Free Speech Executive Order & Media Roundup

On his first day in office, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order restoring freedom speech, and RFK Jr. faces his first Senate confirmation hearings today.

I was delighted to see that one of Trump’s first executive orders address the central problems brought to light by our Missouri v. Biden free speech case. The order includes:

Section 1. Purpose. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, an amendment essential to the success of our Republic, enshrines the right of the American people to speak freely in the public square without Government interference. Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve. Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “malinformation,” the Federal Government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the Government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate. Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society.

Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to: (a) secure the right of the American people to engage in constitutionally protected speech;

(b) ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen;

(c) ensure that no taxpayer resources are used to engage in or facilitate any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen; and

(d) identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.

Sec. 3. Ending Censorship of Protected Speech. (a) No Federal department, agency, entity, officer, employee, or agent may act or use any Federal resources in a manner contrary to section 2 of this order.

(b) The Attorney General, in consultation with the heads of executive departments and agencies, shall investigate the activities of the Federal Government over the last 4 years that are inconsistent with the purposes and policies of this order and prepare a report to be submitted to the President, through the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, with recommendations for appropriate remedial actions to be taken based on the findings of the report.

I will be eager to see what the investigation from the Attorney General’s office uncovers. This Executive Order represents a significant victory, regardless of the final outcome in our court case, which remains ongoing.

My friends Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn, who have followed the government censorship issue closely, had some terrific commentary on this Executive Order and the broader context of this issue on the latest episode of their podcast, America This Week, which includes a shout-out to our case and my co-plaintiffs around minute 9:

---

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (photo: Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)

Meanwhile, the Senate Hearings to confirm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services began today, and I’m been busy with interviews today and tomorrow on these hearings, which I will post later. Last week, the National Catholic Register published a piece, “Can RFK Jr. Make America Healthy Again?” which included some comments from your scribe:

For Aaron Kheriaty, a Catholic professor of psychiatry who ​​was fired from the University of California-Irvine for refusing to comply with the university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Kennedy’s nomination is bad news for pharmaceutical companies who enjoy liability protections. Under current law, pharmaceutical companies are liable for their medications but not their vaccines. This is a situation Kheriaty hopes Kennedy will help undo.

“The analogy I like to use is: Suppose that Congress decided Toyota was going to be liable for safety issues, except for their minivan,” he told the Register. “Why do they need a special carve-out for their minivan? It would naturally raise questions. To me, we can bracket all the scientific arguments about vaccine safety, and if we take that one policy step, the pharmaceutical companies will take good care of vaccine safety because they know they’re going to be responsible for harms.”

[…]

For Kheriaty, Kennedy’s path through life makes him especially suited to pulling off heroic tasks like these.

“He was a young boy when his uncle was murdered. His father tells him the government was involved in the murder. And then, when he was 9, his own father was murdered. This is a kid who was traumatized,” Kheriaty said. “And there were one of two life paths open to him. He could coast on the family name, be a New York City playboy, go to galas. And he dabbled in drugs, but he got cleaned up and went to law school. He cleaned up the Hudson River and pushed back against corporations. He kept doing it for decades because he believed it was the right thing to do.”

“To me,” he added, “that shows something about his character.”

---

I did another recent podcast, “Health Reform and Sacred Balance: A Discussion with Aaron Kheriaty,” on Catholic in America with Jason Adkins, which focused on contemporary issues in healthcare and mental health. I discusses there the detrimental impacts of COVID-19 policies on mental health, the importance of integrating spiritual and medical approaches to depression, and the concept of building a “parallel polis” to create independent, morally guided healthcare institutions. The episode also addresses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Catholic Mental Health Campaign and ways the Church can support the renewal of healthcare. Enjoy…

---

Finally, I’ll share this interview on The First TV about the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. My segment starts at minute 25, and I’m followed by my friend Scott Atlas, who is always worth listening to as well.

---

---