u2062posed \u200ca pointed inquiry to U.S. Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher about whether the administration considered the\u2063 print media as allies, echoing the sentiment of a unified effort with the federal government. This came amid concerns over\u200c the government potentially treating digital platforms as\u2064 mere\u2062 extensions of its\u200d will by soliciting direct content censorship.<\/p>\n<h2>Context of Crisis<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Potentially \u2063in the context of an effort \u200cto get Americans vaccinated during a once-in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnns-zucker-cuomo-deserved-termination-for-using-position-to-help-brother\/\" title=\"CNN\u2019s Zucker: Cuomo \u2018Deserved Termination\u2019 For Using Position To Help Brother\">-a-lifetime pandemic<\/a>,&#8221; Fletcher conceded, acknowledging the exceptional\u2062 circumstances.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t change the First Amendment principles, but it\u2019s \u2063relevant to how they\u200d apply here. And I think it\u2019s important to understand that\u2063 at this time, this was a time when \u2063thousands of\u200c Americans were still dying every week, and there was a hope that getting everyone \u2063vaccinated could stop the pandemic, and there was a concern that Americans were getting their news about the vaccine from the platforms and \u200bthe\u2064 platforms \u200bwere promoting, not just posting but promoting \u2063bad information.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Alito&#8217;s Counterargument<\/h3>\n<p>Alito highlighted\u200c the distinction in pressures felt by traditional media\u2014such \u2064as print, broadcast, and cable\u2014and \u200donline platforms, which faced federal demands to tweak algorithms. &#8220;It struck me as, wow, this is \u2064not what I understand\u200d the relationship to be,&#8221; he reflected on these unprecedented actions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Federalist \u2063Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland<\/strong> labeled the \u2062government&#8217;s justification as &#8220;horrible&#8221; for multiple reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Emergencies don&#8217;t override First Amendment protections<\/li>\n<li>Censorship\u200b extended beyond the pandemic to elections<\/li>\n<li>Censorship touched on revelations about\u2063 Hunter Biden<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure>\n<p>\n        <span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OMgosh\u2026the\u2062 &#8220;once in a lifetime&#8221; of \u2062vaccination for COVID! That is a horrible argument!<br \/>\n       \u200c   \u200d   \u2063<br \/>\n              <br \/>1) because an emergency doesn&#8217;t\u2063 trump 1st amendment;<br \/>\n   \u200c   \u2062    \u2062<br \/>\n              <br \/>2) it\u2064 happened\u200b with elections<br \/>\n    \u2063  \u2064   \u2063   \u2062<br \/>\n              <br \/>3) it\u200c happened with Hunter Biden.<\/p>\n<p>            \u2064   \u2062 \u2064    \u2064  \u2014 Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProfMJCleveland\/status\/1769731496770711743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2024<\/a>\n          <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>        <\/span>\n      <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h3>Government&#8217;s Algorithmic Overreach<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Joy Pullmann, Federalist Executive Editor,<\/strong> noted that \u200da federal Cybersecurity agency \u2063established a private entity \u200dfavoring Democratic perspectives to regulate\u200d online election-related speech.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Much of \u200cthe information \u2062restricted by\u2062 this algorithmic censorship is \u200dindeed true, including the legitimacy of \u2062Hunter Biden&#8217;s laptop,&#8221; \u2063Pullmann added, citing algorithmic interference\u200c which may have\u200c skewed public perception.<\/p>\n<p>The federal initiative to suppress implicating information during the 2020 election concerning the Democrat\u2019s nominee and his son\u2019s business dealings increased after President Joe Biden&#8217;s election. The present <em>Murthy v. Missouri<\/em> Supreme Court case exemplifies the\u2064 extent of this digital public square control.<\/p>\n<h3>Justice Jackson&#8217;s Perspective<\/h3>\n<p>Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson \u2064questioned \u2063if the platforms were coerced into censoring speech. &#8220;I&#8217;m interested in your view that the \u2062context doesn&#8217;t change the First Amendment \u2064principles,&#8221; Brown observed. She argued that heightened\u200d scrutiny is warranted, \u200dbut not \u200dan\u200d outright prohibition,\u2063 when the government seeks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stanford-instructor-told-jewish-students-to-stand-in-corner-like-israel-does-to-palestinians-report\/\" title=\"Stanford instructor allegedly compared Jewish students to how Israel treats Palestinians.\">provide accurate \u200binformation<\/a> during a significant\u200c public\u2062 health crisis.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jonathan \u200bTurley<\/strong>, \u200ca law professor and legal \u200canalyst, found Jackson&#8217;s suggestions that some\u2062 coercion may be permissible to be a concerning\u2062 stance for those advocating free speech.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p>\n        <span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2026Justice Jackson just nudged \u2063Fletcher back from his concession that, if there\u2063 was coercion, there\u2062 might be a first amendment violation. Jackson suggested that some coercion might\u2064 be allowed in &#8220;a once in a lifetime pandemic.&#8221; That question is \u2064chilling for free speech advocates<\/p>\n<p>            \u200c \u2014 Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) \u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonathanTurley\/status\/1769733054547771648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2024<\/a>\n          <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>        <\/span>\n      <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p>Tristan Justice \u2064is \u200dthe western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of &#8216;Social\u200c Justice Redux&#8217;, covering culture, health,\u200b and wellness topics.\u200b His insightful commentary\u2063 has been featured in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-legislation-aims-to-punish-china-for-covid-lies\/\" title=\"GOP Legislation Aims To Punish China for COVID Lies\">prominent media outlets<\/a>.\u2062 Engage with his works by \u2062following \u200c@JusticeTristan on Twitter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-image data-amount=\"5\">\n<h2>Popular Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\">Exploring the Scope \u200dof Free Speech Online<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\">The Murthy\u200d v.\u200b Missouri \u200bCase: A\u2063 Turning Point?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\">Political Censorship in the Digital Age<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\">The\u2063 Balance Between Public Safety and Civil Liberties<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\">Tracking Federal Overreach\u200d on Digital Platforms<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the Supreme Court, an attorney defended government censorship during emergencies as justifiable First Amendment breaches. Justice Alito challenged Deputy Solicitor General Fletcher on whether print media sees themselves aligned with the federal government, probing during the intense exchange<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2201247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/330668611_2b7c458f69_h-e1710775806563.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2201246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/330668611_2b7c458f69_h-e1710775806563.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201246","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\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2201246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2201247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2201246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2201246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2201246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}