A deeper look at the jawboning debate

So who are the true free-speech warriors: Democrats or Republicans? That argument got a public airing in a Senate hearing that didn’t necessarily turn out the way its organizers intended. Convened by Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), the hearing was supposed to focus on accusations that the Biden administration improperly pressured social media companies to moderate misinformation, particularly around COVID-19. But it became in part a referendum on Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr and his apparent threats against Jimmy Kimmel, ABC, and other outlets that conservatives perceive as unfriendly. The Washington Post’s take was that the hearing illustrated “how Trump’s second term has scrambled partisan fault lines” in the American argument about speech. So, is it a wash? Did both sides of the aisle engage in the same unconstitutional censorship while they were in power? According to legal scholars, it’s not that simple.