Florida and Texas lawmakers titled their laws as stopping censorship or protecting “social media freedom” while imposing state dictates on expressionvox.comscotusblog.com. They spoke of “parental rights” while infringing on the rights of other parents and students who want the banned books. This abuse of the language of liberty for illiberal ends did not go unnoticed. Dissenting Judge Kevin Newsom wrote in one ruling that the First Amendment is a restraint on government, not a tool for government to control private speech – flipping it is “as wrong as it is dangerous.” Similarly, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, in ordering books back on Llano library shelves, reminded officials that “the government cannot tell its citizens what they are allowed to read.”texastribune.orgtexastribune.org.
In the end, the American system has built-in correctives – the courts, a free press itself, and the power of citizens’ voices at the ballot box and public forums. Those forces are being vigorously exercised in response to the wave of censorship. The fights are ongoing and hard-fought, but there is reason to believe that the tide can be turned. As one high school student said at a board meeting regarding banned books: “You might stop us from reading a particular copy now, but you won’t stop us from knowing and seeking truth. We’ll remember who stood against knowledge when we’re old enough to vote.”
The period from 2017 to 2025 stands as a stark reminder that free expression requires constant vigilance. It can be eroded from within by fear, demagoguery, and the allure of control. But it can also be renewed by those with the courage to speak up, sue, vote, create, and educate in the face of suppression. In that sense, the story is not just about censorship, but also about the enduring American impulse to fight censorship. The next chapters will reveal which impulse prevails.
Sources
1. • Trump’s “enemy of the people” tweet and press attacks aljazeera.com aljazeera.com • White House revoking press credentials in 2018–2019 cjr.org cjr.org • Trump’s promise to “open up” libel laws and sue media politico.com politico.com • Trump threatening NBC’s license and saying press writing is “disgusting” reuters.com reuters.com • Justice Department viewed as targeting CNN via AT&T-Time Warner merger politico.com politico.com • VOA takeover by Trump appointee Michael Pack, removing firewall washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com • Whistleblower on Pack’s breaches and VOA concerns washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com • Trump budgets aimed to eliminate NPR/PBS funding; Trump’s tweet on NPR “propaganda” firstamendmentwatch.org firstamendmentwatch.org • CPJ on impact of defunding public media in “news deserts” cpj.org • PBS and NPR leaders on devastating effects of cuts theguardian.com theguardian.com • Trump calling press the “enemy of the people” normalized disdain firstamendment.mtsu.edu cpj.org • PEN America statistics on book ban surge pen.org • Washington Post on historic rise in book challenges, mostly targeting LGBTQ and people of color washingtonpost.com • Florida’s Parental Rights (Don’t Say Gay) law expansion and teacher under investigation theguardian.com theguardian.com • Washington Post on teacher Brian Covey’s firing over empty shelves video washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com • Washington Post on Duval County removing 1.6 million books pending review washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com • Texas Tribune on Llano County considering closing libraries over book lawsuit texastribune.org texastribune.org • Texas Tribune/AP on appeals court ordering books returned in Llano (First Amendment viewpoint discrimination) texastribune.org texastribune.org • Vox on Florida’s social media law (Stop Social Media Censorship Act) and its blocking for violating platforms’ rights vox.com vox.com • SCOTUSblog on Texas HB20 forbidding platforms from removing user content based on viewpoint scotusblog.com scotusblog.com • CFR on Trump’s executive order against Section 230 protections and calls to repeal Section 230 cfr.org cfr.org • CPJ on overall threat to press freedom, “not normal times,” Trump punishing based on coverage cpj.org cpj.org • CPJ noting Trump normalized media insults over nearly a decade cpj.org aljazeera.com politico.com cjr.org cjr.org reuters.com politico.com washingtonpost.com washingtonpost.com firstamendmentwatch.org firstamendmentwatch.org cpj.org theguardian.com washingtonpost.com theguardian.com washingtonpost.com texastribune.org vox.com scotusblog.com cfr.org cpj.org