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Free Speech Archives – Concerned Women for America

Fighting the Government-Big Tech Manipulation

By | Big Tech, Briefs, Legal, News and Events, SCOTUS | No Comments

One of the most concerning aspects of President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice’s malicious targeting of parents and others that merely disagree with the government-approved narrative as “domestic terrorists” is that it undermines the actual war against terrorism. The fact is that terrorist organizations like ISIS have pledged harm to our country, and our government has a duty to remain diligent in protecting our citizens from that clear and present danger.

 

Instead of wasting resources in going after political opponents, we must continue to unite against those who hate our American values. Yet, as the Twitter files have exposed, the U.S. Government’s intelligence apparatus has colluded with Big Tech, not to fight terrorism and protect U.S. citizens but to suppress free speech. This is wrong. We must be able to fight for our constitutional rights without losing our ability to focus and distinguish between these and genuine national security threats.

 

In a brief before the United States Supreme Court, Concerned Women for America (CWA) argues for such a distinction, and we seek to hold Big Tech accountable for turning a blind eye to real terrorist threats facing the nation, claiming technical inability and lack of resources, while displaying great power against our own citizens. In it, we say:

 

Because conservative organizations and other individuals and institutions that do not conform to conventional wisdom are increasingly likely to be silenced for expressing what government agencies and Defendants regard as “extreme and polarizing content,” CWA has a strong interest in protecting free speech, including on Defendants’ near monopolistic platforms. Simultaneously, however, CWA believes that foreign terrorist organizations (“FTOs”) like ISIS, and state sponsors of terrorism like Iran – rather than American citizens who disagree with COVID-related school closures or with policies allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports – pose an actual threat to our national security.

 

One must admit we have a problem when a social media company like Twitter, virtually controlling the modern public square, dares to remove a sitting President of the United States, preventing him from speaking freely to its citizens, while giving full access to the Taliban and several of its most prominent spokespeople even as they simultaneously conduct violent attacks against our country. Given that clear choice they have made, affirmatively taking steps to discredit one voice and give legitimacy to another, the company should not be free to wash its hands for the foreseeable consequences of its actions.

 

In Twitter, Inc. v. Taamneh, the U.S. Supreme Court will wrestle with the fact that though we now know that Big Tech is fully capable of removing content when they want to, it has chosen not to act in the case of straightforward illegal content choosing instead to focus its vast resources on the protected speech of its political opponents, hiding all the while under the alleged special liability protection the federal government has promised them under some laws, like the infamous Section 230.

 

One example has been especially evident since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. In just a few months, Musk cleaned up Twitter of its child pornography problem simply by making it a top priority. The previous owner claimed this was impossible to do, despite their concerted, decades-long efforts to “do everything possible.”

 

Big Tech companies like Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) have become too powerful on the backs of the American people while avoiding the responsibilities that are required of U.S. companies in every other context. Mark Zuckerberg’s nearly half-a-billion dollars investment in the 2020 election, while controlling and manipulating political speech through its platform, is another timely and concerning example.

 

It is a complex problem that will undoubtedly need Congressional action too, but let us hope the U.S. Supreme Court can take steps to start curtailing its growing dangerous power.

 

SCOTUS

CWA Rallies at the Supreme Court for Free Speech

By | Legal, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

The case is  303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, where the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the government can force Americans to speak the government’s desired message contrary to the citizen’s core beliefs. 

 

Lorie Smith owns a design studio, 303 Creative, specializing in graphic and website design. She left the corporate world to start her own small business in 2012 so she could use her skills to promote causes consistent with her beliefs. She was excited to expand her portfolio to create websites that celebrate marriage between a man and a woman, but Colorado wants to prevent her from doing so, unless she promotes same-sex weddings. Lorie works with all people but decides which projects to design based on the message she’s being asked to express. She does not base it on who requests it.  Lori is challenging the constitutionality of the law as applied to her.

 

CWA was there to stand with Lorie because, simply put,  the government should not be able to force Americans to say things they do not believe.

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First Amendment Wins Again

By | News and Events, Press Releases, Religious Liberty | No Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2022
Contact: Katie Everett, Press Secretary
[email protected]
571-420-2488

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today’s U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, which found Coach Joe Kennedy’s constitutional rights had been violated by the school district when he was fired for praying with students after football games, was a victory for the First Amendment of the Constitution.

