Sen. Dick Durbin has always been slow on the uptake, which makes it impossible to tell if he does not understand the Constitution or whether he is spreading disinformation like Big Brother. Durbin made the absurd comment that the constitutional clause on free speech does not include misinformation. I have heard that the Fifth Amendment was only meant for the innocent, but the innocent have no reason to plead the Fifth Amendment, only the guilty do.
The same way with the First Amendment. It was not put in there just for Big Brother. It was adopted because people with different beliefs should be able to speak freely. How much so-called misinformation has been proven to be fact? How about the opposition to the Russia collusion hoax? Or Hunter Biden’s laptop? Or the fact that Obama was spying on Trump. Anything Democrats don’t want you to hear about, they label it as misinformation even when they know it is true.
And what about misinformation coming from Democrats? How many Democrats have insisted that the border is secure? Or that Joe Biden is a great Speaking of Biden, how many times has he said that his son Beau died in Iraq? Or that he attended a traditional Black college. He didn’t. How about when he said he was near the top of his class in college? He was almost dead last. The economy is great? Inflation is under control? Will liberal misinformation be banned or only conservative speech be censored? We both know the answer to that one.
Durbin said:
“In the days since Musk took Twitter private, the platform has seen an uptick in hate speech, and Musk himself used the platform and his influence to spread a baseless conspiracy theory about a violent attack on an elected official’s family member.”
“Free speech does not include spreading misinformation to downplay political violence.”
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELIronically, Durbin is a graduate of Georgetown Law School and if he passed, he must have an inkling about what it says about free speech. Especially since he chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. The outcry against his rhetoric has been catching fire from both sides of the aisle because Democrats know what goes around comes around. What suits them today won’t suit them when Republicans are in power.
Here are some of the comments:
“I crafted a snarky and venomous QT that I was going to attach to this tweet, but, out of respect for the senator’s position as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I will, instead, politely suggest that he might enjoy studying more of the nuances of First Amendment doctrine,” Millhiser said.
- “We simply must start electing people with at least a minimal level of [civic] literacy. This is not that. Embarrassingly not that,” First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn said.
- “Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a *very* questionable statement,” legal reporter Chris Geidner, who is also a lawyer, responded.
- “I mean it very much does, in a constitutional sense,” MSNBC host Chris Hayes retorted.
- “It’s a scary thing that the most powerful people in our government do not understand the basics of the laws they uphold. The entire point of the First Amendment is that it protects the speech you don’t like. It does not only apply when you’re vibing with it,” Reason editor Billy Binion responded.
- “One day after a major story from @lhfang and @kenklippenstein proving the US Govt and Security State are directing Big Tech on what to censor, the #2 Senate Dem tries to radically restrict what “free speech” means in a way that contradicts all 1A caselaw,” Glenn Greenwald observed.
- “Gee, why was anyone bothered by DHS’s plan to establish a ‘Disinformation Governance Board’?” journalist Josh Barro rhetorically noted.
- “Yes, it does. Free speech specifically includes the freedom to spread ideas that some, or even all, others might view as misinformation. Ironically, Senator Durbin’s tweet is misinformation,” former Rep. Justin Amash noted.
