Does the First Amendment cover deliberately deceptive speech?
By Kent R. Kroeger (April 3, 2023)
Friday’s conviction of Douglass Mackey, also known as “Ricky Vaughn,” by a New York federal jury of the charge of Conspiracy Against Rights for using deliberately deceptive internet memes in an attempt “to deprive individuals from exercising their sacred right to vote for the candidate of their choice in the 2016 Presidential Election.”
The conviction launched a torrent of denunciations on social media fearing its ramifications will discourage more constructive speech and, in effect, put our free speech protections at risk.
This is an argument constitutional legal experts have used to explain cases where demonstrably false speech is defended by the courts. Writes Valerie C. Brannon, a legislative attorney for the Congressional Research Service:
