Free Republic

New York Times Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak recently sounded the alarm with a headline that read, "The Supreme Court's Increasingly Dim View of the News Media." Naturally, he was upset that some conservative judges aren't fond of the 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan decision, which makes it nearly impossible for public figures to sue media outlets for libel, since the mind-reading standard of "actual malice" must be established. Liptak began by complaining about Judge Laurence H. Silberman, who's not on the Supreme Court but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In a recent...

Ten years ago, the Supreme Court overturned portions of a federal law that empowered government to dictate how Americans who were not connected to any candidates and political parties could practice their inherent right of free expression. It was one of the greatest free speech decisions in American history. The case of Citizens United revolved around state efforts to ban a conservative nonprofit group from showing a critical documentary it produced of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton right before the 2008 Democratic primary elections. At the time, the McCain-Feingold Act made it illegal for corporations and labor unions to engage in...

Running a presidential campaign takes money. A lot of money. But candidates frequently find themselves in a bind because it has to be the right sort of money. And with laws allowing your opponents to scrutinize almost all of the cash coming in the door, you’re left open to criticism if you take “bad money” from “bad people.” Enter Bernie Sanders. He’s got a solution for that problem, particularly when it comes to all of that “dark money” that comes in from PACs and Super PACs. Those dollars frequently come from unnamed sources, particularly since the Supreme Court’s decision in...

Free at last! I'm silent no more. Now, the story can be told. Democrats here in my adopted state of Colorado did not want the new political documentary I hosted to see the light of day. They lost. This week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction declaring that our movie deserved the same free-speech rights as a "traditional" (translation: old-guard liberal) news organization. "Rocky Mountain Heist," produced by David Bossie's Citizens United and directed by Jason Killian Meath, tells the story of how a wealthy quartet of liberal millionaires and billionaires in Colorado -- known as...

You’ve seen the ads, luring you to a website if you support Col. Allen West or another conservative running for office. They’re flashy and loud and all over the Internet. But where is the money going? Many political activists find themselves frustrated at putting in long hours working unpaid on campaigns, while a few consultants at the top of the food chain are raking in disproportionately big bucks. The Center for Public Integrity, which has been investigating the spending habits of 300 super PACs and hybrid PACs, concluded, “Many of these committees operated as piggy banks for golf expenses and...

Editor's Note: This column was coauthored by Breitbart columnist, Ken Klukowski. “The power to tax involves the power to destroy,” the Supreme Court wrote in 1819, shortly after America began. Now in 2013, President Barack Obama is launching a frightening attack on free speech, using one of the most feared agencies in all the federal government: the Internal Revenue Service. One of the most roundly-condemned aspects of Richard Nixon’s malfeasance in office was his use of the IRS to target his political enemies with audits. If people shudder at Nixon’s abuses with the IRS, what Obama is doing should drive...

Most liberals who rail against the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case probably don’t realize they’re useful pawns for a sinister cause. These earnest chanters of slogans and sporters of bumper stickers say they want to overturn the case or amend the Constitution to “get big money out of politics.” They think they’re just fighting for clean government. In reality, they’re cheerleading for the Obama administration to wage a broader battle in the long war to intimidate and silence conservative America. Like a horror movie’s teasing scenes, where campers laugh, oblivious to the monster in the shadows, this report is more...