FIREwire — December 19, 2025
Court vindicates professor, Trump sues the BBC, ex-cop sues after being jailed for a meme, and the DOJ cracks down on left-wing networks
Online speech is messy, alright. I’m not going to kid around. It’s messy for lawyers. It’s messy for the courts. It’s messy for human understanding. It’s messy for how we exist within our households because it’s something that’s constantly evolving.
– Allison Matulli, Florida International University adjunct professor and fellow for the First Amendment at Freedom Forum.
Court backs professor over land acknowledgment joke
The Ninth Circuit ruled that the University of Washington violated the First Amendment by punishing Professor Stuart Reges, represented by FIRE, for using a satirical land acknowledgment on his syllabus instead of the university’s preferred statement.
“Today’s opinion is a resounding victory for Professor Stuart Reges and the First Amendment rights of public university faculty,” said FIRE attorney Gabe Walters. “The Ninth Circuit agreed with what FIRE has said from the beginning: Universities can’t force professors to parrot an institution’s preferred political views under pain of punishment.”
Trump sues BBC for $10 billion
President Trump is suing the BBC for $10 billion, accusing it of defamation by editing his Jan. 6 speech to make it look like he called on supporters to go down to the U.S. Capitol and fight, when he actually told them to go and “cheer on” lawmakers.
Here’s FIRE Chief Counsel Bob Corn-Revere:
President Trump can criticize the BBC all he wants — indeed, the corporation has already admitted journalistic errors in its edit of his remarks on January 6, 2021. But his new lawsuit does not have any legal basis, either on defamation or jurisdictional grounds. The case also alleges the BBC committed commercial fraud — a patently frivolous claim. There is no such thing in American law as a claim for “fake news.” This is nothing more than the president’s latest effort to intimidate media companies that he sees as adversarial to his administration.
Ex-cop sues after being jailed for a meme
Retired Tennessee police officer Larry Bushart spent 37 days in jail on a $2 million bond, lost his job, and missed the birth of his grandchild after being arrested for sharing a pre-existing Facebook meme about Charlie Kirk’s assassination — prompting FIRE to file a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against the sheriff, an investigator, and Perry County for violating Bushart’s First and Fourth Amendment rights.
“This lawsuit goes beyond Larry,” said FIRE attorney David Rubin. “It’s about making sure police everywhere understand that they cannot punish or intimidate people for sharing controversial opinions online. Law enforcement across the country should be on notice: Respect the First Amendment, or prepare to face the consequences.”
DOJ launches crackdown on left-wing networks
Trump’s Justice Department, under AG Pam Bondi, has ordered federal agencies to dump all “Antifa-related” intelligence into the FBI and build watchlists and probes targeting left-wing activists and ideologies.
Adam Goldstein, FIRE’s VP of strategic initiatives, explains:
People who conspire to engage in actual criminal behavior should be investigated, arrested, and prosecuted. But these memos aren’t narrowly focused on groups that exist for the purpose of ideologically motivated violence, which act to bring about violence; they broadly condemn particular viewpoints and lay a foundation for a government watchlist of American groups which share those viewpoints. And where does that get us? You can’t vindicate American values against anti-American ideologies with un-American practices like warmed-over McCarthyism.
Below the fold
Indiana AG Todd Rokita is suing PornHub and other porn sites, claiming they know people use VPNs to bypass age verification yet do not block them — but the state’s “solution” would require banning everyone on VPNs worldwide.
A federal appeals court halted enforcement of Michigan’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBT minors, holding that silencing some counselors but not others amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.
Florida AG James Uthmeier seeks to cancel the adults-only A Very Drag Queen Christmas show under the state’s Protection of Children Act, which bars minors from sexual performances — but critics say the law tramples expressive rights.
In the frame
FIRE’s first-ever classical music concert in support of free expression — “Outspoken: Music for Free Speech” — was held on Nov. 20 at the Hochstein Performance Hall in Rochester, New York. FIRE brought former University of Rochester conducting student Rebecca Bryant Novak back to the podium for the first time since UR expelled her for speaking out against harassment. The result was a breathtaking show, featuring performances from renowned soloists Lara St. John and Katherine Needleman. If you missed it, don’t worry — you can watch the full concert film here:
Now listening
The Verge’s tech and politics podcast Decoder dropped an episode last week with Sen. Ed Markey on the First Amendment, in which Markey discusses government pressure on the media and First Amendment threats. It’s not a dedicated free-speech show, but free speech is the main thread throughout the conversation.
By the numbers
As the holidays approach, we at FIRE have been compiling the latest figures from our Students Under Fire database, and what we found isn’t very merry. The 273 attempts to sanction student speech in 2025 breaks the previous record of 252 set in 2020, and that was a year marked by George Floyd protests, a presidential election, and a global pandemic. Yet 2025 set a new high, culminating in the assassination of conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