 

“Americans of faith who believe in the country’s founding principles of liberty are rejoicing once again that the highest court in the land has reinforced the First Amendment that grants freedom of religion and freedom of speech,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest grassroots women’s organization in the country. “Both of these were at risk in this case.

“Government-run schools have tried to shut down people of faith for decades. This is one step back in the right direction to understand that Americans with deeply held religious beliefs cannot be banned from the public square.”

Concerned Women for America to DOJ: Knock it Off

By | Defense of Family, News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

For Immediate Release
October 12, 2021

Contact: Jacklyn Washington
[email protected]

Concerned Women for America to DOJ: Knock it Off

Washington D.C. – Penny Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWA), the largest public policy organization for women in the nation, sent the letter below to Attorney General Merrick Garland in response to the October 4 memorandum to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and federal prosecutors “to address threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”

From the letter:

“However well-intentioned, the practical effect of your memorandum is to violate the most foundational principles of the First Amendment by creating a chilling effect on protected speech by concerned parents over the education of their children… 

“The federal government has no business injecting itself between a mother and the approach to educating her children. There has been no ‘disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence’ against school officials that would warrant this broad and aggressive step by DOJ and the FBI.”

At a time when anger against the monumental failures of the DOJ and the FBI is at new heights, it is unconscionable that this manufactured emergency is the focus of these departments and using valued and limited resources. Read the letter in full here.

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Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with a rich history of over 40 years.

Nance’s RCP Op-ed: Cancel Culture’s Latest Victim

By | CEO, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

Penny Nance, Concerned Women for America’s CEO and President weighed in on the Cancel Culture’s newest victim in her Real Clear Politics op-ed: “Time and again, the Left tried and failed to cancel Rick Santorum, but this past weekend they thought they had finally succeeded when CNN released him. Santorum’s crime? Saying Western European settlers founded the United States, and they did so to establish a nation premised on freedom and liberty.”

Read Penny’s entire op-ed here.

It’s Final! Education Rule Aims to Protect Free Speech for Faith-Based College Groups

By | Education, Legislative Updates, News and Events | No Comments

The U.S. Department of Education has finalized a significant rule to secure free speech and equal access rights for faith-based groups on public college campuses and shield them from discrimination. Earlier this year, Concerned Women for America (CWA) galvanized over 1000 comments in strong support of this rule, which will take effect officially this fall.   

The final rule implements the President’s Executive Order 13864, Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, Accountability at Colleges and Universities.  It will “ensure that public institutions of higher education uphold fundamental rights guaranteed in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including protections for freedom of speech, association, press, religion, assembly, petition, and academic freedom, and that private institutions adhere to their stated institutional policies regarding freedom of speech, including academic freedom.”

These protections are long overdue at the college level. Imagine being falsely told your First Amendment rights under the Constitution do not apply on a public college campus.  That has been the reality for many college students and faith-based clubs on campuses across the country.

Religious clubs, of all faiths, are entitled to the same rights and privileges of any group on a public college campus, but that is not always how it plays out. Many faith-based clubs have been prohibited from having any requirement that their club leadership share the organization’s values and beliefs. They have also been denied equal access to university resources that are given to other campus groups.

The U.S. Department of Education’s final rule on Religious Liberty and Free Inquiry accomplishes through the Executive Branch the goal of the Equal Campus Access Act. This religious freedom rule will ensure public college students and clubs retain their First Amendment rights on public college campuses, extending protections to college students similar to those enacted into law in 1984 for public high school students. Students can know their rights are assured under this rule, and any violation should be reported immediately to the U.S. Department of Education for action.

Under the Constitution, students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they walk through the doors of a university.  Clubs of all faiths bring vibrancy and diversity of belief, opinion, and experience, creating a more robust university environment to engage in the free exchange of ideas. That is at the heart of what a university is meant to be.

The Education Department’s final rule adds to the many accomplishments of the Trump Administration to protect religious liberty and end discrimination against faith-based individuals and entities across the federal government, including in education, health care, adoption, employment, and internationally.