Mary Anne Franks
@maryannefranks.bsky.social
Law Professor at George Washington Law. President of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. Author of Fearless Speech (2024) and The Cult of the Constitution (2019). First Amendment, civil rights, technology, criminal law, family law, firearms law.
Pinned
My book Fearless Speech celebrates those who risk harm to themselves to challenge power, fight injustice, & advocate for the truth, who practice what the ancient Greeks called parrhesia. I am gathering examples of fearless speech in this dark time- if you have some to share, please do so in replies!
Trump's secret identity as a Juggalo revealed
November 10, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Trump's secret identity as a Juggalo revealed
"Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning."
November 5, 2025 at 4:51 AM
"Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning."
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
The entire right-wing propaganda machine came after Zohran Mamdani.
The president and his allies came after him.
Democratic leaders, by and large, did not have his back until the last minute.
He still won, turning out historic numbers and inspiring young voters.
His politics can win anywhere.
The president and his allies came after him.
Democratic leaders, by and large, did not have his back until the last minute.
He still won, turning out historic numbers and inspiring young voters.
His politics can win anywhere.
November 5, 2025 at 2:36 AM
The entire right-wing propaganda machine came after Zohran Mamdani.
The president and his allies came after him.
Democratic leaders, by and large, did not have his back until the last minute.
He still won, turning out historic numbers and inspiring young voters.
His politics can win anywhere.
The president and his allies came after him.
Democratic leaders, by and large, did not have his back until the last minute.
He still won, turning out historic numbers and inspiring young voters.
His politics can win anywhere.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
the other thing about this is that there is no reason to pit these candidates against each other? each are good fits for their respective electorates and each shows the value of vigorous campaigns focused on the stated material problems of voters.
November 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM
i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
From Bovino's deposition: (1) he calls protestors "violent" if they articulate views hostile to ICE, even if no violence is manifested; (2) he instructs his forces to attack and arrest protestors who express "hyperbolic comments," which is to say, criticism of ICE and Bovino.
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's impossible to overstate how much of what ICE is doing on the ground reflects this completely preposterous conflation of hostile *speech* and hostile *conduct.*
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
The First Amendment protects—or, at least, is supposed to protect—the former up and until it's a "true threat," which none of this is.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
October 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.
They are not the same.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
This is *such* a good podcast - always aharp and fascinating – and this episode is particularly great.
Really enjoyed chatting with @llassabe.bsky.social about how the manufactured college free speech crisis paved the way for the assault on universities today: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Beware of FIRE (and institutional neutrality) with Mary Anne Franks - American Campus Podcast
On the rightwing origins of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.References and suggested readings:Mary Anne Franks. 2024. Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment. Bold ...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:02 PM
This is *such* a good podcast - always aharp and fascinating – and this episode is particularly great.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
An excellent discussion by two leading scholars.
Check out their work and the American Campus podcast as a whole.
👇👇👇
Check out their work and the American Campus podcast as a whole.
👇👇👇
Really enjoyed chatting with @llassabe.bsky.social about how the manufactured college free speech crisis paved the way for the assault on universities today: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Beware of FIRE (and institutional neutrality) with Mary Anne Franks - American Campus Podcast
On the rightwing origins of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.References and suggested readings:Mary Anne Franks. 2024. Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment. Bold ...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM
An excellent discussion by two leading scholars.
Check out their work and the American Campus podcast as a whole.
👇👇👇
Check out their work and the American Campus podcast as a whole.
👇👇👇
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
plus a little separate shout-out for @llassabe.bsky.social 's phenomenal American Campus podcast as a whole. if you're at all part of or connected to higher education, it's indispensable – for understanding How We Got Here, how "Here" arose from decades-long political currents, and so, so much else.
October 28, 2025 at 8:27 PM
plus a little separate shout-out for @llassabe.bsky.social 's phenomenal American Campus podcast as a whole. if you're at all part of or connected to higher education, it's indispensable – for understanding How We Got Here, how "Here" arose from decades-long political currents, and so, so much else.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
such a stellar conversation, one that pulled a lot of threads together and offered a far-clearer picture of the whole than I ever had before – and I research, write on, and teach about this stuff pretty much constantly!
take the little time to give it a listen; it's well worth it.
take the little time to give it a listen; it's well worth it.
