U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis joined other Republican senators this week in introducing a resolution confirming the importance of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech protections.
Lummis joined North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, among others, to introduce this legislation.
“I am an ardent defender of the U.S. Constitution, and the liberties it protects,” Lummis said. “People in Wyoming don’t always agree on everything, but we are always proud to defend the right of others to voice their opinions. Everything exceptional about America can be traced back to the protections granted under the First Amendment. We must all work every day to reaffirm those principles, especially that those we disagree with still have a right to be heard.”
In the resolution, the senators pointed out a number of examples where people’s freedom of speech rights were suppressed for some reason or another.
These included an Oregon high school student who was suspended for wearing a shirt supporting former President Donald Trump, a person being suspended from e-sports competitions for wearing a mask supporting protests in Hong Kong and a New York Times opinion editor who resigned six months after editing and publishing a controversial editorial piece by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
The senators noted that “freedom of speech is one of the most basic values of the United States,” and “the ability of all people of the United States to speak, protest, and express their opinions publicly is central to the democratic process and to a free society.”
If passed, the resolution would certify that the Senate “recognizes that freedom of expression and freedom of speech are sacred ideals of the United States and should protect the freedom to peacefully express thoughts and opinions without fear.”
