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Tag: First amendment

Free speech tested: Fort Lewis TPUSA students persevere with faith, composure—and resolve
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Local, Top Stories

Free speech tested: Fort Lewis TPUSA students persevere with faith, composure—and resolve

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The first Turning Point USA event, “Debate a Conservative,” took place Oct. 16 in the Fort Lewis College Student Union, where police stood at the doors as a steadying presence. Jonah Flynn, a senior studying philosophy and Spanish, along with Charlie Parke and Isabella Trevino, who were working to start a TPUSA chapter on campus, had braced for hostility but insisted on dialogue. “People with opposite views asked hard questions, but we all talked,” said Zen Moreno, a first-semester transfer in environmental conservation and management who joined the chapter after attending the event. She said she felt compelled to step in, hoping to turn hostility into conversation and connection. Flynn recalled how tension turned to civility. “People came...
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School District Faces Backlash After Banning Bible Verse in Student Artwork
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BizPac Review, Approved, Local

School District Faces Backlash After Banning Bible Verse in Student Artwork

By: Chris Donaldson | BizPac Review A Colorado high school set off a free speech battle after it refused to allow a Christian senior to use religious imagery to decorate her personal parking spot in what she says is a violation of her First Amendment rights. Sophia Shumaker was only looking to express her faith when she submitted her original design depicting a shepherd, a sheep, and a Bible verse to Rampart High School, only to have it denied because the school’s guidelines prohibit anything that is “offensive, negative, rude, gang-related, political, or religious.” “The shepherd and the sheep, the 99 sheep basically represent the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep to go find the lost one,” she told Fox 21 News. https://twitter.com/FOX21News/status/1981405727550763392 ...
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Judge Demands Big Tech CEOs Explain Role in Algorithmic Censorship Push
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Reclaim The Net, Approved, National

Judge Demands Big Tech CEOs Explain Role in Algorithmic Censorship Push

By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net For the first time, design choices, not just direct speech, are being treated as moral acts in a court of law. Three of the tech industry’s most recognizable leaders, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Evan Spiegel of Snap, and Adam Mosseri of Instagram, will be required to testify in court early next year. The order came from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl, who ruled that their participation is essential in a lawsuit alleging that social media platforms were deliberately designed to harm young users’ mental health. Attorneys for the companies had tried to prevent the CEOs from appearing, arguing that earlier depositions and other executive testimonies already provided sufficient information. Judge Kuhl disagreed, stating, “The testimon...
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When lawmakers silence citizens, who holds them accountable?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

When lawmakers silence citizens, who holds them accountable?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Does legislative immunity mean CO legislators who cut people’s testimony off face no personal consequence? The Colorado Politics article below details a recent Federal appeals court hearing to determine what limits a legislator could place on a citizen’s speech without facing consequences. The case at hand stems from a couple of hearings back in the regular 2024 legislative session. The plaintiffs in the suit allege that lawmakers who cut off the mics of those trying to testify on bills relating to gender issues were illegally censoring them.** Quoting the article: “The plaintiffs have argued that Democratic committee chairs inappropriately cut them off while they were testifying because the witnesses re...
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Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two doors and an insurance policy: Inside the legal backstops in Tina Peters’ October 16 hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice After more than four years of courtroom battles and appeals, former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ fight now hinges on a single federal question: whether Colorado courts violated her constitutional rights by denying her bond pending appeal.  The Oct. 16 motions hearing was part of a broader federal proceeding stemming from Peters’ Application for a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed in February. That petition asks the U.S. District Court to determine whether her ongoing detention violates the Constitution. It argues that the state’s denial of bail pending appeal punished Peters for her speech, violated her First and Fourteenth Amendments, and ignored the federal obligations that she says guided her actions as Mesa County Clerk under the Supremacy ...
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Justice Alito Calls Out Colorado’s ‘Blatant Viewpoint Discrimination’ on Therapy Law
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The Federalist, Approved, National

Justice Alito Calls Out Colorado’s ‘Blatant Viewpoint Discrimination’ on Therapy Law

By Shawn Fleetwood | The Federalist Associate Justice Samuel Alito exposed the absurdity of a Colorado law prohibiting so-called “conversion therapy” for minors during a high-profile case before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The moment came during oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case focused on a legal challenge brought by Colorado resident Kaley Chiles. A licensed therapist who provides counseling to children struggling with issues related to sexual orientation and gender dysphoria, Chiles alleges that the Centennial State’s “conversion therapy” law infringes upon her First Amendment right to free speech by inhibiting the types of discussions she has with her minor clients. When questioning Colorado Solicitor General Shannon Stevenson, Alito posed ...
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Supreme Court to Weigh Colorado Ban on Therapy for Gender Identity Counseling
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Supreme Court to Weigh Colorado Ban on Therapy for Gender Identity Counseling

By Anna Alejo | CBS Colorado On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a case set to determine if Colorado's ban on so-called "conversion therapy" for minors violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. The Lee family in Wellington filed an amicus brief in support of overturning Colorado's ban on the therapy. A Colorado law passed in 2019 restricts therapists from trying to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of kids under the age of 18. They opposed the law after they say it limited access for their daughter to receive therapy that met their family's needs. "They are forbidden by law from going down that path of helping a child through their gender confusion versus further into that confusion and so there's been lots of paren...
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Free speech and consequences: CU Boulder lecturer and Vail teacher face scrutiny over Kirk assassination remarks
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Free speech and consequences: CU Boulder lecturer and Vail teacher face scrutiny over Kirk assassination remarks

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sept. 23 to include a statement from CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch. Freedom of speech is one of America’s most cherished rights. But too often it is misunderstood as a free pass to say anything without consequence. The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month has made that painfully clear. Across the country, people who publicly cheered Kirk’s death — whether at work, online, or in classrooms — soon found out that words can carry real consequences. Some were fired. Others were suspended. Many faced a wave of anger from the public. In Colorado, questions about free speech and accountability are now playing out in two very different settings. One invol...
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A Nation Mourns: The Unthinkable Murder of Charlie Kirk and the Politics of Silence
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

A Nation Mourns: The Unthinkable Murder of Charlie Kirk and the Politics of Silence

By C.J. Garbo | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A national moral collapse. A political crime worse than any before. On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk stood at Utah Valley University. He manned his “Prove Me Wrong” table. He invited students to debate. Then a gunshot rang out. He recoiled. He collapsed. He bled. He died. We don’t yet know the full outcome. Some reports say he remains alive but critically wounded. Others say he is dead. If he has died, it is the most disturbing act of political violence in modern American history. Charlie Kirk’s only act was to speak. He didn’t insult. He didn’t riot. He didn’t strike anyone. He offered arguments. He invited discussion. His "crime" was free expression in the public square, in good faith, with those who disagreed with him...
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Peters Claims First Amendment Rights Violated in Bond Denial
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State, Approved, The Daily Sentinel

Peters Claims First Amendment Rights Violated in Bond Denial

By Sam Klomhaus | The Daily Sentinel Attorneys for former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters argued in a briefing filed Tuesday that Peters’ has been prosecuted in violation of her First Amendment right, and that a federal court is allowed to grant her request for bail pending appeal. The filing asks for Peters to be released from custody. She is serving a nine-year sentence at the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo. Peters was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of official misconduct and one count of failure to comply with the secretary of state, and sentenced to nine years of incarceration in October 2024 after she was accused of allowing an unauthorized person to enter a sec...
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