Really enjoyed chatting with @llassabe.bsky.social about how the manufactured college free speech crisis paved the way for the assault on universities today: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Beware of FIRE (and institutional neutrality) with Mary Anne Franks - American Campus Podcast
On the rightwing origins of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.References and suggested readings:Mary Anne Franks. 2024. Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment. Bold ...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:27 PM
such a stellar conversation, one that pulled a lot of threads together and offered a far-clearer picture of the whole than I ever had before – and I research, write on, and teach about this stuff pretty much constantly!
take the little time to give it a listen; it's well worth it.
take the little time to give it a listen; it's well worth it.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
Consider how few anecdotes it took for the media to declare a Free Speech on Campus crisis.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
DHS posted a disturbing video today featuring a song that’s popular with Nazi creators
DHS Posts Video Featuring Song Popular With Nazi Creators
The agency denied making
gizmodo.com
October 24, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Consider how few anecdotes it took for the media to declare a Free Speech on Campus crisis.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
Again, not the most important here, but I'm begging for a journalist to figure out how/why NPS put up a Confederate statue DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. How is this "essential" when food stamps are not?
Feels symbolic that a Confederate statue first installed in 1901, at the peak of the consolidation of the Jim Crow system—when the states of the former Confederacy were in the midst of revising their constitutions to disfranchise Black citizens—has been reinstalled.
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
A Confederate statue toppled in Washington, D.C., in 2020 has been reinstalled
A statue of Confederate general Albert Pike, which had been pulled down during the Black Lives Matter movement, has been put back up in Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square.
www.npr.org
October 28, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Again, not the most important here, but I'm begging for a journalist to figure out how/why NPS put up a Confederate statue DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. How is this "essential" when food stamps are not?
Really enjoyed chatting with @llassabe.bsky.social about how the manufactured college free speech crisis paved the way for the assault on universities today: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Beware of FIRE (and institutional neutrality) with Mary Anne Franks - American Campus Podcast
On the rightwing origins of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.References and suggested readings:Mary Anne Franks. 2024. Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment. Bold ...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Really enjoyed chatting with @llassabe.bsky.social about how the manufactured college free speech crisis paved the way for the assault on universities today: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
It’s really sad that a group with “individual rights” in its name treats so-called “disruptive” protest—and conservative students feeling annoyed by protest in anonymous surveys—as evidence that a university should get a low ranking on “free speech” and should be avoided.
Protest IS free speech.
Protest IS free speech.
"By assigning lower rankings to schools with disruptive protests -and failing to account for the integral role of such protests in our First Amendment tradition-the FIRE rankings provide fodder for government attacks on campus protests," writes Charles Walker: www.chronicle.com/article/fire...
FIRE Is Wrong. Raucous Protest Is Free Speech.
The First Amendment does not forbid heckling.
www.chronicle.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
It’s really sad that a group with “individual rights” in its name treats so-called “disruptive” protest—and conservative students feeling annoyed by protest in anonymous surveys—as evidence that a university should get a low ranking on “free speech” and should be avoided.
Protest IS free speech.
Protest IS free speech.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
An amazing story of this decade was the ADL turning all its fire on Israel critics while tech companies dismantled their censors and Hitler-lovers came roaring back.
Today on the show: the group chats from hell (with @dgraham.bsky.social) slate.com/podcasts/wha...
Why So Many Racist Group Chats?
It’s hard to imagine the speech or policy proposals being acceptable as recently as a decade ago.
slate.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:09 PM
An amazing story of this decade was the ADL turning all its fire on Israel critics while tech companies dismantled their censors and Hitler-lovers came roaring back.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
October 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
It’s hard to convey just how much Chicagoans are mobilizing against ICE. Don’t want to downplay the harm, or make it seem like a fair fight. But in neighborhoods across this city, ICE is getting chased by people blowing whistles and shouting. People are running TOWARD ICE to protect their neighbors.
