by Michael Fox | Sep 14, 2026 | First Amendment, free speech, Podcast, The Battle for Free Speech
https://www.spreaker.com/show/7063186/episodes/feed
Today, host Michael Fox speaks with Mary Anne Franks. She is a professor of intellectual property, technology, and civil rights law at George Washington University and the president of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative. She is also the author of the book Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment,which was published in 2024 by Bold Type Books.
She has an incredible analysis about free speech historically and today — the challenges we face protecting it and how we need to try to understand free speech beyond the First Amendment. Michael and Mary Anne spoke last year, in 2025.
This is the second bonus episode of The Battle for Free Speech. The Battle for Free Speech Podcast is a production of The Real News Network hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner.
Guests:
Mary Anne Franks
Resources:
You can check out the full Battle for Free Speech podcast series here.
Many thanks to everyone who has supported this show.
Follow The Battle For Free Speech on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Support Michael Fox’s reporting at patreon.com/mfox. Never miss an episode — sign up for The Real News newsletter at therealnews.com.
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.Michael Fox:
Hi folks. I’m your co-host, Michael Fox, and this is the Battle for Free Speech. This is the second bonus episode in this series, and I’m really excited about this one. Today, I’m bringing you my full conversation with Marianne Franks. You will likely remember her from this series as I reached out to her in numerous episodes. She’s a professor in intellectual property technology and civil rights law at George Washington University and the president of the Cyber
by Chris Walker | Aug 6, 2026 | Donald Trump, First Amendment, first amendment rights, free press, free speech, News, Religious Freedom
A review of court cases finds that the Trump administration has been challenged dozens of times for violations of multiple First Amendment protections since January 2025, losing in 8 out of every 10 instances in district federal courts across the country. According to a report from Reuters, which conducted the review, there have been 93 challenges to actions taken by the White House since…
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by Mike Ludwig | Aug 4, 2026 | AI, censorship, ChatGPT, Deepfakes, DEI, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Federal Trade Commission, First Amendment, free speech, FTC, News Analysis, Racial Justice, Regulation, Trump Administration, xAI
To understand the stakes of the debate over AI regulation, look no further than Minnesota, where tech oligarch Elon Musk is once again generating embarrassing headlines. Last week, a federal judge denied a request from Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI to block a Minnesota law banning nude deepfakes used to sexually harass women and girls from taking effect.
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by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Jul 31, 2026 | First Amendment, livestream, Police Accountability Report, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, video
Police auditors, better known as “copwatchers,” have become both famous and notorious for using cell phone cameras and YouTube channels to monitor police activity, confront cops who are breaking the law, and fight for accountability and reform. But is copwatching a form of citizen journalism, or is it just provocation masquerading as accountability?
In this special Police Accountability Report livestream, (in)famous copwatcher Sean Paul Reyes, better known as Long Island Audit, joins hosts Taya Graham and Stephen Janis for a lively, candid debate about one of the most popular and controversial forms of police accountability today.
Credits:
Pre-Production; Stephen Janis, Taya Graham
Production: Stephen Janis, Taya Graham, David Hebden, Ryan Johnson, Maximillian Alvarez
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Taya Graham:
My name is Taya Graham and welcome to the Police Accountability Report livestream, the great American Copwatcher debate edition. Tonight, we are going to be exploring the controversy surrounding a popular Copwatcher, Long Island audit, specifically his encounter with Suffolk County Police Union officials that was the subject of our last episode. Now, a confrontation that started with Sean showing up at union headquarters to ask questions and then escalated when union officials stormed out of the building and put Sean Paul into handcuffs. Let’s just watch a few seconds of the encounter to set the scene.
Sean Paul Reyes (Long Island Audit):
Have you seen me leaving? I immediately began to leave. Lucivillo, would you like to come on? I am leaving. Would you like to come on the channel? I’m leaving. I am leaving. You seem to leave me? I am leaving. I’m leaving. I’m leaving. Lucivillo, you
by Amy Goodman | Jul 23, 2026 | Columbia University, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, Habeas, ICE, immigration jails, Interview, Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestine
Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, whose arrest by masked and hooded ICE agents when he arrived for his naturalization interview to become a U.S. citizen made national headlines last year, is facing a new deportation threat after a three-judge panel overturned a lower court ruling that had freed him from ICE custody. Mahdawi was involved in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University…
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by Jay Waagmeester | Jul 8, 2026 | academic freedom, bans on critical race theory, censorship, critical race theory, education, First Amendment, Florida, free speech, Higher Education, News, Racial Justice, Ron DeSantis, Stop WOKE Act
Instead of the state determining what will be taught in university classrooms, students must be free to hear and consider even officially disfavored ideas presented to them by professors, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. More than two years after oral arguments in a case challenging the 2022 law dubbed the Stop WOKE Act, two out of three judges on a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th…
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