GOP pushes anti-free speech bills to fight antisemitism – UnHerd

Republicans are pushing anti-free speech legislation as they try to restrict antisemitism in their states.

Free speech, particularly at college campuses, has been a primarily conservative issue in the US for well over a decade. But in response to anti-Israel activism from Left-wing student groups, Republicans have made exceptions to their commitment to free speech both in law and spirit.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott published an executive order on Wednesday urging universities to change their free speech rules in order to punish antisemitism. Review and update free speech policies to address the sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts on university campuses and establish appropriate punishments, including expulsion from the institution, the order read, explicitly singling out the campus groups Palestine Solidarity Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine.

In a press release, the Governor said he wanted universities to be safe spaces for Jewish students, a phrase that has been widely mocked by conservatives in recent years. Abbott himself signed legislation bolstering campus free speech in 2019.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has said the Texas order is a form of state-mandated campus censorship which suggests particular organisations should be punished for their views in violation of the First Amendment.

The move was also met with criticism from some on the Right. How is such a policy different from DEI programs promising to prohibit anti-black speech? asked activist Christopher Rufo. The problem, to me, seems to be conduct, rather than speech: shutting down speakers, threatening students, mobilizing mobs, calling for violence all of which can be regulated as prohibited conduct, with a universal, rather than particular, policy.

Texas is just the latest example of a broader Republican push against free speech. A few months earlier, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered Students for Justice in Palestines University of Florida chapter to be disbanded for allegedly supporting terrorists after its national organisation said Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement. Providing material support for terrorist organisations is illegal under Florida law, but some free speech advocates have argued that the groups support for Hamas was rhetorical, not material, and thus the crackdown violated the groups free speech rights.

Other efforts to restrict antisemitism similarly hover near the line of free speech violations: a number of states, led by both Republicans and Democrats, have adopted official definitions of antisemitism aligned with that of the IRHA, which includes the act of denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavor as a form of discrimination.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argues that this definition penalises constitutionally protected criticism of the state of Israel. About half of states, including Democratic strongholds such as New York and Colorado, have adopted definitions along these lines, but the latest to join in have been Republican-led: South Dakota, Florida and Indiana have all recently passed such measures.

Months before the 7 October attacks, House Republicans, joined by a sole Democratic cosponsor, introduced legislation that would have barred universities from authorising, facilitating or funding events promoting antisemitism under the IHRA definition, meaning the federal government would have required schools to restrict certain forms of anti-Israel speech.

Some of these restrictions on speech will do doubt end up in court, as DeSantiss rules already have. But regardless of the constitutionality of these measures, they demonstrate that some conservatives are moving away from free speech as a cultural value.

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GOP pushes anti-free speech bills to fight antisemitism - UnHerd