The Dangerous Legal Strategy Coming for Our Books

August 20, 2025 1 min read

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
The Atlantic 

Excerpt: A decade ago, when the government of Singapore announced its decision to pulp every copy of our picture book, And Tango Makes Three, in the nation’s libraries, we felt profoundly lucky. Not for the pulping—that was alarming—but for the fact that the First Amendment guaranteed that this could never happen in America.

We’re not feeling quite so lucky anymore. In 2023, our book was one of thousands pulled from library shelves around the country, and as we write, an evolving legal strategy being used to defend many such bans threatens to upend decades of precedent preserving the right to read. The danger this doctrine poses to free speech should worry us all—even those who would rather their children not learn about gay penguins.

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Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

The Question All Colleges Should Ask Themselves About AI

September 11, 2025 1 min read

Tyler Austin Harper 
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Excerpt: Since the release of ChatGPT, in 2022, colleges and universities have been engaged in an experiment to discover whether artificially intelligent chatbots and the liberal-arts tradition can coexist. Notwithstanding a few exceptions, by now the answer is clear: They cannot. AI-enabled cheating is pretty much everywhere. As a May New York magazine essay put it, “students at large state schools, the Ivies, liberal-arts schools in New England, universities abroad, professional schools, and community colleges are relying on AI to ease their way through every facet of their education.”

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Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University today. Details of the incident are still unfolding.

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Our thoughts are with Charlie Kirk and his family.

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