The Federal Government Used Jawboning to Censor ICE Transparency Initiatives–Rosado v. Bondi

Jawboning is government coercion to suppress constitutionally protected speech. (This is distinguishable from direct censorship, where the government bans or restricts that speech expressly). If asked, many people would say they oppose jawboning. However, most of those opponents cannot properly identify the facts that distinguish jawboning from ordinary government functions. This enables jawboning to be weaponized. Bad faith actors can intentionally mischaracterize legitimate government efforts as censorial jawboning, and simultaneously excuse abusive government censorial strong-arming as not jawboning; in each case, preying on the public’s lack of understanding about what is and isn’t impermissible censorship. If you think the courts always curb these abuses, recall Judge Doughty’s 155 page MAGA screed against the Biden administration’s purported jawboning, “patriotically” issued on July 4, 2023. Judge Doughty claimed he was redressing the “most massive attack against free speech in…