Freedom Forum

Paramount Global reached a settlement with President Donald Trump in a lawsuit he filed over a CBS “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that was broadcast last October. Trump’s suit claimed that CBS edited the interview to put Harris in a favorable light ahead of the 2024 presidential election to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party,” which he said violated a federal law prohibiting false advertising and a Texas consumer protection law. Paramount agreed to pay $16 million, which will go toward the future Trump presidential library or a different cause. But a day after the settlement was announced, Trump said the amount was “maybe $35 million,” referring to an additional $16 million set for public service announcements on topics like antisemitism. Paramount denies the claim. In response to the deal, famed First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, a 2025 Freedom Forum Free Expression Awards honoree, called the agreement “an ominous blow to press freedom in our nation.” 

A federal appeals court ruled that a Florida law doesn’t violate a transgender public school teacher’s First Amendment rights by stopping her from telling students her preferred pronouns. In 2023, Katie Wood, a high school algebra teacher, joined two other instructors in a lawsuit that challenged the law, saying it infringed on their free speech rights. But in the court’s 14-page opinion, Judge Kevin Newsom said that the speech Wood uses to identify herself to students is used “in her capacity as a government employee, not as a private citizen.” As a result, the court said, the government has greater control over her speech and expression in this case.

More from Freedom Forum: ‘Does the Government Have the Same Free Speech Rights as Everyone Else?’

Kansas officials denied the Satanic Grotto a permit to hold a “witching hour” protest next month in the state Capitol in Topeka after a black mass held by the group in March turned violent. The satanic organization planned to protest “Christian favoritism within our state government.” Michael Stewart, the group’s leader, says denying the permit is religious discrimination. “The State of Kansas is actively working to silence voices that challenge the status quo, especially those from minority faiths and marginalized communities,” Stewart said in a news release. Adam Proffitt, the state secretary of administration, says the decision was based on public safety concerns from the March event, where Stewart came to blows with a counterprotester and was arrested. 

Asma Uddin, Freedom Forum fellow for religious liberty, shares her perspective on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sided with Maryland parents who wanted the right to opt their children out of public school lessons that include LGBTQ+-inclusive books. In an article for SCOTUSblog, Uddin says the court’s opinion shows something more complex than a victory for religious conservatives. Instead, Uddin writes, “The Supreme Court offered a nuanced intervention, one that underscores the constitutional significance of living in a pluralist society.”

University of California President Michael Drake reiterated the school’s policy prohibiting student governments from boycotting businesses associated with any particular country in a letter to the university system’s chancellors. Although Drake doesn’t mention Israel in the letter, the move comes amid the Trump administration’s continued probing into antisemitism on college campuses and threats to revoke federal funding. Drake says that while the university values freedom of speech and inquiry, the financial decisions of university entities, including student governments, must be based in “sound business practices.”

More from Freedom Forum: ‘11 of the Most Famous Boycotts in US History’

“We're going to go up together, or we're going down together. And that is the promise of America. This is more than about the individual exercise of rights. Either we are going to jealously guard our neighbor's freedoms as much as we are trying to vigorously protect our own, or none of us will be free.”

— Sharon McMahon, New York Times bestselling author,
speaking at the 2025 Free Expression Awards.

Sharon McMahon is known as “America’s Government Teacher,” helping people navigate the complex landscape of American democracy. On June 25, Freedom Forum hosted our annual Free Expression Awards, where we honored the achievements of McMahon and others who have championed or celebrated free expression and the First Amendment in ways that have inspired others.
Read more about the honorees, and check out these photos from the ceremony.