Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Saturday, September 30, 2017
Will Courts Defend Free Speech -- Or Forced Speech To Promote A Political Agenda?
By Selected News Articles @ 12:01 AM :: 6921 Views :: First Amendment, Life

Will Courts Defend Free Speech -- Or Forced Speech To Promote A Political Agenda?

by George Leef, Forbes, September 25, 2017

One of the great liberal (in the true sense of the word) decisions by the Supreme Court is West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, the 1943 case where the justices struck down a law that forced school children of the Jehovah’s Witness faith to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance or face punishment for declining to do so.

The Court saw that compulsory speech was unconstitutional and un-American because, as Justice Jackson wrote, it “invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to reserve from all official control.” In telling the state that it could not mandate the rote utterance of certain words, the Court was upholding liberty – the cornerstone of the nation.

Today’s “liberals” have forgotten the wisdom of Barnette. They care little about liberty and instead desire to impose their ideas by force.

We see their authoritarianism popping up all around, and one place is mandatory speech. A number of states have enacted laws that require pregnancy clinics to post signs informing women who go there for help that the government has made family planning services, including abortion, available at low cost or even free. Even if the people who operate the clinic believe that abortion is morally wrong, they must post the sign or, like the Jehovah’s Witness children in Barnette, face punishment by the government.

Hawaii has enacted such a law and it is under challenge in federal district court. In Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor v. Chin, the plaintiff argues that the law is unconstitutional. As attorney Ken Connelly of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is assisting the plaintiffs, argues here, “No one should be forced to provide free advertising for the abortion industry, least of all pro-life centers that exist to help women choose life for their babies.”

He’s right. Those who favor abortion have abundant resources to inform women of that option and where to obtain one (even at taxpayer expense) without forcing people who do not favor it to spread their message. In fact, the pro-abortion side is so able to advertise its message that it’s difficult to believe that this law is anything other than a political victory dance.

But the Hawaii case may be rendered moot by a case the Supreme Court may hear this year, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra. The case arose out of a California law that, just like in Hawaii, compels pro-life clinics to advertise the availability of abortion. It comes to the Supreme Court from the Ninth Circuit, which upheld the law on the grounds that it is a reasonable regulation of “professional speech.”

Seriously? Since when does a mandate to post a prescribed sign have anything to do with speech regarding professional services?

As Cato Institute’s amicus brief supporting the petition in the case argues, it has nothing to do with any proper regulation of speech by a professional. Ilya Shapiro and Thomas Berry point out, “The quality of true ‘professional speech’ that justifies limited regulation – namely an asymmetry of expert knowledge – is entirely absent here.”

In other words, California’s statute actually has nothing to do with professional speech; it simply forces professionals to speak in ways they may regard as morally wrong or harmful. “When a message can be understood by any individual who reads a website, brochure, or advertisement,” Shapiro and Berry continue, “it is not unique to the doctor-patient relationship.”

Moreover, if the Ninth Circuit’s decision were to stand, it would set a horrible precedent for all sorts of speech mandates that politicians might decide upon to help advance their political agendas. The Ninth Circuit was content to allow the government to force medical providers to post messages deemed relevant “to the health of the state’s citizens,” but that is so broad that almost anything could be mandated. The government should not be allowed to, write Shapiro and Berry, “put a thumb on the scale for the state’s favored viewpoint.”

Again, right, but I would mention that “the state” in fact has no viewpoint. Rather, some people have managed to use the state’s coercive power to force people who disagree with their viewpoint to bow down to them. That is not what government is supposed to be for.

Cathy Rose of the Family Research Council hits the nail squarely on the head, saying here, “In the war of ideas, the government should never force one side to carry the flag of the other. It’s not fair. More than that it’s government forced speech and that’s not constitutional.”

Oh, but what about the state’s supposed interest in ensuring that women know about the availability of abortion? That is no more compelling than the argument in Barnette that the government needed to promote national unity. Whether it needed to do that or not, the means used – mandated speech – was inappropriate and unconstitutional. The same is true here.

The Supreme Court needs to rule strongly against the concept of mandated speech, which offends the First Amendment just as much as does the suppression of speech.

If it doesn’t, we will undoubtedly see more and more such mandates, and probably more intrusive ones. It is bad enough to be compelled to post a sign that conveys information you regard as immoral, but why stop at signs? Could California mandate the equivalent of a Miranda warning for pregnant women? The Ninth Circuit’s decision opens the door to such abominations.

I will watch these cases and write about their outcomes in the following months.

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT