LANSDOWNE, Va. – Responding to the rising threat of global censorship, Alliance Defending Freedom is launching a new litigation team, the Center for Free Speech, Tuesday. ADF’s mission in creating this dedicated team of attorneys is to defend every person’s right to speak freely and hold the government and powerful corporations accountable when they unlawfully censor or punish speech. This team’s efforts will include suing private-sector censors who are working with the government or abusing their power to suppress disfavored speech or deplatform speakers.
“In a world experiencing mounting censorship, it’s critical that we protect each person’s right to speak freely,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler, director of the Center for Free Speech. “Speech is an intrinsic part of what it means to be human, and indispensable to a free society. It’s a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and every major human rights treaty around the world.”
Defending free speech is nothing new to ADF. The group has won landmark free-speech victories before the U.S. Supreme Court, including 303 Creative v. Elenis (ensuring business owners cannot be forced to express unwanted messages), NIFLA v. Becerra (ensuring pro-life pregnancy centers cannot be forced to tell women where to get abortions), and Reed v. Town of Gilbert (protecting a church’s right to post signs inviting the public to its services). ADF’s free-speech wins have been especially prolific on public university campuses as its Center for Academic Freedom has secured more than 400 victories protecting students’ free-speech rights.
“A new era of censorship calls for innovative strategies and a renewed focus on protecting speech,” Sechler added. “That’s why we’re creating the Center for Free Speech. A complex international web of shadowy government actors, nonprofit groups, and for-profit corporations are colluding to stop speech they don’t like, chanting buzzwords like ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ as they go. The Center for Free Speech will work to expose what they’re doing and hold them accountable under the law.”
ADF attorneys have already begun litigating three cases under the umbrella of the Center for Free Speech:
- The Babylon Bee v. Bonta: A new California law bans certain election-related speech, including even satire and parody about political candidates—a venerable American pastime stretching back to the founding. Because California threatens punishment for The Babylon Bee’s humorous content and other political speech, ADF filed suit on behalf of The Bee and a California content creator to stop state officials from enforcing this unconstitutional law.
- Rumble v. Bonta: California also passed a law requiring large online platforms like Rumble to act as the government’s censorship police and remove or label certain election-related content. Because California is forcing Rumble to alter its own speech and censor its users’ speech in violation of the First Amendment, ADF filed suit on Rumble’s behalf challenging this law.
- Studnicki v. Sage Publications: Academic publisher Sage Publications improperly retracted three articles on abortion that it had previously subjected to peer review, accepted, and praised. Two of the retracted articles were about the dangers of chemical abortion drugs. Because these retractions were made without justification, ADF has initiated legal proceedings to rescind the retractions and recover for the substantial harm that Sage has caused the 10 nationally recognized and well-credentialed authors.
- Pronunciation guide: Sechler (SECK’-lur)
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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