{"id":1366,"date":"2016-07-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acluvt.org\/news\/issue\/free-speech\/"},"modified":"2016-07-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T04:00:00","slug":"free-speech","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.acluvt.org\/issues\/free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Speech and Expression"},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"class_list":["post-1366","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":null,"intro":"","what-you-need-to-know":null,"promo":{"display_promo":true,"description":"","button":"","url":""},"components":[{"acf_fc_layout":"text","text":{"text":"Freedom of speech, the press, association, assembly, and petition: This set of guarantees, protected by the First Amendment, comprises what we refer to as \"free speech\" or freedom of expression. It is the foundation of a vibrant democracy, and without it, other fundamental rights, like the right to vote, would wither away. The fight for freedom of speech has been a bedrock of the ACLU\u2019s mission since the organization was founded in 1920, driven by the need to protect the constitutional rights of conscientious objectors and anti-war protesters. The organization\u2019s work quickly spread to combating censorship, securing the right to assembly, and promoting free speech in schools. Almost a century later, these battles have taken on new forms, but they persist.\n\nThe ACLU continues to champion freedom of expression in its myriad forms\u2014whether through protest, media, online speech, or the arts\u2014in the face of new threats to free speech. For example, new avenues for censorship have arisen alongside the wealth of opportunities for speech afforded by the Internet. The threat of mass government surveillance chills the free expression of ordinary citizens, legislators routinely attempt to place new restrictions on online activity, and journalism is criminalized in the name of national security. The ACLU is always on guard to ensure that the First Amendment\u2019s protections remain robust\u2014in times of war or peace, for bloggers or the institutional press, online or off.\n\nOver the years, the ACLU has frequently represented or defended individuals engaged in some truly offensive speech. We have defended the speech rights of communists, Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, accused terrorists, pornographers, anti-LGBT activists, and flag burners. That\u2019s because the defense of freedom of speech is most necessary when the message is one most people find repulsive. Constitutional rights must apply to even the most unpopular groups if they\u2019re going to be preserved for everyone."}}],"featured-story":null,"latest-stories":[],"related_campaigns_cases_legislation":[],"actions":[868]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Free Speech and Expression - ACLU of Vermont<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.acluvt.org\/issues\/free-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Speech and Expression - ACLU of Vermont\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Freedom of speech, the press, association, assembly, and petition: This set of guarantees, protected by the First Amendment, comprises what we refer to as &quot;free speech&quot; or freedom of expression. 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