Judge McFadden’s First Amendment Ruling Against the White House: Infusing Modern Speech Doctrines with History and Tradition
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AEIdeas

Judge McFadden’s First Amendment Ruling Against the White House: Infusing Modern Speech Doctrines with History and Tradition

I recently addressed today’s debate over the Press Clause’s meaning 234 years after the First Amendment’s ratification. The rift involves whether the clause is “a technology-specific provision” that safeguards “everyone’s…

Article
AEIdeas

Bastiat and What is Not Seen in Tech Policy

Over at The Dispatch, AEI Senior Fellow Jonah Goldberg recently praised Frédéric Bastiat’s classic essay, “That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen.” Goldberg cited the piece to…

The AI Race Accelerates: Key Insights from the 2025 AI Index Report
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AEIdeas

The AI Race Accelerates: Key Insights from the 2025 AI Index Report

The 2025 AI Index Report, recently released by Stanford’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), offers an insightful overview of the current state and trajectory of artificial intelligence (AI). While the comprehensive…

Irony, Congress, and the FCC: The Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act of 2025  
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AEIdeas

Irony, Congress, and the FCC: The Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act of 2025  

In a sure sign of our topsy-turvy political times, Democrats in the US Senate and House of Representatives are sponsoring legislation that seeks both to rein in the reach of…

The Fragmented Privacy Landscape
Testimony

The Fragmented Privacy Landscape

The Current State of Privacy Regulation The United States is experiencing a rapid proliferation of state-level privacy laws, creating an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. Since California pioneered comprehensive privacy legislation…

“Misinformation” Is Condescending: Do Better, Elites
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AEIdeas

“Misinformation” Is Condescending: Do Better, Elites

The concept of “misinformation” is deeply condescending. As commonly used in our discourse, it says the following to and about the public: “You’re getting the wrong information, and it’s causing…

Satellite Broadband Competition—New Hope, but for Which Markets?
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AEIdeas

Satellite Broadband Competition—New Hope, but for Which Markets?

Last week, Amazon subsidiary Project Kuiper announced plans to launch the first 27 satellites in its 3,000-plus planned low earth orbit (LEO) constellation from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in…

California Finally Abandons Facets of Flawed Social-Media Mandate
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AEIdeas

California Finally Abandons Facets of Flawed Social-Media Mandate

Department of Government Efficiency, but the world’s richest person recently scored an important––albeit largely overlooked––First Amendment victory for social media platforms against intrusive, peek-under-the-hood government regulations. In late February, a…

My Response to the House Commerce Committee Privacy Working Group
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AEIdeas

My Response to the House Commerce Committee Privacy Working Group

In February 2025, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce announced the creation of a privacy working group to address many of the now-familiar challenges created by our advanced digital…

The Spectrum Exchange: Networks, Security, and Innovation
Article
AEIdeas

The Spectrum Exchange: Networks, Security, and Innovation

Spectrum management is crucial to our digital future as it provides the invisible regulatory framework enabling efficient and equitable allocation of finite radio frequency resources. Without comprehensive, forward-thinking spectrum policies,…

Free Speech Tradeoffs and Roleplaying Chatbots: Sacrificing the Rights of Many to Safeguard a Few?
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AEIdeas

Free Speech Tradeoffs and Roleplaying Chatbots: Sacrificing the Rights of Many to Safeguard a Few?

First Amendment law entails tradeoffs. Consider Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, a case the US Supreme Court heard in January. It involves an online age-verification statute that ostensibly is designed…

The Supreme Court Seems Unlikely to Revive Nondelegation Doctrine in FCC Case
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AEIdeas

The Supreme Court Seems Unlikely to Revive Nondelegation Doctrine in FCC Case

Earlier this month, I previewed the arguments in Federal Communications Commission v Consumers’ Research. The case asks the Supreme Court whether the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF) violates the nondelegation…

Another Courtroom Loss for AI Creations, as “Automatoners” Prevail Again
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AEIdeas

Another Courtroom Loss for AI Creations, as “Automatoners” Prevail Again

Last month, a federal appeals court confirmed what most legal regimes around the world—patent offices, administrative judges, and even supreme courts—have long held: Machines cannot themselves create. Readers of this…

Return of the Landline: A Regressive or Welcome Scenario?
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AEIdeas

Return of the Landline: A Regressive or Welcome Scenario?

If there has been one inexorable trend in the telecommunications industry over the past 30 years, it has been the decline of the household landline phone connection. While Figure 1 illustrates the…

The Press Clause’s Disputed Meaning and Its Implications for Trump-Era Journalism
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AEIdeas

The Press Clause’s Disputed Meaning and Its Implications for Trump-Era Journalism

A burgeoning battle among academics and attorneys involving a centuries-old communications technology––the printing press––could impact journalists’ current claims to constitutional protection against President Trump’s ceaseless attacks on news organizations. Indeed,…