Justice Alito Warns of Threats to Freedom of Speech: ‘Support for Freedom of Speech Is Declining Dangerously’

Alito: “Right now in the world outside this beautiful campus, troubled waters are slamming against some of our most fundamental principles. Support for freedom of speech is declining dangerously, especially where it should find broadest and widest acceptance. In a book called The Idea of a University, Saint John Henry Newman saw the university as a place for reasons debate. Today, very few colleges live up to that ideal. This place is one of the few that does, and you are very fortunate to have had that experience. Religious liberty is also threatened. When you venture out into the world, you may find yourself in a job or a community or a social setting where you will be pressured to endorse ideas you don’t believe or to abandon core beliefs. It will be up to you to stand firm. And as Bishop Caggiano said last night, it will be up to you to speak out.”