The ‘Sprawling Enterprise’ of Government Censorship: AG Liz Murrill on Murthy v. Missouri Updates

American Thought Leaders

“I’m cautiously optimistic that the court is going to continue to bullishly protect the First Amendment. We can talk through all these legal nuanced questions. But, at the end of the day...the First Amendment says that the government shall not abridge the freedom of speech. And we have shown a deliberate sprawling intent, not only to do it, but success in doing it.”

In this episode, I speak with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill to get an update on Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court case on government censorship.

“The government here is coming in and pressuring the [social media] platforms to take down what it has designated as ’misinformation‘ or ’disinformation.' So, it’s made itself the arbiter of truth. In fact, it created a whole department to do that,” says Ms. Murrill.

We dive into the oral arguments we just heard and discuss standing versus merit, and persuasion or encouragement versus coercion.

“They aren’t even acknowledging that they were doing anything wrong. They are just saying that all they were doing was engaging in persuasion. Well, I don’t know anybody when the FBI shows up who thinks that’s just persuasion. I mean, it’s coercive by nature,” says Ms. Murrill.