Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano
“Prior to the Warren Court, and notwithstanding the pithy language of Thomas Jefferson or the direct language of James Madison in the Bill of Rights, the federal courts equivocated in their protections of speech. In wartime, the courts often looked the other way as presidents and Congresses tried to silence and punish the words they hated or feared. Both Jefferson and Madison believed that the freedom of speech is a natural right. This view originated with Aristotle, was refined by St. Augustine, was codified by St. Thomas Aquinas, and was argued compellingly for jurists by John Locke and for the masses by John Stuart Mill. All maintained in their writings that freedom of thought is a natural absolute individual right; and the freedom of speech is expressing one’s thoughts.” (10/01/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2025/09/30/free-speech-and-its-discontents/