October 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
It’s hard to convey just how much Chicagoans are mobilizing against ICE. Don’t want to downplay the harm, or make it seem like a fair fight. But in neighborhoods across this city, ICE is getting chased by people blowing whistles and shouting. People are running TOWARD ICE to protect their neighbors.
"By assigning lower rankings to schools with disruptive protests -and failing to account for the integral role of such protests in our First Amendment tradition-the FIRE rankings provide fodder for government attacks on campus protests," writes Charles Walker: www.chronicle.com/article/fire...
FIRE Is Wrong. Raucous Protest Is Free Speech.
The First Amendment does not forbid heckling.
www.chronicle.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:49 AM
"By assigning lower rankings to schools with disruptive protests -and failing to account for the integral role of such protests in our First Amendment tradition-the FIRE rankings provide fodder for government attacks on campus protests," writes Charles Walker: www.chronicle.com/article/fire...
Tomorrow, Oct. 21, I'll be debating Robert Corn-Revere of FIRE on the topic "Are Contemporary Understandings of the First Amendment the Best Way to Protect Free Expression in the 21st Century?" at the Cato Institute. You can submit questions and watch online at the link: www.cato.org/events/cato-...
Cato Free Speech Debate
Are current interpretations of the First Amendment sufficient to safeguard free expression in the digital age? To mark Free Speech Week, we are hosting two prominent scholars to debate this issue on O...
www.cato.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Tomorrow, Oct. 21, I'll be debating Robert Corn-Revere of FIRE on the topic "Are Contemporary Understandings of the First Amendment the Best Way to Protect Free Expression in the 21st Century?" at the Cato Institute. You can submit questions and watch online at the link: www.cato.org/events/cato-...
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
The entire "free speech on campus" moral panic was manufactured to blackmail us into making space in intellectual life for bigots and charlatans who couldn't get there on their own merits. Its a DEI scheme for fascism. Congratulations to everyone who took it at face value.
“Following his lecture, Yarvin will debate the legendary British historian David Starkey on history and the future of conservatism.” Everything about this is so cursed. Masks off at the University of Oxford.
October 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
The entire "free speech on campus" moral panic was manufactured to blackmail us into making space in intellectual life for bigots and charlatans who couldn't get there on their own merits. Its a DEI scheme for fascism. Congratulations to everyone who took it at face value.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
MSNBC Grandmas in Skechers seamlessly reclaiming the frog from 4chan Nazis in about six weeks has gotta be the political upset of the century.
October 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
MSNBC Grandmas in Skechers seamlessly reclaiming the frog from 4chan Nazis in about six weeks has gotta be the political upset of the century.
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
Mary Anne Franks explains what Fearless Speech is, and why we need to practice it more than ever. @maryannefranks.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Mary Anne Franks explains what Fearless Speech is, and why we need to practice it more than ever. @maryannefranks.bsky.social
Reposted by Mary Anne Franks
We're seeing relentless attacks on freedom of speech in America today, and they reveal the ideology that's driving the Republican Party
I talked to @adamserwer.bsky.social and @maryannefranks.bsky.social about that for my newsletter
I talked to @adamserwer.bsky.social and @maryannefranks.bsky.social about that for my newsletter
Republicans want to protect free speech for themselves and no one else
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress continue to attack free speech in numerous ways.
madness.ghost.io
October 16, 2025 at 12:21 PM
We're seeing relentless attacks on freedom of speech in America today, and they reveal the ideology that's driving the Republican Party
I talked to @adamserwer.bsky.social and @maryannefranks.bsky.social about that for my newsletter
I talked to @adamserwer.bsky.social and @maryannefranks.bsky.social about that for my newsletter
The Take it Down Act, which makes threatening to distribute nonconsensual intimate images a federal crime, was passed on May 19 of this year. According to reports, Mills made at least one threat after this date.
October 15, 2025 at 4:12 AM
The Take it Down Act, which makes threatening to distribute nonconsensual intimate images a federal crime, was passed on May 19 of this year. According to reports, Mills made at least one threat after this date.